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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 2003)
Comm itted to Cultural Diversity o ni ni u n it y a I e il cl a l* Cä Colors of Fall Learn about trees and shrubs with the best autumn colors from 9:30 | a.m. through noon Oct. 18 at the Hoyt Arboretum. $10. To regis- ter.call 503-823-3601. Chimps Gone Wild Jane Goodall brings enthusiasts closer to nature with “Wi Id Chim panzees,” from Oct. 17 through May at the Omnimax Theater, 1945 Se W ater Ave. Tickets are $8.50. For m ore inform ation, v isit | Doors of Creativity Northwest Medical Teams spon sors the multi-media exhibit “W in- dows o f Need, Doors o f Hope" from Nov. 12 through 18 at the Doubletree Inn, LloydCenter. For information, call 503-624-1000or Former Ambassador Speaks Andrew Young, a U.S. am bassa dor on the forefront o f social ac tivism, will speak at Lewis & Clark College at 7 p.m. Oct. 21 at Agnes Flanagan Chapel, 615 SW Pa- | latine Hill Road. Ticketsare $5 in advance. For more information, call 503-768-7082. Planting Neighborhoods F riends o f T rees announces neighborhood tree plantings be ginning with the Rose City Park/ Roseway neighborhood on Nov. 15. Those interested in leading volunteers should attend train- ingat8a.rn.N ov. !5 atS t.R o se o f Lima Catholic Church, 2727 NE 54'*’ Ave. For more information, visit www friendsoftrees.org. Beyond the Ribbons The Breast Cancer Radio Arts Project presents a townhall dis-1 cussion and performance “Beyond the Pink Ribbon" from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 23. Formore information, visit www.breastcancerproject.org. www.portlandobserver.com ( klobciO H. 2003 A Tool in Wellness Senior day care services expanded Volunteers o f America has received a distinction, allow ing it to expand adult day care services to seniors and clients with disabilities. The social service agency has been accredited by the C om m ission on A ccreditation R ehabilitation Facilities to offer A dult Day Services program s at three o f its facilities, including the M arie Smith C enter, serving north and northeast Portland. “We are extrem ely proud to be the first agency in the state to receive CA RF accreditation,” said Kay Toran, V olunteers o f A m erica Oregon president and ch ief ex ecutive officer. “T his action positions our A dult Day Services program s as role m odels for the industry. It also provides assurance to fam ilies and individuals that our program s and services have met national standards o f perform ance.” The certification also means that people with long term health care insurance may now have an easier tim e utilizing this insurance. A dult Day Services is a largely underutilized tool in long-term care, often because w ithout accreditation, many insurance com panies have been reluctant to cover its cost. At VOA, adult day care participants come fo ra variety ' S en io rs work their m in d a n d b ody b y participating in a variety o f a ctivities a t th e adult day care program a t th e Marie S m ith C enter on North Albina A venue. o f reasons ranging from socialization and reduction o f isolation to respite for w orking caregivers in need o f a safe place for their loved one during the day. A ll the p a rtic ip a n ts receiv e lo v in g care, c o m p re h en siv e care p la n n in g to m eet th e ir in d iv id u al need s, a w ide ran g e o f a c tiv itie s, d aily ex e rcise , so c ia liz a - tio n , n u tritio u s lunch and sn ack s, n u rsin g se rv ic es, p erso n al ca re assista n c e and o p p o rtu n itie s to c o n trib u te to th e ir c o m m u n ity . For more inform ation, visit w w w .V O A O R.org. | I I | Book Renews Interest in Oregon Racism Author examines deadly attacks and skinhead movement by R oger E iss I RS The '57 report cited the fact that 90 percent o f Portland real estate agents would not rent or sell homes outside the Albina neighborhood to blacks. v One night in November 1988, a group o f neo-Nazi “skinheads" attacked three young Ethiopians on a southeast Portland street. Cultural Giggles One o f the Ethiopians, Mulugeta Seraw, was Naomi Morena will present her I bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat. In first public reading from “Let’s | a plea bargain, the assailant admitted gui It to Talk about Mexicans," drawing a racially-motivated attack, falling under an attention to Hispanic Heritage anti-hate statute. Month. The performance begins Not long after, the Montgomery, Ala.- at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 14 at the PCC based Southern Poverty Law Center sued Cascade Campus cafeteria, 705 Tom Metzger, head o f the California-based N. Killingsworth. Formoreinfor- J White Aryan Resistance, contending that mation, call 503-238-1672. M e tzg e r c o n trib u te d to th e v io le n t radicalization o f skinheads and created the Splndoctors Unspun brought into Oregon. atm osphere that led to Seraw ’s death. Elinor Langer 's A H undred Little Hitlers Radical Women hosts a work Despite these laws and social exclusion, Metzger was found liable for Seraw’s death ta k e s a look a t th e sk in h e a d m o ve sh o p d isc u s s in g th e Bush a few hundred blacks lived in Oregon, shar and and lost his home as partial payment o f m e n t a n d th e larger h isto ry o f racism adm inistration's latest call for | ing a section o f downtown Portland with the the settlement. in Oregon. funding in the war on terrorism, equally despised Chinese. Their jobs were Oregonians breathed a collective sigh o f and the strain it will put on work