Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 15, 2000)
M a rc h 15 ,2 0 0 0 Page A 4 Articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views of Have a safe and happy St. Patricks Day <Ehc Vote 'No' on 81 No Ju stic e , No Peace sportiani» © hseruer USPS 959-680 Established 1970 STA FF E d it o r P C in h ie f , u b l is h e r Charles H. Washington E d i T o R Larry J. Jackson, Sr. B u s in e s s M anager Gary Ann Taylor C opy E d it o r Joy Ramos C r e a t iv e D It’s difficult for many Americans to b elie v e the c h a rg e o f po lice misconduct, which have swirled around in cities across the nation for more than two decades. Instead, many have chosen to believe law enforcem ent officials who have vehemently denied such accusations not only in large cities like New York and Los Angeles but also in smaller ones like Pittsburgh and East Haven, CT. Now a scandal in the Los Angeles city police department based on the confession o f a member o f one o f the plain clothes divisions o f that force threatens the fiscal viability o f that city and undermines the integrity of the entire force there. W hen officer Rafael Perez was accused o f stealing cocaine which had been confiscated from drug dealers, he began to talk to the Los A n g e le s D istric t A tto rn e y ’s department and the stories that he told now resulted in at least 70 Los- A n g eles p o lic e o ffic e rs being investigated, dozens of criminal cases being thrown out because o f police misconduct and hundreds o f millions o f dollars in suits against the city e x p e c te d . W h a t’s m ore, as information has come out, it has shown that the L. A. police department officials covered up bad behavior of police officers, did not civilian complaints seriously and failed to take many steps which could have headed o ff this scandal. As the story has been revealed. Officer Perez, who was part of an anti- gang division in one o f the city poorest neighborhoods, and his fellow officers were just as much o f a gang as those they were policing. They had initiation rites and plaques celebrating the : hooting and even the killing o f victims. They beat prisoners, planted drugs and guns on them and sometimes shot and even killed them. They protected each other’s illegal activities, with supervisors sometimes helping to plant or change evidence or to concoct protective stories after shooting. But as horrible as the activities o f this unit o f the L.A. police department were, just as troubling were the charges which have come out against the whole department. For instance, despitetheU.S. Justice Department’s re p e a te d atte m p ts to get it to computerize information about its officers since the Rodney King b e a tin g , it ap p e a rs that m uch information about its officers are making decisions about promotions and assignments, they have done so without knowing about complaints officers and other problems with them. In addition, as Mayor Riordan has pushed to hire thousands o f new police officers over the past few years, at least four officers were hired who had prev io u s crim in al records themselves, including one who had sold drugs as a juvenile and as involved in a “vehicle tampering” incident as an adult. The police department itself admits that this is a problem, which has not yet been solved. The terrible irony is that Los Angeles black and Latino communities, who desperately wanted to see an end to gang violence o f the 1990’s, found ir e c t o r Shawn Strahan P h o to g r a ph er David Yandell 4 7 4 7 NE Martin Luther King, rtla n b ®b»eruer themselves in doublejeopardy. They were now victims o f police violence andpolicesellingdrugsaswell. While some o f the gangs were broken by police activity, at what price is the question that must hurt us. Officer Rafael Perez’s accusations of brutality and harassment, bribery, planting o f evidence, framed suspects and even shooting unarmed men by Los Angeles Police officers has re v e rb e rate d th ro u g h o u t the department. The scandals o f the L.A. police department have a broader meaning which must not be lost. All cities m ust tak e se rio u sly c iv ilia n complaints against police officers. All police officers must understand that police brutality and harassment and cover-ups will mean the loss o f jobs. All police departments must put in place ways o f monitoring officers, and up-to-date, accurate record keeping about their officers. In addition, they must find ways to avoid hiring and to weed out officers with criminal and violent histories. Police departments across this nation must understand that Americans want safe streets, but not at the expense of constitutional rights and not through the use o f unnecessary and illegal violence. The reality is that unless every American believes that