Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, January 28, 2009, Page 5, Image 5

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    Page AS
January 28. 2009
Vanguards
for Equality
continued
from Front
present at any community meet­
ing concerning such an incident
to offer its support.
"If you are o f color, the po­
lice state is a very real thing,"
said. "W e're pretty passionate
about that."
Freedom Socialists have also
Leninist ideology, which was
also the orientation of the So­
viet Union. Sardo admits that
this has caused friction with
other groups in the past, but
rem ains unapologetic.
"We think that this system is
incredibly decrepit," said Sardo,
who quipped that true equality
is "too radical for capitalism."
However, Helen Sherman, a
If you improve the lives of
people on the bottom you
improve everyone's' lives.
-Jordana Sardo, Portland branch organizer for the Freedom
Socialist Party
been active in holding talks on
the history o f the civil rights
struggle, and takes care to high­
light the contributions o f over­
looked figures, like the work of
African-American women.
The party has also been on
the frontline o f labor battles,
supporting picketing and strik­
ing workers.
But make no mistake about
the group's radical M arx ist­
longtim e com m unity activist,
said that the group is very re­
ceptive to open dialogue, and is
very im pressed with their edu­
cational events.
As part of America's hard-left
for over a century. Freedom So­
cialists have quixotically fought
to radically reshape modem in­
d u stria l so c ie ty . A lthough
achievement of its overarching
goals seems out of grasp, its mem-
PHOTO BY J a K ET i IOMAS/T h E PORTLAND OBSERVER
Jordana Sardo, Portland branch organizer of the Freedom Socialist Party, keeps track of the party's bookstore inside the
Bread & Roses Center at 819 N. Killingsworth. The store boasts a large collection of audaciously radical and unapologetic
books.
bers have been on the front lines
of many struggles for equality in
the past.
Sardo points out that the
American Com m unist Party, al­
though w idely reviled, was one
of the firs, organizations to start
organizing A frican-A m ericans
in labor unions, and that other
Socialist organizations called
for integration early on.
She added that when Martin
Luther King Jr. shifted his at­
tention from civil rights to
broader issues, like the Vietnam
W ar and w orkers' struggles,
Socialists were there with him.
" We think MLK as a man was
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Deadly Rampage Stuns City
continued
certainly headed in a direction
of being multi-issue. And that's
what he dem onstrates to us,
being m ulti-issue," said Sardo
of his legacy. "He w asn't jus,
talking about blacks."
(ObserUrr
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Northwest Voice For Christ Ministries
“ A Community Church”
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Bishop H. L. Hodge, PhD
mates, who described him and as
“g lo o m y ” and “q u ie t,” said
Whattam. He added that none of
them saw this coming.
Rob Ingram, who heads the
city ’ s O ffice of Youth V iolence
Prevention, described the inci­
dent as “tragic." However, he
said that the shooting falls out­
side of his o ffice’s purview be­
cause it doesn’t appear gang
related and there is no clear
motive behind it.
A ccording to Portland Po­
lice Bureau statistics 12 m ur­
ders have taken place in dow n­
town between 2003 and 2005.
The Portland Police do not
know w here A yala go , the
weapon. Portland Police is cur­
rently waiting for the Bureau of
Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms to
hand to finish tracing the gun.
W hattam said that the police
do not yet know A yala’s mental
health or crim inal history.
Brian Renauer, the chairof Port­
land State University ’sdepartment
of criminology and criminal justice,
said that based on the present
information, the incident is "unex­
plainable and is outside of the typi­
cal pattern of violence.” He said
that there was no apparent motive
in the shooting.
Renauer added that this inci­
dent does not neatly parallel school
shootings, like the 2007 Virginia
P hoto by M ark W ashington /T he P orti ani ) O bserver
Tech massacre, because from wha,
Flowers are inserted into the doors of The Zone Monday, the under-21 nightclub on South­
he’s heard this individual didn't
west Second Avenue where a crowd o f young people, waiting outside, were gunned down
seem to be the victim of bullying or
Saturday night in a shooting that seems to have no motive. Two teenagers died and another
was socially isolated.
is in critical condition.
H ow ever, he stressed that
there is still relatively little in­ sions.
“It’s a mystery to be solved,”
form ation on the case making it
difficult to draw any conclu- he said.
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Worship Service: Sundays- 8:00 A.M.
Seminars: Bible Themes- Wednesdays- 6:00 P.M.
“God, The Father"; “God, The Son”; and “God, The Holy Spirit”
Bishop Hodge and Congregation invite you to join
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We Reach, Teach, & Preach in Jesus’ name!!!
Location: 4800 NE 30th Ave.
Portland, Oregon
To inquire about our Church or Ministry
call 503 863-6545 or email hodgehspks@msn.com