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Page A4
December 6, 2006
Opinion articles do not
necessarily reflect or represent the
views o f The Portland Observer
O pinion
Police Used Excessive Force, Bad Judgment
My son could
have been killed
Editor's note: Thefollowing is a
copy o f a com plaint sent to
Portland's Independent Police
Review Division alleging police
misconduct.
BY
M i K e I.ASI EY
On Nov. 22 at about 11 a.m..Sgt.
Tom McGranahan responded to an
activated house alarm at my home
located on North Wabash.
The cause of the alarm was my
son. Julian I.asley coming home,
trying to use his key to enter the
front door and finding the security
chain latched.This situation made
it necessary for him to close the
front door and go to the hack door
to enter the house using his back
door key.
When he entered, the alarm had
just started to sound off. He en­
tered the alarm code, silencing the
horn and deactivating the alarm.
Julian proceeded to go up stairs
and undress to go to bed waiting
for the alarm company. Brinks to
call back for the all clear.
Julian fell asleep! In the mean
time, Sgt. McGranahan arrived on
the scene, assessed the situa­
tion by going around to the
back dix>r. and upon seeing
foot prints leading into the back
dtxir, in his words “deducted
that someone was inside rob­
bing the house.”
There were no signs of forced
entry, and the alarm was not
sounding. The sergeant called
in back up and when back up
arrived tried opening the front
door. The door was unlocked,
but the chain was still securing the
door thus preventing entrance.
There was also no alarm sounding
which the police would have heard
with the door ajar, which would
draw most people in my estimation
to conclude that who ever was in this taking place while he was
the house had silenced it by enter­ dressed only in boxer shorts and
ing the code. The person knowing tee shirt.
the code would most likely belong
Julian was telling them the w hole
on the premises. But the sergeant time that he lived there while they
did not draw that conclusion and were telling him he was robbing the
entered the house by kicking the house, don’t move or they would
obvious clues as to Julian's iden­
tity. There were pictures on the wall
in the hall and living room with
Julian in them. The alarm was not
sounding off, telling the officers
that someone knowing the code
had silenced it, and would most
likely not be a robber. Julian
would not likely be robbing
the house in his underwear
and bare feet. There was no
sign of forced entry, meaning
a key had most likely been
used to get in.
The officers finally ac­
cepted Julian’s explanation
o f who he was when he told
them than I work for the City
o f Portland, that I work in
facilities and maintain the
shoot. The police proceeded to pull police precincts, and that my
his shorts down to check for weap­ name was Mike Lasley. Upon
ons exposing him to a female ride getting that inform ation, the po­
along.
lice released Julian, and called me
My feeling is that poor judgment on my work phone to ask me to
■was shown by the police ignoring identify Julian. They also told me
Julian was telling them the
whole time that he lived there
while they were telling him he
was robbing the house, don't
move or they would shoot.
door in.
Upon hearing the commotion,
my son started down the steps, was
met by several police, guns drawn
and pointed at him, was slammed to
the ground and hand cuffed. All of
Effects of Racism Alive and Well
by J t ixiE
G reg M athis
By now most of the
world has seen the video
of actor/comedian Michael
Richards' racist, on-stage
rant.
Richards, performing at
an L.A . com edy club,
hurled the n’ word at black audi­
ence members who “interrupted"
his show. The performer has since
gone on talk shows - Rev. Jesse
Jackson's radio show among them
- to apologize. He promises to seek
anger management counseling and
guarantees this will never happen
again. That’s not enough.
Richards' should pay for his of­
fensive behavior. No money should
go directly to the men he insulted,
although they do deserve personal
apologies. Rather. Richards’ should
contribute some of his wealth to the
well-being of the people he so eas­
ily degraded.
M ichael
R ichards
swears he is not a racist.
Yet, during his tirade, he
used the ‘n’ word at least
seven times. He didn’t
stop there. He told the men
that years ago, they
would have, in effect,
been lynched for stepping out of
line. Later, he says they should
have known better than to inter­
rupt the white man. Intellectually,
one can try to justify a white
person letting the *n’ word slip
from their tongue. Once. But not
seven times. And. it is impossible
to make a case for a person who
seemingly yearns for the "good old
days” of lynching and a black man
knowing his place.
Richards' com m ents clearly
bubbled up from a place of hate;
these feelings had long been sim­
mering and finally boiled over. Go­
ing on a late-night television to
apologize and using an outdated
term such as "Afro-American” did
a b so lu te ly nothing to m ake
Richards a sympathetic character.
Several civic leaders have pro­
posed a boycott of Richards’ work.
color. A quick scan of internet blogs
and discussion forums shows that
there is a lot of hate out there - some
folks are on the web, anonymously,
say that Richards was justified in
degrading the two men; after all,
t
By letting (Michael) Richards off
with a simple apology, it becomes all
too easy fo r other whites to begin
degrading African-Americans and
other people o f color.
%
While boycotts are effective, it
doesn't get to the root o f the
comedian’s problem -aproblem he
refuses to admit to. By letting
Richards off with a simple apology,
it becomes all too easy for other
whites to begin degrading African-
Americans and other people of
they interrupted him.
Others are saying that black co­
medians like Chris Rock make fun of
white people all the time. And some
are saying that Richards has apolo­
gized and black folks are making a
big deal out of nothing. First, Chris
Rock and other black comedians
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how to go about getting my door
fixed, and then told my son they
were sorry and left the house.
