50fí
In a Man’s World
Super Bowl
Tradeswoman
overcomes obstacles
to succeed
years
of
•'community service
Faceoff
Seattle, Pittsburgh match-up profiled
See story, Metro section inside
page A 7
w
‘City of Roses'
Established in 1970
Volume XXXVI. Number 4
Week ¡n
The Review
Ex-Postal Worker Kills Six
A female ex-postal worker opened
fire at a mail processing plant in
Southern California, killing six
people and critically wounding
another before committing suicide
authorities said Tuesday. See
story, page A 2.
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Wednesday • February I. 2006
First Lady of Peace
Alito Wins Senate Fight
S am u el A n ­
thony Alito Jr.
was sworn in
as the nation’s
110th Supreme
C ourt justice
on Tuesday af­
ter being con­
firmed by the
Senate in one of the most partisan
victories in modem history. Alito
was opposed by most Democrats,
the N A A C P and civ il rig h ts
groups. See story, page A2
Coretta Scott King,
pictured May 16, 2004
at commencement
exercises at Northeast
Conservatory o f Music
in Boston, battled to
preserve the legacy of
her slain husband, civil
rights legend Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Brokback Gets 8 Oscar Nods
The
co w b o y
love
sto ry
“ Brokeback Mountain" led the
Academy Awards field Tuesday
with eight nominations. Also nomi­
nated for best picture were the
Truman Capote story "Capote”;
the ensemble drama “Crash”; the |
World
Edward R. M urrow chronicle
(AP) — Coretta Scott King, who turned
“Good Night, and Good Luck”; a life shattered by her husband’s assassina­
and the assassin atio n th riller | tion into one devoted to enshrining his
"Munich.
legacy of human rights and equality, is
being remembered as one of the most influ­
Document Ties Iran to Bomb ential woman leaders in our world today.
A docum ent obtained by Iran on
The wife of slain civil rights leader Rev.
the nuclear black market serves
Martin Luther King Jr. died Tuesday at the
no other purpose than to make age of 78.
an atomic bomb, the Interna­
“We appreciate the prayers and condo­
tional Atomic Energy Agency
lences from people across the country," the
said Tuesday.
King family said in a statement.
Mrs. King suffered a serious stroke and
Wage Increases are Small
Wages and benefits paid to civil- | heart attack last August.
ian workers rose last year by the
smallest amount in nine years, the
governm ent reported Tuesday.
The Labor Department said that
employee compensation was up
3.1 percent in 2005, an increase
that was slower than the 3.7 per­
cent rise in 2004.
Fed Raises Interest Rate
The Federal Reserve on Tuesday
nudged a key interest rate up to the
highest level in nearly five years
and left the door open for at least
one m ore rate hike as A lan
Greenspan brought his long ten­
ure as chairman to a close.
Olympic Villages Open
The three O lym pic villages that
will house some 5,000 athletes
and officials during the W inter
G am es opened Tuesday, 10 days
before the Turin G am es opening
cerem ony.
Oil Workers Released
An American and three other for­
eign oil workers held hostage for
two weeks were released Monday
aftera secessionist leader appealed
to theircaptors, who had demanded
southern Nigerians benefit more
from their region’s energy wealth.
“It’s a bleak morning for me and for many
people and yet it’s a great morning because
we have a chance to look at her and see what
she did and who she was,” poet Maya
Angelou said on ABC’s “Good Morning
America.”
“It’s bleak because I.can’L- ytany of us
can’t hear her sweet voice - but it’s great
because she did live, and she was ours. I
mean African-Americans and white Ameri­
cans and Asians, Spanish-speaking - she
belonged to us and that’s a great thing,”
Angelou said.
King died at Santa Monica Hospital, a
holistic health center in Rosarito Beach,
Mexico, 16 miles south of San Diego, said her
sister, Edythe Scott Bagley of Cheyney,
Penn. She had gone to California to rest and
be with family, according to Former Atlanta
Mayor Andrew Young, who broke the news
on N BC’s “Today" show. At a news confer­
ence, Young said Coretta King’s fortitude
rivaled that of her husband.
“She was strong if not stronger than he
was. Young said. “She lived a graceful and
beautiful life, and in spite of all of the difficul­
ties, she managed a graceful and beautiful
passing.”
