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April 8. 2009
Page as
L aw & J ustice
Police Work to Stop Racial Profiling
Chief outlines plan to build trust
B yJ akk T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
Police C hief Rosie Sizer pre
sented the bureau’s latest plan
to address racial profiling be
fore about 20 people at the East
County Com m unity C enter on
on Thursday.
The public will have another
chance to com m ent on the rec
om m endations during a m eet
ing Wednesday, April 8 at 5:30
p.m. at King Elementary School
in northeast Portland.
T he report recognizes that
racial profiling exists in P ort
land, sta tin g , “T he fact that
people o f color are disparately
im pacted by police activity is
undeniable.”
It includes data from 2007
that show s that L atin o s and
African Americans are searched
d is p r o p o r tio n a te ly ,
even
though they are less likely to
carry contraband.
T he plan reco m m en d s in
creasin g the div ersity o f the
p o lic e fo rce, e n h a n c in g the
tra in in g o ffic e rs re c e iv e to
h elp se n sitiv e them to race,
and co llec tin g the rig h t data
on police stops to b etter un
derstan d the issue.
Silenced by
the System
Silenced by the grand jury, district attor
ney, state attorney general, department of cor
rections and even the halls o f justice in Wash
in g to n , D .C ., P am ela S m ith fin ally had
enough.
In her true live story, “Begging for Justice,
the Silent C oalition," Smith tells w hat really
goes on behind prison walls and the plight
faced by thousands o f w omen and men for
centuries: Rape behind prison walls.
This is Sm ith's battle cry for justice after
she was raped, tortured and dehum anized by
a state em ployee. W hat was once a personal
cry for help has m orphed into her life being
dedicated to speaking out for those whose
voice has been silenced.
The book will m ake you laugh, cry and re
alize the importance o f humanity. You will ap
plaud Ms. Sm ith's spirit and find yourself
joining in her fight, that everyone deserves
the right to have their voice heard and that
justice includes everyone.
A fter the report was issued
last m onth, police have been
required to hand out business
cards at traffic and pedestrian
stops and m ust issue a w arn
ing or ticket stating the reason
for the stop.
"There's certainly things we
can do to im prove the situation
for com m unity m em bers and
police officers alike," said Sizer
at the meeting.
The city began taking steps
to e lim in a te racial p ro filin g
when it convened a m eeting o f
law enforcem ent in 1999. The
officers endorsed a resolution
U H HUH VTORÏ O l
PAMELA SMITH
BEGGING FOR
JUSTICE
'
THE SUENT COALITION
The True Story o f Pam ela Smith - Begging
for Justice: The Silent Coalition (is now avail
a b le at B a rn e s an d N o b le , B o rd e rs ,
Am azon.com and bookstores nationwide. It
is also available by visiting bbotw .com .
10 Years for Bank Heist
M ahmoud Ibrahim Gilani, 32,
o f Portland, was recently sen
tenced to 114 m onths in prison
for an arm ed bank robbery at
the Rose City branch o f Bank
o f America.
A mandatory seven-year term
for brandishing a firearm dur
ing a crim e o f violence, and a
consecutive 30-m onth term for
the robbery was im posed by
U.S. D istrict Judge A ncer L.
Haggerty.
D uring the bank hold up in
side the Safeway store at 6901
N.E. Sandy Blvd., Gilani pointed
a pistol at tellers and custom
ers, pulled back the gun's slide,
and dem anded money. He re
ceived $6,903 in cash and fled
from the building.
Portland police officers ap
prehended Gilani driving alone
in a car a short distance away.
In a pants pocket they found a
9 m m se m iau to m atic p isto l,
loaded with a round chambered.
An Investigation show ed that
Gilani had robbed the same bank
a year earlier.
Gilani is a citizen of Ethiopia.
Upon com pletion o f the prison
sentence, im m igration authori
ties will determ ine w hether he
is a llo w e d to rem a in in the
United States.
condem ning racial profiling.
In 2(MX), a blue ribbon panel
o f com m unity leaders and law
enforcem ent was formed to ex
am ine the issue further. It rec
om m ended hiring more m inor
ity officers, collecting data on
traffic stops, improving com mu
nications with community mem
bers, and introducing a co m
plaint process.
In 2006, the bureau held lis
tening sessions with com m u
nity groups and began training
officers in cultural competency.
From these sessions, and at the
behest o f the city ’s Racial Pro
filin g C o m m ittee, S izer w as
prom pted into drafting the most
recent report.
Sizer said that w hat’s differ
ent this tim e is that the bureau
is reaching out to minority com
m unities in hopes o f building
mutual trust, w hich she says is
critical.
