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Volume XXXVII. Number 46
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www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • December 5, 2ÜO7
■'i-lU HIV Infections on Steady Climb
Storms Pack Punch
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Disturbing trend impacts
more teens, young adults
(A P)— In the 26 years since scientists first spotted AIDS
in America, millions of dollars have been poured into out­
reach efforts aimed at keeping young people clear of H1V, the
virus that causes the disease.
ButontheD ec. 1 anniversary World AIDS Day, a disturb­
ing statistical fact has emerged in this country: The number
of newly infected teens and young adults is suddenly on the
rise.
And the question is, why?
According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention for 2001 to 2005 (the latest years
available), the number of new cases of HIV infection diag­
nosed among 15-to-19-year-olds in the United States rose
Jena 6 Plea Deal
In an agreement that mandates time from 1,010 in 2001, held steady for the next three years, then
until June, the central figure of the jumped 20 percent in 2005, to 1,2 13 cases.
For young people aged 20 to 24, cases of new infection
“Jena Six” case, Mychal Bell, 17,'
haveclim
bedsteadily,from 3 ,18 4 in 2 0 0 1 to 3,876in 2005.
pleaded guilty Monday to hitting
Experts say a number of factors may be at play, including
white classmate Justin Barker for
taunts involving nooses. Bell's ini­ the fact that many HIV-infected patients are now being kept
tial conviction as an adult brought healthy with powerful drugs — making AIDS seem like less
at least 20,000protesters to Jena, La.
continued
on page A6
miles northwest
of Portland Tuesday, and tens of
thousands of residents across the
N orthw est rem ained w ithout
power after back-to-back storms.
Hurricane force winds on the coast
gave the final blow to the world’s-
tallest Sitka spruce, a 700-year-old
tree near Seaside, and streets were
flooded in Portland and Seattle.
See story, page A2.
Community Educator Lesiy Ayala (right) talks about HIV prevention with Cascade AIDS Project coordinator
Roberto Astorga and Sadie Jimenez at La Clinica de Buena Salud on Northeast Killingsworth Street.
Prevention Efforts Taken
Clinton, Obama Favored
Just weeks ahead of the first presi-1
dential primaries and caucuses, |
Hillary Clinton is the candidate
viewed most favorably by likely j
African American voters - with
Barack Obama running a close
second -- according to new na­
tional survey by the Joint Center
for Political and Economic Stud­
ies. See story, page A3
Education Falling Behind
U.S. students lag behind their peers
in other developed countries in
science and math, according to
Tuesday’s test results from hun­
dreds of thousands of 15-year-
olds in the 30 countries that make
up the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development.
Chavez Turns to Democracy
In gracefully accept­
ing his first electoral
defeat Sunday, Ven­
ez u e la n p re sid e n t
Hugo Chavez is cast­
ing himself as a true democrat. See
El O bservador page B3.
Minority communities
renew fight for health
by R aymond R endleman
T he P ortland O bserver
Leave it to minority groups to break a
silence about the spread of HIV. More than
a decade after initial interest in the virus died
down, Hispanic and African-American com­
munity advocates are renewing the fight to
keep the public aware of dangers and how to
prevent them.
The movement towards race-specific
education stems from statistics showing a
sharp increase in HIV disparities. Multnomah
County health officials reported that the HIV
death rate for minorities nearly doubled for
the first half of this decade compared with
the early ‘90s.
Once the county’s sixth leading cause of
death. HIV’s devastation overal 1 has dropped
out of the top-20 killers, but this fact offers
no comfort to black and Latino families fac­
ing a preventable tragedy.
As minorities and women become the
fastest growing populations contracting
HIV, several Portland nonprofits have com­
mitted resources toward ending the disturb­
ing trends. The various organizations have
something else in common: They all want to
channel anger about the disparities into a
grassroots prevention effort.
"People have the power to educate their
community and fighi oppression," says
Roberto Astorga, Latino education coordi­
nator for the Cascade AIDS Project, fresh off
a series of radio novellas aired on KBOO
focusing on how Latino youth can confront
"hard taboos to break."
