il?e |J o r t lattò (Obseruer
Page A6
August 30. 2006
photo by C harity
P rater ZT he P ortland O bserver
Yvonne Simmons, a survivor o f domestic violence, gains strength and inspiration from the painful
truths painted on shirts in the Portland Clothesline Project.
A Clothesline Swollen with Tears
Join us for our biggest community
events of the year!
Saturday, August 26
Thursday, August 31
Harrison Park
Tom McCall Waterfront Park
SE 84th Ave. and Harrison St.
In downtown Portland
Next to Binnsmead Middle School
Bowl area south o f the Hawthorne Bridge
Gregory Vajda, conductor
Carlos Kalmar, conductor
3 p.m. Afternoon Festival begins
Gregory Vajda, conductor
5 p.m. Portland Youth Philharmonic concert
Kids activities, performers and food!
'
*
7 p.m. Oregon Symphony concert
Mei-Ann Chen, conductor
7 p.m. Oregon Symphony concert
Rain location: Madison High School
Rain date: September 1
For more information visit JoinTheAudience.Org
OREGONSYMPHONY
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the display.
“Violence is so widespread,” she
said. “The shirts help to release the
pain.”
Like T ibetan prayer flags, the
shirts begin to d isin teg rate the
longer they hang on the clothes
line. This sym bolizes the pow ers o f
healing through the passing of time.
Som e w om en chose to take their
shirts with them, burning them,
burying them , or stow ing them
away.
Patricia Barrera, Victim Services
C oordinator for Clackam as County
C o m m u n ity C o rrectio n s, spoke
about the relationship Portland has
to violent crim es against women.
Statistics have show n that vio
lent crim e increases in neighbor
hoods where adult retail stores and
strip clubs exist, Barrera said. Crime
rates also increase for w omen in
volved in prostitution.
“ P o rtla n d
is
know n
as
' P o m ’tow n,” she said. “For every
one strip club or porn retail store
Los Angeles has Portland has 11.”
On average prostitutes are sexu
ally abused at the age o f 13 and later
in life by fam ily m em bers, boy
friends, and husbands.
C arey-H arper has been w orking
“Even the ‘Jo h n ’s ’ are plagued on phase tw o o f her national effort,
with sexually transm itted diseases, w hich addresses racism as well.
being robbed constantly, losing
"V iolence against w om en is the
tim e and money, and are often m ur result o f sexist people. Men con
dered,” Barrera said.
tribute to sexism like w hite people
T h e P o rtla n d C lo th e s lin e contribute to racism ,” she said.
P roject’s long term goal is to stop
W om en’s advocates see a vio
violent crim es against w om en alto lent-free society is an attainable
gether.
goal.
As a grassroots m ovem ent, the
"W e have to begin with treating
hosts aren ’t overw helm ed with the each other with respect and love
notion o f ending violent crim es people who we disagree with or
entirely.
don’t really like,” Carey-Harper said.
i For every one strip club or
porn retail store Los Angeles
has, Portland has 11.
— Patricia Barrera, Victim Services Coordinator
Clothesline projects have caught
on all across the country and usu
ally include music, shirt making and
speeches from victim s and profes
sionals from the local com m unity.
All men are w elcom e to share their
personal experiences or engage in
the event, how ever, it is specifi
cally geared to support w om en and
children.
Saturday ’ s dow ntow n event was
a small one, but it d id n 't go unno
ticed. D rivers yelled “Thank y o u !”
out o f their w indow s, dog w alkers
surveyed the clothesline with em o
tional faces, and curiosity lured in
a few men who obviously felt sym
pathetic tow ards the em otional
evidence left by the outspoken vic
tims.
EVERYBODY WANTS T O BE A "STARA"
photo by I saiah
B oi
ie /T he
P ortland O bserver
Local Women Invest in Kids
Members of the Portland Chapter of the Links, Inc. line up donated school supplies for
distribution to local children. Pictured at Saturday’s free event at the Portland Observer are
Lorraine Hood-Jack, Renee Dubois, Par Walker, Sylvia Welch, Barbara Leonard, Johnnie
Stokes, Joanne Edwards, Johnnie Bell, President Betty Cablne and Elaine Hartzog.
Youth Gatherings Turn Violent
Regena W illiams bridges the gap
betw een w hat young people want
tie s cannot single-handedly quell and what they do. She has spent
th e p ro b le m an d M u ltn o m a h the past three years directing them
County has redirected its youth to certain existing outreach pro
gang resources into five agencies: gram s based on their interests. W il
El Programa Hispano; International liams ftiunded the non-profit North
Refugee C enter o f O regon; the west Country Com munity Outreach
Native Am erican Youth A ssocia six m onths ago to further facilitate
tion: and the Youth Em ploym ent this goal.
These kids want to learn to work
Institute.
How exactly parents can regain on ears, make videos and build
responsibility o v erth eireh ild ren is houses, she said. They are full of
positive energy, but it ju st needs to
where people tend to disagree.
Som e like T am ara W alk er will be channeled right,
John C anda, new director o f the
v o lu n teer at her ch u rch . C alv ary
C h ristian C e n te r, to host foosball O ffice o f Youth V iolence Preven
and pool tab les on F riday nights. tion, challenged others to simply
Others, like Jercm ie M itchell, engage young people. O ne o f his
Lloyd Center Security M anager and p e rso n a l fa v o rite ta c tic s is a
a father, said teenagers aren’t look barbeque.
“ If you feed them, teenagers will
ing for structured fun and games.
He said they w ant adult activity, com e,” he said.
Som e individuals in attendance
regardless o f its legality.
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called the concerns “too little, too
late".
R ichard B row n, a lo n g -tim e
n o rth east P o rtlan d resid en t, is a
m ainstay at the g ang v io len ce
m eetings. He said he saw the
p o ten tial for ch ao s m o n th s ago,
w hen ju st five o r six kids w ere
m eeting.
“C ro w d s have gotten bigger
every week and month," Brown said.
"N ow instead o f 10 kids to deal
with, y o u ’ve got 400.”
“M y concent is that had this
meeting been held at eight at night
people w ouldn't be here.”
Time will tell if parents and neigh
bors are serious about taking youth
problem s into their ow n hands.
Sign-up sheets w ere passed around
forcommunity members to hecalled
out, even last minute, at events or
gatherings that could spiral out o f
control.