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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 16, 2003)
Page A4 Œlje Jîortlanh (DbaerUcr O pinion July 16.2003 Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f The Portland Observer rhe Portland Observer E p i r o n -i n -C H i e r . P v il is h ii Charles H. Washington C i 1 1 r i f t Di 1 1 c 101 Paul Neufeldt __________ USPS 9 5 9 6 8 0 _________ E d it o i Established 1970 O f f ic e It 4 n 4 c I * Kathy Linder Michael Leighton 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.. D is t iiiv t io h Portland. OR 97211 M i h o i i Mark Washington PosrMAsriK: Send address changes to Portland Observer P0 Box 3 1 3 7 , Portland, OB 9 7 2 0 8 __________P e rio d ic a l Postage paid In P o rtla n d , OR i S u b s crip tio n » are $ 6 0 .0 0 per year__________ 5 0 3 2 8 8 - 0 0 3 3 • FAX5 0 3 -2 8 8 -0 0 1 5 • EMAIL: news@oorUandabsener.com subscnoUQn@QorUandQbsener.CQm ads@OQtUandQbsener.com The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. 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Communication Breakdown at Kendra James Forum Community member left with questions after attending forum I am prompted to share my feelings about a subject in the minds o f the Afro- American community, the Kendra James affair. It is almost seems like a page out o f a conspiracy novel. The stage is set with the major political dignitaries and the po lice department. A com m unity forum was held to pro vide the com m unity with an opportu nity for their input into the shooting o f K endra Jam es. I w atched the p ro ces sion o f officers at Mt. O live church present their facts, diagram s, statem ents and testim onies follow ing the sh o o t ing. We saw a videoed reenactm ent o f the shooting, supposedly how officer Scott M cC ollister hopped on one leg trying to rem ove K endra from the ve hicle until he thought that he w ould be caught under the car. This reenactm ent suggested that only as a last resort did he fired his w eapon. This m eeting re sem bled a court trail w ith the defense show ing why their clien t should be found innocent o f a w rongful death charge and allow ed to continue p atro l ling the streets o f the Black com m unity and entrusted with safety o f the com munity. I have issues w ith the failure o f the City and the police departm ent to realize the com m unication style o f the Black com m unity. T he presentation o f the material in a pragmatic manner, w ith out em otions, frustrated those looking for a sense o f sorrow and resolution that this will not happen again. How do we change the mindset o f the Mayor and Police Chief Should Be Indicted 1 am sickened by the recent killing Kendra James, which like the murder o f Jose Mejia Poot, is yet another injustice in a long list o f murders, civil abuses and crimes by the Portland police. This is a tragic result o f training officers to be trig ger-happy and then unleashing them onto Portland’s streets 1 disagree that Jam es’ death was caused by “bad cops.” Officers demonstrate a pattern o f blatant disregard for the lives and right o f working people. W hen’s the last time we heard about police “ acciden tally” strangling fora Portland West Hills resident; or pepper spraying o n e o f Portland’s well-to-do? The fact is, the job o f the men in blue is to bully and intimidate the have-nots while protecting large prop erty owners and big business. The real corporate criminals like Enron executives who stole retirement funds, and created an energy crisis to boost utility costs. Bush and crew, who slashed our social services and Constitution in the cause o f war, get away with their lawless behavior and laugh all the way to the bank. Kendra Jam es’ life was stolen, like so many before her, while the perpetrators are freed by a grand jury and the good ole boy system. M ayor Katz and C hief Kroeker are not held accountable for the police that led to James shooting. How is this justice? The officers involved, the chief and 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 actions, We, the tax payers, should oversee police behavior through an elected civilian review board, independent o f City Hall and the police department. The board should have the authority to discipline and fire officers. I f the public has no control over the police, we should not fund them. Give theirbud- geted allo tm en t to P ortland Public Schools and let the police hold bake sales and walk-a-thons. Jennifer Laverdure, Radical Women ■■MMMMMMHMMMHHMMNMWMNMNMMMMMMIMI Keep Elected Officials Accountable to Health Care 3 . Oregon Action needs your support to remind our elected officials o f their re sponsibility to carry the fight for prescrip tion drug assistance forall people— those on the Oregon Health Plan, for the unin sured and for the private sectors. It is not enough to limit assistance. The prescription drug purchasing pool must include each o f the above classifica tions. Thank you for your support! Rosalind “Rosy" Foster If It’s New or Informative, You Probably Saw It In ‘r,'c ^ o r tla n b (S)bseruer The Portland Observer is Oregon s Oldest and Largest Multi-Cultural Newspaper. The Portland Observer’s distribution of pearly 40,000 papers encompasses a wide cross-section o f residential and state readership, as well as a large percentage » of the local business community. Become a part of our community. Read the Portland Observer News. Price of Subscriptions 1 Year $60.00 2 Years $100.00 Make check payable to the Portland Observer News or pay by Visa or Master Card. Renewal $60.00 O nline subscriptions are also available at subscnption54Lportlandobscrver.com. Subscription ko rn i N am e________________■____________________________________________ _________________ __________ _________ A d d re s s__________________ . City P hone __________________________________________ ...