Œlîl’|J n rtla n b © bseruer
Page A4
luly 27. 2005
Opinion articles do not
necessarily reflect or represent the
views o f The Portland Observer
O pinion
Truth and Justice Denied in Kendra James Case
Blatantly biased
laws favor officers
in shootings
The fo llo w in g statem ent is fro m the
A lbina M inisterial A lliance, a group o f
local A frican-Am erican m inisters who re
view ed and held p ublic hearings on the
p olice shooting death o f Kendra Jam es:
T he A frican -A m erican C om m u n ity
and civ il-rig h ts su p p o rters w aited 41
y ears fo r truth and ju s tic e to com e in the
ab d u ctio n and m urder o f civ il-rig h ts
w o r k e r s J a m e s C h a n e y , A n d re w
G oodm an and M ichael S ch w erm e r in
P hiladelphia. M iss. T hat day o f ju stic e
finally cam e for the fam ilies, civ il-rig h ts
w orkers and su p p o rters o f the m o v e
m ent for freed o m , ju stic e and eq u a lity
w ith the co n v ictio n o f w h ite su p re m a
cist E d g ar Ray K illen on Ju n e 22.
In sp ite on the v icto ry , the local A f
rican-A m erican com m unity is once again
den ied tru th and ju stic e by the state and
federal ju d ic ia l system . A prior d ecisio n
by a M u ltn o m ah C o u n ty G ran d Ju ry and
a recen t d ec isio n by a fed eral civ il co u rt
ju ry v alid ate and su p p o rt the u n n e c e s
sary use o f d ea d ly fo rce in the k illin g o f
u narm ed m o th er K en d ra Jam es by P o rt
land P olice O ffic e r Scott M cC o llister.
These decisions dem onstrate that we
have not m ade as much progress as is
necessary in developing a fair, ju st and
equal judicial system for all citizens in
When an officer is allowed to call
ridiculous belief reasonable belief by
merely verbally affirming that he was
afraid, we need change.
Portland and A m erica. Persons o f color
and poor people w onder how long they
m ust suffer injustice and inequality in a
judicial system that prom otes itself as fair,
just, and equal?
Whi le we have m any outstanding offic
ers within the police bureau w hoon a daily
basis perform an outstanding jo b , there
____________ THE_____________
Supreme Court Insult
SPINACOLUMN
Or. Billy R. Flowers
An ongoing series of questions and answers about America’s natural healing profession
Part 17. Understanding Pain:
Why do you have it? How can you get rid of it?
A ' V My friend constantly takes
and nervous system . W hen the health in other areas o f the body
pills. I've tried to convince body yells, “Fire!" and you experi as well. O u r specialty is finding
her to see a C hiropractor. Can you ence pain; it is trying to get your the cause o f your problem and
m ake any suggestions?
attention that it is being injured. taking care o f it. painlessly, w ith
: You might try asking your W hen there is stress in the nervous o ut d ru g s ...J u s t as n atu re in
friend this: “If you heard a system , this is a serious problem .
tended. If you suffer from pain,
fire alarm going off in the middle of The nervous system controls stop pulling the alarm w ires from
the night, would you call the Fire every other function o f the body the walls. T ogether, we can put
Departm ent or w ould you
and left untreated can cause ill- the fire o u t.. .for good!
Y ank the wires out o f the wall
and calm ly go back to sleep?”
You see, pain is your nervous
system 's fire alarm. Pain pills may
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alleviate the pain but will do noth
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ing to take the stress o ff the spine
A
are those w ho are unfit for the high re
sponsibility o f protecting our citizens.
W hen an officer is allow ed to call ridicu
lous b elief reasonable b elief by merely
verbally affirm ing that he was afraid, we
need change.
T he laws as w ritten are so blatantly
biased and prejudicial in favor o f exoner
ating officers in all circum stances by sim
ply affirming “ 1 was fearful for my life.” We
need a change!
