Page A8
________ ®he ?°rtlani» ©baeruer
celebrates Black History Month
Black Historu
(Nightclub Stampede Kills 21
CZ
M onth
people
night­ couldn’t breathe.”
I*
°P ‘e in the two-story night-
club when someone released a
Amishoov Blackwell, 30, was
Firefighters responding to chemical spray into the air some­ checking his coat on the second
the scene found a number of time after 2 a.m., officials ini­ floor when people started rush­
locked or blocked doors and tially estimated. They could not ing past him. The flow of the
used sledgehammers and pry immediately say what the legal crowd pushed him back down
bars to open some of them so capacity o f the building was.
the stairs and he fell on top of
that people could be rescued,
“It appears a disturbance from several people, he said. He was
Fire C om m issioner Jam es within led to a mass chaos where trapped on top of the others until
Joyce said at a late morning people headed for the door. firefighters rescued him about
briefing.
Most of the fatalities appear to 30 minutes later.
“There are people trying to have been crushed or had inju­
“It wasn’t nothing but two
get out that could not get out,” ries due to suffocation,” said girls fighting,” Blackwell said.
Joyce said. “ L ocked and police Officer Ozzie Rodriguez. “W hy’d they have to spray
blocked doors are a contribut­
The club is located in the M ace?”
ing factor. We can’t explain Near South Side, a commercial
H ours after the disaster,
how management or owner­ district near the McCormick C h iq u ita R hodes was still
ship would allow that.”
Place convention center.
searching for her 19-year-old
The locked doors are a fire
Cory Thomas, 33, went to the sister, Charita.
code violation, Joyce said.
club to pick up two friends. As
“I’ve been to every emer­
Twenty-one people were he waited outside, he saw people gency room,” Rhodes said. She
confirmed dead in the tragedy inside the club start to back up was told by officials to return to
at the Epitome Night Club, against the glass front door.
the medical examiner’s office
Chicago Police spokesman Pat
“You could see a mound of around noon, when the bodies
Camden said. Hospitals re­ people. People were stacking would be available for relatives
ported treating at least 50 for on top of each other, screaming to identify.
everything from critical inju­ and gagging, I guess from the
She said Charita was holding
ries to asthma-like symptoms. pepper spray. The door got onto a friend, but they were
E v ery b o d y sm ash ed , blocked because there were too sep a rated in the cru sh . A
peo p le c ry in g , c o u ld n ’t many people stacked up against firefighter found Charita’s cell
b re a th e ,” said c lu b -g o e r it,” he said.
phone, she added.
Reggie Clark. “Two ladies next
“I saw them taking out a preg­
The Rev. Jesse Jackson ar­
to me died. A guy under me nant woman,” Thomas said. rived at the scene early Monday
passed out.”
“She was in bad shape. I saw at and urged community members
W itnesses reported that least 10 lifeless bodies.”
to help each other.
panic broke out after the guards
Kristy Mitchell, 22, was one
“We are asking area minis­
used pepper spray or Mace to of the people trampled on the ters to go to hospitals,” Jackson
break up a fight, but authorities stairway.
said. “My people are over­
did not immediately confirm
“People were stomping my whelmed with the suddenness
that.
legs,” she said. “When they of this. At a time like this, you
There were more than 1,500 pulled me up, I was dizzy and I have to lean on your faith.”
co
n tin u ed ±
continued
Robert S. Abbott fought a long
battle to establish the Chicago
"Defender." His commitment to
su cceed with the city's only
"Black" newspaper drove him to
sell the first editions door-to door.
Did you Know?
Questions
1.
Six of our nation’s Presidents were part black. Can you name any o f them ?
2.
Nine African Americans have won Nobel Prizes. W ho were some o f them?
3.
There are many m usicians, singers, and songw riters ot all races, creeds and colors
throughout the world today. Who was the first black recording artist in America?
4.
Were the first black people in America slaves?
5.
W hen did the first Africans arrive in America? How did they get here and did they came
straight from Africa?
6.
Who was the first African American to die while fighting for Am erica’s freedom?
7.
Was the President of the United States really arrested by ablack police officer for speeding?
8.
Did a form er black slave really live to an age o f 137?
9.
