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‘City of Roses’
See page A2 inside
Nine Soldiers Killed
An al-Qaida-linked group claimed
responsibility Tuesday for a sui
cide truck bombing that killed nine
U.S. paratroopers in the worst at
tack on American ground forces in
Iraq in more than a year.
Dems Vote Withdrawal
Democratic leaders ignored a veto
threat and agreed Monday on leg
islation that requires the first U.S.
combat troops to be withdrawn
from Iraq by Oct. 1 with a goal of a
complete pullout six months later.
Obama Ties Clinton
New public opinion polls show
llinois Sen. Barack Obama has
gained ground for the fourth
straight week and he has finally
caught New Yc
Clinton in the
race fo r the
D e m o c ra tic
P r e s id e n tia l
n o m in a tio n .
It’snow Obama
32 percent, Clinton 32 percent and
former Sen. John Edwards at 17
percent.
No Excessive Force
A new report says that Portland
police do not use excessive force
and even the use of force is rela
tively rare. But the task force that
has been analyzing Portland po
lice reports has recommended at
least 16 ways to improve the
bureau's reporting along with its
policies, training and supervision.
Gas Soars to $3.12
Oregon’s statewide average gaso
line price for regular-unleaded set
a new record Monday at $3.12 per
gallon. According to AAA, the
previous record in Oregon was
S3.11 set in May of last year.
Hamburger Recalled
Health officials in Oregon and four
other states have announced a
recall affecting KM).(XX) pounds of
frozen ground beef patties. The
recalled products are sold under
the brands Fireriver, Chef’s Pride,
RitzFood, Blackwood Farms, Cali
fornia Pacific Associates, C and C
D istrib u tin g ,
G o lb o n
and
Richwood.
Governor on Food Stamps
Gov. Ted Kulongoski couldn't af
ford much of any
thing during a trip to
a Salem-area Fred
M eyer T u esd ay .
The goal was to walk
in the steps of those
who are allocated
$21 worth of groceries each week
in food stamps. See story, page A3
Toyota Overtakes GM
Toyota Camry, take a bow. Prius,
bask in the limelight. Strong de
mand for those models has helped
propel the Japanese car maker onto
the throne as the world's largest
auto seller, outselling GM for the
first time ever.
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The Review
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Volume XXXVII. Number 16
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Morning Star
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Housewife’ to
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Established in 1970
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Wednesday • April 25. 2007
Talkers Play to Narrow Audience
Imus firing
won’t change
market forces
by R aymond R endi . eman
T he P ortland O bserver
There’s been a change in the
airways, but don't expect any auto
matic realignment of the radio in
dustry.
Rose City Radio Manager Tim
McNamara took the lead this month
in canceling Don Imus' show on
KXL for racist remarks.
"NBC ended up taking him off
the next day," McNamara says.
"They saw the same thing I saw:
there's a wave coming, and we’d
better do something about it.”
The firing decision drew a line in
the sand for the nation's radio talk
ers, the vast majority of whom are
white and conservative.
For Michael Cooks, an African
American who works on KXL’s sis
ter station with Jammin 95.5’s Play
house, “racial slurs are just an ob
vious line that you just can’t cross
now." Both stations are owned by
Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen.
It seems that as long as radio
commentators stay within the line
of outright bigotry, nothing will
continued
on page A6
photo by R aymond R endleman /T he P ortland O bserver
Rose City Radio Manager Tim McNamara runs KXL, a conservative talk radio station owned by Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen.
PCC Locked in Budget Battle in Salem
Meeting
minority needs
more difficult
by R aymond R endi . eman
T he P ortland O bserver
Portland Community College
continues to look more racially di
verse even in the face of budget
cuts and an overall decease in stu
dents. But meeting the needs of
PCC’s diverse population is get
ting more difficult as the college
district gets locked in a budget
battle in Salem with lawmakers and
the governor.
Nowhere is the tension more
apparent than at PCC's Cascade
Campus in north Portland where
President Algie Gatewood points
to the benefits of its Skills Center,
with its 66 percent African-Ameri
can participation. The program aims
to give high school dropouts a shot
at college and skilled labor.
“It has been a real challenge to
keep the funding in place for the
SkillsCenter,” Gatewood says. “But
keeping it open is especially impor
tant for African-American and low-
income students."
Ski I Is Center Coordinator James
Brown says serving people of color
with educational opportunities in
their own community better posi
tions these students for success,
“so they don’t have to be gentrified
out."
PCC administrators say 80 per
cent ol’Skills Center students gradu
ate and continue their education
through regular college or company
training.
"It was primarily developed for
the four zi p codes around Cascade,"
Bowles says.
The Skills Center has a strong
partn ersh ip w ith its neighbor
Jefferson High Schtxil, where a two-
thirds-black student population
remains while a greater proportion
of white families go toot her schoo Is.
Given these demographics, some
Jefferson administrators recognize
a continued need for their school to
concentrate on serving black stu
dents.
But PCC’s leadership is much
more vocal about the need forqual-
ity education in the neighborhoods
undergoing significant changes.
forces.”
has allocated for the district in the
He and other PCC administra 2005-7 biennial and the $529 million
tors are testifying before the Legis that administrators say they need
lature forthe increased school fund to restore services to a fully opera
ing, and PCC’s website prominently tional status forthe next two years.
This general funding covers almost
half of PCC’s operating costs.
It's easy to see that the goal of
serving m inority po p u latio n s
comes naturally to Gatewood and
his boss, PCC District President
Preston Pulliams. Both are African
American.
"Ourenrollment is more diverse
than any other college in the re
gion," says Pulliams, "so I’m look
ing to serve those students."
While the percentage of black
students has steadily increased at
PCC Cascade to 11.4 percent, the
actual number of black students,
estimated at 675 individuals, has
encourages staff, faculty and stu fallen by 76 students over the past
dents togi ve testimony at the Ways five years. Those statistics also fall
and Means committee in Salem.
short of matching the black demo
At stake is the difference be graphics of nearby neighborhoods.
tween the $427 million that the state
Evaluating the overall success
Portland's people o f
color have a lot o f
challenges, so we
have to he cognizant
o f that by developing
programs and services
to counteract
negative forces.
Algie Gatewood
“Portland’s people of color have
a lot of challenges," G atew œ d says,
"so we have to be cognizant of that
by developing programs and ser
v ices to c o u n te ra c t n eg ativ e
•
photo
of serving African American stu
dents. Gatewood asks, "Are we
there yet? Probably not. But we are
working very diligently to get more
diversity and people of color."
Black students choose PCC Cas
cade for various reasons.
“For me, being a single mom, it
was finally a viable way to go to
another school,” says Akala Rice.
She led a meeting of PCC’s Black
Student Union with Sasha Quintana,
who says, "I could have gone to a
university right out high school...
but I wanted to experience a greater
diversity at a lower price."
For others, PCC Cascade is a
safe haven.
Kashea Kilson-Anderson be
came one of the first students in the
program that became the Skil Is Cen
ter because he “saw a lot of racial
tension at Wilson" High School,
which he attended in the late '90s.
“Although it claimed to be one
of the smartest schools, they were
culturally out of it," he says.
R wmond R endi em an /T he P orti and O bserver
Students utilize state-ofthe-art technology services at the Cascade Campus of Portland Community College in north Portland.