Committed to Cultural Diversity www.portlandobserver.com February I, 2006 Veteran Actor Honored ■ xQ ■ - fii Samuel L. Jackson cemented in Hollywood history <ri"’ ^îortlanb © bserüer See Focus page B2, inside SECTION o m m u n ity C a l e n d a r B Exploring Africa to the Americas Earn College Credit C lark C om m unity C ollege in V ancouver invites high school students and th e ir parents to learn about a “ Running Start” program to earn college credits w hile in high school. A forum is scheduled W ednesday, Feb. 1 from 6:30 p in. to 7:30 p.m. in the Clark College gym at 1800 E. M cLoughlin Blvd. Women In NAACP A special meeting o f W om en in N A ACP will be held on Sunday, Feb. 5 from 11 a.m. to 12:30p.m. at the Am erican Red Cross Build- ing, 3131 N. Vancouver. Forques- tions, call 503-249-6263. Business Meeting North/Northeast Business Asso ciation meetings are on the first Monday o f each month from 6 to 8 p.m. at Albina Community Bank, 2002 N.E. Martin Luther King BI vd. Morning networking meetingsare the third W ednesday o f each month from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the Blazers Boys and Girls Club, 5250 N.E. Martin Luther King Blvd. Work Against Abuse The group C om m unity A dvo cates invites those interested in protecting children from abuse to becom e a volunteer support team member. For more inform a tion, call 503-280-1388. Free College Outreach The first Saturday o f each month, from 12p.m. to2p.m .,high school students can get free help from O regon State University on pre paring for any college at the Matt D ishm an C om m unity Center, 77 N.E. Knott St. Go Red for Women Rally Put on som ething Red and join th e A m e ric a n H e a rt A ssociation’s Go Red for Women Rally on Friday, Feb. 3 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event starts at the Pioneer Place Shopping C en ter, A trium C oncourse Level (by the food court) on Southw est 5,h and M orrison, D ow ntow n. For more inform ation call 1-888-MY H EART or visit w w w .G oRedFor W om en.org. Aquatic Fitness Providence offers a variety of fitness classes including water ex e rcisin g at the P rovidence Aquatic Center, 4805 N .E. Glisan. Foraschedule.call 503-215-6301. African Drumming, Dance The North Star Ballroom , 635 N. K illingsworth C t„ hosts begin ning drum m ing and G hanaian rhythm classes on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. On W ednesdays, interm edi ate drum m ing is offered in addi tion to an A frican aerobics and dance. Chata Addy teaches all classes. For more information call 503-632-0411. Red Cross Teaches Safety The American Red Cross offers a range o f safety classes for crisis situations, from learning how to baby sit to performing CPR. The courses are intended for children aged 8 through adult. For more information visit www.redcross- pdx.org. Parenting Classes N ew borns d o n ’t com e with in struction m anuals but parents and p are n ts-to -b e can attend c la s s e s th ro u g h P ro v id e n c e Health System s to learn about a variety o f topics from pain and childbirth to breastfeeding to in fant CPR and much more. For a s c h e d u le o f e v e n ts , c a ll 5 0 3 -5 7 4 -6 5 9 5 or v isit w w w .providence.org./classes. years •^community service t The first South African film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and the first film shot in the Zulu language, “Yesterday" is the poignant, compassionate story o f a young rural mother coming to terms with having been infected with the HIV virus and worrying about the future of her daughter. Cascade Festival of African Films opens Friday The 16th Annual Cascade Festival of African Films, held in honor of both Black History Month and W omen's History Month at Portland Community College Cascade Campus in north Port land, will run from Friday, Feb. 3 through March 4. The festival will offer five weeks of films from the African continent and the Diaspora. All films and related events are offered to the public free of charge. Most of the films will be followed with Diverse women throughout Egypt are interviewed about traditional beliefs and practices, including female genital mutilation, in the film “ Tahara," directed by Sara Rashad, a first generation Egyptian-American. The documentary will be presented