Portland observer., January 15, 2014, 2014 special edition, Page 6, Image 6

ì
Page 6
M
a r t in
L u t h e r K in g J r .
January 15, 2014
© 2014 sp e c ia l edition
ADRC
Aging and Disability
Resource Connection
Support and services relating to:
Abuse reporting
Housing resources
Transportation
Meals
In-home support
Legal resources
Public benefits
Medicare help
Other related issues
Caregiver support
oil Free 1-855-673-2372
TTY 711
www.ADRCofOregon.org
photo by D onovan M. S mith /T he P ortland O bserver
Ahjamu Umi has been working to bring the All African Peoples Revolutionary Party to
Portland. A major tenant of the party is for black descendents and current residents of
Africa to unite under socialism to share in the economic power from Africa’s immense
natural resources.
Building Support for Civil Rights
Activist turns to
‘Black Power’
movement
D onovan M. S mith
T he P ortland O bserver
In a land where sunny days
and black bodies are sparse in
numbers, California-bred activ­
ist Ahjamu Umi sees 35,000 rays
of opportunity. The Portland
transplant is leading a ci vil rights
campaign in his new hometown
with the recruitment of mem­
bers to the All African Peoples
Revolutionary Party (A-APRP).
Umi was introduced to the
civil rights group in the 1980s as
a teenager in Los Angeles. At
the time, he was fully entrenched
in a turbulent gang life. An elder
friend suggested he attend a lec­
ture in the Bay Area by A-
APRP front-man Kwame Ture.
Umi made the journey north
for the talk, but says he was left
underwhelmed, mostly due to a
lack of comprehension of Ture’s
thoughts.
Ture would return to the Bay
Area in just a couple of years.
But this time, Umi was living
there and more receptive to the
party’s message. He became a
m ember. That was some 30
by
NECA\1 ; I B E W
OKI.<K)N^OLl!MBiA’3L = :'
L
O
C
A
L
4
8
ELECTRICAL TRAINING CENTER
16021 NE AIRPORT WAY ■ PORTLAND, OR 9 7 2 3 0
www.nietc.org
IBEW 4
iiim m n u i T i m
STRONG AND PROUD
years ago and to this day he
continues to work at building the
group’s message.
The pan-Africanist party was
formed in 1968 as a way to unite
people of African descent all
across the world and elevate them
economically. The organization
was known for calling out the
historic injustice of the world’s
black people not sharing in Africa’s
vast natural resources.
Ture was credited with coining
the phrase “Black Power.” His
constant arrests (a number, he
says, he stopped counting at 32)
and his undying desire for equal­
ity, found him adopting increas­
ingly more militant views, diverg­
ing from Dr. Rev. Martin Luther
King Jr.’s calls for non-violence.
Over time, Umi became good
friends with Ture, coordinating
most of his events in Northern
California.
Though the beloved leader of
the A-APRP passed in 1998, the
work of the group continues in
nearly every sect of the world
where black people can be found,
from Ghana to Haiti, to Austra­
lia, and thanks to Umi, Portland.
The recruitment process in
the Rose City has been slow.
Most of the work he’s doing in
Portland has him setting up open
continued
on page 9