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Established in 1970
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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