September 29. 2004
Page A4
Opinion articles do not
necessarily reflect or represent the
views of The Portland Observer
O pinion
Terrorized
By Jim i Johnson
/ was terrorized when my mother told me that a 14-year-old boy named
Emmitt Till was lynched in Mississippi fo r looking at a white girl.
I was terrorized when I watched the evening news and saw Alabama
police beating black boys and girls and giving them the blues.
Spraying them with fire hoses and knocking 'em to the ground. Then
the dogs began biting them while they were already down.
I was terrorized when Malcolm X was murdered in 1965. All he ever
wanted was fo r us to stand up and rise!
When the anguish o f the black community reached a boiling point in
LA. Watts burned like wildfire and many lives were snuffed away.
Again I was terrorized as tears weld up in my eyes. The war on terror
is at my doorstep; land mines everywhere I dare not misstep!
As police brutality ran rampant and out o f control — riots in 1967put
the country on hold. I was terrorized!
I screamed in terror when Martin l.uther King was killed. He had
prayed fo r peace and there was none to be found. Cities bunted
across America as he was laid in the ground. Once again I cried.
I was terrorized!
I was terrorized when police in riot gear patrolled our streets — and
demanded that black people not be around, or to jail after sun
down!
I was terrorized when they tired to bus me to an all white school. I
refused to go. I'm not the fool.
When I walked into a store in a small southern town and was told "we
don't serve your kind"-/ got a lump in my throat and those words
never left my mind!
/ was terrorized when the police pulled me over. They wanted to see
my 1.1). With hands on their guns and resentment in their eyes. I said
a silent prayer. Please don't shoot me.
With gangs running rapid in our neighborhoods. I ’m terrorized once
again but they have been terrorized too — it is still up to us to teach
them what to.
I was terrorized when the police murdered a young black girl named
Kendra. Before my tears could dry, another young black man
named Perez had to die.
This is terrorism and it lives next door, across the street and around
the comer in the name o f law and order!
I was terrorized and traumatized when the Black panthers took a fall
— they stood Black and Proud and tired to help us all.
/ 'm stunned and terrorized time and time again, to see too many young
black men locked up in the pens. Second chance we got none, barely
a first — destiny arranged from time o f our birth.
So terrorized was I — a conspiracy this must be, because one-by-one
they 've tired to eliminate you and me.
I went to the doctor and was terrorized again. The doctor said most
deadly risks are found in black men. Cancer, kidney failure and
high blood pressure too — they would do the same things to us that
an uzi would do!
I ’ ve been terrorized in my own country — a way o f life it has become.
My life span has been shortened and my babies are dying too young!
Terrorism has been with me like my next to kin. In the United States
the healing must begin.
Jimi Johnson works fo r the Multnomah Country Touchstone Pro
gram at Ockley Green Middle School in north Portland.
EMPEROR. \
Duerfe
\
p ' mhæs M hîle
Reg Weaver,
President,
National
Education
Association
Ilie prim a ry
road to influence
in m a kin g your
voice heard is
through the
political process.
by
J udge G reg M athis
Michael Newby was only 19
years old when he was fatally shot
in the back by a Louisville, Ken.
police officer. Newby was the sev
enth African-American male killed
by Louisville police in a seven-year
time frame. In six of those cases, the
offending officers got off without
having to face a jury of their peers
and answer for what they did.
The Newby case is different. It
has the potential to bring some
justice and healing to a community
frustrated by ju d icial inaction
against rogue police officers. The
officer in the Newby case has been
charged with murder.
My w ork takes m e into public schools in co m m u n ities all across
the nation. 1 have seen it all. Clean, m o d ern , an d safe schools
w ith all the latest m aterials an d technology. N ot so clean, o u t
dated, and m ostly sate schools with obsolete m aterials and text
books - and too often n ot enough o f them . I’ve been in pre
dom inately w hite schools and schools w ith great racial, cultural,
and international diversity.
It isn’t an accident that stu d en ts have different levels o f ed u c a
tional o pportunity . People in affluent n eighborhoods have a lot
o f experience and the w herew ithal to m ake their voices heard
w here it co u n ts— for exam ple, registering an d voting, getting
involved in cam paigns and getting to know elected officials, and
m aking sure their children get w hat they need in their n eig h b o r
hood public schools. T h e m ajority o f people in less affluent
neighborhoods have th e desire and the will, but oft tim es lack
the resources an d fam iliarity with how to access the system to
influence the outco m es they need for their neigh b o rh o o d public
schools.
