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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 2004)
Driven to Public Service Ivy League scholar helps United Way See story, M etro section B Hip Hop Voter Drive CoolNutz and other local entertainers unite for common cause See story, page A6 i nrtlanh ffibseruer f ‘City of Roses’ Established in 1970 Volume XXXIV • Number 33 AVeekin TheReview Officials Blamed in Prisoner Abuse The Pentagon’s most senior ci vilian and military officials share a portion o f blame for creating conditions that led to the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq, according to a report re leased Tuesday by an indepen dent panel o f civilian defense experts. www.portlandobserver.com Committed to Cultural Diversity Wednesday • August 25. 2004 MIXED ¿ /¿ ró s Peterson Denied Wife’s Murder t Scott Peterson never admitted to his former mistress that he was involved in his pregnant w ife’s disappearance, and in fact vehe mently denies it even as she prods him for answers, according to testimony at Peterson's double- m urder trial. For the second day, defense lawyers cross-examined Amber Frey after jurors heard five days o f taped telephone calls between Frey and Peterson. Marathon Mice Researchers unveiled genetically engineered mice that can run far ther and longer than their natu rally bred brethren, bringing the “genetic doping” of elite athletes a small step closer to reality. The creation o f the so-called m ara thon mice follows earlier genetic engineering work that created “Schwarzenegger mice,” rodents that bulked up after getting in je c te d w ith m u scle-b u ild in g genes. Waterways Contain Polluted Fish M ore than o n e-th ird o f the nation’s lakes and nearly one- fourth o f its rivers contain fish that may be contaminated with mercury, dioxin, PCB and pesti cide pollution, the Environmen tal Protection Agency says. Italians Blow Off Iraqi Demands I ta ly ’s g o v e rn m e n t in sisted Tuesday it will keep its troops in Iraq despite a dem and by mili tants holding an Italian journal ist hostage that Italian forces pull out within 48 hours. ‘Real World’ Philly Fifteen years and over 100 strang ers since its debut, M T V 's “The Real W orld" has moved to Phila delphia with a fresh crop o f 21 - to 24-year-olds. Japan Deporting Ex-Chess Champ Japan ordered Bobby Fischer deported, but the former chess champion immediately appealed the case in court, meaning he w on’t be sent out o f the country right away. The government also ruled Fischer did not qualify as a political refugee I Earl's Barbershop Proprietor Earl Clark (left) and employee Milton Ross, experience the changing demographics of Northeast Alberta Street. They have little company when it comes to African-American owned and operated businesses. Alberta gentrification attracts and pushes back by L iz W allace Tin: P ortland O bserver T here’s no denying that things have changed on Alberta Street from Marti n Luther King Boulevard to Northeast 33rd Avenue. But the debate rages on: Are these changes beneficial? To whom? The recent Alberta Streetscape Project was “initiated by com munity members,” ac cording to the Portland Development Com mission, to improve the visual quality o f the thoroughfare by adding street trees, public art, curb extensions at transit stops, new sidewalks, new crosswalks, public parking, and most importantly, although not m en tioned in the project literature, new busi- nesses. Many local residents appreciate the vi- sual changes. “It looks better,” said Jewell Stevens. color that have lived in the area for decades. Charles Santos, an organizer with Re- claim ing Our Origins Through Struggle (R O O TS),talkedaboutthedisplacem entof ’ / think it is pushing all the people who used to live here out. -Local resident Nicole Hess on Alberta Street gentrification Others like the art galleries that have sprung up in their own neighborhood. But the new businesses on Alberta d o n 't ex actly cater to the working class people of the working poor in Portland in an interview with Street Roots, a monthly homeless news paper. Gentrification is the term people use to describe the displacement o f one population with another. “It’s a shift of people from the suburbs moving into our neighborhoods. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Albertacorri dor or the Boise- Elliot neighborhood, the Pearl district or all of downtown, poor people are being pushed out o f this city,” Santos said. “T hey’ve got all these new businesses in the neighborhood (Boise-Elliot) being set up, said Santos. “I go to the video store, the coffee shop, the bar, the breakfast place, and I see no black people working in these estab lishments. T here’s something wrong with continued on page A3 Following a Human Rights Advocate’s Path Local activist earns prestigious scholarship Lakita L ogan, a R oosevelt high school alum nus and com m unity activist, will fi nally have a chance to finish college. Practically a poster child for the presti gious N ancy Ryles S cholarship at P ort land State U niversity, Logan will continue her schooling at PSU , w hich she entered last spring as a sophom ore. T he R yles S cholarship pays $5,000 per academ ic year and is renew able for four years o r until the individual earns her b achelor’s degree. T he scholarship was created to honor Ryles, a late civic leader and form er Jefferson High School g radu ate know n for her advocacy o f hum an rights. T he aw ard is targeted to the college education o f w om en w ho w ish to work tow ard an undergraduate degree and who have had their education interrupted by financial difficulties, fam ily responsibili ties o r personal disabilities. L o gan’s goal had alw ays been to finish college, but as a single m other w ith tw o children, financial struggles kept her from attending full time. A native O regonian, she spent m uch o f her high school and early college starting organizations aim ed to raise up her co m m unity, by protecting the civil rights o f w om en, students and people o f color t I photo by M ark W ashington / T he P o r ti . and O bserver Lakita Logan is pursuing a bachelor's degree at the college o f Urban and Public Affairs at Portland State University thanks to a prestigious scholarship. W hen Logan graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1997, she entered Portland C om m unity College. W ithout guidance tow ard a college preparatory track in high school, she did not com plete higher math o r learn how to prepare an outline or w rite an essay, despite an exceptional grade point average. Thus, Logan spent her first years o f college taking basic classes to prepare for college-level work. Logan’s political organizing began in high school. She was active with a group called “Sisters in A ction” that w orked against gender violence in the schools; she was also instrumental in convincing Tri-M et to make m onthly passes available to Portland high schtx)l students for reduced rates. W h ile a tte n d in g PC C , L o g an an d o th ers sta rte d a n o n -p ro fit o rg a n iz a tio n c a lle d R e claim in g O u r O rig in s T h ro u g h S tru g g le (R O O T S ), w ith a g o al to teach p eo p le a b o u t th e irc o m m u n ity , th e ir h is to ry and o rig in s, as w ell as ab o u t th e ir b asic civ il rig h ts. F o u n d e d in Ju n e 2 0 0 2 , R O O T S is a g r a s s r o o ts c o m m u n ity b a s e d o r g a n i z a tio n th a t s triv e s to e n c o u r a g e A f r i ca n A m e ric a n s to b e p ro u d o f th e ir h e r ita g e , m a x im iz e e d u c a tio n a l o p p o r tu n itie s , an d b e c o m e m o re so c ia lly c o n s c io u s . N ow , w ith the Ryles Scholarship, she plans to attend sc h m l full-tim e and m ajor in com m unity developm ent in the college o f U rban and Public Affairs. *