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May 11,2005
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P hoto by N icole H oopper /T he P ortland O bserver
Melanie Dixon (left), the PCC student director o f legislative affairs, discusses a rally trip to the State Legislature to advocate for
college funding with another PCC student.
Student Fights for College Funding
continued
from Metro
mom as a role model.
“My daughter needs to realize
that as a black woman she is smart
and needs to learn the importance
o f giving back to the community,”
said Dixon.
«
3
In 1993, Dixon opted for a GED
because high school w asn’t im
portant to her. She was more con
cerned about what was “going
on in the streets.” Now Dixon has
a 3.2 grade point average in c o l
lege and m any opportunities are
in her future.
____
el
“M elanie has proven to every
one that she com es into contact
with ju st how ready she was to
return to school, take on a leader
ship role and make significant
changes at Portland Com m unity
C ollege,” said Kendi Esary, stu
dent leadership coordinator and
D ixon’s mentor.
Dixon is graduating from PCC in
June and will attend Portland State
University in the fall. As a com m u
nication major, she believes she
will be well equipped foracareeras
a motivational speaker or news re
porter.
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O bservador
(AP) — It took just hours for
Jennifer W ilbanks’ story to dis
solve, and until Thursday for her to
apologize. It turns out the runaway
bride-to-be had not been kidnapped
— much less by a gun-wielding
Hispanic.
But among minorities, a white
w om an’s tale o f being victimized
by a threatening man o f color is
unlikely to fade quickly, partly be
cause it’s happened before and taps
into powerful stereotypes rooted
in painful history.
“This speaks to how Latinos are
perceived in society,” said Lisa
Navarette, spokeswoman for the
National Council of La Raza in
Washington D.C. “Americans only
know minority communities, par
ticu larly L atino com m unities,
through stereotypes, through im
ages in the media. If people keep
being portrayed as criminals — as
undocumented immigrants or crimi
nals or gang members — that’s
what we tend to believe.”
Wilbanks was believed missing
when she vanished days before
she was to be married in a 600-guest
affair in Duluth, Ga., population
22,(XX). On April 29 she claimed that
she had been kidnapped in Atlanta
by a Hispanic man and a white
woman with a handgun, a story that
Jennifer Wilbanks
quickly unraveled.
Such racial hoaxes are actually
Her admission that she had run
away, overwhelmed by wedding not rare, said Katheryn Russell-
p re ssu re s, p ro m p te d p ro te sts Brown, a law professor at the Uni
among local and national Hispanic versity of Florida, who wrote “The
Color of Crime,” a book document
leaders.
At one point, a Hispanic leader ing 67 such cases that occurred
not only demanded an apology but between 1987 and 1996.
“The majority of perpetrators
said she should be made to perform
community service in a Hispanic were someone white falsely accus
neighborhood. Now, Georgia au ing someone black,” Russell-Brown
thorities are debating whether to said. “You typically don’t see the
Hispanic criminal in terms of a hoax
prosecute or sue her.
Santana Honored at Latin Awards
TU
(A P)— After more than 30 years
in the music business, 36 albums
and eight Grammy Awards, Carlos
Santanacan call himself a BMI icon.
The virtuoso guitarist known for
his passionate, energetic rhythms
received the special honor at the
12th annual BMI Latin Awards last
month in Las Vegas.
Santana joined past honorees
James Brown. Brian Wilson, Dolly
P arto n , Isaac H ayes and Van
Morrison.
Emilio Estefan and Latin pop star
Estefano shared the songwriter of
the year award.
Carlos Santana
Estefan, co-founder of the M i
ami Sound Machine and husband
o f singer Gloria Estefan, was hon
ored for his work on C ristian
Castro’s “No Hace Falta,” Shalim’s
“Se Me Olvido Tu Nombre” and
Victor M anuelle's“TengoG anas.”
Colombian rocker Juanes won
song of the year for “Fotografia,” a
duet with Nelly Furtado. The hit is
from the nine-time Latin Grammy
winner's multiplatinum album, “Un
Dia Normal.”
The awards recognized the past
year's most performed Latin songs
on U.S. radio and television.
Goldman Prize Honors Mexican Farmer
animals and plants in the Okapi
The other winners were:
AP) - A Mexican farmer who
- Jose Andres Tamayo Cortez, Faunal Reserve throughout a de
;ht for land rights and forest
ection for the Tarahumara Indi - 47, a Roman Catholic priest from cade of civil war.
