Committed to Cultural Diversity
Blazers Post Triumphs
Super Senior
Second-year players
shine in All-Stars
M etro
Lincoln High
will graduate
triple threat
See sports, page BX
See sports, page BS
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>no m m u n ity
C a le n d a r
A Searing Look at Racism Takes Stage
Love-Hate casts an
emotional portrait
Black History Night
Food, music and poetry, along with arts
and crafts, will be featured when Portland
Parks & Recreation presents a free Black
History M onth celebration on this Satur­
day, Feb. 23, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the M att
Dishman Community Center, 77 N.E, Knott
St.
Homework Help
The Black Parent Initiative and Concordia
T eachers Corp, provide free hom ework
help for kids 5 to 19 on Tuesdays and
Thursdays, from 3:45 to 5 p.m. at G race
Covenant Church, 5450 N.E. Flanders;
and from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at Calvary C hris­
tian Center, 126 N.E. Alberta: as well as
M ondays and W ednesdays from 3:30 to
5 p.m. at the East Portland C om m unity
C enter, 740 S.E. 106th Ave.
Harlem Globetrotters
The Harlem G lobetrotters bring their
“ M agic as Ever” world tour to P ortland's
Rose G arden for two shows, Saturday,
Feb. 23 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at
$18 and can be purchased at the Rose
Q uarter Box O ffice and Tickets West
outlets.
Festival of African Films
The Portland C om m unity C ollege's C as­
cade Festival o f African Films takes place
all month the PCC Cascade cam pus in
north Portland and at the H ollyw ood and
M cM enam ins Kennedy School theaters.
For a com plete schedule, visit the C as­
cade F estival o f F ilm s W eb site at
africanfilmfesitval.org.
Lessons for Today
Thursdays, Feb. 21 and Feb. 28, at 7 p.m.,
the B read & R oses C enter, 819 N.
K illingsworth St., hosts the free discus­
sion circle with excerpts from historical
text and contem porary struggles: $8 C re­
ole buffet at 6:30 p.m.
Jena’s Civil Rights
Saturday, Feb. 23, at 7:30 p.m. the Bread
6 Roses Center, 8 19 N. Killingsworth St.,
will host a forum featuring a multiracial
panel to discuss the civil-rights struggle
in Jena, La.
‘Raise the Standard'
Currently through Friday, Feb. 22 at 7
p.m. nightly, the K ingsT em pleC hristian
Center, 4744 N.E. 15th Ave., will host the
Pacific NW Holy Ghost Conference Re­
vival, featuring guest speakers from
around the country.
Incredible Kids
A local playw right will put a spotlight on
Black History M onth with a staged reading
o f new play Love-Hate, an em otional portrait
o f three couples, each struggling to find love
am id the A m erican backdrop o f hate.
A nya Pearson was inspired to w rite about
the intricacy o f continued racism after a
Anya Pearson
supposed friend called her a racist epithet.
H aving always been a politically-m inded
individual, she elected to use the anger as
inspiration, and Love-H ate was born shortly
after. This is her first play.
Pearson is a founding m ember o f Penplay,
a newly founded group of playwrights and
screenwriters dedicated to developing a new
work of multicultural and feminine voices. Her
reading will be a free performance with dona­
tions accepted on Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 8 p.m.
at Someday Lounge, 125 N.W. Fifth Ave.
A discussion will follow the reading in
hopes o f sparking a com m unity dialogue
around the controversial issues tackled by
the play. T he panel m em bers will include
R ichard W attenberg, theater professor at
Portland State U niversity; Lorraine Thayer,
e d u c a tio n a l s p e c ia list; B ish o p Jo sep h
W atson, biblical scholar and expert on black
history; and Keith Lam pton, outreach coor­
dinator for Self Enhancem ent. Inc.
Health Department Tackles Disparities
can A m ericans.
“T h e re ’s so m uch m oney th a t’s spent
on that kind o f m ark etin g that gives
people a sense o f w ho th e y ’re su p ­
posed to be. how th e y ’re su p p o sed to
Targets include
HIV prevention
by R aymond R endleman
T he P ortland O bserver
R ecog n izin g the p articu lar d e v a sta ­
tion o f diseases on people o f low in ­
com e or o f co lo r, local o ffic ia ls have
stepped up the p o p u latio n -sp ecific e f ­
forts for access to q u ality m edical care.
T he M u ltnom ah C ounty H ealth D e­
partm en t now has several sta ff m em ­
bers focu sed on the issue o f health
d isp arities. T hey plan a large co m m u ­
nity m o b ilizatio n o f b u sin esses, bars,
church groups and serv ice pro v id ers to
fo llo w the launch the c o u n ty ’s first
social m arketing e ffo rt d esig n ed by and
fo r a racial m inority.
T o educate A frican -A m erican youth,
young adults and co m m u n ity m em bers
about sexually tran sm itted d iseases and
the im portance o f testing and treatm ent,
the c o u n ty 's ed u catio n cam paign fe a ­
tures cu ltu rally -sp e cific m edia in c lu d ­
ing K now sexpdx.com . brochures p ro fil­
ing local sexual h ealth se rv ic es for
you th , as w ell as po sters and p o st­
ca rd s.
A ccording to the M ultnom ah C ounty
H ealth D epartm ent, A frican A m ericans
in M ultnom ah C o u n ty ex p erien ce five
tim es the rates o f C h lam y d ia and g o n o r­
rhea, com p ared to no n -H isp an ic w hites.
