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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 29, 2009)
Writing from the Heart 50^ Use of Force Audit A writing workshop helps adults and others break out o f isolation and other barriers A report on the use o f force by Portland police draws both praise and alarm See story, page A3 See Arts & Entertainment, page A7 R l'S l'i C r i n U l i r k o r l ir, I O 7 H A lls , ^ h /i Established in 1970 Volume XXXVIV, Number 30 .Week ¡n The Review Bom In the USA State officials in Hawaii on M on d ay s a id th e y have once again checked and co n firm e d th at President Barack O bam a was bom in Hawaii and is a natural- bom American citizen, and there fore meets a key constitutional requirement for being president. Pundits like Rush Limbaugh keep claim ing that O bam a was bom outside the U. S. PDX records fall as temps hover past 100 B photo bv Hall of Famers Inducted Vick Reinstated to NFL A t P eninsula Park in north Portland, children and adults found relief by walking through fountains. For Lisa Grisby, com ing to years the park is a familiar way to beat the heat. She used to take her own daughter to the park w hen ever the tem peratures shot up, and on M onday was doing the same for her grandchildren. “Just find a tree,” she said, lo u n g in g in the shade w hile w atching her three grandchil dren. “W hen it gets too hot ju st Seven m onths after the in auguration o f the first black president, a statew ide report on the condition o f African A m ericans in O regon reveals that black O regonians remain at or near the bottom o f every m eaningful social and ec o nomic measure. African A m ericans in O r e g o n h a v e s ig n if ic a n tly higher infant m ortality rates, are more likely to live in pov erty, have h ig h er lev els o f unem ploym ent, are h alf as likely to own their own homes and are far m ore likely to die Marcus C. Mundy o f d iseases such as d iab etes than their w hite counterparts. The State o f Black Oregon was published M onday by the Urban League o f Portland for the first tim e in 17 years. The report contains a stark in v e n to ry o f s ta tis tic s th a t show a persistent gap in living standards betw een black and white O regonians - a gap that is growing w ider as a result of the cu rren t eco n o m ic d o w n turn. "During the last eight years, the poverty gap in Am erica and in this state has continued to grow," says M arcus C. Mundy, president and ch ief executive officer o f the Urban League of Portland. "If there's a poverty gap for Am ericans generally, the A fri can-American poverty gap w id ens to chasm proportions. This flies in the face o f the ideals our country stands for, and simply should not be acceptable here in Oregon or anyw here else." Am ong th e reports findings: • M edian incom e o f h o u se continued yf on p a g e A 3 ing 7 percent for black stu holds headed by blacks in O r dents, vs. three percent fo egon is less than two thirds that white students. A dditionally o f white households - showing only 68 percent o f black stu virtually no im provem ent since dent graduate on time fron this study was last com piled in O regon high schools, com 1990. pared to 85 percent o f whitt • 38 percent o f O regon's A fri students. A nother alarm inj can-A m erican children live in statistic: during the 2007-0! households with incom es be school year, black high schoo low the poverty level; and 60 students were nearly twice a: percent live in households with likely as white students to b< income below 2(X) percent o f the expelled or suspended fron federal poverty level. Oregon schools. • Black children bom in Oregon • Although African Ameri are 50 percent more likely to cans represent ju st seven per suffer from low birth weigh,; cent o f Portland's population and infant mortality in the state a disproportionate percentagi is 50 percent higher for children o f the city's hom icide victim: o f black mothers. are black (45 percent com • Drop out rate in Oregon high pared to 35 percent o f homi schools is about twice as high for African-A m erican students, continued y ^ on p a g e A 2 with drop-out rates approach Justice Anchored in Culture of move to another tree.” Her 6-year-old granddaugh ter. Jaliyah Elliott, swatted flies Urban League Reports Disparities Former NFL Quar terb ack M ichael V ick, free afte r serving 18 m onths in prison for run ning a dogfighting ring, was reinstated with con ditions by N FL com m issioner RogerG oodell on M onday. He bv J ake T homas could participate in regular-sea- T he P ortland O bserver son gam es as early as October. W hile serving a 6 0 m onth See sp o rts, p age A9. sentence for assault, Elisha Big B ack u se d to w atch N ativ e Former Prosecutor A m erican w om en cycle in and Sentenced for Theft out o f the Coffee Creek Correc A form er M ultnom ah County tional Facility in W ilsonville. prosecutor has been sentenced Often unable to meet their ba to tw o years in prison for steal sic needs on the outside, the ing a dying w om