every police officer is treating all citizens justly and legally, then the moral authority and integrity o f all police departments are th re a te n e d . W ithout that confidence o f the people, the police become a force o f occupation and the very foundations o f our justice system will be shaken. Members o f the Trust Juries Not Politicians Coalition converged on the Secretary o f State’s office today to submit voters’ pamphlet statement urging a “no” vote on Constitutional Amendment 81 in time tor the filing deadline forthe May 16,2000 primary. “1 got justice from a ju ry that spent three weeks hearing my case and three-and-a-halfdays considering the facts. A ju ry o f 12 o f my peers ruled in my favor-a verdict that is now under review by the State Supreme Court. I am a quadriplegic, I need 24-hour care, and I'm in this wheelchair fo r life. The jury' helped me recover the costs fo r my three children and myself. Oregonians need this kind o f case-by-casejustice. " - Linda McCathem, survivor and mother o f three. “Amending the Oregon Constitution to limit what a survivor may receive from a jury is irresponsible. Juries should decide the consequences for a drunk driver on acase-by-case basis. Politicians are ill prepared, without having heard the facts, to set limits on justice.” -Arwen Bird, volunteer. Survivors Advocating for an Effective System. “ Too often, survivors o f a brain injury need to recover damages through our civil justice system in order to pay fo r rehabilitation and long-term care. All these people ask is that their case be judged on the evidence broughtforward at the time ofthe trial, not pre-determined by politicians who set arbitrary limits based on special interest lobbying. The backers o f this constitutional Amendment will tell you that it's about controlling costs. But it is really about asking you to give away your constitutional rights to a ju ry trial in exchange fo r vague promises o f future cost reduction. Bill Olson, President, Brian Injury Association o f Oregon. "¡fthis passes, defiant, reckless companies will not be held accountable for dangerous decisions that hurt the public, whether i t ’s making cars with exploding gas tanks or garage doors without safety features to protect children, or it s an HMO withholding life-saving treatment. Insurance companies will bluster and fulm inate as usual, saying this constitutional amendment is needed to bring down rates. This is untrue. Studies show that greedy insurance companies will not reduce premiums upon enactment o f such laws. " — Jason Reynolds. Director, Consumer League o f Oregon. "When you live long enough to be a senior citizen, you know people who have been victimized bv a scam artist, defective products that can injure, bullying landlords or abusive care givers, and drunk drivers who hurt, maim and kill. Unfortunately, seniors are often the targets o f the unscrupulous and the victims o f the reckless. Right now. the Oregon Civil Justice System is the ultimate decision maker - 1 2 Oregon citizens, our neighbors and friends, rich and poor, seniors and non-seniors. Constitutional Amendment 81 would change all that. Oregonians must vote "no" on Constitutional A mendment 8 1 ." — George Starr, Former state legislator and volunteer fo r the Oregon State Council o f Senior Citizens. The Trust Juries Not Politicians Coalition is fighting for the most basic rights Oregonians possess the right to complete and impartial justice on a case-by-case basis from a jury o f our peers. This broad-based coalition includes organizations that represent consumers, seniors, survivors, and working families. « Cloning not the answer by P ai e B rownlow Jr. Blvd. Portland, OR 9 7 2 1 1 5 03 -2 8 8 -0 0 3 3 Fax 5 0 3 -2 8 8 -0 0 1 5 e-mail pdxobserv@aol.com P ostmaster : Send address changes to Portland Observer PO Box 3 1 3 7 Portland, OR 9 7 2 0 8 Periodical Postage paid in Portland, OR Subscriptions are $60.00 per year D E A D L IN E S FOR ALL SUBMITTED MATERIALS: ARTICLES: Monday by 5 p . m . ADS: Friday by noon The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions M anuscripts and photographs should bec learly labeled and w ill be returned ifaccom pam edbyaself addressed envelope. All created design display ads becom e the sole property o f the newspaper and cannot be used m other publications o r personal usagewithout the w ritten consent o f the general m anager, unless theclienl has purehasedthecomposition o f such ad. O SERVER A L L R IG H T S 1996 T H E P O R T L A N D O B RESERVED, R E P R O D U C T IO N I N W H O L E O R I N P A R T W I T H O U T P E R M IS S IO N IS P R O H IB IT E D . The Portland O bserver--O regon's Oldest M ulticultural P u blicatio n-is a m em ber o f the National Newspaper A ssociation-Founded in 1885, and T h