Page A4 June 20, 2001 <Dp? JlorUaub (Dbeeruer Opinion articles do not necessarily rejlect or represent the views o f i l,v P o rtla n d (Dliarruer CIjc p u rttan i» (Dbseruer Lifting Old Glory to Celebrate Freedom USPS 959-680 Established 1970 STA FF E d it o r P C in h ie f Support for Racial Profiling Bill Youth Ambassadors of Vancouver, a group sponsored by the Education Service District, proudly hold the stars and stripes during Flag Day ceremonies Thursday at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Reserve. The activities also included a special performance by the Heritage High School Band and a rousing rendition of “You’re a Grand old Flag." An Oregon senate bill in volving racial profiling was considered deadjust two short weeks ago. It never got out of committee. But the Portland Branch o f the NAACP helped reversed those fortunes last W ednesday when the civil rights group became involved in the issue at the request o f a few state legislators. "I am glad to announce that the Sen ate Bill 415 was passed today with “no opposition,” Port land NAACP President Roy Jay said. Jay, along with Portland NAACP Committee Chair Rev. Ronald Williams and the new incoming president o f the Port land State University Chapter , u b l is h e r Charles H. Washington P hoto by M ark W ashing - ton /T he P orti and O b server E d it o r Larry J. Jackson, Sr. B o f NAACP met with Sen. John Minnis in a closed door meet ing to discuss the merits o f the bill. Minnis, who is also a Portland police officer, listened carefully, Jay said. The re sults were that Minnis pio neered the bill through the sen ate floor. Sen. Avel Gordly, D- Portland, was extremely ex cited. “Thank You NAACP for be ing there in such a professional m anner,” G ordly said. Jay added, “We want to also per sonally thank Senator Gordly, Senator Minnis and others for their leadership in passing this important bill. This is just the first step, but it will help in our quest for racial justice.. M u s in e s s anager Gary Ann Taylor Somebody Ought To Say Something L o o kin g ^ W h a t Part-tim e jo b w ill p a y you °"e x c e I I e n I part time JQg9 up to $ 7 0 0 .0 0 p e r m o n t h fo r Ohly tw o d ays w o rth o f w o rk? 11 y L. K. Hass A sst . P ublisher Doing The 'Write' Thing Michael Leighton C opy E d it o r Joy Ramos C r e a t iv e D ir e c t o r Robert Parker 4 7 4 7 NE M artin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Portland, OR 9 7 2 1 1 5 0 3 -2 8 8 -0 0 3 3 Fax 5 0 3 -2 8 8 -0 0 1 5 e-mail news® portlandobserver.com subsc><ption@poftlandotsenerxom ads@portlandobserver.com P ostmaster : Send address changes to Portland Observer PO Box 31 3 7 Portland, OR 9 7 2 0 8 Periodical Postage paid in Portland, OR Subscriptions are $ 6 0 .0 0 per year D E A D L IN E S FOR ALL SUBMITTED METERIALS: ARTICLES: Monday by 5 p . m . ADS: Friday by noon The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will beretum edif accom panied by a sel f addressed envelope. All created design display ads be come the sole property o f the new s paper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage with out the wri tten consent o f the general manager, unless the client has pur chased the com position o f such ad. © 1996 THE PO R TLA N D O B SERVER. ALL RIGHTS RE SERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOIEORINPARTWITHOLT PERMISSIOMS PROHIBITED. The Portland O bserver-O regon’s Oldest Multicultural Publication-is a member o f the National Newspaper A ssociation-Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Represen tative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc, New York. NY. and The West Coast Black Publishers Association • Serv ing Portland and Vancouver There are m any challenges to b e ing a writer. Y our w ords can provoke thought, incite action or influence others. They can hurt or help; clarify an issue o rclo u d it up. Consequently, every w riter faces great responsibili ties — especially if you ’ re only one o f a handful o f Black colum nists in the state. L e s s th a n tw o m onths ago, such a colum nist w rote two stories in a leading d a ily lo c a l p a p e r, w here the pot shots w ere h ea rd aro u n d town and are still reso nating — not favor ably, particularly in the Black community. There w as a com Lydia K. Bass bined total o f m ore than one thousand painful to read w ords, that d id n ’t enlighten or help. It d id n ’t even m ake for enjoyable reading, although m uch o f the prose w as a rose, it sim ply was too thorny. Both stories dealt w ith the current Oregon chapterofthe NAACP, which w as founded in 1909, m aking it the oldest chapter w est o f the M issis sippi. N ow , as if reading about Big P im p in ’, p ro cessed h a ir, “hym ietow n”, “niglets”, and scaring w hite folk w eren’t enough, there was the creative ruse o f a low scale ‘Orson W ells like e-m ail’ from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, that left som e people actu ally questioning it’s authenticity!? I often wonder, w hen I read things like that, w hat are people thinking? W hat im pressions do they really get? W hy do they believe it? W hat pur pose is being served in w riting som e thing like that? Is there som ething positive in it? And if there isn’t, “Then w hy w rite it?” Especially given the clim ate o f today and the ongoing declarations for cultural aw areness and sensitivity. This is not to slam the writer alone; she sim ply subm itted it. W hy d id n ’t som eone stop and say: “ H old the presses.” D id n ’t anyone see som e thing w rong? A nd w hat about the people w ho, if even for a m om ent, believed the ‘Jackson e-m ail’ was authentic? N ow th e re’s a com m en tary in that about p eo p le’s long held, e m b e d d e d s te r e o ty p e s . T hat story sim ply fed and p erp e tu ate d m ore o f the same. W hen a leading w eekly alternative new spaper, ran a cartoon o f the Pope call ing him self a “Rock and Roll ‘N -g g -r” last year, m any people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds w ere incensed and said so. The African-American com m unity is a little different w hen it com es to our own. (Herein lies another story. . ,)H ow - ever, ju st because you aren ’ t hearing our voices d o esn ’t m ean it w as w ell received. N ow , the bigger concern to m any is the issue of: D oes that k ind o f a story by a Black journalist, som ehow legitim ize such preceding and suc ceeding stories? A nd i f it does, then ‘S om ebody really O ught T o Say S o m ething’ in view o f the fact that it is far from okay. N ot m any ‘o f u s ’ are given op p o r tunities in the m edia. W hen w e are, w e should not fail to accurately p o r tray our com m unity o r slow any progress that w e are m aking. N ot to say that w e sh o u ld n ’t print the new s, but should w e print it in a fashion that gives people som ething to laugh at and m akes us look like clow ns? M aybe ‘w e’ need to be a little m ore careful how we write about our people, because w hen others see us w riting things like that, som eone is bound to see it as a license to do likew ise. 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