She was a supportive lieutenant to her
husband during the most tumultuous days
o f the American civil rights movement, and
after his assassination in Memphis, Tenn.,
on April 4, 1968, she kept his dream alive
while also raising their four children.
“I'm more determined than ever that my
husband’s dream will become a reality,”
King said soon after his slaying. She goaded
and pulled for more than a decade to have
her husband's birthday observed as a na­
tional holiday, first celebrated in 1986.
continued
on page AS
Black History Month Special
PromotingEqual Justice for 61 Years
Urban League of
Portland adjusts
mission to endure
by S arah B lount
T he P ortland O bserver
The Urban League o f Portland,
entering its 61“ year, has endured a
tumultuous history of fighting racism,
as discrimination has reared its head
in many different shapes and forms.
When the National Urban League
opened an office in Portland in 1945,
the city was relatively inexperienced
in racial issues. Scarce post-war em ­
ployment had introduced tensions
between the recent influx of southern
black citizens, who had immigrated to
Portland for the war shipbuilding busi­
ness.
In 1945, a local alliance of black
photoby M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
b u sin ess lead ers, including Dr. Vanessa Gaston is Chief Executive Officer for the
DeNorval Unthank, recruited Edwin Urban League o f Portland, the city's premier civil
C. “Bill" Berry from the National Ur- rights organization.
ban League in New York. The national
organization was created in 1910 to
enable economic self-reliance, parity
and civil rights.
Throughout the 1940s, Berry helped
Portland’s African Americans find jobs
in a community holding on to its “white
only” attitude.
The league’s evolving role in Port­
land over the next 60 years plays like
different chapters of a novel; each
decade brought about radical new
struggles and anti-discrimination vic­
tories, but putting an end to racism has
been the common thread of every so­
cial agenda.
The league’s spent its first 20 years
focusing on fairemployment and hous­
ing discrimination. By the 1960s. the
local organization had developed as
an active arm in the Civil Rights move­
ment. As the dus, of that decade settled
and legally sanctioned racism began
to wane, the government launched a
war on poverty. An influx of govern­
ment funding allowed the league to
create a number of social programs to
help disadvantaged youth.
Gangs, skinheads and ensuing drug
problems of the 1980s permanently
altered Portland's streets, and this new
set o f social strife created a long-stand­
ing rift between the community and
Portland police. The league, enjoying
an increase in government and corpo­
rate funding, created several programs
aimed at environmental, health and
educational justice.
By the end of the 1990s, however,
social programs across the nation were
losing the government’s investment.
By 1999. mismanaged funds and a
thinly spread locus nearly forced the
Portland league to shut its doors.
In the past few years, the league has
taken on an almost tunnel-vision ap­
proach to reverse its decline and en­
sure survival in an era of competitive
non-profits and dwindling funds.
In 2003, new C hief Executive Of-
continued
on page A6
Killingsworth Chapel
to Become Brewpub
McMenamin’s adds
site to its empire
by S arah B i . ount
T he P ortland O bserver
In the tradition of serving up microbrews
at historic locales, local pub kings Mike
and Brian McMcnamtn are setting up shop
at the Killingsworth Little Chapel of the
Chimes, an iconic building that recently
ended its services as a funeral home.
Along with a new restaurant and bar,
M cM enamin's is relocating its Northeast
Glisan headquarters to the chapel at 430 N.
Killingsworth, citing a need for more space.
McMenamin’s marketing director Renee
Rank said the Killingsworth pub will seat
100, with a full bar and outdoor patio.
Unfortunately they can’t call it the Little
( hapel of the Chimes under a purchasing
agreement for the 1933 building, and a new
name and theme has yet to be determined.
Rank said.
The pub will join 52 other McMenamin
pubs and hotels across Oregon and W ash­
ington, including the popular McMenamin
Kennedy School on Northeast 33"* Avenue.
pho ro by M ark
W A. shington / T he P ortland O bserver
The microbrew restaurants giant McMenamin ’s has purchased the historic
Killingsworth Little Chapel o f the Chimes.
The company expects tocomplete the move
by late spring or early summer
The Killingsworth chapel was closed on
Aug. 15 with funeral services consol ¡dated
with the Ross Hollywood Chapel at 4733
N.E. Thompson St.