50¿ years Raising Your Child’s Child Grandparents fight costly legal system »f •'community service See story, page A6 <0 ja 'City of Roses’ Established in 1970 www.portlandobserver.com Committed to Cultural Diversity Volume XXXV, Number 14 Wednesday • April 13. 2005 T,Weekin TheReview Racial Gaps Endure Urban League measures inequities Clinton Pledges AIDS Help Former President Bill Clinton announced Monday that his found-ation’s HIV/AIDS Ini tiative is pledging $10 million to deliver treatment to 10,000 children in at least 10 countries by the end of the year, part of an effort to reach more than 60,000 youngsters by the end of next year. Man Releases Girls A man wielding two knives pulled four girls off a public bus in northwest Germany on Tuesday and held them hos tage in a cellar for hours before setting them free unharmed, authorities said. Collapse Leaves 30 Dead Rescuers digging through the concrete debris o f a collapsed Bangladesh sweater factory heard survivors pleading for help Tuesday, a day after the nine-story building toppled when a boi ler exploded, killing at least 30 people and trapping 200. Rescuers were hopeful that more lives could be saved. Tyson to Return to Ring Mike Tyson is returning to the ring. The former heavyweight champion will fight for the first time in nearly a year, fac ing journeyman Kevin McBride on June 11 at Washington’s MCI Center. The 38-year-old Tyson is 50-5 with two no contests and 44 knockouts. He lost two of his last three fights. Disgraced Cardinal Law Leads Pope Mass Cardinal Bernard Law, whose failures to stop sexually abu sive priests sparked the worst crisis in American church his tory, led a Mass for thousands mourning Pope John Paul II at St. Peter’s Basilica on Monday after police whisked away a victim protesting outside. h c o 0« 1» o o 2J i » r- Ê'- □ » — ó C o E ■g - 1 50 ¿ 2 ! t OS O r C o 5jj 3 LLÌ photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver Cathy Galbraith helps preserves the history o f Portland's pioneers, including African-Americans, at the new Architectural Heritage Center at 701 S.E. Grand Ave. History Center Opens African-American artifacts included by L ee P erlman T he P ortland O bserver historic artifacts that include 300 stained glass window, 400 doorknobs, 1,200 pieces o f hardware, 1,100 light fixtures, wallpapers and murals. M uch o f this inventory was recovered from buildings dem olished in the old Albina neighbor hood by foundation founders Jerry Bosco and Ben Milligan. Not everything in the collection is catalogued as being from the African- Am erican com m unity, but a few things are. Foundation executive director Cathy Galbraith says the collection includes the tile floor from the defunct Albina Bank, once located on North Russell Street. Bosco and M illigan also m anaged to During the heyday o f urban renewal, m ore than 4 0 0 A frican -A m e rica n hom es were taken dow n to m ake room for w hat is now the Rose Quarter. A nother 280 were destroyed to expand Em anuel Hospital. Yet more were lost to m ake way for the 1-5 freeway. Although the hom es them selves are gone, bites and pieces can be found in the B osco-M illigan F oundation’s A r chitectural Heritage Center. The center, housed in a newly re stored historic buildingat701S.E Grand Ave., officially opened last month. It is the repository o f a collection of salvage a balcony, once “reserved for colored people” during tim es o f segre g a tio n , a n d tw o b e n c h e s fro m dow ntow n’s Fox T heater before it was dem olished to m ake way for an office building. The preservation activity continues to this day. “People call us up all the tim e,” Galbraith says “ You can ’t believe the extent o f what people offer us.” On the other hand, much important material has been lost, and this trend continues as well. Recently the Albina Christian Cen- continued (AP) — Though income and education gaps between black and white Americans have narrowed significantly, black house holds still have barely one-tenth the net worth of white households, according to a new National Urban League report. M id d le c la ss b la c k s ’ te n u o u s hold on prosperity reflects racial dis crimination in hous ing and o th e r w e a lth - b u ild in g arenas - both his torically and now - and suggests that today’s civil rights Urban League battles are largely President Marc e c o n o m ic , said Morial Marc H. Morial, Ur ban League president. “Since the 1960s, one of the success sto ries is the growth of the African-American middle class - those who are college-edu cated, participating throughout the Ameri can economy and growing in stature and influence,” Morial said. “But what we face is that these successes of 40 years are being eroded. The danger is the great backslide that can occur.” "gte, “The State of Black America 2(X)5,” re leased April 6, comes as the Urban League also calls on Congress to assemble a bipar tisan commission on economic equality and advancement. Analyzing a broad range of government statistics, the report compares life quality for blacks and whites in dozens of categories related toeconomics, health, education, civic participation and social justice. Taking the whole picture into account, the report pro duced a measure of blacks overall well-be ing, which it described as barely three-fourths that of whites - a ratio that was unchanged on page AS continued 'y f on page A3 Directing ‘Rocky Horror’ at Clinton Street Tony Burgess throws a party each Saturday night by N icole H ooper T he P ortland O bserver Every Saturday night, young people dressed in lingerie and cor sets venture to the Clinton Street Theater. Many are underage and parents’ join them. For the past 27 years, every Saturday at midnight, the low-budget film “Rocky Horror Picture Show” has been a staple for the small southeast Portland land mark. The premise of the show has both sexual overtones and science fic tion. Actors reenact scenes while the movie serves as a backdrop. The audience comes prepared with props. It attracts the geeks, the chic and so- called virgins — the reference to first time attendees of the show. The vir gins are branded with lipstick; agiant V on their forehead so there is no escaping the initiation that awaits them. Somewhere in all this madness is Tony Burgess, a young black man with deep dimples and an affection ate smile whom regulars seein to worship, after all he is the director of photo by N icole H ooper /T he P ortland O bserver Tony Burgess commands a large audience each Saturday night at the Clinton Street Theater in southeast Portland directing live theater during the showing o f the classic movie “Rocky Horror Picture Show. ’ i the live action. Burgess has been involved with the Rocky Horror Picture Show since the age of 14. He has been on stage as the lead role as Dr. Frank- n-furter (Played by Tim Curry in the 1975 movie) and has served as mas ter of ceremonies for the stage pro duction o f the classic in California. He has directed for the local en semble since early 2004. By a unani mous vote, cast members urged Burgess to direct them. But it took them three times tocon vince him to take on the position. Before his leadership. Rocky Horror wasn ’ t commandi ng the large audience that Clinton Street needed. Closing the theater was a consider ation. But after Burgess put his magical spin on the show, the lines are now down the block. As a volunteer, Burgess knows what he is doing every Saturday night for the rest of the year. For him, the experience has been stress ful but fun. The compensation o f a “job well done" is sufficient for him. Burgess believes he and the ac tors have played a huge role in bringing people back to the theater. He also enjoys the diversity o f the continued on page AS t