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 ,.» l • . hrrtlandTrihune M uv< D lH C S I gmcYA Sino 20 E ntertamtem P resents con tin u ed fro m F ront 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. con tin u ed fa ir , A k . m H i: W im II 2 \ 2006 I M I R M A IF I )RI HO M < Jl I IRAI < I M l R 9 '4 0 \ I mhoimi A vp *>. R uhiav ,. C >R p tp IK M i I M U m f K A <