Beauty
and
Grace
Alvin Ailey dancers
move to music by
jazz greats
See Focus
page B3, inside
surlier
Volume XXXVI. N um ber 9
_. Week ¡n
Thc Review
Nurse
Blazers Future in Doubt
Locked Out
Trail Blazer officials are visiting
with political leaders about need­
ing public assistance in order to
stay in Portland, blaming red ink
since owner Paul Allen built the
Rose Garden Arena and then lost
the stadium in a bankruptcy that
saw major revenues from the com­
plex go to his creditors. See story,
page A3.
Black Writer Dies in Fall
O c ta v ia E.
Butler, con­
sid ered the
first black
w om an to
gain national
prom inence
as a science
fiction writer,
died Sunday
in a fall at her home in Seattle. She
was 58. See story, page A2.
Established In 1970
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Wednesday • March I. 2006
Mariah Taylor’s letter to
the community
See page A4
Taylor has spent much of the past
three months sitting at home instead of
tending to medical needs of children she
so dearly calls her “babies.”
Days before a hip replacement surgery
last December, she was asked by the
clinic’s board to take a three-month leave
of absence for her health. Shortly after
the operation, the clinic’s locks were
changed and Taylor was barred from
entering the medical facility she founded
almost 26 years ago.
Taylor and the board offer dit,erent
perspectives on the stalemate, with con­
tradictory stories as to why she is gone
and whether she’ll return.
Files complaint,
awaits arbitration
by S arah B lount
T he P ortland O bserv er
Mariah Taylor, the beloved African American nurse
practitioner at the North Portland Community Health
Clinic, remains locked in a struggle with her board of
directors leaving her future at the free and low-cos,
children’s clinic in question.
Mariah Taylor
Taylor said she’s being forced out
after a series conflicts between her and a
newly assembled board. She claims the
board, which grew from one member to 11
in the past year, wants her out because of
insubordination. She said her troubles
began last October, after she refused to
hire a medical assistant because of a lack
of funds.
Since being barred from herclinic prac­
tice, Taylor has filed a complaint with the
Civil Rights Division in Salem.
"The dream has become a nightmare,”
she said. “I don’t know when this will
end.”
Clinic Board Chairman Bud By lsma
said the board is looking for another
executive director because of a need
for a more “efficient operational ad-
continued " y ^ on page A5
Rosa Parks Way Proposed
Mardi Gras in New Orleans
Revelers celebrated Mardi Gras in
New Orleans Tuesday, trying to j
cheer itself up after the devasta­
tion of Hurricane Katrina. Some of
the costumes put a spin on the
storm ’s aftermath with several
people draping themselves in blue
tarpaulins like those used tocover
damaged roofs.
SupremesTakeon Ex-stripper
Former stripper
A nna N icole
Smith faced the
Supreme Court
Tuesday with
h u n d re d s o f
m illionsof dol­
lars on the line.
The legal issue stems from the
fortune of her late husband, J.
Howard Marshall II. Smith mar­
ried the oil tycoon in 1994 when he
was 89 and she was 26.
Bush Approval Lowest Yet
The latest CBS News poll finds
President Bush’s approval rating
has fallen to an all-time low of 34
percent. Americans are also over­
whelmingly opposed to the Bush-
backed deal giving an Arab- j
owned company operational con­
trol over six major U.S. ports. Seven
in 10 Americans say they’re op­
posed to the agreement.
Multiple Bombings Kill 41
A suicide bom ber detonated an
explosives belt at a crow ded gas
station Tuesday - one o f five
attacks that rocked Baghdad,
killing at least 41 people, police
said. The surge o f violence, in­
cluding three car bombs, un­
settled an Iraqi capital already
shaken by fears o f civil war.
photo by
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
North Portland Boulevard at Vancouver Avenue is anchored by Holy Redeemer Catholic School, a well-known local
landmark. Portland Boulevard would become Rosa Parks Way under a proposed city ordinance to honor the woman
who sparked the modern Civil Rights movement.
Name change would honor civil rights leader
by S arah B lount
T he P ortland O bserver
Portland Boulevard may be renamed
to honor Civil Rights hero Rosa Parks,
who passed away last October. The pro­
posal gained momentum in City Hall last
week after garnering support from Com­
missioner Dan Saltzman.
The suggestion to rename the north
and northeast Portland thoroughfare for
Rosa Parks originally came from Rev. B E.
Johnson o f Cornerstone Community
Church of God in Christ, a northeast
Portland congregation.
Johnson said he considered Portland
Boulevard over other streets, like Port­
land Highway, because it has a bus route
and would symbolically represent Parks,
whose refusal to gi ve up her seat on a bus
fora white man, sparked the modem Civil
Rights movement.
Johnson said he and a committee of
pastors plan to meet this week to deter­
mine where they stand on the street name
issue. The Portland City Council tenta­
tively scheduled a hearing for the name
change on April 19.
Portland Boulevard wasn’t the firs,
street considered to honor Parks. After
Parks died. Rev. Willie Banks petitioned
the city to rename Sandy Boulevard in
continued ' y ^ on page A5
“H a t Q u e e n s”
How Much Negro? Author has people talking Reign Supreme
by N icole H ooper
Hope Raised in King Dispute
T he P ortland O bserver
Martin Luther King III expressed
hope that the dispute over the
future of the Atlanta center that
bears his father's name can be
resolved soon.
Maybe she started it as a joke or
maybe she didn’t, but one thing is for
sure, "damali ayo” has people talking
about race.
In 2002, ayo decided that she was
fed up with being asked questions in
regards to her hair or about other “black”
issues as if she was the spokesperson
for her race. She developed a website
called Rent-A-Negro.com that dis­
cusses race relations with a humorous
African-American
women celebrated
twist.
Now she is the author of "How to
Ren, a Negro," a printed version of the
website.
ayo will reflect on her success and
the use of humor as a means of improv­
ing race relations during two upcoming
visits.
On Tuesday, March 7, ayo will read
excerpts from her fxx>k and participate
in dialogue in a relaxed atmosphere
from I p.m. to 2 p.m. in Terrell Hall,
R<x>m 122 on the Cascade Campus of
Portland Community College, 705 N.
Killingsworth St. On March 18, she will
be at the downtown Central Library for
»
photo by T im F uller
Erika LaVonn in Portland Center Stage's
production of ‘Crowns.'
‘How to Rent a Negro ' author damilo ayo uses humor and compassion to
disarm personal defenses and strike a chord for better race relations.
a I p.m. writers talking program.
In How to Rent a Negro, renters are
white and the rented are black, ayo says
that some of her critics view this notion
as modern day slavery. The website
shows how much you should charge for
your services. Jokingly, ayo lists touch­
ing her hair as a $35 charge and dance
lessons for the rhythm challenged a, $250
an hour.
“I, (the Ixxik) combines the notion of
being funny while making the reader ac-
continued
yf
on page A5
“Crowns,” a play benefiting breast cancer
awareness, explores the relationship between
black women and the hats they wear. A preview
performance of this award winning, gospel-
filled musical will raise money for African
American Women For Breast Cancer Aware­
ness, Prevention and Education.
The evening begins with a private reception
featuring music, a hat exhibit, fashion show and
refreshments. A preview performance of
Crowns follows.
Crowns is the story of a young woman from
Brooklyn, who, after her brother is killed, is
sent to South Carolina to live with her grand­
mother and the six remarkable “hat queens"
who enter her life.
The smash-hit musical celebrates the strength
and spirit of African American women. Crowns
was written by Regina Taylor and directed by
Andrea Frye.
continued
on page A6