- Stephanie Danielle Roth, 34, of
of northern Mexico is one of six Honduras who organized a coali
vists who won the prestigious tion of small farmers to battle for Romania, the lead organizer against
construction o f E urope's largest
5,(XX)Goldman Environmental forestry reforms.
open-cast gold mine in her country.
Biologist
Kaisha
Atakhanova,
e.
- Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, 58,
"he award to Isidro Baldenegro 47, of Kazakhstan, who led a suc
ez was announced Sunday in cessful fight to keep her country of Haiti, who founded the Peasant
Movement of Papay and has taught
Francisco. The prize is granted from importing nuclear waste.
- Congo botanist Corneille E.N. principles o f sustainable agricul
;rass-roots activists who are
Ewango, 4 I. who protected rare ture to more than 200,000 people.
med environmental heroes.
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Bride’s Tale Opens Racial Wounds
Fabrication
tapped into
stereotypes
□
S o h n C .S c o tt
case, but she put this duo together
and it’s got this resonance. ... It’s
still this idea o f a criminal element
that is colored.”
Historically, the threat of black
men victimizing white women has
loomed large and powerful, and
provoked many of the more than
4,700 lynchings in the decades be
tween the end of the Civil W ar and
the dawning of the civil rights era.
The peak came in 1892, with 230
killings, but continued well into the
2(Xh century, according to Tuskegee
University, a one-time black college
in Alabama that is now a National
Historic Site. Most of those seized
by white mobs and hanged were
black men, but Native Americans,
Asians, Jews and Hispanics also
were victimized, experts said.
Today, growing national anti
imm igrant sentim ent that feeds
Americans’ stereotypesof Hispanic
immigrants stealing jobs and un
dermining the nation’s prosperity
made W ilbanks’ story plausible,
Navarette said.
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Personal Editorial
Opinion: Politics, Religion & Community
Hear on KKPZ, 1330 AM dial, 7:00 Sunday mornings;
Political Scientist,
and worldwide via WWCR & WINB Radio
Rev. John Pearce
question is, have we realized our
own greatness th a t’s before our
face daily, which is in each o f us?
And via the respected struggles,
and the blood o f our ancestry,
mix fam ilies or not? How do we
value them ? C ertainly not by the
About 10 years ago w hile do w ealth they received, nor by the
ing broadcast” Blacks in B ibli com pany they keep. But by the
cal History on KBMS radio, & heart depicted in their com m it
w hile w orking behind the seen m ent, reflecting the origin o f our
to bring a much needed unity in Black priceless worth against the
tackling P o rtla n d ’s com m on staggering param ount o f odds,
problem s, I met som e great men perpetually giving way to o u r let
& women. The likes o f Pastor ting freedom ring & our lifting
W e n d e ll W a lla c e & th e every voice to sing. We sing the
M a ra n a th a
g ro u p ;
R on happy song our “unsung heroes:”
H erndon; Robert Phillips; The Dr. King; M arcusG arvey; Booker
Sen. Avel G ordly; The C o a li T. W a sh in g to n ; & C a rte r G.
tion o f Men & many other great W oodson. And yes that song
men & women o f this N ortheast H ero, born a few miles outside of
the A frican C ontinent in Pales
precinct. W hat’s the point?
The point is a question. The tine. Jesus o f N azareth.
The Test
of Heart
1
R eg a rd le ss o f H un d red s o f
y ears o f o d d s, we are about
40 m illio n A frican A m erican
c itiz e n s in A m ericans. S adly,
th o u g h ab o u t 2 m illio n are
ja ile d , yet th at leav es about
38 m illion law abiding A frican
A m ericans. For som e reasons,
I d o n ’t e x p e c t Fox N ew s to
rep o rt our good side. M aybe
i t ’s ju s t m ean sp irite d ? W ith
e le c tio n s b e in g su p p re sse d
we m ust u n ite to b lood o f
a n c e stry & hum an d ig n ity for
G o d ’s sake. A nd yes fo r the
first tim e since Dr. K ing, vote
su p p re ssio n h ap pened to my
M om & D ad in F lo rid a for
friv o lo u s & unlaw ful reasons.
My p a re n ts. Rev. Dr. Jim and
Ja n n ie P earce are too, w ell
know n in th e ir C o m m u n ity &
great hum an b eings.