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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.
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