___ ___________________________ ,--------- S ta te _______ _________ Zip C o d e ___________________ __ __________________________________ Fax ___________________________________________________ Company N a m e _________ _______________________ ________________________________________ ________________ Gift subscriptions are also available for half price with your renewal. (■ill Subscription ko rn i Name _______________________________________________________ ___________________ _______________________ A ddress________________________ __________________________ __ _________________________ _________________ City__________________________ t------------------- State_______________ Zip Code________________ Phone ______ ._____________________________________ Fax _________________________________________ _______ ^ J o r tla n b (D b s e ru e r P.O. Box 3137 Portland, OR 97208 503.288.0033 or Fax 503.288.0015 portlandobserver.com I police dept that allowed them to enter the church fully armed? Is there no place that the officers and the dept feel safe in out community? The admit the possibility that law enforcement officers are nice people, however if they are all so nice why are people o f color always the victims o f sus picious circumstances? Why did changing lanes and pulling a “California stop” become suspicious be havior? Does “driving while Black” ring any bells? W hat was the pass history o f the officer involved? What did drugs have to do with it? (That information seemed to be used only to color her character and dirty her in the eyes o f the public.) After working on combating racism and bias in thejustice system in the public and private sectors, including the Understand ing Racism Foundationi, I am not willing to say that the shooting was not a result o f the officer making a race based decision when he fired his weapon. 1 understand that racism exist in all offices and institu tions. Combating racism requires an un derstanding ofhow White pnvi lege, power and perceptions o f people o f color must be understood. Floyd R. C ruse Northeast Portland Share the Wealth Bush should address AIDS pandemic during African visit President Bush should journey to Africa for scores o f reasons; however his mere presence will not be enough. The President must be prepared to address the Hl V/A1DS pandemic, re-development o f the continent and the promotion o f peace. To date, AIDS is the single greatest global threat to human security; far more deadly than terrorism. AIDS has already taken the lives o f more than 25 million people glo bally, three-quarters o f these people in sub-Saharan Africa. The Hl V/AIDS crisis is the most urgent issue facing the African continent, and the international com mu nity more broadly, and this should be the top foreign policy priority in the United States. Secondly, the United States must be inclined to invest in A frica’s develop ment. Despite its unparalleled prosperity, the U.S. government fails to understand either its obligation or self-interest in in creasing development assistance to the poorest countries in the world, from which Rev. Jesse Jackson, President and Founder o f the Rainbow Coalition much o f the U.S. wealth originated. While important progress has been made toward ending some o f Africa’s most deadly conflicts, insecurity continues to affect millions o f people, disrupting eco nomic growth and threatening regional stability. For each o f A frica’s ongoing wars, a peace process already exists; what is often lacking is the international sup port to ensure its success. A sustained financial and diplomatic commitment from the U.S. to conflict resolution in Africa is crucial to regional and international secu rity. The h istoric role that the U. S. play ed i n destabi lizing many o f the African countries currently at war gives the U.S. a unique responsibility to engage with African ef forts to achieve peace and stability. In closing, one would think that Bush would seek to meet with the Congres sional Black Caucus and African Ameri can scholars before his departure, for the purpose o f enlightenment and clarity. M M M M M N H N N M H M N M M M M N aiM N M N M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M MWMMMMWWMMMMS Bush Deserves Rap on Affirmative Action NAACP executive director Julian Bond urged states that have abandoned affir mative action policies for higher educa tion to “com e back into the Union” Sun day while criticizing President Bush and his brother. Gov. Jeb Bush, for challeng ing race-conscious admissions. Speaking at the 94th annual conven tion o f the National Association for the Advancement o f Colored People, Bond praised the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the use o f race as a factor in university admissions policies. The Bush administration filed one o f the b rie fs o p p o sin g th e p o lic y . The court, however, ruled against the use o f a point-based system for enroll ment decisions, which was used at the University o f Michigan. “The court struck down the points but upheld the principle,” Bond said. “Since the opponents kept telling us that this was all about principle, I’d say we won!” Bond said the decision “gave legal sanction to what we knew to be morally, socially, and ed ucationally co rrect.” But he said he knows affirmative action policies will be continue to be challenged. “The average KKK member may be stupid, but the well-financed forces o f the rad ic al rig h t are n o t,” B ond said . He also vowed the civil rights group would be w atching states, including Florida, that no longer use affirmative ac tion policies to monitor their commitment to achieving diversity. Bond criticized the Florida governor for his One Florida program, under which state universities can no longer consider race or gender in admissions decisions. High school students are instead guaran teed admission if they are in the top 20 p e rc e n t o f th e ir g ra d u a tin g cla ss. “First Governor Jeb Bush became the only governor to carry out a pre-emptive strike on affirmative action,” Bond said. “And then President George Bush carried out a pre-emptive strike on Iraq, the only President in our nation's history to attack a country which did not threaten or attack us first. Both strikes were unnecessary and unwise.” Speaking at the 94th annual conven tion o f the National Association for the Advancement o f Colored People, Bond praised the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the use o f race as a factor in university admissions policies. The Bush administration filed one o f the b rie fs o p p o sin g th e p o lic y . The court, however, ruled against the use o f a point-based system for enroll ment decisions, which was used at the University o f Michigan. “The court struck down the points but upheld the principle,” Bond said. “Since the opponents kept telling us that this was all about principle. I’d say we won!” Bond said the decision “gave legal sanction to what we knew to be morally, socially, and educationally co rrect.” But he said he k now s a ffirm a tiv e actio n p o lic ie s w ill be c o n tin u e to be ch a lle n g ed . “The average KKK member may be stupid, but the well-financed forces o f the radical right are not,” Bond said. He also vowed the civil rights group w ould be w atching states, including Florida, that no longer use affirmative ac tion policies to monitor theircommitment to achieving diversity.