A lthough the ju d icial system denied
ju stice to K endra Jam es’ fam ily, people o f
color, poor people and the com m unity in
general - we m ust not give up on the dream
o f Dr. M artin L uther King Jr. W e must
continue to struggle each day to create a
ju st and equal society. W e m ust continue
to fight for an accountable police bureau,
reform in training, policies, investigation
and discipline as w ell as legal changes in
the grand ju ry and deadly use o f force laws
and juries o f peers.
F or m ore inform ation, contact Dr. T.
A llen Bethel, p re sid e n t o f the A lbina
M inisterial A llia n ce a t 503-288-7241 o r
Dr. LeR oy H aynes, A M A vice president.
Bush pick is no friend to civil rights
by
R ev . J esse L. J ackson S r .
With President Bush’s nom ina
tion ofJohnG . Roberts, the Supreme
Court would have one less woman
and one less vote to protect w omen ’ s
constitutional rights to self-determ i
nation. A Supreme Court with just
one out o f nine justices a female and
no H ispanic does not look like
America. It is an insult.
President Bush is a m aster o f
w olves in sheep clothing politics.
He gives the im pression o f m odera
tion, but deep within he is the leader
rightwing direction the nation has
seen in over 50 years. B ush’s legacy
will be one o f turning back the clock
to the p re-1954 Supreme Court that
gave us Brown vs. Board o f Educa
tion, Roe vs. W ade, and other land
mark cases involving the protection
o f civil rights and liberties.
If confirmed, women everywhere
will have even greater reason to be
alarm ed. Judge Roberts clearly is a
vote to overturn Roe v. W ade.
W h ile w o rk in g u n d e r b o th
Reagan and Bush, R oberts w as a
progress this country has made
o ver the past 55 years are under
attack. W ith his n om ination o f
Judge R oberts, President Bush sig
nals his desire to stack the courts
with justices who are anti- civil rights
and an ti-w o rk ers’ rights.
As the radical rightw ing rejoices,
there is no good new s for those
w ho live in A m erica’s margins.
T here is no good new s for advo
cates o f w o m en ’s right to self-de
term ination, for w orkers and civil
rights.
A m e r ic a c a n n o t
w ith s ta n d a ra d ic a l
rightw ing conservative
appointm ent to the Su
prem e Court. W e want
a Suprem e C ourt ju s
tice w ho is fair, upholds
the C o n stitu tio n and
d efendscivil rights and
w orkers rights.
W e w ant a Suprem e
C ourt that m odels the
le a d e r s h ip d e m o n
strated by the Suprem e C ourt o f
1 9 5 4 .1 call on A m ericans o f co n
science to jo in us in resisting Judge
R oberts’ confirm ation and bring
forth ajustice who will take America
forw ard not backw ards.
Rev. Jesse L. Ja ckso n Sr. is
fo u n d e r a n d p resid en t o f the R ain
bow P U SH Coalition, a p ro g res
sive organization, w hich seeks to
p ro te c t, d e fe n d a n d g a in c ivil
rights, even the econom ic a n d ed u
cational pla yin g fie ld s in all a s
p ects o f A m erican life a n d bring
p ea ce to the world.
With his nomination o f
Judge Roberts, President
Bush signals his desire to
stack the courts with justices
who are anti- civil rights and
anti-workers' rights.
Flowers' Chiropractic Office
o f the radical right w ing in our na
tion.
W ith his nom ination o f Judge
Roberts, Bush strikes another blow
to A m erica’s public policy position
and he sets o ff a new phrase o f our
struggle for an independent court
which upholds the C onstitution and
protects civil rights and civil liber
ties.
W hile Sandra Day O ’Connor was
a swing vote in dozens o f cases that
cam e before the court. Bush’s nom i
nee dem onstrates his desire to swing
th e c o u rt in th e m o st ra d ic a l
radical opponent o f affirm ative a c
tion, supporting hard line policies
that opposed affirm ative action and
efforts to desegregate A m erica’s
public schools. Ifconfirm ed, people
o f color and civil rights will have
plenty to fear.
