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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 2017)
Endurance Champ Gives Back Uses strength to raise donations for a cause See Metro, page 9 ‘City of Roses’ Volume XLVI • Number 13 Hoop Dreams and Gang Culture A Portland author’s latest novel See Local News, page 3 www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • March 29, 2017 Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity photo by L eonard L atin /t he p ortLand o bserver Bluesman Norman Sylvester presents business owner and entrepreneur Paul Knauls Sr. with a plaque to honor him for his nearly 30 years of support for the home- grown Inner City Blues Festival and the event’s sponsorship of many community causes. The recent presentation was made at Knauls’ Geneva’s Hair Perfection Barber and Beauty Salon as ticket sales get underway. Community Activism and the Blues Keeping the focus on ‘Healthcare for All’ t erry a nn r ogers A health care law which is too expen- sive or leaves too many people without coverage is no solution for a large group of local musicians who have announced that the goal of universal health care will once again be the community issue behind their Inner City Blues Festival, returning next month to the Eagles Lodge in north by Portland. The April 22 concert will be a fund- raiser for Health Care for All-Oregon, an advocacy organization working to bring an equitable, affordable, comprehensive, publicly-funded health care system to all Oregonians. Universal health care goes way beyond the limits of the Affordable Care Act or anything that has been proposed as a re- placement by President Trump and the Re- publican Congress because it would pro- vide health care and financial protection to all citizens. According to the musicians backing the festival, the uncertainty about access to health care in the current political climate means that health care for everyone in Or- egon is now more important than ever. A great many musicians and artists suffer greatly from the lack of medical care. Iconic Portland bluesman Norman Syl- vester, one of the festival’s organizers, said the issue for him is that health care should be seen as a human right. “I have played too many benefits for musicians who fell ill or more tragically played for their Celebration of Life,” Syl- vester said. “They didn’t have preventative care because of years of not being able to afford healthcare.” Portland musician Rob Shoemaker knows what it’s like to face huge medical bills without a safety net. “When my wife needed rotator cuff surgery, we were forced to re-finance the house to cover our part of the expenses. C ontinued on p age 5
