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Portland, Oregon
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P O RTLfì NÖ ’b ßSE RV E R
Introducing:
Let’s Stop
The Violence
“ Who Killed
by: Ms. Azzie Winston
(Mother of Ray Ray Winston)
By: Jim Redden-Associate Edit or
Willamette Week Newspaper
Valerie Currie
Valerie Currie is the new
Employment Coordinate for
the Internal Revenue Service.
Currie began her career as a
revenue agent in 1985 after
graduating from Portland State
University with a degree in
Business Administrator.
Currie stated that a few of
the goals of the program w ill be
to establish recruitment sites
within the Community, pro
mote the IRS as a career oppor
tunity, and to continue VITA,
the Volunteer Income Tax
Assistance program.
Alive & Well!
Mattie Ann Callier-Spears
After a speedy recovery from
a recent illness, Ms. Mattie Ann
Callier-Spears w ill be perform
ing at the Oregon State Fair,
this Saturday, Sept. 3, at 3 p.m.
and on Sunday, Sept. 4, at 11
a.m. The performance w ill take
place on the Showcase Stage.
Also appearing on the show
will be the Byron Davis Singers
nad the very talented Brown
Singers. Don’t miss the power
ful and inspiring concert!
Announcement:
As of today, all news items,
calendar events, photographs
etc., must arrive at the Portland
Observer’s News Desk by 12
Noon each Monday. All submit
ted material , including un
solicited articles, must be (1)
signed, and (2) typed double
spaced with a name and a tele
phone number for verification.
All subm itted photographs
must be black and white. Color
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accepted. Once submitted, all
photographs becom es the
p ro p e rty o f th e Portland
Observer.
Before consideration for
publication, all news Items and
articles will be researched for
verification and edited for clari
ty. Priority will be given to com
munity news and news that di
rectly impact the community.
News from and about role
m odels, fa m ilie s, seniors,
young achievers, etc. is
welcomed. Unsigned material
will not be considered.
And lastly, columns that
usually appear on the editor
ial/opinion page w ill be moved
to other sections pf the paper.
In the future, the editorial page
will focus on commentary,
analysis, guest editorials and
letters to the editor. We
welcome your letters ... Now.
Thanks for your unrelenting
support.
Editor’s Note:
The following article appeared in
the August 25-31 issue of the
W illam ette W eek N ewspaper,
The Portland Observer determin
ed that the information contained in
this article is valuable for gaining
needed insight to recent incidents
at Columbia Villa. It is reprinted
with permission of the Willamette
Week Newspaper.
environment that did not seem to
offer much of a way out. He was
the kind of person that the
government says it wants to help.
But the one public agency that
W inston actually came in to
contact with, the Housing Auth
ority of Portland, evicted him from
his mother’s home one week
before his death.
The fact is, the word “ gang”
has become such a toaded label
tate Penitentiary, in Salem, for
attempted murder. A brother,
Stanley Jr., 19, is in a Salem work-
release center serving a five-year
term for first-degree robbery. The
mother, Azzie, 34, has relied
largely on public support to raise
her family.
There were signs that Joseph
W inston had already begun
making the wrong choices. His
mother says that her son was not
One cannot explain the pain
and grief of losing their child. It is
like a part of you has gone, too.
You feel this emptiness, the loss
of one of your children is hard to
express, the hurt and lonliness
you feel inside.
My son, Ray-Ray was loved by
everyone. He enjoyed his life
some, his family, his school and
classmates. He loved his sports
activities, he helped out and work
ed hard to help at home. He
wasn’t a problem child, he gave
respect to everyone. He had high
hopes of attending college and
wanted to be a professional ball
player someday.
I hope that no one would have
to feel the pain and suffering that
I have gone through since the
loss of my son. The shock and
grief that I felt at the time of his
death caused a lot of feelings to
run through me, but I have to put
it in the hands of the Lord. My son
was deeply loved by his brothers
and sisters and all the kids that
knew him; he will be greatly miss
ed by us all.
Nothing or no one could ever
replace what we had or what we
feel for Ray-Ray.
We, the family of Ray-Ray
Winston, in no way seek any
revenge and hope that this will
bring an end to all the violence;
that men will lay down their guns
stop killing and start loving.
wo weeks ago, Joseph Ray
Winston was looking forward
to his senior year at Roosevelt
High School. As a junior, the
17-year-old excelled at basketball.
He planned to return to the court
In the fall, and also hoped to try
out fo r the north Portland
school’s football team.
Last week, James Edward
Tw ine was livin g w ith his
grandmother in north Portland.
