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New Orleans’ Black Culture at Risk
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Scattered survivors may lead to change
It’s Time to Celebrate the
I Oth Anniversary of Wellness Village!
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(A P ) — A s b la c k N ew
O rleanians regroup and put down
roots elsew here — som e tem po­
rary, some not — many wonder:
W hat will becom e o f one o f the
nation’s most com plex African-
A m erican cultures?
Pre-Katrina New Orleans was a
majority black city. It also was a
poor one, and most of the people
hardest hit by the storm were both,
as early images showed.
But broad d e sc rip tio n s m iss
the su b tle tie s o f race and e c o ­
nom ics in a place w here French,
S p an ish , In dians and W est A f­
rican s m ixed as far back as the
18th c e n tu ry . T his re su lte d in a
rich c u ltu ra l heritag e — think
ja z z , fo r sta rte rs — and a m u lti­
ra c ia l, so m etim es in eq u itab le
so ciety o rg a n iz e d along lines
o f c o lo r and class.
Now the c ity ’s native sons and
daughters, spread nationw ide, are
speculating on how that culture
will change in the w ake o f the
flooding w rought by K atrina and
/x \
African American
Health Coalition. Inc.
The annual African American Wellness Village has
brought tree health services, information, and fun
activities to the community since 1995.
Join us for two g re a t events this year!
Friday Oct. 14th, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Saturday Oct. 15th, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Health Disparities Conference:
We Can Make a Difference
Downtown Embassy Suites Hotel
319 SW Pine Street
10th Annual Wellness Village
at The Blazers Boys & Girls Club
5250 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
An event for community members,
health care providers, and local and
state officials to come together and
generate solutions to health disparities
in ( )regon. Featured keynote
speaker Dr. Brian Gibbs of the
Harvard School of Public Health.
• 11:00 a.m.-12:45 p.m . Lunch ($50)
• 12:45 p.m.-5:00 p.m. 2 Workshops
“Culturally Competent Health
Care” and “ Health Disparities:
What Can W’e Do?” Workshops
are free to first 240 community
members (Please contact the
AAHC at 503-413-1850).
October5 ,200s
Free health services and activities at
this year’s Wellness Village include:
Health Screenings & Services
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Liu shots
Dental
Vision
Hearing
Diabetes
Massage therapy
11IV & STD screenings
And more
Activities & Exhibits
• African drumming by Chatta Addv
• Cooking demo & tastings
• Gospel choir
• Childrens activities
• Lire safety bv Portland Lire & Rescue
• 3-on-3 basketball sponsored by
Portland Trail Blazers
• Raffle prizes
For more information contact the AAHC at 503-413-1850 or visit www.aahc-pordand.org
Tamyra Baccas and her son Terrell, 11, salvage family keep­
sakes from their home in the Ninth Ward section o f New Orleans
on Saturday. As New Orleans fights its way back to normal,
many are pondering the future o f black culture there.
Rita. Some even question whether
it will survive at all.
“Once you scatter the people,
1 d o n ’t know that y o u ’re going to
be able to capture the past,” said
Arnold Hirsch, a historian at the
U niversity of New Orleans. “You
may com e up w ith som ething
new, you m ight be able to help
the poverty and the problem s that
becam e so m anifest during the
hurricane, and that might be to
the good. But it w ouldn’t be the
historical New O rleans.”
Builders of New York Celebrated
As m any as 20,000
slaves and free blacks who
helped build New York’s
economy from docks to
warehouses will be hon­
ored with a memorial near
their burial ground.
“T hese people were
part of a worldwide net­
work of slavery, and they
helped the New York
economy run and thrive,”
said Rodney Leon, the ar­
chitect o f the $3 million
monument.
The colonial-era cem­
etery where the slaves
were buried is nestled be­ An artist's rendering o f the African burial ground
tween lower Manhattan memorial in New York that will honor the 20,000
high-rise buildings, near slaves and free blacks who helped build the city.
City Hall and adjoining
the building that houses
the New York offices of
the FBI.
Closed in 1794, the five-
acre burial ground was
forgotten as a construc­
tion landfill eventually
buried it 20 feet under­
ground. When the cem­
etery was rediscovered
during construction of a
federal office tow er in
1991, community pressure
prompted the government
to abandon the project.
More than 400 sets of
remains were discovered,
buried in coffins, wrapped
in white shrouds.
Americans Likely to Become Fat
(AP) — Just when we thought
we couldn't get any fatter, a new
study that followed Americans for
three decades suggests that over
the long haul, 9 out of 10 men and
7 out of 10 women will become
overweight.
Even if you are one of the lucky
few who made it to middle age with­
out getting fat, don’t congratulate
yourself — keep watching that
waistline.
Half of the men and women in the
study who had made it well into
adulthood without a weight prob­
lem ultimately became overweight.
A third of those women and a quar­
ter of the men became obese.
“You cannot become compla­
cent, because you are at risk of
b e c o m in g o v e rw e ig h t,” said
Ramaehandran Vasan, an associ­
ate professor of medicine at Boston
University and the study’s lead
author.
The findings also re-emphasize
that people must continually watch
their weight.
MMMMMK
Army Short on New Recruits
(A P) — The Arm y is closing
the books on one o f the leanest
recruiting years since it becam e
an a ll-v o lu n te e r service three
decades ago, m issing its en list­
ment target by the largest margin
since 1979 and raising questions
about its plans for growth.
M any in C ongress believe the
A rm y needs to get b ig g e r - p e r­
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