School Custodians, Minorities Fight for Jobs
Workers rally to keep district from eliminating janitor workforce
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Volume XXXII
Number 10
" The
T h n f City
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www.portlandobserver.com
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a c o c
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Established in 1970
Wednesday
March 13,2002
Ministers Argue Shooting was Unjust Calls for
Slavery
Reparations
Grow
Serving Notice On Iraq
Not On Cheney Agenda
L O N D O N — V ice President C heney
said that he w o n ’t use his M iddle East
tour to notify w orld leaders o f an im m i
nent U.S. plan to attack Iraq. But he and
British Prime M inisterTony B lair m ade
it clear that S addam H ussein is in their
sights for “phase tw o ” o f the w ar on
terrorism.
Portland will be
represented next week
at convention to
demand compensation
Boston Diocese Settles
B O S T O N — T he A rchdiocese o f Bos
ton has reached a financial settlem ent
w ith dozens o f people w ho say they
w e re se x u a lly m o lested b y now -
defrocked priest John G eoghan, the
p laintiffs’ law yer says. T he law yer
w ould not give a figure, but it has been
reported to be $ 15 million to $30 million.
Goal: Finish Pentagon
Exterior by Anniversary
A R L IN G T O N , Va. — C rew s w orking
on the P entagon are racing to m eet a
self-im posed deadline to restore the
b u ild in g ’se x te rio rb y Sept. 11. A c o n -
struction official says som e construc
tion w orkers lost fam ily m em bers on
Sept. 11, and “they have trem endous
m otivation” to get the jo b done quickly.
Members o f the Albina Ministerial Alliance hold a news conference to allege bias in last week's grand jury
decision supporting police in the fatal shooting of a black man.
P hoto hv M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Ridge Prepares
Terror Alert System
B yro n H a m m ic k Jr. w a s k ille d b y P o rtla n d p o lic e
w hile th e su sp e c t (w h o h ad no w eap o n ) w as ly in g at the
Feb. 2 2 a t th e M o te l 6 on S o u th e a s t P o w e ll B o u le v a rd
d o o r on the flo o r w ith th e ch ild ; o r u sed less lethal
w hen h e d id n 't o b e y c o m m a n d s to sto p a s s a u ltin g a
am m u n itio n (b ean bags).
child. The fo llo w in g sta te m e n t is fr o m th e A lb in a M in
W A SH IN G T O N — H om eland Secu
rity c h ie f T om R idge said that he is
preparing a five-stage, m ulticolored
alert system to w arn the public about
terrorism dangers. The system is m eant
as a response to criticism that alerts
since Sept. 11 have been too broad.
T he o ffic e rs d e m o n stra te d cu ltu ra l in se n sitiv ity in
is te ria l A llia n c e re g a rd in g a g r a n d ju r y 's d ecisio n th a t
th eir in teractio n w ith the su sp ect th at co n trib u te d to the
th e 2 6 -y e a r -o ld b la c k m a n 's d ea th w as ju s tifie d :
su s p e c t’s death .
T he A lb in a M in isterial A llian ce, th e o ld e st activ e
F in ally , a lth o u g h B yron H am m ick Jr. had a crim in al
ecu m e n ical b o d y o f ch u rc h e s in the n o rth and n o rth east
reco rd , his life w as sacred and v alu ab le in the ey es o f
co m m u n itie s o f P o rtlan d , is called
o u t o f o u r p ro p h etic faith trad itio n
to sp eak to th e in ju stic e in th e k ill
Greenspan: Recovery
‘Well Underway’
ing o f B y ro n C lay H am m ick Jr.
W A SH IN G T O N — Federal R eserve
C hairm an A lan G reenspan, citing e n
couraging signs in recent days, painted
a rosier econo m ic p ictu re than ju s t a
w eek ago and said that the U.S. expan
sion w as “w ell u n d er w ay .”
tifiab le h o m icid e b y the M ultnom ah
W e b eliev e th a t th e ru lin g o f ju s
C o u n ty G ran d Ju ry w as bias in su p
p o rtin g th e p o sitio n o f th e p o lice
o ffic e r at th e e x p en se o f th e d e
ceased B yron H am m ick and the co m
Missile Nearly Hits Arafat,
EU Envoy
m unity.
R A M A L L A H , W est B ank — Israel
fired m issiles at Y asser A ra fa t's head
quarters as he m et there w ith the E uro
pean U nion’sM ideastenvoy.narrow ly
m issing the tw o. Separately, a Pales
tinian suicide b o m b er killed
H a m m ic k ’s case, w e m ak e th e fo l
G od, his fam ily and the co m m unity.
X The ruling o f justifiable
homicide by the Multnomah
County Grand Jury was bias
in supporting the position o f
the police officer at the
expense o f the deceased
Byron Hammick and the
community.
-Albina Ministerial Alliance.
A fter critical a n a ly siso fth e Byron
lo w in g co n clu sio n s:
Mandela, Carter,
Gates Team Up to Fight AIDS
rested and the ch ild secu red from
harm ? B ut, the q u estio n is w h eth er
B yron H am m ick Jr. co u ld have been
arre ste d and the ch ild secu red w ith
out th e use o f d e ad ly force?
T he A lb in a M in isterial A llian ce,
a fte r a sse ssin g the facts o f th e case,
b e liev es th a t the d eath o f B yron
H am m ick Jr. w as u n n ecessary .
