Martin Luther King Jr.
January 10, 2018
2018 special edition
O
PINION
What You Really Need to Thrive in College
Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views of the
Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and
story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com.
What no one
told me about
being ‘first’
by Brandon Terrell
I was reared and
schooled in Detroit,
where poverty and op-
pression
eloquently
danced while violence
and crime serenaded the
communities.
The crime and oppression in my
neighborhood drove me to submit a
college application that changed my
life’s trajectory. I wasn’t going to
college to become an adult; I faced
mature challenges and struggles
long before filling out my college
applications. For me, higher edu-
cation represented an escape from
adult struggles.
But, I couldn’t escape the finan-
cial challenges. For first-generation
college students like me, the re-
sponsibilities designed for mature
adults were often delegated to us
adolescents. Now that I’m in gradu-
ate school, I have some distance and
perspective on what first-gens really
need to thrive at a four-year college.
And, despite some model pro-
grams at universities, I fear the cur-
rent political climate and threatened
budget cuts will only make it harder
for first-gens to obtain a
four-year degree.
I know from experience
my journey as a first-gen
and non-traditional under-
graduate college student is
devastatingly common.
No one in high school
or college spoke to me
about the financial realities of being
a student who couldn’t rely on fam-
ily for support. FASFA, Pell Grants
and loans were foreign concepts.
The conversations I had growing up
rarely involved college. We talked
about who was buying dinner that
night or who needed to get a job to
help pay bills.
Survival was the goal. By the
time I applied to college, I had al-
ready tangled with life and boxed
with oppression, discrimination,
stereotypical beliefs, and nega-
tive ideologies, all while juggling
school, plus a job or two.
Life had prepared me for college.
But the challenges never stopped
coming.
Even as I struggled to pay tuition
and buy meals when the food courts
closed for the weekends, I often got
calls from relatives who needed
help buying groceries. Relief started
with me. I had no safety net - I WAS
the safety net.
Completing college required a
survival balancing act-maintain-
ing my GPA, bridging gaps back
at home, and navigating collegiate
bureaucracies while carefully re-
sponding to microaggressions and
prejudice in majority white spaces.
Spectators would classify the
underlying factor of our motivation
as “grit” or “determination,” but for
many first gens, our motivation is
simply survival. We have no choice.
Missing an assignment, being
too tired to attend a bio lecture after
working more than 30 hours a week,
failing a 300 level course, or even
missing a tuition payment created a
slippery slope back to the environ-
ment that suffocated dreams.
But we are a population colleges
cannot afford to lose, as we repre-
sented 36 percent of students seek-
ing a four-year degree nationwide in
2012.
Politicians, educators, social
workers, counselors, and adminis-
trators must address the intersecting
social and cultural challenges that
precede our applications, accompa-
ny us to college, and follow us even
after securing a degree.
Access to college and financial
aid is not enough to secure a better
quality of life for students coming
from low-income backgrounds. The
gap is widening with only 14 per-
cent of the most economically dis-
advantaged students earning a bach-
elor’s degree, according to a 2015
federal study.
We need a different support sys-
tem to thrive in college-mentors,
help with living expenses, travel
costs, tutors, flexible schedules, and
emotional support from other stu-
dents who feel isolated, but are cop-
ing with similar struggles.
We need to stop talking about
college attainment in simplistic
ways. It takes so much more than
grit.
Brandon Terrell is currently at-
tending graduate school at Eastern
Michigan University, after graduat-
ing there in 2015 with a bachelor’s
in psychology.
The Connection between Racial and Economic Justice
Dr. King’s
legacy honored
with new
campaign
by Lee Saunders
Today’s economy is
rigged against working
families and in favor
of the wealthy and the
powerful. That’s not by accident.
CEOs and the politicians who do
their bidding have written the rules
that way, advancing their own inter-
ests at the expense of everyone else.
Now, they’re trying to get the
rigged system affirmed by the Unit-
ed States Supreme Court. In a few
months, the justices will hear a case
called Janus v. AFSCME Council
31, which would make so-called
“right-to-work” the law of the land
in the public sector, threatening the
freedom of working people to join
together in strong unions.