He was a rifle marksman in the
U.S. Army Reserves and worked
at a downtown M cDonald’s,
where his supervisor considered
Roosevelt High School basketball team with Joseph Ray Winston (Front
him a good employee with a
Row, Right)
cheerful attitude.
a gang member. She describes
that it immediately conjures up
Today, Winston and Twine are
him as a good boy who did not
stereotyped Images of swagger
dead, symbols of this city’s
even smoke or drink. But some
ing, s te e l-n e rve d c rim in a ls
growing epidemic of gang-related
Columbia Villa residents say that
w ielding pow erful autom atic
violence. On Aug. 17, Winston
he had begun hanging around
weapons and carrying piles of
was shot to death in a small park
with established members of the
cash from durg sales. The
in the Columbia Villa housing
Columbia Villa Crips. Some time
problem with this stereotype is
project — near a sign erected by
ago, the Portland police con-
that it tends to obscure the real
the p ro je c t’s la n d lo rd , the
-cluded he was a gang member,
people behind the label, most of
Housing Authority of Portland,
known to the other Crips as “ Ray
whom are kids who need more
that proclaims, ‘‘We protect our
Ray.” The police came to this
than the threat of jails if they are
ow n!” Five days later, Twine died
conclusion for a number of
ever going to have a chance.
after being shot In the chest while
reasons. For starters, he appar
The first newspaper stories of
standing In a Piedmont Plaza
ently bragged to police during
W inston’s death promised a
Townhouses parking lot at North
conversations at Columbia Villa
major break in Portland’s war
Mississippi Avenue and Simpson
that he was a gang member of
against
gangs.
"A
suspected
Street.
some standing. In addition,
leader
of
the
Crips
gang
dies
in
a
Police are trying to determine
according to Deputy Portland
small
park
in
the
Columbia
Villa
whether the killings are related.
Police Chief Dan Noelle, Winston
housing
project,”
proclaimed
the
Winston reportedly called himself
had been identified as a gang
subhead
on
the
front
page
of
the
a member of the Columbia Villa
member by reliable informants
afternoon
edition
of
the
Aug.
17
Crips, an offshoot of a black
and
because he wore clothing
Oregonian.
W
inston’s
role
as
a
youth gang that originated in
associated
with the Crips. “ If it
head of the Columbia Villa Crips
California in the 1960s. Police
walks
like
a
duck and talks like a
was amplified in the next day’s
say Twine was an associate of
duck,
it’s
a
duck,” says Noelle,
edition of the paper, which
the Bloods, the Crips’ archrivals.
who
adds
that,
despite The Ore
contained no fewer than five
For months, Portlanders have
gonian’s
claims,
the police did
references to Winston as a
read and heard news stories
not
call
Winston
a gangleader.
gangleader, couched in such
about youth gangs moving up
“
They
don’t
have
any
real leaders,
te rm s as " r e p u t e d ” and
from California. According to
except
maybe
the
oldest and
“ admitted.”
some of the stories, the gangs
strongest.”
The designation “ leader” was
have been lured to town by the
In Portland, the term gang has
significant. Until now, Portland’s
huge profits to be generated by
taken
on explosive connotations.
gangs have been faceless. Identi
the sale of crack cocaine. Some
Even
the
media have been caught
fying a leader— even a dead
of the reports allege the gangs
up
in
the
frenzy, occasionally
one — would go a long way
have already a ttra c te d 600
labeling
routine
acts of violence
toward helping people under
followers.
as
gang
related.
Leon Harris,
stand how the gangs were
The gang threat has galvanized
general
manager
of
the black-
operating in the city.
government leaders into action.
owned
Portland
Observer
news
But, as details of Winston’s
Oregon Gov. Neil Goldschmidt
paper,
says
such
coverage
adds
past came out, the image of a
has already announced that he
to
the
existing
problems
in
north
coldblooded gangleader began to
will ask the 1989 session of the
and northeast Portland. “ It’s
vanish. He was not from out of
Oregon Legislature to build more
created a great deal of hysteria,
state, but had grown up in
jail beds. Multnomah County
especially among the business
Portland. Although apparently
Sheriff Fred Pearce has announc
owners,” Harris says, “Those who
known to the police, he had no
ed that gang members will stay in
can afford to move are leaving. A
criminal record. And his high
jail longer than non-gang mem
mass exodus from this communi
school basketball coach called
bers. And Mayor Bud Clark has
ty serves no useful purpose.”
him a gifted boy with potential on
taken partial credit for the
That kind of hysteria may have
the basketball court.
creation of a multiagency strike
blinded
the Housing Authority of
In reality, Winston was what
force to fight gangs in Portland.
Portland
to Joseph Winston’s
social workers call an “ at risk"
These plans sound promising,
true
needs.