Finding that curiosity can easily replace
cultural resistance, Astorga takes a “highly
interactive” approach with games he relies
on to break through discomfort and avoid
lectures. In Latin America, radical scholar
Paulo Freire popularized this form of educa­
tion that considers public knowledge as a
primary tool of individual and collective
emancipation, a background that Astorga
recognizes.
“We use the knowledge that they have to
teach the subject, so we don’t come in and
A vocal critic of faltering govern­
ment efforts to rebuild New O r­
leans, actor Brad Pitt said on Mon­
day he wants to build 150environ-
mentally friendly homes in the
hardest-hit Lower Ninth Ward for
families displaced more than two ■
years ago by Hurricane Katrina.
By taking the stage Sunday and
telling jokes for six hours and 12
minutes, 34-year-old comedian
Dave Chappelle topped his previ­
ous record by five minutes, deter­
mined to keep the record set in mid-
April more than two hours sur­
passing Dane Cook, who was plan­
ning a second attempt.
Northeast Portland entrepreneur Roslyn Hill is photographed for the national
publication AARP the Magazine for her selection as one o f 10 Americans who
use their passion to make the world a better place.
Cl
Passion Earns Accolade
r-
O'
Alberta entrepreneur on national stage
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Planned Parent­
hood cducdiui
Fannie Gonzales
works to end HIV
disparities in
minority communi­
ties by talking to
families at Lane
Middle School in
southeast Portland.
say, ‘this is HIV. and HIV is the virus that
causes A ID S,"’ Astorga says. The program
instead recruits what are called Community
Educators to participate in activities and
pledge to pass what they've learned to
others.
Community Educators rattled off all the
facts about the ailment, even though (hey
obtained their knowledge through eneour-
continned
y f on page A6
“W e've got to bring some accountability
for parents, businesses and all community
members." Jackson says. “It's going to have
to be a tough-love thing, because youth
really need that guidance."
by R aymond R endleman
The mixture of bringing authority and
T in P ortland O bserver
Harry Jackson, a former police officer compassion to the job has served Jackson
known for his decades of dedicated service, well throughout his law-enforcement voca­
will host a community meeting Thursday at tion.
His favored method for combating pros
Concordia College to address the changing
nature of youth violence in Portland and the titutes involved talking among them on the
street, making clear
surrounding neighborhoods.
that he was available
A respected leader in the
for help while also as­
African-American com m u­
suring that they
nity. Jackson hopes the ses­
wouldn’t get any cus­
sion serves as an opportunity
tomers standing near
to regroup for a new kind of
a uniformed officer.
stru g g le, c itin g violence
On another occa­
reminisent of inner north and
sion.
in
north
northeast Portland moving to
Portland's Peninsula
the outlying areas like east
Park, he stepped be­
Multnomah County.
tween rival groups of
Jack so n stay s m odest
youths he recognized
about his own experience
from his various posts,
fighting ills and bringing
taking
a shotgun away
people to the table to address
from
one
young man.
other contributors to violence. Harry Jackson
Jackson
stresses
He led East Precinct as its
late afternoon to midnight watch commander that “most of the kids are good, but some are
for the last part of his police career. In acting out." To combat youth violence at its
northeast Portland, a plaza at the comer of core, he suggests that the community strive
Alberta Street and Martin Luther King Jr. for “an atmosphere where one or two indi­
Boulevard honors Jackson's living-legend viduals can't spoil a neighborhood."
Citizen participation and regular meet­
status earned by eradicating the area's street
ings will sway the situation one way or
prostitution and gang violence.
Currently a community-safety coordina­ another, he says.
Jackson has put his time where his mouth
tor in the mayor's office, Jackson attributes
public-safety improvements to neighbor­ is by regularly attending neighborhood
hood-wide efforts and calls for a similar
continued y ^ on page A 6
effort to combat reemerging problems
As problems move
to outlying areas
Comic Breaks Own Record
Zb
R aymond R endleman /
T he P ortland
O bserver
Youth Violence under Microscope
Actor Pledges Funds
£
C- u
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PHOTOS BY
An African-American woman who was
one of the first entrepreneurs over a de­
cade ago to invest in what would become
a revitalized Northeast Alberta Street has
been named to a prestigious group of
Americans who use their passion to make
the world a better place.
Roslyn Hill isoneof 10 Inspire Awards
continued y ^ on page A J