during the Cascade Festival o f African Films. C a s c a d e F e s tiv a l o f * frican Film "Africa through African lenses" discussions led by visiting film directors and local individuals from the film’s featured country. The festival will open with the ac claimed A ngolan.film , “The Hero/O H eroi" directed by Zdzd Gamboa, on F rid a y , Feb. 3 at M cM en am in s Kennedy School, 5736 N.E. 33 rd Ave. There will be screenings at 5 p.m., 7 p.m., and 9 p.m. The Hero won the Grand Prize in World Dramatic Competition at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. A special festival highlight will be films on the African legacy in Mexico. On Thursday, February 9, Mexican film director, Rafael Rebollar Corona, will present and discuss his film, “The For gotten R o o t“ which focuses on the rarely noted history of the African pres ence in M exico. M r. C o ro n a ’s AfroMexican trilogy, “The Forgotten c o n tin u e d yf on p a g e H5 A Tradeswoman in a Man’s World Finds success despite sexism by S arah B lount T he P ortland O bserver D ebra J. Darco spent herchildhiw xl in an unforgiving social system , statistically d es tined to becom e ju st another victim o f foster hom es and life on the streets. As an adult, she faced a firing squad o f sexism , sim ply by choosing a career in welding. But for the past 28 years, D arco has used the m etallic sparks from her welding torch to find salvation from blind ignorance and ha tred. D arco w as raised in P ortland fo ster h o m es, fo llo w ed by a flirta tio n w ith hom elessness and jail. At the age o f 21 she considered welding, hopingasix-m onth train ing program would be a positive change. She discovered she was a natural. In 1986, she went to w ork for W agner M ining in Portland. G etting hired was easy for Darco becauseof affirm ative action laws, but her legal protection d id n 't extend into the firm 's “good old boys” network o f men who felt she was taking a m an ’s job. ‘The hard part was trying to prove m yself over and over again to absolutely anybody,” she said. “I would have janitors com e up and look at my w elds.” In 1990, a machinist at W agner indecently exposed him self to Darco. She reported the incident to m anagem ent, and after an inves tigation the em ployee was term inated. Darco also filed a police report. She met with a prosecutor, but hit a brick wall when she was told no law had been broken. ,n O regon, indecent exposure is illegal in p u b lic, but not on private property. “ I collected m yself and said I guess I have a law to w rite," she said. Darco w as placed in touch with D eputy District Attorney John Bradley, and together they spent evenings in his office, w riting an indecent exposure law. D arco contacted a photo by M ark W ashington /T hf . P ortland O bserver Veteran welder D.J. Darco spent years proving herself. Now she s helping women overcome gender barriers in skilled trades. t The hard part was trying to prove myself over and over again to absolutely anybody. 1 would have janitors come up and look at my welds. 3 state representative and eventually proposed two house bills, one was an am endm ent to include “work places" in public places, and the other w ould create the crim e of indecent exposure. Both bills were introduced but never passed. In the meantime, D arcocontinued to work ) at W agner and received support from m an agem ent, but some o f her co-w orkers be cam e more aggressive and unsym pathetic. She needed security escorts and carried a w eapon after threats on her life. Her despair grew when her m other died, leaving her with no fam ily and no support. H er resp o n se w as only to im p ro v e her skills. She becam e a b etter w elder, striving to out p erfo rm her 3(X) m ale co -w o rk ers. H er life ’s goal w as a sin g le focus: refu sal to g iv e up. “ I w orked circ les aro u n d the g u y s,” she said. “ I knew my jo b and I knew it w ell." E v en tu ally , D a rc o 's h a rd w ork in a h o s tile en v iro n m en t cam e to fru itio n . S om e o f h er co -w o rk ers began b ringing th eir w ives and d au g h ters in to talk to D arco. T alk in g to o th e r w om en and p ro v id in g them a voice g av e D arco strength. “ I b eliev e it h eig h ten ed aw aren ess that c o n tin u e d on p a g e Z/5