Malcom X - Portland, OR
Posted by: 
howarthe
N 45° 33.534 W 122° 38.869
10T E 527485 N 5045100
Malcolm X (1925 – 1965) was an African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist.
Waymark Code: WM8P0C
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 04/25/2010
Views: 2
Malcolm X (1925 – 1965) was an African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist. To his admirers, he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans. His detractors accused him of preaching racism, black supremacy, antisemitism, and violence. He has been described as one of the greatest and most influential Americans in history.
"In 1991, when the House of Umoja opened its doors, Portland was riddled with gang violence. Some people made appeals for Mayor Bud Clarke to call in the National Guard to quell the discord.
"Umoja was an innovative step toward addressing the problem. It was based on a Philadelphia program that offered gang-affiliated youth a way to chart a new course for their lives.
"It housed a 15-bed facility where former gangsters lived under traditional Swahili social principle that stressed purpose, cooperation, self-determination, and unity- or “umoja” in Swahili.
"The House of Umoja was widely praised. Donations poured in, and its waiting list groaned with people wanting to leave gang life." (Umoja bounces back by Jake Thomas, Portland Observer, November 2, 2009.)