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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 2011)
news/Bids To place your ad, email Advertising deadlines 12:00 Noon Monday Hours: Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. advertising@theskanner.com Ball washington continued from page 10 continued from page 10 tudes or outlooks for the subjects in the film? Dw: For a lot of them, they had never dreamed of travel- ling, getting a passport and for a couple of players, it did- n’t happen the first year. He was gearing to go and then a week beforehand, he couldn’t get it. If you can imagine, if you want a passport, you have to have a birth certificate, middle name. He gives no indication why the name Washington popped into his head. But George Washington, dead for only 60-odd years, had immense fame and respect at the time. His will had been widely published in pamphlet form, and it was well known that he had freed his slaves, Thompson says. Did enslaved people feel inspired by Washington and take his name in tribute, or were they seeking some ben- efits from the association? Did newly freed people take the name as a mark of devotion to their country? “We just don’t know,” Weincek says. But the connection is too strong for some to ignore. “There was a lot more consciousness and pride in American history among African-Americans and enslaved African-Americans than a lot of people give them credit for. They had a very strong sense of politics and history,” says Adam Goodheart, a professor at Washington College and author of the forthcoming “1861: Civil War Awakening.” “They were thinking about how they could be Americans,” Goodheart says. “That they would embrace the name of this person who was an imperfect hero shows there was a certain understanding of this country as an imperfect place, an imperfect experiment, and a willingness to embrace that tradition of liberty with all its contradictions.” Many Black people took new names after the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Black power movement, says Ira Berlin, a University of Maryland history professor who has written books on the history of African-Americans. “Names are this central way we think about our- selves,” Berlin says. “Whenever we have these kinds of emancipatory moments, suddenly people can reinvent themselves, rethink themselves new, distinguish them- selves from a past where they were denigrated and abused. New names are one of the ways they do it.” But for Black people who chose the name Washington, it’s rarely certain precisely why. “It’s an assumption that the surname is tied to George,” says Tony Burroughs, an expert on Black genealogy, who says 82 to 94 percent of all Washingtons listed in the 1880 to 1930 censuses were Black. African Film Festival Schedule Thursday, Feb. 24 12:00pm, Masquerades, PCC Cascade Moriarty A&H Building, Room 104 1:45 p.m., Fantan Fanga/Power of the Poor, PCC 7:30 p.m., Streetball, Thursday Evening Documentary Film Series with Film Director Demetrius Wren, PCC Friday, Feb. 25 7:30 p.m. Masquerades, PCC Saturday, Feb. 26 7:30 p.m., Fantan Fanga/Power of the Poor, PCC social security card and hopefully no criminal record. Most of these kids had at least one strike against them, if not all. Most of them had probably broken into a car at one point in their life, most, if not all, didn’t have a birth certificate, so it’s like a hunt to get all that. And then when they finally got to go over seas and be cheered for, I saw a part of them come out. You kind of play the part society gives you. If you’re suppose do to be a roughneck street kid, you know, you’re going to break into cars and be hardcore. But when you go to Australia and you’re wearing a jersey and repre- senting your country in an international tournament, I saw this maturity like they were hungry to be seen as something of value. The hardest part though, is having two weeks of bliss and being what you’ve always dreamed of being and you have to go back to Kingtown or wherever you’re from and go back to how society sees you and how hard that crash is for some people. There are a couple people in the film who weren’t so bad. There’s one kid who was an orphan, and that’s terrible, but he’ s trying to finish high school, he’s a couple of years behind. He’s pretty bright and actually going to and from high school everyday, it kept his social IQ up. So he was going to college, now I have some noto- riety, I get a scholarship and now I’m going to community college, I’m on my way. Whereas a couple of the other guys who were just heroes ... One guy used to be a gangster, went off and helped them win the tournament in Milan, he was a hero and he comes back home and he still has all these gang tattoos. And they put their gang tattoos on their face. So if you are from South Africa and see a guy with a tattoo across his face, you think killer, gangster, thief … when he got back, he got into drugs harder than he ever has been. If you go from being interviewed by mayors and gov- ernors. He was on stage once with a famous Formula 1 driver doing a press conference. He was kind of a superstar … and then he comes back home and it just sent him off the deep end. tSn: Are these games actually making a positive impact into the lives of the players? There was a statistic on the website that said 70 percent ended up making an improve- ment in their condition. But is this a positive experience long term? Dw: You have to realize, every country’s economic sys- tem that creates homelessness