April 23. 2003
(Elje Jîortlanô (Bbseruer
Page A3
‘Fallen Warriors’ Honored
F ire B ureau
S till D o m in a te d
by W h ite M ales
p rio rity sin ce the m id-1990s.
W omen and m inorities m ake up
resp o n d e n ts said they d o n ’t 18 percent o f the bureau.
think a diverse work force will
"It w ould be easy to consider
j help the bureau serve the public this report an indictm ent o f the
any better.
m anagem ent," the report said, “or
F irefighters also said they to see it as a docum ent that seeks
| d o n ’t think the bureau provides to blame w hite m ales for the prob-
; fair career and
__________ ____________
lem s and issues
d e v e lo p m e n t
that exist. But
i o p p o rtu n ities,
that ov ersim p li­
j e s p e c ia lly to
fication m isses
women and mi­
the p o in t.”
norities.
The Portland
FireChiefEd
Fire Bureau, "like
W ils o n sa id
every other his­
i the survey re­
torically homog­
su lts d id not
en o u s p r o fe s ­
surprise him.
sion, faces chal­
“ It would be
lenges in diversi­
naive to think
fying its w ork
w ith 750 em ­
force, a n d ... mir­
ployees, repre­
rors the stresses
s e n tin g fo u r - Excerpt from a report on sexism
and strains going
g e n e r a t i o n s and racism in the Portland Are
on all over the
Department
w ith different ______________
country," the re­
values . . . that
port said.
w e’re not going to have prob­
Fire Com missioner Erik Sten
lem s,” he said. "W hat w e’re try­ complimented the bureau for the
ing to do here is ju st change the study.
culture. The first part o f chang­
“They’re not hiding from the
ing our culture is to identify problem ," Sten said. “The cultural
w hat it is."
assessment shows some good faith
The bureau has m ade diver­ and guts on their part to have this
sifying its work force more o f a all aired out."
continued
from Front
They are
heroes and
heroines,
but thev are
also human.
_____ H
A historic photo o f the 1964 Pacific Northwest Championship Team features many o f the boxers from Knott Street,
“I told him, ‘You can try to take 202 to 165 pounds and won all four
my money, and you ’ 11 probably beat o f his fights in the 1964 Pacific
geles way before that."
me up but it isn’t going to be easy,” ’ Northwest Championships in Se­
Rahsaan started boxing in 1956 he said. “ He didn’t lay a finger on attle.
. toprotecthim selffrom abully who me and never asked for my money
So Rahsaan stuck with the team,
would steal his money before mov­ again.”
under the direction ofCoach Chuck
ies at the former Egyptian Theater.
With his mission accomplished, Lincoln, that had ju st two years
Every time Rahsaan had his money Rahsaan laid down his boxing before taken home two gold med­
stolen, he would have to find some­ gloves until 1963 when Joe Hopkins als, three silver medals and the Best
thing to entertain him self during needed a sparring partner to train Tearn honor at the National Cham ­
.th e duration o f the movie. One day him for the nationals. Rahsaan re- pionships.
his dad asked
“We were like
him to summa­
ro c k
s ta r s ,”
rize the flick and
Rahsaan said o f
R a h saa n got
the Knott Street
caught in a lie.
B oxers. “ For a
His father gave
town like Portland
him a whooping
with a relatively
he
w o u ld n ’t
small black popu­
soon forget.
la tio n , e v e r y ­
“ I re a liz e d
where we traveled
- Former boxer Halim Rahsaan
th a t sin c e I
____________
_______
w e had n o to ri­
couldn’t beat up
ety.”
my dad. I’d better learn to defend members when he made Hopkins,
Rahsaan said that while the team
m yself from that bully,” he said.
the top middleweight on the west rarely socialized outside o f prac­
So he went down to Knott Street coast, upset because H opkins tices, his fellow boxersexemplified
and signed up for a novice tourna­ couldn't hit him.
what it meant to be a unit during the
ment for fighters with zero to six
The experience made Rahsaan amateurboxingseason. Whilemany
fights under their belts. Rahsaan start thinking about the upcoming people think o f boxing as an indi­
won all four o f his fights. The next Olympics. He wore a rubber frog vidual sport, Rahsaan insists oth­
time he saw the bully he refused to suit, ran every morning and trained erwise. He said the team was com-
hand over his money.
every night to drop his weight from
continued
on p age A8
continued
from Front
We were like rock stars.
Everywhere we traveled
we had notoriety.
1
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