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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 21, 2003)
Page A4 (Ehe JJortlanò (ßbseruer O pinion The Portland Observer Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f The Portland Observer C n i r o t -i n -C H i e r , P u il is h in C 11 A Chartes H. Washington E Established 1970 d it o * A s s o c ia t i Michael Leighton 4 7 4 7 NE M a rtin L u th e r King, Jr. Blvd., M a n a g * * Mark Washington D is r n ir r io s T 1 v * I) i * c c r o * Paul Neujeldt ____________ USPS 9 5 9 -6 8 0 ___________ P ortland, OR 9 7 2 1 1 E d it o * Wynde Dyer t h n e t M < m a c e « Kathy Linder PosTMAsrc*: S en d ad d res s ch an g es to P o r tla n d O b s erver PO Box S I 3 7 , P o rtla n d . OR 9 7 2 0 8 P e r i o d ic a l P o s ta g e p a id In P o r t l a n d , OR . S u b s c r ip t io n s a r e $ 6 0 . 0 0 p e r y e a r 50S2BB O 033 • FAX5 0 3 -2 8 8 -0 0 1 5 • EMAIL:/ ads@Dortlandobserver.com The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property o f the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent o f the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition o f such ad. © 1996 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLEOR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. The Portland Observer—Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publication-is a member of the National Newspaper Association-Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Repre sentative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc. New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver. Baseball: It’s More Than a Game Major League team would fuel economic development Bv C arl F lipper Portland has a ch an ce to get the first M ajor L eague B aseball F ran chise being relocated in 30 y ears. In the face o f the state's financial cri sis, w hy should w e support the effort to recruit the M ontreal Expos o r any other M LB team to O regon? W h at’s in it for us? G ood question. I'm glad you asked. Big L eague B aseball w ill fuel econom ic developm ent. M LB is a stable business w ith sales o f $3 billion annually — th a t’s co m p a rable to a com pany w ith sales the size o f Louisiana-Paci fie. Precision C astP arts o r B onneville Power. Stadium construction alone will provide 7,000jobs. The team w ould require 1,100 seasonal, full and part- tim e, and gam e-day jo b s, paying a net $ 12 m illion annually. V endors, attendants, security personnel, and maintenance crews are critical needs o f a sp o ils facility. A lso count in the 200 full-tim ejobs with the team, the players, coaches and front o f fice staff. Plus, add the jo b s from North and northeast Portland activist Carl Flipper. nomically. InotherM L B cities, low incom e and com m unities o f color benefit from jo b s, sm all business opportunities and corporate part nerships. A stadium -financing plan was recently approved by the O regon House and is now being considered by the Senate. It would collect state income taxes from home and visiting team mem bers, and front office staff eam ingover $50,000to pay foranew bal lpark. This is money that won ’ t be here unless the team comes to O r egon. The plan guarantees there will be no financial risk to the state. O ur elected officials in Salem are struggling to find w ays ,0 finance education, health care, public safety and other critical state needs. They should know that baseball can be supported for both education and econom ic developm ent. Call them , w rite them and rem ind them that baseball is m ore than a gam e, it could be part o f the answ er for both schools and jobs. new restaurants and shops that will A m ajo r league team w ould also grow up around the stadium and in bring intangible assets to o u r com the hotels and o th er businesses m unity. I f you w ere in Portland in Carl Flipper is a neighborhood caterin g to the thousands o f to u r 1977 and experienced the com m u activist and economic development ists a M ajor L eague team brings. nity pride, the excitem ent o f the practitioner in northeast Portland. The big leagues have a great B lazers cham pionship run; or if He is Community Development record o f supporting youth, parks, y o u 'v e ev er taken a youngster to Committee Co-Chair fo r the Port school and am ateu r sports p ro his o r h er first big-league game, land Baseball Group, a coalition gram s. In m any M LB cities, team s you ’ll know what I’m talking about! member o f the Oregon Stadium support arts and culture, healthcare North and northeast Portland wi II Campaign. His email address is and oth er com m unity initiatives. also have a chance to benefit eco carlflipper@comcast. net. Our Unequal Educational System Proposed budget shortchanges disadvantaged schools May 21.2003 k a m onum ental im pact on hum an rights struggles w orldw ide. A s w e approach the 50th A nni versary o f B row n, it is clear that access to and equality o f education are m ore vital to success than ever, and w e still have a long w ay to go. A lm ost 50 years after segregation w as d e c la re d u n c o n stitu tio n a l, m any p o o r and m inority children H o u s e D e m o c r a tic L e a d e r are concentrated in schools that N ancy Pelosi released the follow fail to m eet their needs. ing statem ent on the 49th anniver House Democratic Leader The ‘No Child Left Behind A ct,’ sary o f the landm ark civil rights Nancy Pelosi w hich passed with bipartisan sup case B row n v. B oard o f E ducation: has no