is different. … the problem in SA is that there is no safety net to keep those kids off the street and there’s no safety net when they return. tSn: Does the tournament provide money for the partic- ipants or winners? Dw: They provide money to get the players there. … A lot of people think if you win, do you get money or hous- ing? That’s something that still isn’t part of their system. I’m not sure if that’s based on a funding problem or a psy- chology thing where it’s more about working hard but at the end of the day you’re responsible for putting your life back together. I don’t know. A lot of audiences at the Q & As have a problem with this. They say well you won, but you still don’t have a house, they don’t get any money to do anything they just get a trophy and go back home? tSn: It’s kind of anticlimactic. Dw: Exactly. I think the Homeless World Cup is thinking that whatever main nonprofit is running it, they can take care of it. But of course, the people who created the HWC are from England, one of the world’s richest countries. Page 14 The Portland Skanner February 23, 2011 SUB BIDS REQUESTED “There is no direct evidence,” he says. “As far as I’m con- cerned it’s a coincidence.” Coincidence or not, today the numbers are equally stark. Washington was listed 138th when the Census Bureau pub- lished a list of the 1,000 most common American surnames from the 2000 survey, along with ethnic data. The project was not repeated in 2010. Ninety percent of those Washingtons, numbering 146,520, were Black. Only five percent, or 8,813, were White. Three percent were two or more races, 1 percent were Hispanic, and 1 percent were Asian or Pacific Islander. Jefferson was the second-Blackest name, at 75 percent African-American. There were only 16,070 Lincolns, and that number was only 14 percent Black. Jackson was 53 percent Black. Williams was the 16th- Blackest name, at 46 percent. But there were 1,534,042 total Williamses, including 716,704 Black ones — so there were more Blacks named Williams than anything else. (The name Black was 68 percent White, meaning there were far more White Blacks than Black Blacks. The name White, meanwhile, was 19 percent Black.) Many present-day Washingtons are surprised to learn their name is not 100 percent Black. “Growing up, I just knew that only Black people had my last name,” says Shannon Washington of New York City. Like many others, she has never met a White Washington. SUB BIDS / SUPPLIER QUOTES REQUESTED Kiewit requests subcontractor quotes and material quotes from subcontractors and suppliers including Disadvantaged, Women, and/or Minority Business Enterprises listed and certified by the Office of Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises (OMWBE), for the following project: SOUTH PARK BRIDGE #3179 REPLACEMENT PROJECT Bids Due: March 8, 2011 at 1:30 PM Owner: King County Department of Transportation, 201 S. Jackson Street, KSC-TR-0824, Seattle, WA 98104-3856 Contact: Dennis Ahl or Enrique Nunez Powell Butte Reservoir No. 2 Phase 2 City of Portland Bid Date March 8, 2011 @ 2:00 pm PCL is requesting scope of work and bids, Monday March 7, 2011 @ 1:00 pm. PCL CONSTRUCTION SERVICES, INC. 15405 SE 37th Street, Suite 200 Bellevue, WA 98006 CCB# 083460 P – (425) 454-8020 F – (425) 454-5924 We are requesting bids from Subcontractors and Suppliers, including Minority and Women owned businesses, and Emerging Small Businesses for the following: concrete – forming, placing, and rein- forcing steel; masonry; metals; rough and finish car- pentry; waterproofing; sheet metal; doors and win- dows; painting and flooring; fire suppression; plumbing and equipment; HVAC; electrical work; earthwork; exterior improvements; utilities; water- way and marine construction; piping and support; and handling equipment-cranes. Documents are available on PCL FTP site or in PCL’s office in Bellevue, WA Email – seattlebids@pcl.com for FTP site information Questions regarding site work, vault and reservoir related work contact Glen Lamoreaux @ 480-829-6333 Questions regarding park center, maintenance building, single-family residence, park trails, fenc- ing, landscape and irrigation contact Derek Pizzey @ 425-519-7325. 2-23-11 Quotes are to be submitted to: KIEWIT - MASSMAN, A JOINT VENTURE 33455 6th Ave. S. Federal Way, WA 98003 Tel: (253) 943-4200 Fax: (253) 943-4022 We request a proposal from your firm for the South Park Bridge #3179 Replacement. We are accepting quotes for the following services/supplies: Grading, Drainage, Storm Sewer, Sanitary Sewer, Erosion, Planting, Landscaping, Traffic Control, Plumbing, HVAC, HMA, Flatwork, Surveying, Painting, Electric, Architectural, Demolition, Drilling, Barge Towing, and Other work. Subcontractors and suppliers can access plans and specifications, online at the Builders Exchange website: www.bxwa.com/bxwa_toc/pub/774/int245_ south_park_bridge_3179_45527/info.php In order to assist certified Disadvantage Business Enterprise Contractors and Suppliers, we will divide total requirements into smaller tasks or quantities and establish delivery and construction schedules which will permit maximum participation of disad- vantaged businesses where feasible. All subcontractors and material suppliers are required to execute our standard “Subcontract Agreement”/“Material Contract”. We require 100% Performance and Payment, or Supply Bonds. If you have questions regarding these contract agree- ments, please contact us for a copy. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer 2-23-11