The powerful backers in this case
have made no secret about their
true agenda. They have publicly
said that they want to “defund and
defang” unions like the one I lead.
They know that unions level the
economic playing field. They know
that unions give working people the
power in numbers to improve their
lives and communities, to negoti-
ate a fair return on their work while
keeping the greed of corporate spe-
cial interests in check.
Union membership is especially
important for communities of color,
historically providing a ladder to
the middle class, helping them earn
their fair share of the wealth and the
value they generate. More
than half of African-Amer-
icans make less than $15
per hour. But belonging
to a union is likely to lead
to a substantial pay raise
and superior benefits. Afri-
can-American union mem-
to make sure their students get the
resources they need to succeed.
Meanwhile, right to work isn’t
just anti-union; it actually has its
roots in the racial brutality of the
Jim Crow South. The misleading
term was coined by a Texas oil lob-
byist named Vance Muse, an un-
apologetic white supremacist who
thrived on pitting workers of dif-
ferent races against each and feared
that they would find solidarity with
one another. “From now on,” Muse
there are no civil rights.” It was
during a labor struggle - a strike
by AFSCME sanitation workers in
Memphis, Tennessee - that Dr. King
was assassinated in April, 1968. To
mark the 50th anniversary, AFSC-
ME has launched a grass roots ed-
ucation and mobilization campaign
initiative called I AM 2018 - to
honor the courage and carry on the
legacy of both Dr. King and the san-
itation workers.
The Janus case and the pursuit of
In New Jersey, my union has set up a training
fund that provides young people a pathway to high-
demand nursing careers. The result is not just good
jobs, but a better health care system. In Minnesota,
teachers’ unions speak up together to make sure their
students get the resources they need to succeed.
bers earn 14.7 percent more than
their non-union peers. The union
advantage for Latinos is even great-
er: 21.8 percent.
When unions thrive, everyone
benefits. Wages, protections and la-
bor standards for all working people
rise. In New Jersey, my union has
set up a training fund that provides
young people a pathway to high-de-
mand nursing careers. The result
is not just good jobs, but a better
health care system. In Minnesota,
teachers’ unions speak up together
once said of unionization and work-
place integration, “white women
and white men will be forced into
organization with black African
apes whom they will have to call
brother or lose their jobs.”
By contrast, Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr., who made the connection
between racial and economic jus-
tice central to his philosophy, saw
through the “false slogan” of right
to work. “Wherever these laws have
passed,” he said, “wages are low-
er, job opportunities are fewer and
right to work is all about people with
substantial money and power hoard-
ing even more money and power for
themselves. It is strong unions that
create greater freedom and opportu-
nity for everyone, helping working
people of all races get a fair shake, a
strong voice and a chance to achieve
the American Dream.
Lee Saunders is president of
the American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees,
a union of 1.6 million public service
workers.
Page 31
New Prices
Effective
April 1, 2017
Martin
Cleaning
Service
Carpet & Upholstery
Cleaning
Residential &
Commercial Services
Minimum Service CHG.
$50.00
A small distance/travel
charge may be applied
CARPET CLEANING
2 Cleaning Areas or more
$30.00 each Area
Pre-Spray Traffic Areas
(Includes: 1 small Hallway)
1 Cleaning Area (only)
$50.00
Includes Pre-Spray Traffic Area
(Hallway Extra)
Stairs (12-16 stairs - With
Other Services) : $30.00
Area/Oriental Rugs:
$25.00 Minimum
Area/Oriental Rugs (Wool) :
$40.00 Minimum
Heavily Soiled Area:
$10.00 each area
(Requiring Extensive Pre-Spraying)
UPHOLSTERY
CLEANING
Sofa: $69.00
Loveseat: $49.00
Sectional: $109 - $139
Chair or Recliner:
$25.00 - $49.00
Throw Pillows (With
Other Services) : $5.00
ADDITIONAL
SERVICES
• Auto/Boat/RV Cleaning
• Deodorizing & Pet
Odor Treatment
• Spot & Stain
Removal Service
• Scotchguard Protection
• Minor Water Damage
Services
SEE CURRENT FLYER
FOR ADDITIONAL
PRICES & SERVICES
Call for Appointment
(503) 281-3949