Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 2016)
February 10, 2016 The Skanner Page 3 News cont’d from pg 1 “She went and said a prayer, and the answer came back quick,” Ol- ive-Beltran said. Olive, who was African American, became Ore- gon’s first heart donor at a time when organ trans- plants were still rare. His other organs — includ- ing his cornea, lungs and kidneys — were also “ about organ donation. She is a board member of Donate Life Northwest, and got involved with the organization in its infan- cy, appearing at events and working with the media to talk about Bob- by’s story and answer questions about organ donation. Olive is still in contact with Merrell’s Olive, who was African American, became Oregon’s first heart donor at a time when organ transplants were still rare transplanted, though his family has not gotten to know the recipients. But they did become close to Wesley Mer- rill, a 44-year-old White man from Battle Ground, Wash., and his family. Both families, it turned out, were Seventh-Day Adventists, and Arsdale would sometimes have them over for vegetarian soul food. Olive’s family also im- mediately took the op- portunity to educate the public about organ trans- plants. “At the time of the transplant, [my mother] worked at Boise-Eliot School. She would bring Wesley to school and she would say Wesley was her son,” Olive said. Chil- dren would try to puzzle out how a Black woman could have a White son, and then Arsdale and Merrill would tell the story of how they got to know each other. Merrill passed away in 1990, and Arsdale died in 2012, but Olive-Beltran continues to work to tell the families’ stories and to educate the public Food mother, who currently lives in Arkansas, but wants to move back to the Northwest. Bobby’s birthday was Feb. 12, and Belinda said his family tries to do something every year to honor him and to raise awareness about the im- portance of becoming an organ donor. This Saturday there will be an event from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at As- pire, at 2601 SE 160th, to honor Bobby’s life, raise awareness about organ donation and raise funds for Donate Life North- west. In addition to encour- aging people to list them- selves as organ donors, Olive said she wants or- gan donors to let their families know so they are prepared to make the decision their loved ones would want if and when the time comes. The fam- ily is also working to start a Bobby Olive Fam- ily Foundation to spread awareness about organ donation. “It doesn’t seem like 30 years. Time goes so fast,” Olive-Beltran said. Children’s Hospitals Photo Exhibit This photograph, commissioned by Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel was selected for the 2015 Children’s Hospitals Photo Exhibit, a national competition administered by the Children’s Hospital Association. The photo, titled “Leave the Past Behind,” shows 18-year-old Marta Nunez using art therapy. Marta suffered a spinal cord injury resulting from a car crash and persevered through months of rehabilitation at Randall Children’s Hospital. The Children’s Hospitals Photo Exhibit will be on display to the general public at Randall Children’s Hospital Feb. 5 through 29 in the lobby of the hospital. Learn more about the exhibit online: https://www.childrenshospitals. org/Newsroom/Photo-Exhibit Housing cont’d from pg 1 will be used in the next five years, members gave an official presen- tation of the document at city hall this past Wednesday. Committee chair Bishop Steven Holt called the council’s adoption of the plan “a significant moment” in the history of Portland. The plan works across four ar- eas of concern in the Interstate Urban Renewal Area: prevent- ing displacement, creating new homeowners, creating rental homes and land acquisition. Some of these dollars have al- ready been put to work in the form of home repairs throughout North and Northeast Portland, with the bulk of the grants be- ing awarded to African Ameri- can-owned households. The biggest portion of the monies, $4.5 million, has been set aside for redeveloping land owned by Portland Housing Bu- reau between Northeast Martin Luther King Boulevard and Cook Street and Ivy for “family-friend- ly” affordable housing. The number of homes created, and households assisted, is ex- pected to total around 450. To ensure that families most di- rectly affected by gentrification get first dibs on these new devel- opments, the committee has in- “ fessor Lisa Bates said on Wednes- day. The plan notes North and Northeast Portland were, just two decades ago, home to the highest concentration of African Ameri- cans in the city and state, but does The biggest portion of the monies, $4.5 million, has been set aside for redevel- oping land ... for ‘family-friendly’ af- fordable housing cluded a “preference policy” that would track award dollars based on the amount of urban renewal activity that occurred where they lived. “For example, if you are a family member, grandparent or parent or yourself, who appears on the list of homes that were taken by eminent domain or condemned by the city in order to do urban renewal actions in the past, that would be in a priority ranking,” committee member and PSU Pro- not address race outright. Fritz called the preference pol- icy “groundbreaking,” but ex- pressed concern over how fami- lies will be chosen. She noted the high number of people who have been displaced in the urban renewal area, which stretches from around the Lloyd Center area to the St. John’s neigh- borhood. Read the full story at TheSkanner.com cont’d from pg 1 million acres of land in 1900. By 1980, there were less than seven million acres farmed by Black hands. He said there was a historic flight from the South and “ PHOTO COURTESY OF RANDALL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL Heart States Commission on Civil Rights, “The Decline of Black Farming in America,” predicted there would be no Black farmers by the year 2000. In the Black Americans did not want to farm — not because of farming, but because of Jim Crow law. They were being lynched farming, which was too closely associ- ated with slavery and sharecropping. Threats and violence prevented small independent Black farmers from keep- ing their land. A Black woman in the audience told Hill that her family left land they had owned because of a racist lynching. “Black Americans did not want to farm — not because of farming, but be- cause of Jim Crow law. They were being lynched. My own father left Alabama, [where] we had land, to get away from lynching. His cousin was lynched on our property,” she said. In 1982, a report from the United years between 1982 and 1987, more than one-third of the nation’s Black farmers went out of business. Black farmers were also denied the support and equipment that White farmers received. The Pigford v. Glick- man class action lawsuit alleged racial discrimination against African Amer- ican farmers by the United States De- partment of Agriculture. Disenfranchised Black farmers were denied farm loans and assistance from the USDA or given smaller amounts and heavier restrictions than White farmers of a similar background. Settled in 1999, almost $1 billion has been paid to 13,300 Afri- can American farmers and is the largest civil rights settlement to date. In 2010, Congress appro- priated an additional $1.2 billion to settle another 70,000 claims of racial discrimination. Hill sees a shift back towards Black farming. While African Ameri- cans are only two per- cent of all farmers, their numbers are steadily growing as the total num- ber of farmers in the U.S. is decreasing. Black farmers have stronger collec- tive organization now. There is a Black Farmer and Agriculturalists Associa- tion and a National Black Farmers As- sociation. There are meetings such as the Black Farmers and Urban Garden- ers Conference and the National Black Farmers Association Conference. During the work session, it was asked how Black farmers would improve food scarcity and access. Panelist Ja- maal Green, who is finishing his Ph.D. in Urban Studies at Portland State Uni- versity, said Black farmers would have insights into the needs of Black food consumers. He said the ability to have SNAP benefits accepted at farmer’s markets came out of food justice work.
