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September 12, 2007
Neighborhoods Calling for an End to Violence
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Fifth-annual
march; first
since murder
solved
BY R YYMOND Rl NDI.EMAN
Tin P ortland O bserver
An unsolved murder spurred on
an annual march against violence
for four years, but organizers will
not stop marching now that the
mystery is solved.
With neighborhood shootings
surging last weekend, marchers saw
reason tocontinue until real change
comes.
For years, nobody came for­
ward with enough inform ation to
solve the Nov. 20.2002 murder of
Asia Bell, a 23-year-old mother of
four, by at least 17 bullets fired
onto the porch of her home on
North M ississippi and Jessup
Street, also perm anently blinding
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JAMES
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photo by
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Fifteen-year-old Kawontaye Bell, orphaned by the 20 0 2 murder o f Asia Bell, leads a march on Killingsworth Street to prevent violence.
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her husband Tyrone Jam es and
w ounding th eir friend Robert
M illhouse. But, on March 9 of
this year, four arrests were finally
announced.
The victims' mother, key in orga­
nizing the march, experienced re­
newed confidence in the mission to
bring about justice and an end to
violence.
"Now we really know why we’re
marching,” says Perlia Bell, head
the grief-counseling group that
organized the fifth-annual march.
“It wasn’t a sense of completion,
but a sense of purpose.”
Bell was especially distraught
by the wave of violence over the
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Featuring
Breaking Down the W alls Tour
Featuring The Light, Rajime
The UR Vibe Team
On the Scene with Tickets and Giveaways
(AP) — In his first Oregon visit
since declaring his presidential can­
didacy, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama
stressed the big themes with a few
veiled jabs at rivals.
Making about $200,000 for the
campaign, the Oregon Convention
Center visit drew an enthusiastic
crowd of about 3,400, each paying
at least $25, others paying between
$250 and $2,300 apiece for a pre­
event fundraiser.
Obama avoided direct references
to Oregon-specific issues during
Friday’s rally, hitting instead on
broader themes, such as universal
health care, a swift end to the war in
Iraq, stricter fuel efficiency stan­
dards, an end to the genocide in
Darfur and investments in early-
childhood education.
And he repeated his plea for a
move away from partisan politics
and the red state/blue state divide.
“What we need is a transforma­
tion — we need something entirely
Sen. Barack Obama
new, a new chapter in American
history," Obama said.
Democratic and Republican ad­
ministrations alike have failed at
making real health-care reform, he
said, invoking one of the high-pro­
file setbacks of a rival, New York
Sen. Hillary Clinton.
The next day. Oprah Winfrey
rolled out the red carpet for him in
California at a gala fundraiser at­
tended by 1,500 high-wattage stars,
each paying $2,300.
Obama used his Portland stop to
address charges that his experi­
ence, limited to three years in the
Senate, is not enough to be presi­
dent.
“Time served does not guaran­
tee good judgment,” he said. "A
long resume doesn’t speak to char­
acter.”
He said he would seek to repair
what he called America's damaged
image after the Iraq war.
“A strong president is not afraid
to talk to our adversaries and tell
them where America stands," he said.
His Portland appearance drew a
generally younger crowd, some
saying they were devoted to Obama
and others saying they w eren't yet
sure.
A group of black female educa­
tors from Portland grabbed spots in
the front row, decked out in Obama
T-shirts.
"We love Hillary, don’t get me
wrong, but we need to move be­
yond that,” said Cynthia Harris,
principal of Jefferson High School.
“Obama is a breath of fresh air, not
the same old, same old.”
Interstate Name Change Studied
Friends
0/ Trees
City commissioners voted Thurs­
day to study a possible name
change for Interstate Avenue.
Meetings next month provide an
opportunity for public input on the
name change, which is controver­
sial for both the choice of the road
and the new proposed name of civil-
rights activist Cesar Chavez.
The New Seasons Market on
what would be the corner of Cesar
E. Chavez Boulevard and Rosa
Parks Way (recently changed from
Portland Boulevard) is supportive,
but some business owners along
Interstate Avenue are opposed to
the name change, because it would
require them to change their busi-
ness names, letterhead and adver­
tisements.
Urging people to learn about
Chavez' contributions to worker
rights in Oregon, proposition back­
ers say renaming the street for the
civil-rights leader would send a
positive message to the young
community.
Show your love for the
‘Jena 6’ Charged Reduced
Uprpoted Gospel Show:
Amid racism, unequal justice protests
5 0 3 -6 5 2 -8 1 0 0
(AP) -- Prosecutors reduced
an a tte m p te d m u rd e r ch a rg e
against another o f the "Jena Six,"
a group o f black high school
stu d e n ts in L o u isia n a w hose
criminal charges after the beat­
ing a w hite classm ate drew pro­
tests o f racism and unequal ju s­
tice.
Robert Bailey Jr. pleaded not
guilty M onday to aggravated bat­
tery and conspiracy to com m it
aggravated battery.
He was among five o f the six
teens originally charged as adults
with attem pted murder. The sixth
was charged in juvenile court.
Myehal Bell, the only m ember
o f the "Jena Six" to be tried so
far, was convicted o f aggravated
battery; the judge threw out his
conspiracy conviction. Prosecu­
tors also dropped the attempted
jr
9
^503-922 0006 (Uprooted Corp)
emailxJennish@kpdq.com /
Interview with Local and
National Recording Artists
The UR Community Calendar
the VV3VC or the
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Sponsored by: Bamboo Lifestyles / Portland Observer
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weekend, and her group Senseless
Violence Leads to Silence already
plans to march again next year on
Sept. 6; call 503-421 -0078 to volun­
teer.
"It’s time for people to be ac­
countable, and for people in the
community to come out and say
enough's enough,” Bell says.
u p re e te i >
I
m urder account to battery last
w eek in the cases o f C arw in
Jones and Theo Shaw when they
were arraigned.
That left Bryant Purvis the only
youth yet to be arraigned and still
charged as an adult with attempted
second-degree murder.
The victim o f the Dec. 4 beat­
ing. Justin Barker, was treated at
a hospital for injuries and re­
leased the same day. The motive
for the attack was never estab­
lished. but it cam e amid tense
race relations in Jena, a mostly
white town o f 3,000 in north-
central Louisiana. Three nooses
had been hung in a tree at the
school earlier, a part o f the cam ­
pus students said was reserved
for white students only. The stu­
dents involved were briefly sus­
pended.