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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 8, 2004)
C om m unity W elco m e' TIONS Afrocentric Books BOOKSTORE 1WG ïiiigw.»Ti.mr Reflections Mirror-Image opens at new location Interstate Fred Meyer neighbors get reacquainted with new store See Metro section, inside ‘City of Roses’ See Metro section, inside Established in 1970 w w w .p o rtla n d o b se rve r.co m Committed to Cultural Diversity Volume XXXIV, Number 48 Wednesday • December 8, 2004 County Officer Resigns T1Week... in TheReview Intel Bill To Pass T he R e p u b lic a n -c o n tro lle d House agreed Tuesday to vote to overhaul the nation’s intelli gence agencies now that Presi dent Bush and House Armed S erv ices C h airm an D uncan Hunter have endorsed a provi sion guaranteeing battlefield com manders access to top-se cret information. Follows racism complaints Kanal Named Afghan President A fg h a n is ta n K _ fc I P r e s id e n t Hamid Karzai was sworn in as I **ie country’s , ' rsl demnetati c a ll ’ ™ l E B 'eai'cl Tuesday. L e a d i n g a na tion whose revival is threatened by a surging opium trade and a persistent Taliban insurgency, he pledges to bring stability and prosperity to Afghanistan even as rebels staged attacks near the Pakistani border. ACLU Investigates FBI The A m erican C ivil Liberties U nion is seeking inform ation from the FBI on why bureau task forces set up to com bat terrorism also looked into anti war, animal rights and environ m ental groups. Texas Blocks Execution Gov. Rick Perry blocked the ex ecution o f a black woman two hours before she could have been put to death for the slayings of her husband and two young children, a move that will allow for more testing o f forensic evi dence. photo by M ark W ashington AT he P ortland O bserver Jefferson High School Principal Larry Dashiell pauses in the halls with freshman Tainiqua Horsley-Brown as senior DaRaysha Kennedy (left) chats with another student. High Schools Fight to Make Grade Jefferson, Roosevelt, Marshall, Madison in same boat J aymee R. C u n T he P ortland O bserver by Jefferson High School, which has been at the forefront of public scrutiny, con tinues to lead the pack in basketball suc cess while trailing in high school aca demics. However, school officials say they are making gains. Jefferson received an “unacceptable” rating in new statewide report cards. Marshall, Roosevelt and Madisoin high schools received low ratings. Benson, Franklin and Cleveland high schools are also below standards but still qualify as “satisfactory.” Because o f a loophole, Jefferson’s administration curtails the federal conse quences of No Child Left Behind, which could have resulted in the removal of the principal and teaching staff. Jefferson escapes this fate because of its recent restructuring as “school within a school” academies. This change put Jefferson in its first year of No Child Lef' Behind status, with consequences coming in four to five year waves. Rtxisevelt. another inner city school challenged by an achievement gap with disproportionately high populations of minority, low income, special education and non-native English speaking stu dents, showed progress in the last test- ing cycle. “The report card doesn’t differentiate the complexity o f the dem ographics that make upeach school,” said Andrew Kelly, principal at Roosevelt. Kelly says he’s pleased that Roosevelt students have improved, despite some educational barriers. Roosevelt moved from the “unsatisfactory” to “low" cat egory. Kelly says he believes his school will move to "satisfactory” in the next testing period. “W e’re certainly not where we want to be nor where we believe we can be, but MN continued y^ The Multnomah County Mental Health Director stepped down Friday, two days after a black employee accused him of intimidation. County Chairwoman Diane Linn asked for his resignation. This suspension is on the heels of a report released last month listing several race-related com plaints against county leaders. Linn immediately sent a strongly-worded e-mail to county em ployees, stating that racial discrimination will not be tolerated. Dr. Peter Davidson, the mental health director who revamped the county’s mental health system, signed a docum ent in 2002, stating that he would lose his jo b if he ever committed another discriminatory act while working for the county. He was also ordered to un dergo sensitivity training. The disciplinary actions from his employment his tory followed an accusation by a black employee that he used of a racial slur in the workplace, calling African