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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 8, 2019)
Page 4 Good day African American business owners, skilled people, church organizations, etc. If you seriously believe that we should help support our own and encourage others to do the same, then we’re inviting you to come and get registered to participate in the upcoming “20/20” Regional African American Business directory, featuring what black people are doing in Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Vancouver WA, PTLD, Salem etc. Registration is taking place now at 2205 N. Lombard, room 103, PTLD, Oregon. After they are paid for, there will be thousands of directories produced and distributed. Basic business directory listing is less than $40 a year, less than $15 for skilled people listings. For appointment hours phone Gloria at 360-952-1432, Ruth at 360-723-8497, John (503) 358-9655 or Lottie (directory organizer) at 206-271-0311. May 8, 2019 Writings for a Better World C ontinueD from p age 3 Oregon Physicians for Social Re- sponsibility as promoting equity and justice. She said the group’s goals are to protect human life from the gravest threats to health and survival by striving to end the nuclear threat, advance environ- mental health, protect our climate and promote peace. The highlight of the evening was when the students read their winning entries aloud. Alyssia Maxwell, the third place winner from Parkrose High School spoke about being a mem- ber of her basketball team and facing racist taunts during away games. “I play for Parkrose High School and every time we go to St. Helens high school there’s always a situation or problem happening every year...Their school is known for being racist. We thought we would be able to just play basket- ball and not worry about anything bad happening this time, but we were wrong about that,” Maxwell said. Iman Pearce of De La Salle North Catholic High School, the second place winner, wrote about being in the first grade when a classmate spoke up in front of her, the teacher and other students and said ‘No, you’re black” after she asked to play from the same toy box. “Somewhere that girl had heard that people like me should not be allowed to touch something that was hers,” Pearce said. First place winner Jack Hill of Westview High School wrote about the inequities of providing housing for people who face eco- nomic hardships and discrimina- tion, maintaining his own deter- mination to overcome obstacles. “Ain’t never a silver-lining playbook so rigged/ as Portland metro’s real-estate market… The biggest question for you is: How are you going to use your story moving forward. Are you going to create a conversation? Are you go- ing to make waves? Are you going to foster understanding? Are you going to carve out opportunities? I know I am,” Hill said. The keynote speaker was Dr. Brian Gibbs, who serves as vice president for equity and inclusion at Oregon Health & Science Uni- versity. “Let’s be clear, systemic rac- ism is a corrosive and widespread problem in our society, and we all need to do a better job of con- fronting it - in our towns, in our neighborhoods, in our schools and college campuses, in our clinics, and in ourselves,” Gibbs said. Madison Arnold-Scerbo is a program assistant at Oregon Phy- sicians for Social Responsibility. Advertise with diversity in The Portland Observer Call 503-288-0033 or email ads@portlandobserver.com