The bureau has been h old
ing “ liv in g ro o m c o n v e rs a
tions” in conjunction with com
m u n ity g ro u p s lik e N a tiv e
A m erican Youth A ssociation,
Im m igrant and Refugee C om
munity Organization, and Self-
Enhancem ent, Inc.
"We are farther along today
than we were three years ago,"
said Sizer, but added, "You can't
change things overnight.”
A nother thing th a t’s differ
ent is the role o f the recently
created Office o f H uman R ela
tions, w hich is charg ed w ith
helping Portland overcom e ra
cial tensions.
The office will be using its
staff to help facilitate these meet
ings and provide outreach for
the bureau. However, not ev
eryone is on board.
Jo Ann Bowman, who served
on the Racial Profile Committee,
isn’t sold on the plan either. She
said that while there are some good
ideas in the report it places too
much emphasis on building rela
tionships at the expense of hold
ing police officers accountable.
Race, Class and the Economy
Activist sets
agenda for talk
Kweisi Mfume will visit the Port
land area to address "Race, Class
and E conom ic R ecovery in
Obama's America." at the Wash
ington State University Vancouver
Public Affairs Lecture Series.
The lecture will be held at 7
p.m. on W ednesday, April 15 at
Fort V ancouver H igh School
Auditorium, 5700 E. 18th St. The
public is invited to attend.
From activist to C o n g ress
m an to head o f the NAACP,
K w eisi M fu m e
M fum e has b ec o m e o n e o f
A m erica's m ost p ro v o cativ e
public intellectuals.
In Congress, M fume advo
cated for landm ark b u sin ess
and civil rights legislation, in
clu d in g the A m erican 's w ith
D isabilities A ct and the Civil
Rights Bill o f 1991.
M ost recently, he served as
national surrogate speaker for
the "Obama for America" presi
dential campaign.
Tickets are $10 and can be
obtained by calling 360-694-
2 5 8 8 o r o rd e rin g o n lin e at
vancouver.w su.edu/pals. WSU
V ancouver student tickets are
free, but available only in the
Office o f Student Involvement.
Santana wishes President
Obama would Legalize Pot
(A P ) — P re sid e n t B arack
O bam a brushed o ff a question
about legalizing m arijuana in
his online town hall last month,
but guitar god Carlos Santana
says he w ishes he would seri
ously consider it.
"Legalize m arijuana and take
all that m oney and invest it in
te a c h e rs an d in ed u c atio n ,"
Carlos S a n ta n a
Santana said in an interview last
week. "You will see a transfor
mation in America."
|NEW SE A S O N S
. . .
During his online town hall
on M arch 26, O bam a fielded a
question about whether legal
ization o f the illicit drug would
help pull the nation out o f re
cession. O bam a said he didn't
think it w as good eco n o m ic
policy, and also joked: "I don't
know what this says about the
online audience."
But Santana said making pot
legal is "really w ay overdue,
like the prohibition with the al
cohol and stuff like that.
..^4
Ì
M A R K E T
N O W D E L IV E R IN G
Y o u r fa v o r ite n e ig h b o r h o o d g r o c e r y s to r e n o w d e liv e rs
Stimulus Scam Emails
2LS ----
1* « »
Scam m ers are using P resi
dent O bam a's econom ic stim u
lus package to try and rip off
consum ers.
Email m essages ask for bank
inform ation, claim ing they will
d ir e c tly d e p o s it s tim u lu s
money. Instead, scammers drain
the co n su m er’s bank account
and vanish.
The
O re g o n
A tto rn e y
G eneral’s office says the emails
som etim es appear to be from
legitimate government agencies
and ask consum ers to “verify”
that they are eligible for pay
ment. By clinking on links, con
su m ers d o w n lo ad m alicio u s
softw are that can be used by
identity thieves.
Some Web sites suggest that
for as little as $ 1.99 consum ers
can get a list of economic stimu
lus grants to apply for. This al
low s the scam m er to get the
consum er's credit card number
o r lock them into an illegal
“negative o ption” agreem ent
th a t can ch arg e h un d red s o f
thousands o f dollars if the con
sum er d oesn't cancel.
A lso bew are o f offers that
charge consum ers for a sem i
nar that will show them how to
a p p ly fo r fe d e ra l s tim u lu s
grants and get rich quick with
the money they receive.
Consum ers w ho believe they
been scam m ed or have ques
tio n s ab o u t stim u lu s-re la ted
offers or scams should call the
A ttorney G eneral's consum er
hotline at 1-877-877-9392.
The Portland Branch NAACP membership
meeting is Saturday April 11 at 11:00 A.M.,
and the Executive Committee meeting
is at 10:00 A.M.
Location: PCC Cascade Campus, Terrell Hall-Room 107
»
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