Oregon Advance Times_1968-02-08

Page 4 The Oregon Advance/TIMES February a, 1968 Athletics: Money, Power And a Dream True (This article was written by Charles Leech, a native of Portland's Albina district who was named all-city and all-state at Jefferson High School, became a junior col– lege all-American and played a couple of years of profes– sional football.) by CHARLES LEECH It is a well-established fact that the Black man in Ameri– ca is wearing a racial uni– form which functions as a handicap to him in all as– pects of American society. That is, all aspects except one unique and often over– looked category. This cate– gory is athletics. Although athletes are some times degraded and looked down on, it is, for the Black man a dream come true, and if l may say so, a dream that has been a long time coming. It is no secret that all great professional athletes receive a large salary and are looked up to and treated with dignity by mostly every– one regardless of color. Lots of bread (money) spells green power, and when one is treated with respect and dig– nity and is assured from day to day that he is not inferior, this tends to give him self– pride (Black pride) and a feeling of belonging. It is also no secret that the Negro athlete is great and, man, I mean they are really "out of sight." Those who doubt this need only check the Olympic teams, the young record-holders in college track, major league batting leaders, NBA roster - or just take a long look at the Soul Food Has Its Own Mood; Just Anybody Can't Have It by BEVERLY BENTON Can you dig that some brothers and sisters really believe that "soul food" ex– ists or can exist in other racial and ethnic groups? It was kind of disheartening when I realized that these brothers and sisters were so willing to give up an import– ant part of their culture. It was even worse when l realized that they don't know where soul food comes from, nor its relation to the move– ment in the Black communi– ties today. Soul food originated as did most of Afro-American cul– ture, in the South, when scraps thrown to the slaves were utilized as part of their regular diet. Mama took the pig's feet, the chittlins, the greens and the chicken feet and turned them into very tasty soul satisfying dishes. All the parts seemed "in– edible" by the southern white man, were spiced, simmered and served along with the slave's regular ration of food, which consisted of things like corn meal and porridge. We were raised on soul food. We had soul food when we had nothing else. If you take things surrounding soul food, such as atmosphere, tradi– tion, etc. you can see how for instance, whites can't eat our type of soul food. When you sit down to a bowl of greens and a piece of cornbread in your home think about this. The smell, the close humidi– ty of the room, your wife, the way she talks about food and what she puts in it and the music, which is just as soul food as the food. Now transform yourself into the kitchen of a poor white family. The same greens, somewhat bland of taste, setting on the table before you, the same piece of corn bread sits beside it, now white instead of flaky and moist. The atmosphere is different also, the house is nearly cold and the things your wife raps to you about definitely are not the same. Nor is the pride of a meal well served appar– ent. The attitude about the food is different as well as the taste and probably smell. And how soulful is soul food with psychedelic music? ln other words the "soul" part of soul food has to be present to make that food come alive. During the past couple of years, great em– phasis has been put on things that are black in the black community ""(i.e. soul music, black churches, etc.) It is very important that we as a people recognize this and are proud in our recognition. Soul food is all part of BLACK identity, which is that part in the Black Power slogan that says that we should not be ashamed of ourselves. To be proud of our foods, and our hair and our music is to have pride in our race and ourselves as a person. There is no reason for black people to be afraid of talking black, eating black, looking black or acting black, especially since so many others are trying to imitate phases of our culture, for example our dancing, our singing and our food. Greens are as much a part of Negro History Week as DuBois, or Nat Turner. They ate them tool all-star teams in· profes– sional football, baseball and basketball. Consider that the top two college basketball teams, Houston and UCLA, had only two white starters of 10 players on the floor. I'm speaking of the game where soul brother Elvin Hayes and Col defeated soul brother Lew Alcindor and Co. Have you ever stopped to consider that if one goes to either a football, basketball or baseball game, there is a most interesting contrast be– tween the athletes on the field and the people viewing the game? On the field you will see that it is heavily popu– lated with Black blots and a few white, whereas, the stands are heavily white YW Series To Feature Fair Frank Fair, director of the C-CAP Opportunity School, will speak on "The Negro Revolution" as part of a Human Relations Seminar sponsored by the YWCA, lo– cated at 111 S. W, 10th Ave– nue, Other topics that will be covered during the seminar are a keynote address on "Interpersonal Relations" to be given by Don Barrett, so– cial worker at Jefferson High; a discussion of "Pov– erty, a Problem in Com– munication" and a panel discussion on "One Father, a Tri-Faith Dialogue." Panelists will include Rev. Tom Geshay of the First Baptist Church of Forest Grove, Sister Phyllis Cun– ningham of Marylhurst Col -– lege and Paul Bender, execu– tive director of National Conference of Christians and Jews. Three students from Marylhurst also will take part in the program, The seminar of four ses– sions will be held on con– secutive Saturdays from February 10 through March 2. They will be offered free of charge to young adults. Bender will be host to the series. Fair will be the final speaker in the series, COAST JANITORIAL EASTSIDE BOOKKEEPING SERVICE SERVICE * Complete Building Maintenance Phone: 282-0700 * STATE-FEDERAL INCOME TAX Short or Long Form Let us help you! Phone 281-7252 COAST JANITORIAL SERVICE INC. populated with few