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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 1997)
» » - ■■ m « s & /* j y ■ __ * .i-’K 'V • î k --. -»• f -.- ù . v » - ” • ■ V x*-e*. •J.-, »ftM P age T he P ortland O bserver • A i o. 6. 1997 A5 Extortion found in Cosby case During three days o f delibera tions, the jury in the extortion trial o f Autumn Jackson hardly talked about Bill Cosby - the person who made the trial headline news, a juror said Saturday C osby was barely discu ssed , Debra Hyman said, as the jury worked methodically to reach its verdict that Jackson tried to extort $40 m illion from the man she claimed is her father in exchange for not going to the tabloids with her story. “They didn’t talk that much about him,” the 36-year-old Hyman said in a telephone interview a day after the jury convicted Jackson o f ex- tortion, conspiracy and crossing state lines to commit a crime “ While his words were impor tant, they w eren’t the evidence o f the crime,” she said. “ He was a vic tim. His star status had nothing to do with it.” Hyman, an investment manager and mother o f two children, also said she and the other jurors fel, sorry for the young woman because they considered her to be a victim, as well as a perpetrator. "I hope the judge is lenient with her and maybe she gets counseling," she said. Jackson faces up to 12 years in prison and $750,000 in fines when she is sentenced Oct. 22. She was a victim, Hyman said, because her mother and grandmother had told her for 22 years that she was C osby's daughter. And whether or not she really is his daughter, she lived all her life “with this know l edge and this pain,” Hyman said Cosby has acknow ledged an af fair with Jackson’s mother but de nied he is the w om an's father. Hyman said jurors believed Ms. Jackson “was ripe pickings tor a shyster, that people used her all through her life. Her mother used her to gain leverage on Bill Cosby , her grandmother used her, and now these crooks used her." Report: Jackson father is former busboy Autumn Jackson's father may not be Bill Cosby or the man whose name appears on her birth certifi cate, but possibly a former busboy who was once married to Jackson’s mother. Time magazine said. Jesus V asquez, whom Shawn Upshaw married in 1973 - a year before Autumn was born - was thought by their co-workers to be the g irl’s father, according to a woman who worked as a waitress with the couple at a Los Angeles restaurant. Time reported. "The shape o f her eyes and her eyebrows are Jesus,” Joan Green said. "And if you look at her baby pictures. Autumn had pin-straight hair.” Upshaw married Vasquez to help the Mexican immigrant gain U.S. citizenship, the magazine reported, quoting former friends it did not identify. A marriage license con firms their marriage, the magazine reported. Through her attorney, W anda Akin, Upshaw said she never lived. or had sexual relations, w ith Vasquez. The former busboy has not sur Economic progress In the walnut Park district is evident as Sgt. Harry Jackson (from left), w ith ms faced since Jackson was arrested in sister-in-law Denise Peterson and Lt. Scott Anderson o f the Northeast Precinct welcome Adidas America January. She w as convicted last in the new Harry Jackson Plaza. See related photo and story on Front Metro. (Photo by M. Washington) month for trying to extort $40 m il lion from Cosby by threatening to tell a tabloid that she is his daughter. Cosby, who has denied he is the 22-year-old w om an's father, took a paternity test last week to help settle the issue, his lawyer said. Youth Commissions. Prior career positions include Members o f the Rotary Club o f Both Upshaw and Autumn Jack- Albina, representing north and north His hobbies include photography, Executive Director o f the North son have declined to take a blood east Portland, recently elected Fred hiking and a budding interest in boat east Portland YMCA and a youth/ test. ing. Fred, his wife, Daisy and their family therapist. C Miller as their president. standard poodle, Sweetpea, reside Miller has published ajournai ar The club is also diligently work in Southeast Portland. ticle on depression as well as a work ing on plans for this year's Gran Prix In other Albina Rotary news, the book on stress. Race which is scheduled for Sept. pression. paranoia and delusions. He St. Andrew Summer Day Camp re He is continuing his graduate edu 18 at the Cascade Campus o f Port said he lashed out at Perzigian because ceived operating funds again this cation with a fellowship at Oregon land Community College. he knew he had been providing the year. I lealth Science University in the area Miller is originally from Cali younger O'Connor w ith cocaine. These dollars are used to provide o f caregiving o f family members fornia, but has been a resident of “ I don’t think Carroll O ’Connor camp experience to inner-north and with alzheimer. Oregon since 1970 when he at won this case because he’s a celeb northeast youth. He has been a member o f the tended Pacific University as a psy rity; I think he won it because h e’s a The camp has been in existence Albina Rotary Club for 12 years. chology major. father," said noted Florida attorney for the past 25 years. Organizers Fred has been appointed by the Gov He has a dual career as a sales Rov Black. “ I'm surprised this case consultant with US West Dex Yel hope to serve as many as 64 youth ernor to serve on the Chi Idren ’ s Trust ever went to trial, it’s ridiculous. There this season. Fund. Additionally, he has served on low Pages