T he prim ary road to influence in m aking your voice heard is
through the political process.
We can’t wait, as individuals, as families, o r as a nation, to m ake
equal educational o p p o rtu n ity a reality. Unless we give all chil
dren the tools to succeed, America will have faltered on its
prom ise an d con d em n ed its future. It’s that im portant.
In a forum on Brown v. Board o f Education held a decade ago,
G eorge M ason University history professor Roger W ilkins said,
“ Lots and lots o f A frican-A m ericans in this society can n o t be
helped by Brown o r any o th er dream s o r theories o r lawsuits or
program s until their parents can be put to w ork, until their fam
ilies are stable, until there is hope, not only in their households,
but in their neighborhoods.”
nea
nea.org
T h a t’s still tru e today for A frican-A m ericans, Hispanics, Asian
and Pacific Islanders, Native A m ericans and Alaskan Natives—
for all A m ericans. M aking public schools great for every child
can’t just be a school reform program . It has to be a parental
involvem ent and co m m u n ity em p o w erm en t effort. It has to be
a political m ovem ent. It has to be a com ing together as on e to
get each and every child in America everything he or she
deserves.
Great Public Schools
fo r Every Child
Let’s take a giant step together. Vote on Tuesday, N ovem ber 2nd.
NATIONAL
EDUCATION
ASSOCIATION
B en D ib /M im teman M edia
Looking for Justice Fa
Making Public Schools
Great for Every Child
By
by
THE. awSHEp
EARTH W H S
Unfortunately in America, there in this sad story. Since he is no
is nothing new about A frican- longer a member of the police force,
American men being mistreated, perhaps Mattingly will not receive
abused and killed by police offic the protections so often afforded
ers. From Los Angeles to Boston, police officers who abuse African-
police brutality against African- Americans. As egregious as the
American men is rampant. And typi facts are in this case, police officers
cally, the offending officers are not have gotten away with worse. In
criminally charged fortheircriminal December of 2002, two Louisville
behavior. Instead of these crim i police officers shot and killed a
nals facing justice, often these of handcuffed African-American man
ficers receive the benefit of excuse no less than 11 times. Neither of
making and turned eyes, while com these officers was charged with
munities and families are forever murder and they remain employed
destroyed.
as Louisville police officers.
<7-,
/•,
, z
,
,
/
Too Often the court system and
police public relations machine
doubly victimize African-
Americans by demonizing the
victim and lionizing the police
officer perpetrator.
The importance of the Newby
case is that the ex-officer did not
receive the benefit of police privi
lege. After five years, the African-
A m eric an c o m m u n ity fin a lly
achieved a positive step in the march
towardsjustice: Officer McKenzie
Mattingly was charged with the
crime of murder and fired from the
police department for violation of
the d e p a rtm e n t’s u se-o f-fo rce
policy.
M attingly’s firing is an im por
tant distinction and positive detail
Ju d g e Greg M athis
ever, Newby was shot in the back,
not in the chest, as would have had
to have been facing if he were try-
ing to engage or shoot Mattingly.
Additionally, Newby did no, have
a weapon in his hand when he was
shot, calling into question just how
Mattingly thought his life was in
jeopardy. The story did not add up
and M attingly’s actions were sus
pect - and likely criminal.
Being charged with murder is a
start; it is not a finish. The protests
that secured a criminal investiga
tion and murder charge against
Mattingly have to continue in or
der for justice to prevail. Wrong is
wrong and criminal activity should
be punished. Shooting someone in
the back multiple times is not self-
defense; it is murder. The police did
no, believe M attingly’s story and
neither should a jury. M attingly’s
charge is an important step towards
justice. His conviction is essential
to achieving it.
Too often the court system and
police public relations machine
doubly victimize African-Ameri
cans by demonizing the victim and
lionizing the police officer perpe
trator.
Even a spin machine, though,
would have a difficult time of mak
ing sense of M attingly’s story.
Judge Greg Mathis is chairman
According to the accused murderer,
Newby and he struggled. Newby o f the Rainbow PUSH-Excel Board
was not trying to flee but moved in and a national board member o f
a w ay that. Mattingly alleges, made the Southern Christian Leadership
Mattingly fear for his life. How- Conference.
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