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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 2005)
Singing the Blues North Mississippi Allstars take on Portland’s Crystal Ballroom y CUTS of •'community service uTki> c X'l • . P TA See story inside Focus section . iz 5 _ 'City of Roses’ . . . . . _________ ~ Wednesday • September 21. 2005 Committed to Cultural Diversity Inspiredfor Positive Change Hurricane Rita Strengthens Trio to lead Million More Movement trek Rita strengthened rapidly to a Category 2 hurricane Tuesday as it raked the Florida Keys with flood ing rain and sparked a flurry of storm preparations across the Gulf Coast. Thousands of people were evacuated from the Keys and low- lying areas of northern Cuba. See story, page A2. K atherine B lackmore T he P ortland O bserver by Tired of watching their young African American peers fall between the cracks, three Portland men realized a community transformation was needed. So Xavier Friday, Tim W ashington Jr. and Omari DeGroove decided a road trip to W ashington D.C.’s “Million More Movement” was in order. The gathering, taking place on Oct. 15. will commemo rate 10 years since the historic “Million Man M arch,” held at the National Mall in 1995. The event continues tobeacallforblack men and the com munity at large to take responsibility for themselves as fathers, husbands and activists in a greater effort for civil rights. After last year’s march, more than 1.7 million black men signed up to vote, memberships —TimWashingtonJr. to the NAACP sky rocketed and adop- tion o f b lack c h ild re n w ent up, a c c o rd in g to www.millionsmoremovement.com. This year’s trek will kick-off the Portland Inspiration Project, a local program designed to help troubled youth get back on track. The plan is to.take 35 young men between the ages of 18 to 25 across the country in five RVs. making a tour through several states, including Illinois, Ohio, Ne braska, Utah, New Jersey. Pennsylvania and New York. 9 Americans Killed in Iraq The w ar in Iraq passed a sober ing m ilepost Tuesday when U.S. o ffic ia ls rep o rted nine m ore A m ericans were killed - five of them m em bers o f the arm ed forces, raising the num ber o f U.S. service mem bers who have died in the country since the invasion to 1,904. A new poll sh o w e d d w in d lin g s u p p o rt am ong A m ericans for President B ush’s handling o f Iraq. With thlS whole project, we 're trying to change our thinking about each other and ourselves. LU’ Kim Reports to Prison S Rapper Lil’ Kim ■ began serving a I 366-day prison I sentence Mon- ■ day for her con- ■ v ic tio n on ■ charg es stem - -- mingfroma2001 shootout outside a New York City radio station. The 30-year-old en tertainer, whose real name is Kim berly Jones, was convicted of ly ing about the gun battle to a fed eral grand jury and in the subse quent trial. See story, page B5. B Senator to Oppose Roberts Senate D em ocratic leader Harry Reid announced his opposition to Ghitef Justice-nom inee John R oberts on T uesday, voicing dcjSbts about R oberts’ com m it- nwtlf to civil rights and accusing tlMf B u sh a d m in is tra tio n o f stonew alling requests for d ocu ments that might shed light on his view s. See sto ry , page A2. Survivor’s Odyssey Ends A 73-year-old diabetic grand m o th er and c h u rch e ld e r who fled Kat rina’s floodwa te rs fo r the safety o f a ho tel but ended up in prison instead for more than two weeks - all over a bite of food, was released Friday. Family and eyewitnesses insist Merlene M aten’s arrest was un warranted. See story, page A2 Generic AIDS Drug Approved The FDA has approved the first generic versionsof the AIDS medi cation AZT, a move that could reduce the expense for people in the United States being treated for the disease. AZT, an anti retroviral d rug th at is also know n as Zidovudine, helps prevent the AIDS virus from reproducing in the body. er ....... I w w . w .portlandobserver.com Established In 1970 Volume XXXV. Number 39 T,Weekin TheReview z z t\z The Portland Inspiration Project to help troubled youth is the brainchild o f Tim Washington Jr. (from left), Xavier Friday and Omari De Groove. photo by M ark W ashington ZT he P ortland O bserver continued on page AS Concordia Helps Hurricane Victims Nine college students get second chance by K atherine B lackmore T he P ortland O bserver Northeast Portland’s Concordia Uni versity’ has taken in nine college students displaced by Hurricane Katrina, provid ing them with housing, fo o d and most im portantly, a chance to continue their edu cation. Three o f these students, from Xavier University in New Orleans, shared their experiences in dealing with the c a ta strophic with the Portland Observer: Pre-med student Celeste Calvin had al ready been evacuated for three hurricanes since attending Xavier University in New Orleans in 2002. When she got the news to pack her bag with clothes and get out of her apartment building for Hurricane Katrina, she figured it would only be a couple more days before she was able to return. She'd heard that this storm was nothing to worry about. “Nobody expected it to be what it was,” she said. After picking up her sister and paying way too much for gas, Calvin was able to drive away before the levees in New Orleans broke and flooded the city. She ended up in photo by Baton Rouge, being forced to go with the guarded flow of traffic. “Everybody went crazy on the roads," she said. What would normally be a two to three hour road trip took 10 hours. Eventually, she made it to Houston, Texas, where she was able to fly out to Portland to reunite with her family and the city she grew up in. Calvin, like many other Katrina survi Blues Concert for Katrina Relief Hurricane benefit helps food banks M usicians will be singing the blues for G ulf Coast hurricane victims in “Blues for K atrina,” a benefit being held by the W aterfront Blues Festival on Sunday, Sept. 25 from I to 7 p.m. at Tom McCall K atherine B i . ackmore /T he P ortland O bserver Celeste Calvin is one of nine students displaced by Hurricane Katrina that were given housing, food and an education at Concordia University in northeast Portland. W aterfront Park. Featured artists will include Irma Tho mas, “Soul Queen of New Orleans." backed by an all-star Portland band led by saxo phonist, Reggie Houston. Houston relo cated to Portland from New Orleans last year after four decades of playing with music legend Fats Domino. continued on page A6 Charmaine Neville will perform Sunday at the Blues for Katrina benefit concertât Waterfront Park sponsored by the Waterfront Blues Festival. I .« vors, doesn’t know w hat’s happened to her belongings and is scared to go back. She’s unable to get any funds from her credit continued on page A6
