O 5()£ F years of •/community ‘City of Roses' Joyce Washington Gospel Phenomenon Memorial Basketball fïv .im n in n c h in c- Championship Apostle Elbert D. Mondaine Concert «> to ceieoraie celebrate debut voncen uenui l CD u f Sec See Religion, page BS B5 inside Religion, page inside ^ n rtla n h ©bs^tlier Established in 1970 J Volume XXXVI, Number 21 www.portlandobserver.com Committed to Cultural Diversity Wednesday • May 24, 2006 Driving PDC Hostility While City agency defends against discrimination Black T w o A frica n Americans at the Port­ land Development Com m ission have tile d form al com plaints that accuse a PDC executive o f racial discrim ination and allege a pattern o f discrim ination at the c ity agency. No relief from racial profiling Tyrone Henry, a formercontract com­ pliance manager, and Christina Cain, a senior executive assistant, say executive officer L o ri Sundström retaliated against them after they put their names on a memooffering ideas toimprove the PDC’ s treatment o f m inority employees. Also, Rita M cC ain-W alker, an A fr i­ can Am erican and P D C ’ s home owner- shipcoordinator, recently resigned. She said she left in part because o f the “ removal o f A frica n American em ploy­ ees from this organization” H enry's lawsuit, file d M ay 16 in fed­ eral court, claim s that "there is a pattern and practice o f racial discrim ination at PDC” and that he was w ro n g fu lly fired in March. D r iv in g W h ile B la c k is a m o ck charge many people o f co lo r use to de­ scribe the likelihood o f being involved in a tra ffic strop. N ow a perception o f u n fa ir law en­ forcement has ju st been reinforced by aPortland Police Bu­ reau re p o rt th a t show s b la ck and L a tin o drivers are pulled over 2.4 times more than whites. Acting Chief Rosie Sizer A lthough the data doesn’ t prove blatant racism w ith in the police force, the higher number o f stops fo r people o f color, considering they make up a sm aller percentage o f the population, strongly suggest a racial disparity. For example, whites make up 79 percent o f the c ity ’ s population and account fo r 54,218, or 68 percent o f all stops. Blacks make up 6 percent o f the population and account fo r 10,702 or 27 percent o f police stops. Latinos also make up 6 percent o f the popula­ tion and account fo r 6 .8 0 1 or 9 percent o f all stops. The 2004-05 report also shows that the A frica n Americans and Latinos were more lik e ly to be searched when stopped. About 27 percent or 2,933 A frica n Americans and 26 percent or 1,750 Latinos were searched, more than tw ice the percentage o f whites. W hat’ s more, police were more photo by I saiah B oijie /T he P ortland O bserver An African American man is handcuffed and questioned at the Rose Quarter Transit Center Thursday by Port­ land Police shortly before being released. I ike ly to discover drugs or contraband w hi le searching white drivers: drugs were found on 131 o r 4 percent o f A fric a n Am erican drivers, 64 o r4 percent o f Latino drivers, and 392 o r 6 percent o f w hite drivers. A c tin g C h ie f R osie S ize r said the overrepresentation o f both blacks and Latinos in Portland police tra ffic stops are o f concern and should i r is ; questions among officers as to w hat’ s causing the racial dis­ Blacks make up 6 percent of the population and account fo r 10,702 or 27 percent o f police stops. A frica n Americans were more I ikely to be stopped than whites in each o f the Police Bureau's five precincts. Latinos were more lik e ly to be stopped than whites in fo u r o f the five precincts. parity. She said many factors could be at play. She asked that officers and com m unity mem­ bers fin d ways to w ork together to counter distrust. She also encouraged officers to respectful ly explain the reasons fo r tra ffic stops whenever they make them. " I believe we must reinvigorate our efforts to build relationships w ith in the com m unity, particularly com m unities o f color,” Sizer wrote in an internal memo distributed M ay 23 to officers, the day before the data was made public. The Portland Police Bureau began data collection in 2001 under fonnerC hief Mark Kroeker, who formed a Blue Ribbon Panel on Racial P ro filin g to address concerns that officers disproportionately target m i­ norities. The inform ation on stops was meant to be reviewed and released quarterly to help police adm inistrators and the com m unity determine whether the stops are in flu ­ enced by racial bias. The Independent Police R eview has continued on page A6 He says Sundström micromanaged and harassed him after becoming his direct supervisor last fall. The lawsuit names the PDC, Sundström and execu­ tive director Bruce Warner as defen­ dants. Cain filed a com plaint w ith the O r­ egon Bureau o f Labor and Industries on the same day, making sim ila r allega­ tions. According to the com plaint, she says she previously received positive jo b reviews but was unjustly criticized by Sundström when she told her “ You should be happy to still be m aking the same amount