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
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‘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.
*