50 jé
years
•'com m unity servi
Scramble to Survive
Hip Hop Helping Schools
Food Stamps don't
cover rising costs
Leading acts come together
fo r music programs
See Health Matters, page B2
See story, Metro inside
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‘City of Roses’
Established in 1970
w w w .p o rtla n d o b s e rv e r.c o m
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXVIII. N um ber 21
.Week ¡n
The Review
Wednesday • M ay 21, 2 0 0 8
Fighting
a Stigma
Kennedy has. Brain Tumor
A c a n c e ro u s
b r a in tu m o r
cau sed the se i­
zure Sen. E d ­
w a rd
M.
K en n e d y s u f ­
fered ov er the
w eekend, d o c­
tors said T uesday in a grim d ia g ­
nosis for one o f A m erican p o li­
tics' m ost end u rin g figures. S ee
story, p ag e A 3.
Pernell Brown and Leslie Esinga walk the streets
of New Columbia to check on neighborhood
complaints and keep in touch with residents
about concerns.
Three-year-old
New Columbia
prioritizes safe
activities
Obama Packs Waterfront
bv R aymond R endi . eman
T he P ortland O bserver
Sen. BaraCk O bam a drew the larg­
est political crow d in O regon h is­
tory S unday w hen 75,000 packed
the P ortland W aterfront to hear
the D em ocratic presidential c a n ­
d id ate speak. S ee r e la te d s to r y ,
p ag e A2.
Community organizers in the New Colum ­
bia neighborhood o f north Portland gear up
each spring to prom ote a safe environm ent,
and this year th ey ’re confident that a full
slate o f activities will prevent any flair-ups of
violent activity.
The first residents o f New C olum bia
moved in during the spring o f 2005 as con­
struction replaced C olum bia Villa, the low ­
cost public housing that had turned into a
focal point o f gang-related concerns.
Now that the new houses, apartm ents,
streets and businesses that replaced the
Villa will be fully occupied for the first sum ­
mer, optim ism runs high, especially for the
Housing A uthority of Portland and most of
the neighborhood's 2,5(X) residents.
"I never really felt as though this was an
experim ent,” says Leslie Esinga, a H A Pem -
ployee for New Colum bia who, as a single
mother. I i ved i n Col u m b i a V i 11 a be fore safe t y
concerns led to its razing in 2003.
Quran Shooting Apology
P resident Bush has ap ologized
to Iraqi Prim e M in ister Nuri al-
M aliki and p rom ised p ro sec u ­
tion o f a U.S. so ld ier accused o f
u sing a copy o f the Q uran for
target practice, Iraqi officials said
on T uesday.
Oil Drives Downturn
W all S treet tu m b led T uesday
after oil prices spiked to a new
record above $ 129 a barrel and a
g o vernm ent report raised in v e s­
to rs’ con cern s about the im pact
o f in f l a t i o n o n c o n s u m e r
sp e n d in g .
continued
on pane AS
P h ila d e lp h ia P o lice C o m m is­
sio n e r C harles FI. R am sey fired
fo ur police o fficers w ho w ere
cau g h t on telev isio n n ew s-h eli­
co p ter video b eating three su s­
p ec ts in a d ru g -re la te d trip le
sh ooting on M ay 5. R am sey said
three o th e r o ffic ers have been
su spended and one o ffic er has
been dem oted.
In the Neighborhood
by
Ho moni » R endi kman /T he P orti
photo by
Officers Fired for Beating
R aymond R endi . kman and M ark W ashington /T iie P ori land O bserver
The gas prices are giving me extra
motivation to do what ! should be
doing already, which is bike to work.
-Jan Underwood'
and O bsery er
Are your plans for Memorial Day weekend
llliptlC tC cl b y t h e SOU1 111^2 COSt Ot g clS O llIie ?
/ don't ever drive because I
can't afford it, but / hope to be
able to buy a car someday.
We’ve got to stay close to hom e.
I hope it gets better, but what
can we really do?
-DawaGyaltsen
-Shelli Curry
Homeowner Rescue Plan
A key S enate panel approved a
h o m eo w n er rescue plan T u e s­
day to give ch e a p e r, g o v e rn ­
m ent-backed m ortgages to up to
5 0 0 ,0 0 0 strapped borrow ers. It
also in c lu d es to u g h e r re g u la ­
tio n s f o r g o v e r n m e n t- s p o n ­
so red m ortgage g ia n ts Fannie
M ae and Freddie M ac.