o f money here." Elissa Gertler, PDC spokeswoman, refused to respond to the complaints, saying the agency doesn't talk about lending lawsuits or personnel matters. Henry said PDC executives haven’ t lddressed com plaints by m in o rity em­ ployees. “ There is a double standard on the vay people o f co lo r are treated," Henry ¡aid. Frederick in Runoff for Commission Seat Only minority candidate in Portland S arah B i . ount T he P ortland O bserver by N ow that the prim aries are be­ hind us and the rem aining candi­ dates prepare fo r a Novem ber run­ o ff, one thing is clear this election season: Portland can expect most o f our leaders to remain w hite and male. as C ounty Board o f Commission C hair to Ted Wheeler; and G inny Burdick, Amanda Fritz and Lucinda Tate failed to oust incumbents E rik Sten and Dan Saltzman on the all- white male C ity C ouncil. This leaves o n ly Lew Frederick, in a race fo r a district tw o seat on the Saltzman. I f Frederick w ins the seat, h e 'll be the first A frican American city or county com m issioner in over a de­ cade, but fo r him. the principle con­ cerns before our city and county transcend race and gender. Frederick is focusing on three issues: health care, disaster pre­ paredness and after-school pro­ grams. "There are basic things people want, and I 'l l bring visions o f di ffer- ent groups in Portland to the County C om m ission," he said. Frederick's success in the pri- “ We d id n 't have the money, but we targeted the passion," he said. The long-tim e northeast Port­ land resident has a laundry list o f form er occupations, including tele­ vision reporter, teacher and actor. When Frederick talks about d ive r­ sity, he doesn't ju st speak in terms o f race. W hen he o u tlin es his M oussaoui, the o n ly person con­ plant on another part o f the site. c u r ity n um bers and b irth dates, victe d in a U.S. co u rt fo r the See story, page A6. a fte r a V e te ra n s A ffa ir s e m ­ county board, as the only m in o rity candidate left running fo r top posi­ tions in both c ity and county g o v­ ernment. Frederick, w ho is on leave as a spokesman fo r Portland P ublic Schools, faces the ru n o ff against J e ff C ogen, c h ie f o f s ta ff fo r Week in Thc Review CIA Nominee Wins Vote Lew Frederick Sept. 11 attacks, had n o th in g to do w ith the operations, accord­ ing to a W eb site audiotape re­ Gen. M ich a e l Hayden leased on Tuesday. m oved a step closer Trojan Tower Demolished to b e c o m in g n a tio n 's the 2()th C IA T h e c o o lin g See story, page A2. Hurricane Warnings The next A tla n tic hurricane sea- son co u ld p roduce up to 16 named said M o n d a y . sto rm s, s ix o f Bribery Charge Disputed them m a jo r h u r­ A congressm an u n der in ­ ric a n e s , v e s tig a tio n fo r b rib e ry said gesting another sug­ a c tiv e ye a r o f d e v a s ta t in g sioned T ro ja n nuclear tio n s that he w as v id e o ­ sto rm s , s c ie n ­ pow er plant collapsed taped a cce p tin g $ I (Ml,(MM) tists said M o n ­ in on its e lf Sunday in a fro m an in fo rm a n t, te llin g day. Some parts clo u d o f dust and f ly ­ re p o rte rs, “ T h e re are c e r­ ing debris as it is im ­ ta in ly p lo d ed n o rth w e s t o f s to ry ." M e a n w h ile , D e m o c ra tic sta rlin g to re b u ild fro m H u rri­ P ortland near R ainier. P ortland Rep. W illia m Je ffe rs o n , c a lle d cane K a trin a , the w o rst o f last an F B I search o f his C a p ito l year's record 28 named storm s, o ff ic e 15 o f w h ic h were hurricanes. Gen. Michael Hayden v o tin g against the Bush nom inee. veterans, in c lu d in g S o c ia l Se- s io n ." on paf>e A6 M o n d a y he w o u ld not re ­ mended co n firm a tio n, tw o other D em ocrats in fo rm a tio n o f 26.5 m illio n U.S. m a te ria l hom e, the g o v e rn m e n t continued sign in thc face o f a lle g a ­ re c o m ­ 12-3, w ith ju s t Ron T h ie v e s to o k se n s itiv e personal p lo ye e im p ro p e rly b ro u g h t the “ I ’ m including A frica n Americans, and e ld e rly people out o f their homes, fourth graders w ith parents w ho ca n 't a fford to feed them, and 18-34 yearolds tryin g toget into the m iddle class but aren't being o f­ fered benefit packages." "These are the issues that reso­ nate," he said. to w e r Senate In te llig e n c e W yd e n . D -O re . and Veterans ID Stolen agenda, he doesn’ t narrow it to anyone demographic. When asked to com m ent about m inorities, he refuses to be pinned down. Referring to issues he' II address: fro m the d e c o m m is ­ c h ie f T ue sd a y. T hc C o m m itte e in a ry m ay be a re s u lt o f his grassroots approach in the com ­ m unity, tw o decades in the making. H e's got his share o f hig h -p ro file endorsements, but doesn’ t come close to matching Cogen’ s cam ­ paign spending. Osama Backs Up Moussaoui G eneral E le c tric stores radioac­ Osama bin Laden said Zacarias tiv e fuel rods fro m the defunct Trojan Tower tw o sid e s to th is Rep. William Jefferson “ an o u tra g e o u s in t r u ­ of th e G u lf Coast are o n ly