Blacks. The above paragraph spells out one thing very clearly. Black athletes are great and taking over athletics and the white man is going to spend his "green power" to watch this "Black power" perform, The reward for the Black athlete is that he will have green power, Black power and a little respect •.. some combination, wouldn't you say? Parents should encourage their "little black ones" to hit both the books and athletics, For those of you who feel that you are too small and have no ability, well ••• I recall a young man who is a very close friend of mine and with whom I played both high school and college ball. He was small and skinny, and talking about ability •• , he had none. Most of all, this "cat" had no guts , . • I mean he was afraid. Although he had nothing in the terms of ability and cour– age going for him, he had will power and encourage– ment from his parents. Today he is a success. He's got a college education and is half owner of Mel Ren– fro's Record Shop. Like Mel, he too plays de– fensive halfback for the Dallas Cowboys. His name: Dickie Daniels, Blind to Wrestle At Knott Center An interesting program of wrestling is coming up at the Knott Street Community Center Saturday, Feb, 10. KSCC Pool To Be Ready In May Starting at 2 p,m,, the Knott Street Community Center wrestling team will compete against a team from the Washington State School for the Blind, Knott Street Community Center's swimming pool will be ready for use this sum– mer, according to Dorothea Lensch of the Portland Park Bureau. The City Council has au– thorized negot1at1ons with Meriwether Products, Inc., for the $64,700 pool. Pur– chase will be made without resorting to bid letting. Parks Superintendent Har– ry Buckley said Meriwether is the only manufacturer of extruded aluminum pools, He said the bureau hopes to have installation completed some– time in May, The new pool, the first such recreation facility in the Al– bina area, will be "much like the one at Grant Park," Miss Lensch said. She noted that Knott Street Community Center already has the heating plant and dressing room facilities for the pool. Both are located in the KSCC building. The pool will be operated all-year 'round and will have overhead heating and lights for night use. The wrestlers, ranging from 85 pounds up to heavy– weight, will be matched up by age and weight. The wrestlers from the Blind school. coached by Don Anderson, are fast and skill– ful, They are not handi– capped by blindness because rules require wrestlers be in continuous contact with each other. The meet will serve as a dedication for a new $2,000 wrestling mat at the center, [ Black History Blacks in New World Early by CHARLOTTE RuTHERFORD Black men were not only slaves to the New World, but many of them came before the pilgrims who founded Jamestown, Va. Columbus had a black cabin boy, Diego el Negro, who sailed with the e1qJ!orer in 1502. Most of the explorers who sailed for the New World had black crewmen. The black race was not new to Spain and Portugal, Des– cendants of these first black slaves were among the first settlers of the New World. Black explorers, servants and slaves accompanied French, Spanish and Portu– guese explorers in their ex– plorations in North and South America. Balboa had 30 black men with him when he first sighted the Pacific Ocean. Black slaves carried the artillery that made it pos– sible for Hernando Cortez to conquer Mexico, Many other explorers depended upon slave labor to carry out their explorations. Some authorities believe a black man made the first trip to the Western Hemisphere. They say Pedro Alonso Nino, who piloted one of Columbus' ships, was a Negro. Estavancio (Little Stephen), who opened up Mexico and Arizona for the Spaniards, is said to have been one of the greatest black guides. He was the first man to see New Mexico. W. E. B. DuBois, recog– nized as one of America's greatest scholars, says other Negroes "accompanied De Soto and one of them stayed among the Indians of Alabama and became the first settler from the Old World." The majority of the early black men in the New World came as servants or slaves to be used in the voyage and later in settling the land. Spaniards, who led the ex– ploration, first tried to en– slave the Indians. But the Indian proved himself unable to serve as a slave and in 1517 a famous missionary recommended the importation of Africans. large-scale sugar planting more than a million Africans were brought to the United States alone. But the first black immigrants were not slaves. over the Indian and other white men for various rea– sons. It was relatively easy for a white man to escape and blend into a white crowd. The Indian knew the country and could find his tribe. Anthony, Isabella and the Jamestown group came to the New World in 1619 and in the Being strong was to the same way most of the white black man's disadvantage. It men came - under pres- cost the same to buy an in- sure. dentured servant for a few Most of them were social years as it did to buy a or religious outcasts sent to slave for life. the New World and sold. The early colonies had no racial distinctions. This came later. But in the first 40 years, black men acquired land, voted and were treated as equal to the white man, The early forms of labor consisted basically of in– dentured servitude. These laborers, both black and white, intermingled often and freely, But as industry grew and the socio- econom i c level strengthened, the black man was chosen to be a slave to insure a cheap work force. The black man was chosen Africans were ea s i I y recognizable because of their color and this made it diffi– cult for them to escape, There was an inexhaustible supply of the captured Afri– cans and, above all, they were unprotected. All of these things made the legalizing of slavery a desirable end, There were too many advantages to en– slaving the black man for the capitalist white power struc– ture to ignore and by the 1660's, slavery and racial distinction were being legal– ized. OUR DAD SAYS: Check out your Contractor before you call him. ,~ REMODELING ~~:~m~~ . COMPLETE PLANNING SERVICE HOl Cll-1\ OH FI\ISIIEIJJOB H .H\1,-l l'T(I :; )II,. T(I J'l).\(I IHI\\\ l'\IT. 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