(The ^Jnrtlauò (Observer
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1 he Portland O bserver
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lune 18. 2003
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t o k
-i N - C H i e r , P u t L t s H
r. »
Charles H. Washington
S
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A
F
F
E o lio »
Michael Leighton
C i m i l i D i » t c i o »
Paul Neufeldt
«
O r fic i W
c í i
Kathy Linder
m o s M in e n
Mark Washington
D u r ili
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The Portland Observer—Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publication—is a member o f 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.
Newspaper Editor Leaves 4 Big Shoes to Fill’
for the T im es’ series, “ How Race
is Lived in A m erica,” w hich was
published in 2000 and aw arded a
Pulitzer Prize for National Report
ing the follow ing year.
Boyd, a longtim e NABJ m em
The N ational A ssociation o f ber w ho w as nam ed as the NABJ
Black Journalists is saddened and Journal ist o f the Y ear in 2 0 0 1, has
disappointed to learn that Pulitzer also been a tireless m entor to
Prize-w inning jo u rn alist G erald hundreds o f young reporters and
Boyd has resigned as m anaging editors, and a strong supporter
e d ito ro fT h e New Y ork Times.
o f blacks and o th er jo u rn alists o f
As one o f the highest-ranking co lo r in our n a tio n ’s new sroom s.
A frican A m ericans in U.S. new s
G erald B o y d ’s acco m p lish
papers, Boyd had been a leader in m ents in jo u rn alism before being
editorial quality, jo u rn alistic ex nam ed m anaging editor at The
cellence and new sroom diversity New York T im es spoke volum es
for decades. He led the coverage about his ability and leadership
Black Journalists
saddened by
Boyd resignation
skills. To have the actions o f a
self-d estru ctiv e m iscreant like
Jayson B lair cost G erald his post
at the Tim es m akes me sick to my
s t o m a c h ,”
sa id
C ondace
Pressley, N ABJ president and
assista n t p ro g ram d ire c to r at
W SB R adio in A tlanta.
B o y d 's resignation cam e at the
sam e tim e as the resignation o f
th e T im e s ’ e x e c u tiv e e d ito r
Howell Raines, and in the wake o f
the new sroom scandals involv
ing B lairan d Rick Bragg.
“ It is a sham e that other report
e rs ’ ethical problem s have led to New York Times Managing Editor Gerald Boyd (left) and Execu
the resig n atio n o f an acco m tive Editor Howell resigned in the wake o f the Jayson Blair-
plished jo u rn alist w ho has held scandal. (AP photo)
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NABJ, founded in 1975, exists
to promote newsroom diversity,
expand job and recruiting op
portunities fo r African-American
journalists and journalism stu
dents, and to advocate fo r fa ir
ness and balance in media cov
erage o f the African-American
community and o f the African-
American experience.
betters to the (Süditor
System Caters to
Well-to-Do
DEALERSHIPS
one o f the m ost im portant new s
room m anagem ent positions in
this co u n try ,” said W illiam W.
Sutton Jr., deputy m anaging ed i
tor o fT h e N ew s and O bserver in
Raleigh, N.C. and NABJ im m edi
ate past president. “ He leaves
big shoes to fill.”
I am sickened by the May 5 kill
ing o f Kendra James, which like the
murder o f Jose Mejia Poot, is yet
another injustice in a long list o f
murders, civil rights abuses and
crimes by the Portland police. This
is a tragic result oftraining officers
to be trigger-happy and then un
leashing them onto P o rtlan d ’s
streets.
I disagree that Jam es' death was
caused by "bad cops." Officers
demonstrate a pattern o f blatant
disregard for the lives and rights o f
working people. W hen’s the last
time we heard about police “acci
dentally” strangling a Portland
Policies Have
Impact on Crime
If you listen to what people are
saying in northeast Portland right
now, you will hear o f many ways
that the police can improve their
relationship with the community.
But we also need to be thinking
and talking about the impact o f our
public policies and funding priori
ties that favor law enforcement over
mental health and drug treatment.
Fortunately for us, we now have
a vantage point from which to ex
amine the impact of20 ycarsofdrug
policy on Portland’s comm unities
o f color. The inequities are now
obvious. We can longer talk hon
estly about justice and race w ith
West Hills resident or pepper spray
ing one o f Port land's well-to-do?
The fact is, the jo b o f the men in
blue is to bully and intimidate the
have-nots while protecting large
property owners and big business.
The real corporate crim inals, like
Enron executives who stole retire
ment funds and created an energy
crisis to boost utility costs or Bush
and crew who slashed our social
services and Constitution in the
cause o f war, get aw ay with their
lawless behavior and laugh all the
way to the bank.
KendraJames' lifewas stolen, like
so many before her, whi le the perpe
trators are freed by a grand jury and
the good ole boy system. Mayor
Katz and C hief Kroeker are not held
accountable for the policies that led
out talking about the im pacts o f
these policies on com m unities o f
color. We need to look at the impact
o f our policy choices and how they
contribute to the environm ent in
w hich K endra Jam es and Jose
Santos Victor Mejia Poot were shot
and killed. We need to think about
the impacts o f our choices on our
neighbors’ civil and human rights.
The answers to the self-destruc
tive drug and alcohol problems and
the crime associated with those
behaviors is comm unity policing,
crime prevention strategies, edu
cation, treatment and addressing
risk factors like poverty and inad
equate housing.
But our current funding priori
ties and comm unity policing strat
egies are back to relying too much
to Jam es' shooting. How is this jus
tice? The officers involved, the chief
and the mayor should all be indicted
by a grand jury.
The only way we can begin to
curb police abuse o f power is to
have public oversight o f their ac
tions. We, the taxpayers, should
oversee police behavior through
an elected civilian review board,
independent o f City Hall and the
Police D epartm ent. The board
should have the authority to disci
pline and fire officers. If the public
has no control over the police, we
should not fund them. Give their
budgeted allotm ent to Portland
Public Schools and let the police
hold bake sales and walk-a-thons.
Jennifer Laverdure, Organizer
for Radical Women
on police, courts and jails. Couple
that with the scarce resources for
food and housing assistance and
the misery that is often at the root
o f drug abuse is only compounded.
Instead o f blam ing the police,
instead o f blam ing the victim, we
have to take personal responsibil
ity for how public dollars are spent
in this community.
Ultimately it is up to all o f us to
work with our local leaders to com
mit the necessary resources, politi
cal will and creative imagination
that will strengthen peace and ju s
tice, protect the rights o f all, and
assist in the redevelopment o f our
economic, social and cultural life as
a peaceful multi-ethnic community.
Paul Dinbert, NE Portland
Crime Prevention specialist
w w w .p o r tla n d o b s e r v e r .c o m
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