an's house. inm ates fell into the same bad R andy Richardson was con h a b its th a t la n d e d th e m in victed o f aggravated theft by prison in the firs, place. deception and one count of Incarcerated N ative A m eri obtaining the execution o f a can w om en only account for docum ent by deception. sm all am o u n t o f th e s ta te 's Jackson Doctor Investigated p riso n p o p u la tio n , o n ly 41 w om en in total, but the chal A u th o r itie s s e a r c h e d th e spraw ling Las Vegas hom e and lenges they face on the road to m ed ical o ffic e o f M ichael recovery are hefty. Luckily for J a c k s o n 's p e rs o n a l d o c to r them, there’s help. Tuesday, seeking docum ents For nine years, Red Lodge as part o f a m anslaughter in T ransition S ervices has been vestigation into the singer's there to help native w om en re death. establish their cultural founda tions and set them on the right path. R ed L odge w as started by volunteers administering Native A m erican religious services at Coffee Creek who realized that it was crucial tha, these women have a support network when they got out prison, least they B M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver Sara Ryan stays cool with her son, Lochlan, at the fountain in Peninsula Park in north Portland as temperatures hover near 1 00 degrees. Inequities grow worse, study finds Former left fielders Jim Rice and R ickey H enderson w ere in ducted into the Baseball Hall of Fam e in Cooperstow n, N. Y . on Sunday along with the late Joe G ordon w ho grew up in Port land graduating from Jefferson High School. See sp o rts, page A9. Z " ¿ tty www.portlandobserver.com ‘Wednesday * Iuly 29, 2009 Hot! Hot! Hot! bv J ake T homas T he P ortland O bserver The Portland m etro area has been hit with one o f the worst periods o f high sum m er heat in decades. M o n d ay ’s high o f 103 d e grees beat the old record o f 102 Court Nominee Advances set in 1958 and an expected 104 T he Senate Judiciary C om m it degrees was forecast for T ues tee on Tuesday voted to ap day with 105 degrees or even prove Sonia Sotom ayor as the 107 d e g re e s p o s s ib le fo r first H ispanic Su Wednesday. T he all-tim e Port prem e Court ju s land high is 107. tice over nearly People were scram bling for solid Republican shady spots, air co n d itio n ed opposition, pav buildings, and tall glasses of flu ing the way for a historic con ids. firm ation vote next week. See T he N ational W eather Ser sto ry , p ag e A2. vice issued an excessive heat advisory. It urged p eo p le to Bank Branches to Close Bank o f A m erica will soon cut drink fluids, stay out o f the sun, about 10 percent o f its 6,100 and look out m ore vulnerable people who could be adversely branches across the country. The Wall Street Journal re a ffe c te d by h ea t stro k e and other health related problem s. ported Tuesday. Bank officials said that as more people bank online and through their cell p h o n e s , fe w e r p h y s ic a l branches are needed. bzy^ Committed to Cultural Diversity urwiui n n r t I c in r ln h c p r v p r m m Native women get life back Drew Lowley and Jessica Rojas help out with an art show as volunteers with Red Lodge Transition Services, a non-pro fit group that helps incarcerated native women reestablish their cultural foundations. fall again, according to Carm a Cocoran, a board member for the organization. "I think the biggest message about Red Lodge is that we're a b o u t re s to ra tiv e ju s tic e in everyway," said Corcoran. “We wan, to bring them back to com munity, back to tradition, back to culture, back to spirituality.” Any inmate who does a long stretch in prison can have a hard tim e adjusting to the outside world. C o c o ra n re m e m b e rs o n e w om an she picked up who had just finished a lengthy sentence w ho n erv o u sly clu tc h e d the door handle as a world tha, had changed d ram atically zipped pas, her in the car ride from prison. R ed Lodge p r o v id e s w om en w ith a p o sitiv e social com muni tv service I n etw o rk they can rely on as th ey n a v ig a te a w o rld v ery d ifferen t from prison. It helps th e m s e c u re h o u s in g , fin d clo th in g , get food boxes and o th er tem porary services, and b eg in the p ro c e ss to reg ain cu sto d y o f th eir children. "The overall goal is to one no, to return to prison, but also to gain self sufficiency," said Cocoran. Big Back points out tha, hav ing a transition service for N a tive A merican w omen is vital because of their unique circum stances. O th e r tra n sitio n s se rv ic e s have a relig io u s co m p o n en t, w hich is a non-starter for n a tives raised traditionally, she said. A lso, N ative A m erican w omen typically d o n ’, have a steady family or social network to fallback on that isn't rife with domestic abuse and alcoholism, she added. “They come out with all these ideas o f how they are going to do better," she said o f released w om en. But w ithout support they founder, she added. “ It’s con tin u ed y^ on p a g e A 3