relief. “I f s not us— it’s them!” Out-of-state myth had to be punctured and the truth be manual and unwanted by whites-boot-black- ing women, at 7 p.m. Oct. 8.819 N. ing, stable cleaning, house-boying and other agitators were responsible for this abnormal told. Killingsworth. Formore informa dead-end occupations. In the early 1920’s and atypical crime on our progressive state. Oregon has a history o f racism which has tion, call 503-240-4462. Elinor Langer’s book, “ 100 Little Hitlers,” long simmered underground and Langer the Ku Klux Kian (against “Koons, Kikes depicts the prominent role racism has had in wanted to bring it to the surface. In 1850, and Katholics” ) was active throughout the High Energy state. In the decade o f the ’20s the states The Community Energy Project | Oregon’s history from the state’s earliest only 50 blacks lived in the Oregon territory. days, and suggests that Metzger’s organi When admitted to the union, the state o f black population stayed unchanged while holds a series o f free workshops zation probably had little influence on Oregon had a black exclusion law in its white population grew by 14,000. to help make consumers energy Seraw’s death. Work in the Kaiser shipyards briefly made conscious. The project also in constitution; blacks who stayed in the state Admittedly not an expert on racism or beyond a specified period o f time were sub a difference during World W ar II, raising cludes weatherizing workshops Portland’s black population to 25,000 for a throughout October. For more j law, Langer learned by living the events, ject to lashing. At the same time, Oregon being at the hearings and trials, and experi joined the free states by excluding slavery. brief time. The w ar's end and the Vanport information, call 503-284-6827. encing the interface between races. Inspired No sign o f progressive spirit, this action was flood, which cost many blacks their homes, Green Walks to further research, she concluded that a taken to assure that blacks would not be reduced the city’sblack population to 10,000. Discover Portland's green space from lOto 11 a m . Saturdays with guided tours by park volunteers. On Oct. 11, meet at Peninsula Park, next to sunken rose garden. On. Nov. 1, meet at W hitaker | The Oregon Zoo has collected threatened west servation program scientist. Ponds visitor center. ern pond turtles from theColumbia River Gorge and The turtles are in trouble due to habitat degrada Blacks were later displaced three times by/ urban renewal projects (Memorial Coliseum. 1-5 and Emmanuel Hospital). City Club Reports in 1945,1957,1968 and 1991 documented the plight o f Portland blacks and brought limited change. The ’57 report cited the fact that 90 percent o f Port land real estate agents would not rent or sel I homes outside the Albina neighborhood to blacks. Blacks remained concentrated in Albina, with a population density six times higher than the city average. A state fair employment act brought little change. Portland’s police force was 94 per cent white and engaged in a series o f inci dents (a possum thrown from a police car onto the porch o f a black family; responding to a choking incident with the motto, “D on’t choke 'em, smoke ’em”) that left blacks con vinced that police officers were their en emies. Portland was one o f the whitest met ropolitan areas in the United States. Conditions improved significantly as a result o f the national civil rights movement and laws, but this also generated the neo- Nazi “skinhead” movement between 1985 and 1988 in reaction to black gains. A seg ment o f Portland youth embraced this doc trine. On the night in question, a group o f Portland skinheads, drunk, returned to their car to find that another car blocked theirs. Three Ethiopian youth, including Seraw, were in the other car. An argument ensued, and Seraw was killed. The story was simple and straightforward in initial hearings— an alter cation between two groups o f intoxicated young males. continued on page A7 Zoo Will Raise Rare Turtles will be rearing them until they grow large enough to The IFCC offers Life Movement | fend for themselves. Once grown, they will be released back into the wild. dance classes and workshops. Working collaboratively with state and federal O ur B reathing B ody is on O ct. wildlife officials, the zoo “head-starts" newly 11 and T ouch S tones is on hatched turtles gathered from wild sites. The turtles N ov. 1 and 8. All w o rk sh o p s | are nurtured for about 10 months until they grow are betw een 10a.m . and I p.m. large enough to avoid being eaten by non-native at the d an ce stu d io , 5340 N. bullfrogs and large mouth bass. I n te r s ta te A ve. W o rk sh o p s j “Giving young turtles a head-start during the prices range between $45 and $60. first months o f their lives, gives them a real edge,” To register, cal1503-284-1908 explains Dr. David Shepherdson, Oregon Zoo con Moving Moments tion and disease. The biggest threat, however, is bullfrogs. Pound east o f the Rockies, this non- indigenous frog has thrived throughout the west, driving pond turtles and a host o f other small, vulnerable aquatic species to the brink o f extinction. The newest releases bring the total number ofhead- started turtles to more than 700. Scientists tracking the released turtles estimate that 95 percent o f the turtles released back to the Columbia Gorge have survived. Oregon Zoo is a service o f Metro. The Zoo is committed to conservation with a number o f projects aiding local species. A threa ten ed w estern p o n d turtle from th e Columbia River Gorge.
