nrflaith (Observer December 12. 2007 Page B 3 L aw & J ustice Civil Rights Lawyer Leads NAACP Drug Charge Nets Tackles national inequality issues J o h n P a y to n , an a tto r n e y know n for his successful record in som e o f the m ost im portant and v isible c iv il-rig h ts cases in the U nited S tates, has been nam ed D irecto r-C o u n sel and P resident o f the N A A C P Legal D efense Fund. P ayton brin g s a w ealth o f e x ­ p e rie n c e , in c lu d in g cases brought before the U.S. Supreme- C o u rt, in lead in g the legal d e ­ fense group in its fight for racial and social ju stice . John Payton “T his is both a very ex citin g p ro d u c e d so c io lo g ic a l stu d ies and a very h u m bling m om ent for d o cu m en tin g how a d iv erse c a m ­ me. I have alw ay s adm ired T he pus e n h a n c e s th e e d u c a tio n a l L egal D efense Fund: it is an h is­ and long-term life ex periences for toric o rg an izatio n w ith an im p o r­ all stu d e n ts.” tant m issio n ,” said Payton. "R a ­ In his new p o sitio n , Payton cial ju stic e and eq u ality are is­ h o p es to raise aw aren ess o f the sues that I d eep ly care ab o u t." grow ing disparities am ong A m eri­ A s lead co u n sel for the U n i­ ca n s. “T o d ay , o u r co u n try has p er­ v ersity o f M ichigan, P ayton a r­ gued the a ffirm ativ e-ac tio n -ad ­ haps its h ig h est rate o f w ealth m issions case su ccessfu lly b e­ and incom e in e q u ality , w hich is fore the trial co u rt, ap p eals court ex a cerb ated w hen race is taken and u ltim ately before the S u ­ into account. T he L o w er Ninth W ard in N ew O rlean s w as a d i­ prem e C ourt. T he New York Tim es described sa ster befo re K atrina. T h ere are the case as one that "g alv an ized m any o th e r L ow er N inth W ards affirm ative-action advocates who acro ss the c o u n try ,” said Payton. Gang Co-founder Federal prosecutors say drug dealing has finally caught up with a man who is an adm itted co-founder o f a gang called “304.” Deon W illiams, 28. was recently sentenced to lO years in federal prison for possession with the intent to distribute 50 gram s or more o f crack cocaine. On Sept 14, 2005, Portland Police officers with the Tactical Operations Di vision and G ang Enforcement Team arrested W illiams based upon inform ation they developed that he was selling drugs. Inside the car he was driving, officers initially found 25.6 gram s o f crack cocaine. G ang enforcem ent officers followed up by execut­ ing a state search warrant at W illiam s' residence. Inside the home, officers found an additional 193.9 grams o f crack cocaine, cash, drug packaging m aterial, a scale and some marijuana. Congressman Fights Traffic Charge who believes in hard work and fo l­ lenge the ticket Dec. 28 in traffic lows the rules.” court. he said. Davis. 66, said he was on his way In 2005, Illinois state Sen. James home from co-hosting his late-night M eeks, a popular black minister, radio talk show, "Talking to the accused police o f racial profiling People," and was driving with three after a white Chicago police officer black passengers when he was stuck a gun in his face and repeat­ stopped. edly shouted at him to get back in “ I know that I had not w eaved. his car during a traffic stop. I m ean. I'm not senile," he told the A report released earl ier this year C hicago T ribune. "H ad I w eaved. by the Illinois Department o f Trans­ I w ould have said 'I thought I saw p o rta tio n fo u n d th a t p o lic e a p o th o le ,’ o r a snake, or so m e­ throughout Illinois stop minority th in g ." drivers for traffic violations in larger Davis said he has been inter­ percentages than driver population viewed by an investigator from the numbers would suggest, and mi­ office that looks into misconduct in norities were much more I i kely to be the police department. He will chal- searched than whites. Says he was victim of racial profiling Police released surveillance video to help