China Takes Toll
R e scu e rs freed a 6 0 -y e a r-o ld
w om an T u e sd a y w ho w as
trap p ed for m ore than 195 hours
after last w ee k ’s e a rth q u ak e and
had survived by drin k in g ra in ­
w ater, w hile the confirm ed death
toll rose to m ore than 4 0 ,0 0 0 in a
d isa ste r that left m ore than 5
m illion hom eless.
Child Pornography Ruling
T he S uprem e C o u rt's 7-to-2 d e ­
cisio n M onday has upheld an
effo rt by C o n g ress to m ake it
illegal to o ffe r or prom ote child
p o rn o g ra p h y . T he hig h c o u rt
said the law p ro tects innocent
ch ild ren from a thriving form o f
a b u se .
W ere being a lot wiser about the
types o f business trips we take.
Z now think about which car has
better gas mileage and how many
people we can fit in the ear.
--Robert Bush
--DaveForsIund
\ll traveling has to be done
in more moderation.
-L arry Collins
Roots Festival Celebrates Diversity
cam p aimed at raising aw areness o f g eno­
cide and the current crisis in Darfur.
"The art installation will show visitors
through photos, histories, questions, m aps,
and DVDs what happens during genocide
and what people can be doing now to end the
current ethnic cleansing in the D arfur re­
gion," says Katie-Jay Scott, com m unity
outreach cixirdinatorol Stop G enocide Now.
C am p Darfur was invited to participate
because of its work to ignite social change
and raises awareness.
"This year’s them e o f diversity through
politics and activism supports the idea that
art. music, dance, and dialogue are great
ways to honor a culture, but can also be used
as a tool to preserve, cherish and ensure a
culture's survival, "says Scott, "C am p D arfur
w orks to create com m unity betw een those
who can bring an end to genocide in Darf ur
and the victims of the genocide in D arfur."
The annual festival is alw ays held on
Thursday because th a t's the day o f the
week when the most students are on ca m ­
pus.
" It's difficult to determ ine how many
people will attend since many sim ply drop in
or walk th ro u g h ," says M eijer, “ But we are
expecting more people than usual since we
have such a fantastic schedule o f events
planned."
Event to heat up
PSU Park Blocks
C harity P rater
T he P ortland O bserver
by
People o f all backgrounds will com e to­
gether to celebrate diversity on the Port­
land Stale U niversity cam pus for the third-
annual Roots Festival, sponsored by the
m ulticultural student groups.
The festival will heat up beginning at 10
a.m. Thursday, May 22 on the South Park
Blocks. A ctivities will then continue until 8
p.mt The celebration will include local music
and dance, international cuisines and a
variety o f m ulticultural artwork.
This y ea r's them e is “D iversity in Poli­
tics and A ctivism ," which will educate and
inspire the com m unity to em brace civic
engagem ent and a m ulticultural perspec­
tive in political action.
“We are going to have local, hip-hop
artist Lifesavas perform ing, and our first
com m unity mural that the com m unity will
participate in creating," says Leah Meijer,
Roots Festival coordinator. "W hen it’s fin­
ished, it will be bn display in the Portland
State University library."
The Roots Festival has a full day o f fun
and entertainm ent scheduled including
reggae music, DJs, Native A m erican dance,
hip hop and Latin dance lessons.
“The Festival gives us a chance to ex ­
plore our roots by celebrating and recogniz­
ing our sim ilarities,” says Meijer.
S to p g e n o c id e n o w .o rg w ill d isp lay
"Cam p Darfur "at the event, a mock refugee
Native Americans from Painted Sky Northstar are among the diverse groups to
perform Thursday at the Portland State University Roots Festival. Pictured are
Colt Nicol o f the Cree nation, Mary Bodine o f the Warm Springs tribes, Betty
Stephens o f the Dine/Yaktma nation, Rebecca Friedländer o f the Atnabascan
native Alaskan nation and Reggie Johnson o f the Umatilla tribes.
I
O ther noteworthy events will include a
speech from Charles M cG ee about his non­
profit Black Parent Initiative. M ikeS truw in
will be perform ing acoustic roots m usic, the
PSU Breakers will perform with DJs and
Eatcho will be painting live.
continued y f on page A2