Judge R oberts’ law firm was
heavily involved in the fight over
F lo rid a’s vote count and played a
m ajor role in the “appointm ent” o f
Bush in 2000. Supporters o f voting
rights, fair elections and judicial
independence have m uch to fear.
T he civil rights gains and the
Unequal Access to Health Care
Disparities
reflect past
injustices
by U.S.
TERRORISM
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Vlvertise in ill‘ P o r t l a n d ( O b s e r v e r 50? 2ss oo.u
R ep . A lcee H astings
Equal access to affordable and
quality health care is a high priority
o f mine, and the C ongressional
Black Caucus.
Dr. Ben C a rso n , the d ire c to r o f
p ed iatric n eu ro su rg ery at Jo h n s
H o p k in s U n iv e rsity , sa y s th at
A ID S, cancer, and m any other d is
B ut to d o th at also m an d ates
eases w hich are often preventable, th at w e tak e it upon o u rselv e s to
treatable, and m anageable.
learn a b o u t o u r ow n p erso n a l
S tu d ies h av e sh o w n th at, had h ealth ca re n eed s an d th e needs
eq u al h ealth care been a v a ila b le o f o u r co m m u n ity .
to A fric an -A m erica n s th ro u g h
Indeed, ju st because we did not
o u t the 1990s, alm o st 9 0 0 ,0 0 0 grow up in households in which
m o re A fric an -A m erica n s w o u ld access to health ed ucation w as
be aliv e to d ay .
readily available, does not mean
In fact, A frican-A m ericans are that we have to continue a cycle in
tw ice as likely as w hites to have w hich w e do not inform ourselves
diabetes, 11 tim es more likely to g et a b o u t o u r h e a lth n e e d s an d
diagnosed with AIDS, and die tw ice proactively pursue them.
as often from prostate cancer.
O ur com m unity has agitated for
A nd although A frican-A m eri civil rights, social rights, and em
The sad truth is that the African-
American community as a whole does
not often emphasize our community's
health care needs as an essential tool
for achieving equality.
b irth p la c e is n ot a p erm a n en t
address. B eing born on the w rong
side o f the trac k s is n ot w h ere we
are g oing but rath e r w h ere we
have co m e from .
Indeed, while the African-Ameri
can com m unity is today faced with
very serious disparities in o u r ac
cess to health care, this does not
have to be a perm anent fixture of
our society.
. M any o fu s and our fam ily m em
b ers hav e re la tiv e s an d c lo se
friends afflicted with diabetes, heart
disease, sickle cell anemia, HIV and
cans com prise about 12 percent o f
the population, they represent al
m ost 20 percent o f the uninsured.
T h e sad tru th is that the A fri
ca n -A m erica n c o m m u n ity as a
w h o le d o es not o ften em p h asize
o u r c o m m u n ity ’s h e a lth c a re
n eed s as an e sse n tia l to o l fo r
a c h ie v in g eq u a lity .
T his goal requires not only par
ticipation from o u r own com m u
nity, but also a com m itm ent by our
n atio n ’s elected officials to ensure
universal access and affordability
for all A m ericans.
ploym ent rights, for access to ed u
cation and to serve in our nation’s
m ilitary, to elect m em bers o f our
com m unities to political office and
to participate in every sport.
W e m ust also pursue w ith equal
v ig o r a c ce ss to h ealth ca re that is
affo rd a b le an d ex c ellen t, h ealth
care th at m eets the u n iq u e needs
o f the A frican -A m erican co m m u
nity an d th at is av a ila b le re g a rd
less o f g eo g rap h y .
U.S. Rep. A lcee Hastings, D-Fla.
is a m em ber o f the C ongressional
B lack Caucus.
I