I live in a neighborhood where
there are few people of color, and
have been the only black person on
my block since 1989. My feeling is
that my son, being black, looked
out of place (profit ling) to the police,
leading them to draw the wrong
conclusions about my son’s rea­
sons for being in the house.
What if Julian, thinking that the
house was being broken into, had
come down the steps carrying a
base ball bat for his personal pro­
tection? He could well have been
shot!
He could well have been killed.
I believe the police overreacted
in this case. My son will be filing a
complaint as the victim also. The
information as to the police activi­
ties were as told to me hy Sgt.
McGanahan. my son Julian and the
police report.
Comments bubbled up from hate
make racially charged comments in
the context of a joke. Whether it's
right or wrong is not up for discus­
sion. Richards, on the other hand,
launched a personal attack on mem­
bers of his audience. There is a
difference. Secondly, if there are
whites, even if only a handful,
that think it is okay fora white man
to publicly berate and verbally
abuse black men, then this coun­
try can never move towards the
dream of full equality that so many
of our elders, black and white,
sacrificed so much for.
S o m eo n e su g g e s te d th at
Richards pay $500.000 for each
instance he used the ‘n ’ word to
the charity o f his choice to atone
for his misdeed. I say he should
pay $500,000 for each utterance
o f the word - th a t’s at least $3.5
million - to the United Negro
College Fund. With this money,
the UNCF would be able to pro­
vide a college education for de­
serving young people. By edu­
cating the next generation, our
people will be better prepared to
fight the effects o f racism that is
clearly alive and well.
Judge Greg Mathis is national
vice president o f Rainbow PUSH
and a national board member o f
the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.
Love-Hate for Sports
Competition good, politics bad
K enneth R. B rown II
As an athlete, coach and fan, I
love watching sports. The compe-
tition and the inward and outward
drama areexhilarating.
But as a person of
justice and faith, I hate
the injustice in the
sports industry-the
sm othering o f pro­
gressive thought, the
abuse of poor people and people of
color, the avarice that permeates
sports culture. I can scarcely watch
a game or read the sports page
without this bedeviling dichotomy
haunting me.
You see. I enjoy the game of
basketball thoroughly. But I’m an-
gered by the heavy-handed con-
trol with which the NBA, with
so ciety 's acqui­
escence. rules its
Players.
.
.
good game of football. But I was
disgusted by the build up to the
NewOrleansSaints-CarolinaPan
thers game on “Monday Night
Football” earlier this NFL sea
son which hyped up a suppos­
edly resurgent city of New O r­
leans and the re-opening of the
Super Dome-disregarding the
lack of recovery of communi
ties of color that are still devas-
ta te d from K atrin a and our
government’s response, and then
sweeping underthe carpet the hor-
ror of squalor, rape, sickness and
death that the Super Dome was
home to after the storm.
In another incident of aggran-
dizement, the 2(X)4 death in Af-
ghanistan o f servicem an Pat
Tillman of the Arizona Cardinals
w as used to
glorify contin­
.
ued U.S. ag
consider the
gression in the
Middle East. In
Mahmtwd Abdul- '
reality.Tillman,
Rauf, who as a
who was very
m em ber o f the
critical of the
Denver Nuggets in
w ar and the
1996, refused to
Bush adminis-
stand for a few games during the tration. was killed in an egregious
playing of the National Anthem. His error of friendly fire,
faith convictions and sense of jus-
I lament the way in which young
tice led him to do this in protest of phenoms endorse companies with
UnitedStatesoppression worldwide, oppressive labor practices. Noone.
Instead of being commended for I’m sure, has told the young su-
speaking his mind and being true to perstars of sweatshops abuse and
his spiritual principles, he was fined how they could use their fame to
by the league and ridiculed by media, fight it. If they follow in the foot
fans and other players.
steps o f icons such as T iger
Abdul-Rauf.nowaMuslimimam Woods or Michael Jordan, they
and player in Europe, w asoutofthe may never use their influence to
NBA within a couple years. Con- better the plight of workers,
sider the reaction to Steve Nash,
I’m offended by right-wing soc-
then with the Dallas Mavericks, cer hooligans who hurl epithets
when he spoke in 2(X)3 against the and bananas at black players in
invasion of Iraq. He likewise was stadium s across Europe. I’m
beratedfordaringtostandforpeace. troubled by the dearth of women
Apparently, critical analysis is not and people of color in sports own-
encouraged among the league’s ership and front-office manage-
athletes and fans. Have you noted ment. I grieve at the rampant ho-
the preponderance of “NBA Cares" mophobia.
commercials during 2(X)6 playoffs
D on't you just love sports?
andthisseason-designed.it would Don’t you just hate injustice?
seem, to get us happy about some
Kenneth R. Brown II is with the
limited acts of charity while that office o f Youth & Young Adult
same league squelches justice com- E m pow erm ent at the U nited
ments and action?
Church o f Christ. Justice and Wit-
I love the weekly build-up to a ness Ministries.
by
As a person o f
justice and faith,
ice in the sports
industry.
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for People with Medicare.
For Information, call 1 -800-M E D IC A R E
or visit www.m edicare.gov
Medicare Paga por las Vacunas de Gripe.
Para Información, Llame al
1-800-MEDICARE
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CDC