STD rates can be affected by lack o f
insurance, lim ited access to testin g and
treatm ent, and fear o f testin g and tre a t­
ment.
An additional m o tiv ato r fo r e x p a n d ­
in g o f fe rin g s , a c c o rd in g to T ric ia
T illm an , M u ltn o m ah C o u n ty H ealth
D epartm ent program m anager, com es
from p erv asiv e m edia m ark etin g that
portray s h y p er-sex u al im agery o f A fri-
In
act and w h a t’s ex p ected o f th em , so our
social m ark etin g cam p aig n is really fo ­
cu sed on p resen tin g peo p le in a d iffe r­
ent lig h t,” she to ld the P o rtlan d O b ­
serv er.
T he cam p aig n em p h asizes the im p o r­
tan ce o f h av in g in fo rm atio n about the
risk s o f sexual activ ity and the benefits
continued
on page H7
Neighborhood
Efforts toward healthcare access and prevention
education have the community talking
T h ere’s a lot o f kids dying from
leukem ia, AID S and all sorts of other
diseases, but there aren 't enough
people out there trying to help them.
—A lexandria Brown
There are many free program s
out there, but we never worry
about health issues when
w e’re healthy.
-Jam es Dawson
There needs to be m ore health
resources and outreach.
—Jasm ine Bradford
It seem s like here if you d o n ’t
m ake a pretty good income,
y o u ’re out o f luck.”
-O linC am pbell
If y o u 're poor, you still have to
pay through the em ergency
rooms.
-D e a n a Harris
Health insurance is too high. It's
a very com plicated situation.
—Y un Zhang
Unless our parents have jobs
with benefits, it’s not accessible.
T h ere's the O regon Health Plan,
but m any people d o n 't know
how to get into it.
—Joseph Johnson
All you can do is warn people
about health, and people can
choose to get involved or not.
-C o re y Howard
C am p Fire USA Portland M etro Council
invites the public to honor any incredible
child. H onorees will receive an award,
coupons and their nam e in print; the fee
is $25 per child. Registration is available
until March 31; for more inform ation, call
503-224-78(X)ext. 142.
Spring
to Bring
‘God for the Victory’
Allen Tem ple C.M .E. Church, 4236 N.E.
Eighth Ave., invites the public to join the
59th-anniversary celebration; events be­
gin on S unday, Feb. 24 co n tin u in g
through Sunday, M arch 2. F oracom plete
schedule contact Saundra Evans at 503-
287-0261.
More Green
Volunteers plant hundreds
of trees over weekend
King School Benefit
Tuesday, Feb. 26, from 5 to 11 p.m., bring
your family and friends to M cM enam in's
Chapel Pub and half o f the evening’s
proceeds will be donated to purchase
much needed playground equipm ent for
King School.
R aymond R endleman /T hf . P< » r ilan d O bserv i r
H undreds o f h o m eo w n ers and F riends o f T rees v o lu n ­
teers o f all ag es p la n ted 279 trees in six P ortland n eig h b o r­
hoods on S atu rd ay m o rn in g .
.
T he 8- to 12-foot tall trees rep resen ted 48 species for the
Boise, E liot, H u m b o ld t, K ing, O v erlo o k and Piedm ont areas,
in the n o n p ro fit's b ig g est n eig h b o rh o o d planting in years.
T he triu m p h w as p o ssib le p artially due to a tree-co st
d ecrease but m ostly du e to the d riv e o f the neig h b o rh o o d s,
acco rd in g to event o rg an izers.
“ It w as that m o m en tu m becau se n eig h b o rs started telling
each o th e r about it,” says B righton W est, F riends o f Trees
p ro g ram d irecto r. “ W e also have som e very ex cited v o lu n ­
teers w ho are co o rd in a tin g in the n eig h b o rh o o d ."
V o lu n teers form ed 23 crew s to plant the trees and shared
their acco m p lish m en ts at a potluck lunch afterw ard at Friends
o f Trees, 3117 N.E. M artin Luther King Jr. Blvd. City C o m m is­
sio n e r Sam A dam s atten d ed the p lan tin g .
by
Kindergarten Roundup
W ednesday, Feb. 27, King School, 4037
N.E. Garfield, will host the annual kinder­
garten and pre-K roundup at 1:30 p.m., in
the school library. Both programs arc full-
day and fully funded.
Catch the Authors
Thursday, Feb. 28, at 6:30 p.m.. In O ther
W ords, 8 N.E. Killingsworth St., will host
the reading night featuring five gay, les­
bian and transgender authors. For more
information, visit inotherwords.org orcall
503-232-6003.
V-Day Portland
continued
February 29 and March I, at 6 p.m., the
C enter for Self Enhancem ent, 3920 N.
Kirby St., presents Eve E nsler’s The V a­
gina M onologues to raise aw areness and
end violence against w omen; adm ission
is four cans o f nonperishable foods or
packages o f w om en’s toiletries; for more
information, call 503-901 -5501.
on page U2
* Friends of Trees volunteers trek Wielgosz (left) and
Paige Coleman put the finishing touches on a street
tree that was planted Saturday in front of Dennis and
Angie Harris' north Portland home (pictured in center).
photo by
I
I
M arr W ashington /T iie
P ortland O bserver