e National Advertising Represen tative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc. N e w York, N Y , and T h e W est Coast Black Publishers Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver » Recently, Oregon Health Science University proudly announced the birth of T etra, their cloned monkey by the process o f embryo splitting. Many hail it as an accelerated step to finding cures for diseases. However, we must consider how cloning animals is a threat to human life as it is a stepping stone to cloning humans. The Scottish scientist Lan Wilmut who cloned a sheep, named Dolly, told the Press Association o f Britain, “It would be desperately sad if people started using this sort o f technology with people.” But, this technology is already being desired and used. Some folks think that in the future there will be no need for sex. Matt Ridley, wrote in the November 8 , 1999 edition ofTim e Magazine, “Many human beings, especially those who are rich, vain and ambitious, will be using test tubes - not just to get around infertility and the lack o f suitable partners - but to clone themselves and tinker with their genes.” Ursula Goodenough, a cell biologist at Washington University in St. Louis, joked with The New York Times, “There’ll be no need form en.” Lindsey Gri ffiths, in the Toronto Star wrote, “Sex will be for lust - babies will come from reproductive bank accounts.” A team o f South Korean scientists from Kyunghee Uni versity claimed to have cloned a human cell from an infertile women which met with strong protest for developing human cells to create replacement organs. A 1997 CNN poll intheU .S. found that 89% ofthose who responded believed that cloning humans was morally wrong, and 74% said that human cloning is against G od’s will. In spite o f that, a team at the University o f Wisconsin at Madison reported that it was able to grow unlimited amounts o f embryonic stem cells - cells that are the parent cells of all tissues in the body - in the laboratory. And now the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued draft guidelines in favor o f federal funding o f research that requires the killing of human embryos for stem cell research. The scientists would be violating the January 1996 federal law that has banned federal funding o f “research in which a human embryo or human embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subject to risk o f injury or death greater than that allowed for fetuses in utero” under federal human subjects regulations. Experimentation on live human embryos is demeaning to human life and many embryos - small human beings - will be destroyed. My main reason why cloning is unethical is that it will up the standard for “perfect" children. If there would be an option to produce children without medical problems, then those families who did have a handicapped child bom to them would fall into social scorn. Already a recent survey by the Down Syndrome Association in the U K. found that Down patients had experienced discrimination by health officials. They had been denied health care for hearing and sight, and even been tuned down for life saving heart surgery. Those who suffer from any disease should not be looking at the experimental use of embryos with hope but with fear. If one human can be designated expendable because he or she is small in size, then it’s a short step to designate others as expendable for their weaknesses or deficiencies. I sympathize with those who suffer from diseases, and I hope and pray for cures. But, I cannot abandon the defense o f human life. Since Roe v. Wade, human life has been crushed and degraded, while “reproductive rights” have been elevated to the highest point o f eminence. Over the cacophony o f voices arguing over the value o f life, we must remember that this is al 1 about an assault on the most vulnerable - those who are too weak to defend themselves. Concerned Women for America, with 600,000 members nationwide, is the largest public policy women’s group in the United States. It supports the protection o f all life from conception until natural death i I Ì Just thinR: to u r son is b rig h t, h ea lth y and headed college one day You love the direction your career has taken. You're doing ar lot of the things you planned and even a few you didn't, kiying life to the fullest is easy when you have family behirid you. American Family Mutual Insurance. Call and talk to one of our helpful, friendly agents. You'll find out w hy wete consistently rated A+ (Superior) by A M . Best, the insurance rating authority Then, go on. Dream Plan. What you do next is up to you and we ll be here to help you All Your Protection Under One Roof. h American Family Mutual Insurance Company and Its Subsidiaries, Madison. Wl 53783-0001 wwwamtam.com i