In o rd e r to p re v e n t th e fu tu re
d eath s in h o stag e situ atio n s like B yron H am m ick Jr. and
T he o ffic e rs failed to tre a t th e d is tu rb an ce call as a
N athan T hom as (a child in ad v erten tly killed by p o lice 10
h o stag e situ atio n and act a p p ro p riately ; the o fficers
y ears ago), w e a d v o cate the fo llo w in g c h a n g e s in the
je o p a rd iz e d the life o f th e ch ild by firin g w eap o n s w hile
P o rtlan d P o lice D ep artm en t policies:
th e ch ild w as in th e h an d s o f th e su sp e c t; and the
The design an d im p lem en tatio n o f p o lic ie s to g uide
o ffic e rs failed to use o th e r p o ssib le op tio n s than d ead ly
o fficers in h ostage situ atio n s; and the im p lem en tatio n o f
stro n g er m an d ato ry c u ltu ral se n sitiv ity tra in in g and
force.
JO H A N N E S B U R G , South A frica —
Form er South African PresidentNelson
Mandela joined form er President Carter
an d B ill G a te s S r., th e fath e r o f
M icrosoft’s Bill G ates, in the battle
against A frica’s A ID S epidem ic. They
called for treatm ent and an end to stig
matization.
w
The q uestion is not w hether B yron
H am m ick Jr. sh o u ld hav e been a r
F or ex am p le, th e th ree o fficers resp o n d in g to the
m o tel ro o m co u ld h av e used b ato n s and p h y sical force
retrain in g fo r both re c ru its and v eteran s, p e rio d ic a lly ,
th ro u g h o u t the c a re e r o f p o lice o fficers.
Employment Picture Gets Worse
Joe King is on a job
search, consulting with
Curtis Mays, a
longtime supervisor at
the Oregon
Employment Division
office on North
Webster. He’s one of
many local residents in
the job market as
Oregon suffers from
one of the highest
unemployment rate in
the nation. Last week,
the state economist
predicted the Oregon
unemployment rate will
get worse, peaking
sometime this
summer.
Budget Surplus Projected
W A S H IN G T O N — C ongress’ top fis
cal analyst is projecting m o d est sur
pluses o f $5 billion this year and $6
billion in 2003 as the starting point for
this y e a r’s budget fight, a sm all but
politically significant turnabout from
the deficits envisioned in January.
photo by M ark W ashington /
T he P ortland O bserver
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by J oy R amos
T he P ortland O bserver
M om entum is gaining nationw ide as black
civil rights leaders organize, dem anding repa
rations for descendants o f enslaved A fricans
in America.
Representatives from the Portland area plan
to attend a national reparations convention
and m arch next w eek at D ePaul U niversity in
Chicago.
The convention will call on the governm ent
to financially com pensate blacks for their eco
nomic exploitation since slavery began in 1610,
and the vestiges o f their enslavem ent and
colonization.
A larger gathering w ill follow later in the
year with a “M illions for R eparation” m arch on
W ashington Aug. 17.
D em anding com pensation forslavery, from
both the private industry and the federal gov
ernm ent, is considered the next phase o f the
civi 1 rights m ovem ent.
D eterm ining the am ount o f m oney ow ed
has yet to be determ ined. B ut the estim ate
given by the N ational C oalition o f B lacks for
Reparations in A m erica is $8 trillion. The figure
is based on the extent o f dam age to black
com m unities and the num bers o f people im
pacted.
A dding support for the national repara
tions m ovem ent is a proposed law by U.S. Rep.
John C onyers, D -M ich. that calls for a study
on the im pact o f slavery and proposals for
rem edies. However, C ongress has not allow ed
any hearings on the proposal since the b ill’s
introduction in 1989.
Early this year, a R eparations C oordinating
C om m ittee consisting o f “heavyw eight” at
torneys and professors began laying the legal
groundw ork to sue dozens o f corporations
w ho profited from slavery before 1865. The
com panies range from banks to textile makers.
M aking the task m ore difficult is the fact that
no com pany accused ofprofiting from slavery
broke the law because slavery w as legal.
Ultimately, the reparations com m ittee wants
C ongress to issue a national apology and
m ake m assive reparation payouts to A frican
Americans.
In the N orthw est, the reparations issue w as
discussed Feb. 23 at a m eeting in Seattle.
Dorothy Tillm an, national chairperson for
continued
on page B2
Many Witness
Downtown Murder
(A P) — A m an w as shot several tim es in the
center o f the busy dow ntow n shopping district
during lunch hour M onday.
Richard Jam es Ballantine, 42, died about two
hours after the shooting. A w arrant issued T ues
day charged Robert E. H einz, 34, o f Beaverton
with the m urder.
W itnesses said the gunm an shot B allantine a
couple oftim es, reloaded his handgun, fired again
and then casually w alked away.
Susi Wallace, an off-duty param edic, was about
to board the M AX train w ith her husband when
they heard shots.
They spotted a man lying on the street w ho w as
“in shock and shaking," she said.
“ He said ‘I ’ve been shot, I know the shooter,’”
W allace said.
She said the m an told her his assailant had
dem anded that he give him X anax, a tranquilizer
used for anxiety disorders.
C hristina Law rence, 17, a student, said she saw
the shooting from the other side o f B roadw ay.
She said the gunm an put the gun in his pocket
after the shooting and began w alking aw ay until
a crow d o f people started to chase him
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