place. S eparate educational port, w as intended to hold schools O n M ay 1 7 ,1 9 5 4 , the Suprem e facilities are inherently u n eq u al.’ accountable while providing them C ourt in B row n v. B oard o f E duca The C o u rt’s ruling in Brown w as with the resources needed to im tion rejected a system o f inequality one o f the m ost significant d eci prove theirperform ance. Yet the ink in education that m any in this coun sions issued in o ur co u n try ’s his w as barely dry on the bill w hen it try had accepted as a natural state tory. It w as the culm ination o f 100 becam e clear that the Bush A dm in o f affairs. O verturnin g decades o f y ears o f legal challenges to segre istration had no intention o f provid segregation, the unanim ous d eci gated education, from a case fi led in ing the funding authorized in the sion stated, ‘W e con clu d e that, in B oston in 1849 right up to the four new law , p referrin g in stead to the field o f public education, the cases consolidated in the Brow n squeeze public services and provide doctrine o f ’’separate but equal" decision in 1954. The decision had tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. The A d m inistration’s proposed b u d g et sh o rtc h a n g e s d is a d v a n taged schools and special educa tion students, cu ts after school program s and bilingual education, and com pletely elim inates m any program s, ranging from dropout prevention to rural education. The budget proposed by H ouse Re publicans also fails to provide ad equate funding for the N o C hild Left B ehind Act. W e m ust reject all form s o f un equal education in this country. All children should have the opportu nity to learn and grow to their full p o ten tial. A m erica has the re sources to provide all children with a good public education, and we cannot afford to do anything less. H ouse D em ocratic Leader Nancy Pelosi is the highest-rank ing woman in the history o f the US. Congress and the first woman to lead a major political party. betters to the <SLditer; A Disregard for Human Life It is illegal to shoot someone merely trying to escape, regard less o f whether they have a warrant or not. As a retired officer, we are trained not to reach or lean inside any vehicle. Scott McCollisterdidn’t follow his training, putting him self into harms way. In addition, the officers knew who James was. Bureau policy forbids officers from engaging in vehicular pur suits when the suspect is known. The officers could have simply stepped back and let James drive away, arresting her later. This blatant disregard for human life is a disgrace to the badge. — Damon Woodcock Another Case of Excessive Force I Our community is very disturbed by the police shooting and killing o f Kendra James and by similar police actions. A routine traffic stop gone wrong? No. I have great difficulty seeing this situation as anything but yet another incident o f excessive force, the politically correct term for police brutality. So what if Kendra James jumped into the front seat o f the car and attempted to drive away? How hard would it have been for Officer McCollister to shoot out one or two tires on that car instead o f aiming his gun at another human being? And with three officers present, why did the police gun need to be out in the first place? Were the occupants o f that car bristling with weapons aimed at the officers? Nothing in the public record indicates that being the case. Nothing in Kendra Jam es’ past record justifies her losing her life in this fashion. The cost o f replacing a couple o f car tires is manageable. The cost o f bringing back Kendra James to her loved ones is immeasurable as well as impossible. The officers involved in this incident, especially the one who pulled the trigger, should at the very least be placed on unpaid administrative leave pending the investigation, and their pay offered to the James family to help lay their daughter to rest. I did not know Kendra James personally, but what struck me most when I visited her memorial was her family’s handwritten plea to keep all messages o f anger and hate from being posted there, because she lived her life from love. My prayers are with her and her family. — Sy(e) Diyg, North Portland I----------------------------------------------- 1 EDITORI ALS/or safety m atters T h e P o rtlan d O b s erv er Do you have an opinion on current events that hasn't been discussed In other newspapers? If so, the Look up before you go up. Portland Observer editorial staff would like to know. Please fill our this form and a tta c h a b rief description of your editorial so we Anxious as you might be to get up on the ladder to clean those gutters or prune a tree, please take a good long look up and around. Making contact with an overhead power line can be deadly, especially when working with metal objects such as gutters, TV antennas, pool skimmers, irrigation pipes or ladders. Please stay 10 feet or more away. Before you get carried away with the task at hand, we caution you to stop, think and know when to apply the 'better safe than sorry' rule. Your safety matters to us. can contact you. Title, Author & Outline of Editorial; Name: For a copy of our safety booklet, Electricity 101, call 1-800-791-6093 or visit www.pacificpower.net. Phone: _________________ Send your response to: The Portland Observer Editorial Staff, 4747 NE MLKJr. Blvd., Portland. Or. 97211 or fax 503-288-0015. Email submissions to news@portlandobserver.com # PACIFIC POW ER Making it happen. < I