One story tells of a Northern black seaman stealing aConfederate submarine in 1862. Could
this possibly be true?
10. Are black slaves from the South really responsible for bringing rice to our dinner tables?Union
officers promoted Small toacaptain, made him the commanderof the sub, and sent him back
toCharleston to attack the very port where submarine was originally docked. The attack was
successful and Robert Small eventually became a Brigadier General in the Union Army.
Answers:
2. Nobel Prizes are awarded each
year to people who have made valu­
able contributions to the “good of
hum anity.” Dr. Ralph J. Bunche
became the first black person to win
a Nobel for his work as a United
Nations mediator, which lead to an
armistice agreement between Ar­
abs and Israel in 1949. Other blacks
to receive Nobel honors were Albert
JohnLuthuliin 1960; Martin Luther
King Jr. in 1964; Sir William Arthur
Lewis in 1979; Bishop Desmond
Tutu in 1984; Wole Soyinka in 1986;
D erek W olcott in 1992; Toni
M orrison in 1993; and Nelson
M andela in 1993. Toni Morrison
was the first black woman to re­
ceive this prestigious award.
3. There were actually two Afri­
can American men who recorded
several records for the old Victor
Talking Machine in 1900.
4. People often think all black
people who came to America hun­
dreds o f years ago were slaves.
Actually this is untrue. The first
Africans in America were inden­
tured servants. Indentured ser­
vants would work for three to seven
years to pay for their trip to America
and their living expenses while here,
after which time they were set free.
Many poor white Europeans also
Ralph J. B u n ch e w a s an
Am erican diplom at a n d political
s c ie n tis t who b e c a m e th e first
black p erso n to win a N obel
Prize.
worked as indentured servants as a
way to get to America where they
would eventually buy their own
property and start a farm.
5. 1619. The first Africans in the
colonies appeared mysteriously on
In an effort to further improve
service to the Portland-metro area
and its citizens, American M edi­
cal Response has developed a
new “Bariatric” ambulance to
better meet the transportation
needs of patients weighing up to
1,000 pounds.
The word bariatric stems from
the Greek word barros, which
translates to heavy or large.
Standard equipment in the am ­
bulance industry is pressed to
accommodate these larger and
heavier patients. This has been a
potential safety hazard for pa­
tients and the crews who trans­
port them. AMR developed this
new system to significantly de­
crease the risk, and increase the
comfort and dignity of these pa­
tients.
The new ambulance is larger,
providing additional room for the
patient and crew in the back of
the unit. It will carry a flat cot that
6. During the “Boston Massacre”
in 1770, at the b eg in n in g o f
America’s Revolutionary War with
the British, a black man named
Crispus Attucks was not only the
first black man to die in the war, he
was the first American o f any color
to die a war hero.
7. This is true. In the late 19*h cen­
tury a black policeman in Washing­
ton D.C. named Officer William
West saw a speeding horse and
b u g g y d a n g e ro u sly zo om ing
continued
fr
om F
ron t
from
Front
New Ambulance for Heavy Lifting
a Dutch boat called a frigate. They
were traded for much needed food
and the boat with its white crew
sailed away, leaving the Africans in
a strange land. The black men be­
came indentured servants. After
they worked their way to freedom
many got jobs in cities working for
white people, bought a home, and
started a family. Some began farm­
ing.
1. Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jack-
son, Abraham Lincoln, Warren G.
H a rd in g , an d D w ig h t D.
Eisenhower. Lincoln’s first term
vice-president, Hannibal Hamlin
was also part black. It is also known
that Calvin Coolidge was part In­
dian. Now some historians believe
that he may have had black ances­
try too.
on page A9
is wider than a standard ambulance
gurney.
AMR also has designed alumi­
num ramps to use when loading or
unloading the patient. These ramps
will allow for a smoother and more
com fortable lift for the patient.
The ram ps will also prevent the
crew s from needing to m anually
lift the patient, w hich could po­
tentially risk unnecessary inju­
ries. A lso on the unit is a spe­
cially designed w inch system to
help the crew s load and unload
the patient. This will reduce the
strain on the crew s and act as a
safety to prevent the gurney from
getting out o f control.
AMR anticipates running up to
two calls per day in the Portland-
metro area with the new Bariatric
Unit.
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