After being branded a
youth, By that, they mean a young
but it is doubtful that they would
gang
member,
the Housing Auth
person who could easily turn to
have helped either Winston or
ority
threw
Winston
out of his
crime unless given a helping
Twine. Little was known about
mother’s
home
one
week
before
hand. When Winston was 7, his
Twine by the time Willamette
he
was
killed.
Now
the
agency
parents were divorced. His father,
Week went to press, but Winston
cannot cite any specific problem
Stanley, 45, has a long criminal
fit the classic mold of an
that Winston caused to justify the
record and is currently serving a
underprivileged youth, handicap
eviction.
20-year sentence in the Oregon
ped by poverty and living In an
The eviction of Winston de
serves closer scrutiny than it has
received to date. Judi Pitre, the
Housing Authority employee who
FEATURES 140433953
Pa«e 1,
appeared on behalf of the agency
in court eviction proceedings,
RELATED STORIES.....................................................p««e 2
now says that she did not want to
COMMUNITY FORUM..........................................
Page 3
evict
him at all. “ He had been
RELIGION................ ..................................................... P««c4
involved in a couple of disturb
ENTERTAINMENT......................................................Page 5
ances, but they had all been
BACK-TO-SCHOOL.............................................. Pages 6 -9 <
resolved as far as th Housing
T
OBSERVER’S INDEX
CLASSIFIEDS....................................................... Page 10-12
■ Continued on Page 2
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26C
Tragedy
On
Roselawn
by Mattie Ann Callier-Spears
ast night at 10 p.m. there was
another shooting in our Nor
theast community, at 744 N.E.
Roselawn.
B ro th e rs
Johnny
L e ro y
Williams, 25, and Kevin Ray
Williams, 20, of the Roselawn ad
dress were critically Injured and
their step-brother, 11-year-old
Kenyata Black suffered a pellet
wound when caught in the hail of
bullets fired by their assailants.
According to Det. David Simp
son, public Information officer for
the Portland Police Bureau there
were two cars in the area of N.E.
8th and Roselawn. The cars stop
ped, and the occupants got out.
The W illiams’ were in the door
way of the residence when the
attackers opened fire at close
range. Handguns and a shotgun
were fired. The force of the blast
reportedly knocked the older men
back through the doorway and In
to the house.
The police were In the area and
heard the shots being fired. They
gave chase and stopped a vehicle
between N.E. Jarrett and Simp
son Streets.
Four juveniles were apprehend
ed and taken into custody. No
other details were available.
L
The three injured youths were
rushed to
Emanuel Hospital
■
FMS 1
Youth Gang
Gang Prevention:
An Exclusive Interview With The
With The Rev. Clarence R. Hill
R. Hill of Inglewood, California.
by Stephen E. McPherson,
Special Correspondent
he cruel reality of Portland's tis accompanied us on Sunday
growing youth gangs came and we met several young men.
We Interacted with them and I
into sharp focus last week when
Ray Ray Winston, a popular shared my perception of the
17-year-old athlete and Columbia Black genocide they are per
petrating. Most of the crimes we
Villa resident, resident, was
are
experiencing are Black on
eulogized by the Reverend Clar
Black.
I talked to them about what
ence R. Hill of Inglewood, Cali
we
must
do with the younger peo
fornia. Rev. Hill readily admits
ple
to
prevent
them from getting
that he once was a gang member
caught
up
in
such
a downward
who graduated to selling dope
thrust.
Portland Observar. In talking to
some of the gang members did
they Indicate why they are Involv
ed In such activities? Did they ex
press a desire to get back Into the
main stream of society?
The Rav. Hill: There Is a very In
teresting situation here In Port
land. The drug element Is a very
strong issue. Once they have a
taste of It and have experienced
what money can buy, It is difficult
to compete with that attraction.
This is why something must be
X
done at a younger age where cri
Rev. Clarence Hill
sis Intervention is effective. Cer
in Portland This Week
tainly something must be done to
Identify those young people who
and then to running a gambling
might be vulnerable to these
joint. There is a difference. Rev.
negative Influences. I talked with
Hill got out of It and now devotes
many of the Bloods and Crips
his entire career to saving young
who expressed a desire to do
people. He Is the executive direc
something other than what they
tor of the Community Care Pro
presently are doing. My concern
gram In Inglewood. The following
and question is what does
is an exclusive interview he gave
Portland have that will create this
to the Portland Observer just
alternative?
Is there a business
before returning to California.
man, Is there a corporation who
Portland Observer. I under
will embrace one or two of these
stand that you had the opportuni
youths with financial support? It
ty to talk to some of the young
is my understanding that there
people who identify with the
are
less than 200 such persons in
Bloods and the Crips here in
volved
with gangs. California has
Portland.
at least 37.000. Is there a business
The Rev. Hill: Mr. Macceo Pet
■ Continued on Page 2
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