Americans "mud people,” a claim he denied. Now, that same woman, who works as senior pro gram development manager in the mental health divi sion, has filed a new complaint, alleging that Davidson recently intimidated her from speaking to the media about the 2002 incident. In her complaint, the employee demanded that she and Davidson no longer have contact in person or over the phone and that Davidson not contribute to any mental health programs involving minorities. Davidson has faced other accusations o f cultural insensitivity in the workplace. He was accused of referring to a com mittee run by Com missioner Lisa Naito as "Kabuki theater" and calling poor people "Jerry Springer families” and “Les Schwab workers.” on page A3 continued y^ on page A3 NM NM NNNM M NNM M M NM NHM Doping Claim Probed The Interna tional Olym pic Commit tee opened an in v e sti gation Tues d ay in to doping alle gations against Marion Jones, w ho c o u ld e v e n tu a lly be stripped of her five medals from the 2000 Olympics. HIV Rate Steady Despite the government ’ s prom ise to “break the back" o f the AIDS epidemic by 2005, about 40,(XX) Americans test positive for the HI V infection every year - the same number as a decade ago. Gays Challenge ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell* Tw elve g aysexpelled from the m ilitary because o f their sexual orientation filed a legal ch a l lenge to the P entagon’s 11- year-old “d o n ’t ask, d o n ’t tell” policy. Breaking Cultural Barriers Advocates join immigrant, minority causes by J aymee R. Cirri T he P orti . and O bserver Racial profiling hit too close to home for some Portlanders when a well-known local Muslim cleric. Sheik Mohamed Abdirahman Kariye, was arrested at the airport on Sept. 8 ,2(X)2, claim ing his brother’s luggage con tained traces o f explosives. Charges against the spiritual leaderof the Islamic Center of Portland were dropped but secret surveillance of Muslims continued in a backlash o f the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In June of that same year, an FBI infor mant infiltrated Kariye’s mosque, to secretly record conversations for evidence against the “Portland Seven” defendants. Many practicing Muslims found this very unsetting after fleeing from countries that had little respect for freedom and human rights. In a response to what they called a “witch hunt” against im m igrants and Muslims, Community Language and Culture Bank was formed. The facilitating group in northeast Port land aims to connect immigrants and anyone affected by cultural barriers with peace ac tivists and the progressive community. In Kayse Jam a's experience, the group founder, peace advocacy agencies have much in common with culturally-driven civil rights photo by M ark W ashington /T he P orti . and O bserver Kayse Jama (from left), Stephanie Stephens, Andy Wheeler and Hirsi Dirir work for the rights o f immigrants, Muslims and racial minorities as volunteers for Community Language and Culture Bank. groups, without a bridge to connect them. Jama himself has experienced inequities in freedom as a refugee from Somalia, a Muslim and an African American. He real ized the struggles o f minorities and immi Culture Bank. "W here white people act with privilege in their daily lives, for immigrants and people o f color, everyday is a struggle.” Stephanie Stephens, com munications d i rector for the group, identified some of the Where white people act with privilege in their daily lives, fo r immigrants and people o f color, everyday is a struggle. - Andy Wheeler, outreach officer for Community Language and Culture Bank grants greatly overlap. “ In both cases, there’s oppression,” said Andy W heeler, the development and out reach officer for Com munity Language and barriers affecting com m unities o f color, Muslims and immigrants as difficulty in se curing housing, jobs, childcare, welfare and safety from police brutality, hate crimes and racial profiling. Group members say Portland is a living paradox for people o f color. While the repu tation is welcoming and Portland is hailed as a mtxlel city from an urban planning perspec tive, the city if heavily segregated, with minorities concentrated mostly in north and northeast Portland. “It's really remarkable that no matter how much people talk about diversity, no one knows how to do it," W heeler said. Community Language and Culture Bank brings people together through educational forums and celebratory events. A recent event that brought more than I (X) volunteers together was the Sept. 12 C ul tural Festival, themed “Hope Begins When continued y^ on page A J