identify two suspects accused o f being associated with an assault o f a 71-year-old man at a Max station in Gresham. M ax Riders Tied to Beating Case G resham pol ice have released T riM et su rv eillan ce video in hopes o f identifying tw o people associated w ith a teen ag er w ho w as arrested in the Nov. 3 b eat­ ing o f a 71-year-old m an at a M ax station in G resham . Police said the m ale and fe­ m ale riders had been on the M ax train w ith A bel A ntonio C h av ez-G arcia before C havez, 15 beat L aurie C hilco te w ith a baseball bat. Police said C hilcote was wait- ing for a bus w hen C havez an d tw o o th e r p e o p le a p ­ proached him. Police said they follow ed C hilcote o ff the train and taunted him by calling him old. A nybody w ith inform ation as to the identity o f either person in the video stills is ask ed to call the G resham Police tip line at 503-618-2719 or 1 -888-989-3505. M essages to the tip 1 ine can be left anony­ mously. H ave you seen m e? (A P) -- An Illinois congressm an said he was a victim o f racial profil­ ing when police gave him a traffic ticket alleging he swerved over the center line. Rep. Danny Davis, who is black, said he will go to traffic court to challenge the $75 ticket given to him Nov. 19 by tw o white officers. “ I’m not one o f these people w ho cry racism .” D avis told The A ssociated Press. “ I’m a person 1-800-THE-LOST first-d eg ree m anslaughter. S hortly after the shooting d e­ tectives d etained several subjects w as stan d in g on the co rn e r on including Jenkins and T aylor, but N orth A lb in a A venue and North th e c a se w as e v e n tu a lly su s­ K illingsw orth Street w hen he was p en d ed b ecau se w itn esses re ­ shot m ultiple tim es by several sus­ fused to com e forw ard. p ects on bicycles. Last year, the C old C ase Unit Jen k in s p leaded g u ilty to sec­ o f the P ortland P olice Bureau re ­ o n d -d e g re e m a n s la u g h te r last opened the investigation when w eek. Since the ca se w as re ­ w itn esses finally agreed to c o o p ­ o pened in 2006, L aq u an d re T ay ­ erate. D etectives learned that the lor, 29, and an o th er man John suspects, w ho w ere upset about C ory B row n, 32, pled g u ilty to recent attack s by rival gangs, de- Cold Case Murder Solved Man pleads guilty 10 years after shooting C harles D eangelos Jenkins, 30, is the last o f th ree m en w ho have adm itted th e irg u ilt in co n n ectio n w ith the 1997 sh o o tin g d eath o f T h o m as H enry G raham . G raham Boanerges Group We pre - LOCAL! Reduce your m onthly debts starting today! operated company with Sunday. Decem ber 16, 2007 Them e Speaker: M other Charlotte M. Brandon Jurisdictional Supervisor, W alkerT em pleC O G IC "Courage"11km n f» Pastor Kimberly Black G reater St. Stephen MBC "Servanthood" iMatt. 25 21» Elder Stephanie M cCray, New Jerusalem Full Gospel BC Soloist: Sis. Doris Bailey I f you have any information please contact: The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) Location: 1625 NE Killingsworth Street. Portland, OR 9 7 2 11 This public service announcement provided by the Portland Observer Newspaper. Rev. Dr. H. L Hodge. Pastor/Teaeher/Christian Counselor Church Phone 503-863-6545 V Broker Comm ercial and Residential Sistas’ Soul Food ¿ j . BRIAN MILLER C urrent Age: 8 cid ed to sh o o t so m eo n e they believed was a C rip gang m em ­ ber. G raham w as chosen at random becau se the su sp ects b elieved he was affiliated with a gang. G ra­ fiuri had associated w ith gangs in the past but police do not b e­ lieve he w as an active gang m em ­ ber at the tim e he w as killed. T he Cold C ase U nit continues to investigate ap proxim ately 270 unsolved hom icides that have o c­ curred in the past 30 years. Finding the right loan is not hard when you have a great Lender Relationship. We are a locally owned and •Plumbing & Mechanical Missing and Exploited Children U.S. Rep. 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