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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 22, 1998)
¿ ». JULY 22,1998 Page A4 |iortlanb ©bseruer Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily Reflect Or Represent The Views Of (Cite |Jn rtlan h © bserucr Attention Readers! Please take a m inute to send us your comments. W e ’ re always tryin g to give you a better paper and we c a n 't do it w ithout your help. T ell us w hat you like and w hat needs im provem ent... any suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. W e take criticism w ell! G et yo u r pow erful pens out N O W and address your letters p ^ p o r tla n b O w r w P rof . M c K inley B i r (USPS 959-680) Established in 1970 C harles W ashington P ublisher & E ditor Mark W ashington D istsribution M anager G ary Ann Taylor B usiness M anager Larry J. Jackson, Sr. D irector o f O peration Tony W ashington A ssista n t E ditor Iesha W'illiams G raphic D esign C ontributing W riters: P rofessor M cKinley Burt, Lee Perlman, Neil H eilpem Joy Ramos 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland. 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ALL RIGHTS RESERV ED , R EPRO D U C TIO N IN W H O LE OR IN PART W ITH r i Like the timeless presence o f old soldiers, the curtain will never ring down upon (the ’book’ will never close on) Noah W ebster, com piler o f the first ’A merican’ dictionary o f the English language. 1 don’t know what I was thinking; I believed that writing “conclusion” on last w eek’s article would neatly wrap up an arcane excursion’. Once ig nited among the readers, there was no way to arbitrarily end the intellectual excitement sparked by a w ell-docu mented account o f this pioneer in the study o f th e ' m eaning’ o f words (and concomitantly, their origin). An "ety mologist.” B io g ra p h e rs L e v itt, W a rfe l, Rollins, et all say that “W ebster taught him self twenty languages, including Anglo-Saxon, Old Irish, Sanskrit and Persian in order to discover how m od em w ords and their m eaning had evolved over centuries o f use.” Samuel Johnson, author o f the preceding En glish language standard excluded m any o f W ebster’s words as “bar baric innovations”... “American are a race o f convicts who should be grate ful for w hat’s allowed. W hat I was not surprised to find s p e was the large num ber o f Portlanders interested in “cryptogram s, ciphers, codes and secret w ritings'. My little discourse on the use o f the Navajuo Indian language to confuse Japanese cryptographers during W orld W ar II found many o f our readers quite fa miliar with that strategy. In the days when I had the tim e and inclination, I spent a lot o f pleasurable time solving or creating many codes and cyphers. Yes, 1 read a num ber o f books on Alan Turing and his code- breaking machine w hich solved the “Enigma C ode’ used by G erm an U- boats and Nazi spies in W orld W ar II. Fantastic! The following two small books will provide an easy introduction to the field for any age group: “Codes, Ciphers and Secret W rit ings’, Martin G ardner “Cryptogram s And Spygrams”, N orm aG leason both may be obtained from Dover Publ ¡ca tions, Inc. whose catalogs list many scores o f books on mathem atical and word recreations; 180 Varick Street, New York, N.Y. 10014. Several grandparents said they had a sense that during the early and middle 1970’s there was a period when black youngsters seemed to be doing fairly well with language and reading skills. I think they are quite right, because 1 was teaching half-time at PSU and also contracting with the school dis trict to develop programs to both motivate and raise skills at the class room level. Each week I was at a northeast school. I have a file draw er full o f reward- ing accounts o f minority children, K- 8, who proved so easy to motivate - when there was sustained interaction with a dedicated (and competent) in structor. Not only was I a witness ‘on site’, but I had a realistic feedback as chairperson o f the “ Minority Teach ers Association. Two striking instances o f this de sirable interaction occur most imm e diately. At the “Kellog” School, white teacher Fern Morey was able to raise “slow readers” to an inspired interest in the written word. And she sent unsolicited, glow ing descriptions o f what could be accom plished with the proper motivational material. And at Tubman Elementary School, a black teacher used my book, “ Black Inventors o f America” as the physi cal’ model for constructing a book: Front and back covers, title page, table o f contents and an index. This turns out to be a rather formidable (and rewarding) learning task for fourth- graders, even at ju st 8 