and an adjunct instructor never would have been a lawsuit it it The camp theme is "Becoming a the North/Northeast Skills Center in psychology with Portland Com wasn't Carroll O ’Connor." Person for Others.” Board and the Multnomah County munity College. Miller heads Albina Rotary Carroll O'Conner also wins; are stars unbeatable? In a society enamored of celebrities, do stars always win in court? It looked that way Friday when Carroll O ’Connor and Bill Cosby came away victors in two highly publicized cases. But the overall record is not as clear. O ’C onnor’s nem esis, Harry Perzigian, angrily berated a jury' for be ing swayed by star power in rejecting his slander suitagainst TV’s Archie Bunker. “ ItshowsL. A. loves celebrities,’’said Perzigian. “You’re not going to get a fair shake in L.A. if you sue a celebrity.” Perzigian, a convicted drug provider to O ’Connor’s dead son, couldn’t resist aiming a zinger himself, saying, “I’ve exposed Carroll O ’Connor as the hate ful, vengeful person he is.” Those who watched the trial are more I ikely to remember O’Connor's grief as he told the story of his son, Hugh, who shot h imself to death at age 32 on March 28, 1995, after a long battle with co caine addiction that drove him into de Good Summer Reading II Bv P rof . M c K inley B urt Oh, have I got a good one for you this week - in case you missed it in 1994; “ Berry Gordy: To Be Loved, an auto biography.” The Music, The down roads and byways I’ve trav elled b efo re-b u t aided this time with new perceptions of people, places and institutions: Chinva Achebe, Fanon, Cabral, Soyinka, Rushie, This spellbinding book dares you to imagine a world without the Supremes, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, the Temptations and the Four Tops. Even if you haven't SAVED A LOT for a home, you've probably saved ENOUGH. It’s not easy saving up to buy a home these days. But with the F H A, it isn't as hard as you’d tiling. Because with an FH A loan, you could get Magic, The Memories o f Motown. This spellbinding book dares you to imagine a world w ithout the S u p re m e s, S m o k ey R o b in so n , Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, M ichael Jack so n , Lionel Richie, the Temptations and the Four Tops. And that’s neither the begin ning nor the end o f the magic Gordy wove over the years, interweaving musical genius and a fantastic abil ity for organization to create his "Detroit hit factory.” You w on’t be able to put this 445 page paperback down until you fin ish. As Smokey Robinson says, “ To Be Loved’ captures the spirit o f those magical years... I know it’s all true because I was there from the beginning.” Warner Books, Inc , N Y. 1994. Are you ready, perhaps, for a little headier stuff. If you believe that colonialism and slavery o f what we have euphem istically called the “Third World” (most o f mankind) were not accomplished with smoke and mirrors’ but by the greed-driven ambitions o f europeans, then by all means you should get the following eloquent yet analytical study o f im perialism. “Culture And Imperialism”, Ed ward W. Said, Vintage Books. N Y., 1994. T h is tim e I fo u n d the publisher’s blurb to be quite accu rate: “Grandly conceived, urgently written and urgently needed... No one studying the relations between the m etro p o litan W est and the decolonizing world can ignore Mr Said’s work.” The New York Times Book Review. This erudite professor from Co lumbia U niversity has taken me Conrad, Dickens, Walter Rodney and C.L.R. James, he gives a classic pic ture o f the subjugation o f both Ire land and A lgeria (am ong other places). And you know I agree with his observation “ Historians have ig nored the development o f French culture in term s o f N ap o leo n ’s Egyptian expedition." How many times have I stated this very fact o f an African genesis? with docum en tation. I see that there is a new (and very expensive) book out on the eternal questions about President Thomas Jefferson and his black mistress; “ T h o m a s Je ffe rso n and S ally Hemings: An American C ontro versy." The only thing controversial is the exact degree o f hypocrisy exercised by the racists who still deny the dehumanizing effects o f American slavery -- which perme ated every level o f this society. To read an accurate and well docu mented story o f this affair which began on the continent when Sally was fifteen and saw this black slave taken to Paris for sprees at the finest shops and moonlight row boat rides on public lakes, get “Sally Hemings” by Barbara Chase - R iboud, Avon pb. 1979 (or later edition). In line with American ethnic pro tocol, the publishers insisted that the book be described as a “novel", when all o f us who have studied the matter know that the French news papers o f the day carried the stories o f this liaison and are easily acces sible in the archives. Ms Chase - Riboud includes a family tree that allows one to trace this lineage to the present day — As did Ebony Magazine. into a home of your own with a down payment as little as a few months rent. A nd you don’t need a perfect credit record or a high-paying job House/Down Payment to qualify. In $30,000 ............ $900 fact, depending $60,000 ......... $2,500 $90,000 ......... $4,000 upon the house you buy, your monthly payments may not be much more than your rent So asl( any real estate agent or lender for details. Or just call 1'800'C A L L FHA.We'U show you just how close you are to becoming a homeowner. W e’ll get you home. U.S. Dcpt. of Housing and Urban Development
