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.