pages. And believe it or not I have before me a news article from Feb. 30,1991, “The Humboldt School Chess Team has made it into the “State Chess Cham pionships” . D oug Strong who is in charge o f the Humboldt team, said (in 1991) “W e’ve had this team for about five years now and w e’ve been winning tournam ents since we started. Each year we keep getting better, smart kids, huh? This, o f course, is the very same school that a decade later required “blow ing up” in order to reach an acceptable level o f educational per formance. It was suggested that spe cial teachers and instructional modes were needed to deal with “disadvan tage dum m ies.” W e would like to know who were the "dum m ies” (within or without the system) w h o d id n ’t or couldn’t follow up and build upon the wonderful in telligent, pupil base that was on hand? W as this intentional? Yes I did see the Associated Press headline o f 7/15/98, “G erm any signs o ff on erasing laborious’ language rules.” Will thisbecalled “Teutonics”? Tragedy in Nigeria Demands International Vigilance The tragic, untim ely death o f opposition leader C h ief M oshood K.O. A biola on the eve o f his re lease from prison threatens to re v erse recent p ro g ress to w ard s dem ocratic reform s in N igeria. Rev. Jackson has spoken with the A biola family to offer his condo lences. He also expressed his d e sire to help the family and the N ige rian people in any w ay he can to m ove forward in A biola’s spirit. Contem plating A biola ’ s signi fi- cance to the N igerian people. Rev. Jackson said, “Like M andela, his desire for freedom w as connected to his desire for dem ocracy and freedom for the w hole country.” In the hours after learning o f A biola’s death. Rev. Jackson said, “This couldbeadestabilizing event. I hope the people o f N igeria will gather them selves and use their en O U T PERM ISSIO N IS PROHIBITED. The Portland O b s e n e r- O re g o n ’s O ldest M ulticultural Publica- tio n - is a m em ber o f the N ational N ew spaper A ssociation-F ounded in 1885, and T he N ational A dvertising Representative A m algam ated Publishers, Inc, N ew Y ork, NY, and T he W est Coast Black Publishers A ssociation • Serving Portland and V ancouver. S U B S C R IB E T O £ h f r O ld E tymologists N ever die : T hey W on ’ t E ven F ade A way to: E d ito r, R eader Reaponte, P.O . Bo» 3137, Portland. Q R9720g. ® lie e (D bserucr The Portland Observer can be sent directly to your home for only $60.00 per year. Please fill out. enclose check or money order, and mail to: S ubscriptions T he P ortland O bserver ; PO B ox 3137 P ortland , O regon 97208 N a m e :__________________________________________________________ A ddress:________________________________________________________ C ity, State: ______________________________________________________ Zip-Code: T hank Y ou F or R eading T he P ortland O bserver ergy to m ove forw ard tow ard de- C h ief A biola yesterday to deter m ine the cause o f death. Rev. Jack- son supported the A biola fam ily in their call for the autopsy to address suspicions o f foul play. “T hesuspi- cions are unavoidable,” said Rev. Jackson. “A m onth ago, G eneral A bacha, w ho w as the num ber one impediment to democracy, died very suddenly. N ow , less than a m onth later, the num ber one force for de m ocracy (Abiola) has died very sud denly. So w e look forw ard to find ing out w hat the doctors’ conclu sions are.” (Nigerians) start the downward spi- ZMZA»OIVPU$H C O A L IT IO N m ocracy even thrugh their pain, fear and suspicion. W e urge the people not to let this alter their quest for dem ocracy and the release o f the rem aining political prisoners.” Rev. Jackson continued, “I f they ral into violence, they will destroy every dem ocratic dream they ever had. Instead they should turn their pain into pow er and not into self- destruction.” An autopsy was perform ed on To B e E qua I A G ear , B y H ugh B. P rice P resident N ational U rban L eague How long does it take for an ethnic group in America to climb out o f poverty .’ And how can we know when significant progress is being made? W hat will the rate o f progress be for African Americans? The answer to that old American question is being fashioned right be fore our eyes these days through the stories o f striving and success Afri can Americans have posted in the three decades since the civil rights triumphs o f the 1960s. The answer is also being crafted b y th e n a tio n ’s - a n d B lack America’s—response to the problems which continue to beset poor black neighborhoods, families, and indi viduals. I was drawn to consider this very broad question when the federal Na tional Center for Health Statistics released its annual study o f births in America earlier this month. Its most surprising finding: The birth rate for unmarried black women, one o f the flashpoints in the debate over race in America, has reached its lowest point in 40 years. According to the federal survey, encompassing 3.9 million births in 1996, the last year for which figures are available, the birth rate for un married black women was 74.4 births per 1,000 women. That is a remark able drop from the peak birth rate reached just nine years ago o f 90.7 per 1,000 unmarried black women. The out-of-wedlock birth rate has declined for all age groups o f black women, federal researchers found; and it comes amid a significant over all downward trend in birth. Fewer babies were bom in 1996 than m any C onsistent M essaqe year since 1987. But black teen girls, until recently, the group with the high est level o f births, showed the most dramatic birth-rate decline. Teen births among African Ameri cans fell by 21 percent between 1991 and 1996, to just over 9 percent o f all black teenage girls, Hispanic-Ameri can teens are now most likely to give birth, although their rates also fell, from nearly 11 percent in 1995 to just over 10 percent in 1996, their first significant drop since 1991. (For all teens, the overall 1996 birth rate was 54.7 for every 1,000 young women ages 15 to 19, down from the 1991 rate o f 62.1) “There’s been no letup, and it’s not been slowing down,” Stephanie J. Ventura, the federal demographer who wrote the report, told the New York Times. “And it’s not ju st forteenagers. For all black women under 30, the declines have been really big.” The figures took much o f the health community by surprise. But demographers and health ex perts said that the good news probably results from a combination o f several different things: the precaution, includ ing both increased use o f contracep tives and abstention from sex, the AIDS epidemic is causing some men and women to take; the impact o f sex edu cation, either within or outside o f schools; and efforts by some organiza tion to encourage abstention or the use o f contraceptives. Dr. Donna E. Shalala, the Secretary o f Health and Human Services, said referring to the decline in the black teen birth rate, “W hat is significant is that these declines are in every state. I give a lot o f credit to the African-American community, which has put out a clear, consistent message from the churches, from the schools, and all sorts o f civic organizations, a drumbeat to young women and young men that they should not become parents until they are truly ready to support a child; that having children too early will limit their options.” That ’ s one o f the signi ficant points to consider about this positive sur prise: the importance o f sending out a clear, consistent message. T h e m e ssa g e th a t has been “beamed” to young people in more intense fashion over the past decade has been to alert them to a vitally important fact o f life: Nearly 80 per cent o f children bom to unwed teen age mothers grow up in poverty. Put positively, the message has urged them to follow three simple steps to give them selves-and their future ch ild ren -a chance to avoid a life o f poverty: First, finish high school. Second, get married before having their first child. And third, hold o ff having that child until they’re over 20 years old themselves, and equipped to provide for their family. The federal statistics indicate that our children are getting the message It’s not being Pollyannish to cel ebrate th at-even as we recognize the need to continue to work to reduce the still unacceptably high out-of-wed lock birth rate. (69.8 percent ofblack children were bom out-of-wedlock in 1996, compared to nearly 22 per cent for non-Hispanic whites, and nearly 41 percent for Hispanics.) We can take heart from Donna Shalala'spoint that teen-age pregnancy is most often a consequence o f a girl’s feeling o f hopelessness about the fu ture. If adolescents-girls and boys- think they have a future, she pointed out, they put o ff having babies Fortunately, there still P rogram s th a t rein fo rce remains a safe haven on your family’s values. We don’t television. We re O PB , and w e’ve think any budding young artist got fu n , n o n v io le n t show s like should be inspired by violence. Barney & Friends.The Puzzle Place D o you? O PB. Part o f a and now A rthur, all part o f the happy childhood for over R eady to Learn Service on O PB. a quarter o f a century. T his is why there ’ s OPB. OPB www.pbs.org The Ready to Learn Service on PBS n bnnight to you in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Its Where You Belong wwte.opb.org ‘J &XP
