50tf
Call Her LeToya
Former member of Destiny s Child
hits her stride as a solo R&B star
See story, page A 10
Busted is No Bust
A new tabloid blasts photos o f
arrestees in the Portland area
but not everyone is a fan
See story, page A3
nr t latti* O bserver
O Í ROSeS
C c f 'i k l i c U o r l ir, I O 7 H
Sheriff Throws in Towel
M u ltn o m a h
County Sheriff
Bob S kipper
announced
T uesday that
he will retire in
November. Lawmakers passed
a law earlier this year allowing
Skipper to get out of a manda­
tory 16-week basic training
course if he could pass a writ­
ten test, but Skipper twice failed
the open-book exam.
Portland Police to Hand
out Business Cards
Portland police will now be­
gin h an d in g out b u sin ess
cards w henever they interact
with the public. City Council
made the decision last week
while discussing the issue of
racial profiling.
Green Line Debuts Saturday
TriM et’s MAX Green Line
opens to the public on Satur­
day, Sept. 12, and reaches a
major milestone of connecting
all three counties by light rail.
TriM et’s fifth MAX route, the
new service extends from down­
town Portland to Clackamas
County.
Sotomayor Takes Seat
Ju stice Sonia
S o to m a y o r
took her seat at
the S uprem e
Court Tuesday
in front o f a
packed courtroom that in ­
c lu d e d P re sid e n t B arack
Obama and Vice President Joe
Biden. Sotomayor, 55, last
month became the first His­
panic and third woman to be a
justice. See story, page A2.
Obama Challenges Kids
In a pep talk that kept clear of
p o litic s. P resid en t Barack
Obama on Tuesday challenged
the nation's students to take
pride in their education — and
stick with it even if they don't
like every class or must over­
come tough circumstances at
home. See story, page A6.
Congress Back to Work
The nation’s elected represen­
tatives are back at work after an
A ugust recess w here they
spoke with constituents about
the proposals to overhaul the
nation’s health care system. It’s
not clear what shape the de­
bate might take in coming
months, especially over plans
for a government-run insur­
ance option.
Gas Prices Steady
The AAA reported that Orego­
nians are paying an average of
$2.82 for a gallon of regular gas,
while the rest of the country
shells out $2.58 on average. A
year ago, a gallon of gas cost
about $3.70 in Oregon.
H IN I Epidemic atWSU
Officials at Washington State
University in Pullman are hop­
ing they’re out of the woods
after an outbreak of the H IN 1
virus appears to have sub­
sided. When the school re­
opened its doors last month for
fall classes, 2,500 people con­
tacted the health center report­
ing flue-like symptoms.
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXVIV, Num ber 36
T1Week m
The Review
itntnAr n n r t l a n r l n h c p r v p r m m
Established in 1970
Wednesday • September 9. 2009
State
of
Hate
As racists age, disparate groups sprout anew
by J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
"S tum ptow n," and "the C ity o f
Roses,” are monikers associated with
the progressive, livable city of Portland.
But Portland is also known by a less
sanguine nickname: "Skinhead City.”
Hate groups once had a widely-felt
presence in Portland. But those who
track white supremacists in Oregon say
that the membership of established hate
groups has aged, giving rise to more
disparate groups that are more difficult
for law enforcement to monitor.
With Oregon’s hate groups in a state
a flux, it’s increasingly difficult to as­
sess how dangerous they might be,
according to hate group monitors.
Since the collapse of the confederacy
at the end of the Civil War white su­
prem acists have viewed the Pacific
Northwest as a potential all-white home­
land. Oregon has had its share of vio­
lent outbursts motivated from racial
hatred in the 1980s and 1990s, and two
notorious hate groups were spawned
in its prisons.
In 1994, Volksfront was founded by
four inmates in an Oregon prison, ac­
cording to information from the Anti-
Defamation League. The founders in­
cluded Randal Krager, who served time
for an assault on an African-American
father of four who was left paralyzed,
and for making threatening phone calls
to Jew ish people, am ong other o f­
fenses.
A hulking man with a Nazi "SS" tat­
too on his forearm, Krager was pivotal
in building Volksfront to one of the Pa­
cific Northwest's most prolific hate
reached out to youths struggling with
their identity.
It put out racist publications and
sponsored rock concerts featuring
bands with names like "Intimidation
One" and "Jew Slaughter." Its members
committed violent acts throughout the
Northwest, including a cross burning
Nazis symbols inflame passions of hate in an undated photo.
groups.
Volksfront grew rapidly. It drew mem­
bership from prisons and people right
off the street. It slid its tentacles into
Portland's white working class, and
and the brutal m urder o f a man in
Tacoma, Washington in 2004.
At its height, Volksfront was forging
alliances with other hate groups. It
claimed to have purchased property in
the Pacific Northwest for a whites-only
homeland, and was setting up interna­
tional chapters.
But around the late 1990s and early
2000s som ething changed w ith
Volksfront. News reports noted the
group's diminished presence, and to the
surprise of many, Krager renounced vio­
lence. The organization’s website now
presents itself as "an international fra­
ternal organization for persons of Eu­
ropean Decent."
According to Ryan Burkeen, a deputy
with the Multnomah County Sheriff’s
Office, Volksfront is less prominent be­
cause its core membership has aged.
Some of them now have families, and
are tired of cycling in and out of prison,
he said.
"We don't deal on the street with
Volksfront. We just don't," said Burkeen
who has been working on gang issues
for the last five years. He adds that the
last large public display from the group
was Aryanfest in 2005. The event was
held in Cascade Locks and attracted
about 200 people and concluded with­
out incident.
Randy Blazak, an associate profes­
sor of sociology at Portland State Uni­
versity and researcher with the Coali-
continued
on page A 9
Garlington Center Reborn
Vital urban
clinic back
on its feet
by J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
Barbara Angel has been go­
ing to n o rth east P o rtla n d ’s
Garlington Center for nearly 14
years, where she receives qual­
ity mental health care from pro­
fessionals who seem to genu­
inely care about her outcome.
That’s why she stuck it out with
Garlington through its rough­
est year.
Last October, an arson fire
rendered the building on North­
east Martin Luther King Jr. Bou­
levard unusable. The devasta­
tion came on top of financial
troubles for the clinic which
has serves as a vital resource
for disadvantaged and minor­
ity populations.
Angel had to squeeze into a
cramped single-wide trailer in
clin ic’s back parking lot for
nearly a year for counseling
sessions. Other clients had to
take long bus rides to a clinic in
southeast Portland.
But last month, Angel and
the clinic's roughly 500 other
clients stepped into a refur­
bished Garlington Center.
After a year of flirting with
financial and physical collapse,
the Garlington Center was back
on its feet and is getting settled
into a revamped building. It also
has two new health service pro­
viders as neighbors which will
d o v e ta il w ith the c e n te r ’s
unique mission.
A “su sp icio u s" fire later
deemed to be arson. The people
who relied on the clinic had to
use trailers in the back parking
lot, or take long bus rides to
another clinic in southeast Port­
land until early last month when
Garlington reopened its doors.
Cascadia was first thrust into
financial uncertainty in April
Open
' We Are
' C September 11th an o > —
iCOWSTRUÇTIO
photo by J ake T iiomas /T iie
P ortland O bserver
Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare executive Deraid Walker (left) and Amy Baker, senior
director o f outpatient services, usher in the opening of a completely refurbished
Garlington Center mental health clinic at 3034 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The old
clinic was destroyed in an arson fire.
Deraid Walker, C ascadia's
2008 when the non-profit’s bank
called in a loan that was keep­ chief executive officer, said he
w asn't even sure if the clinic
ing it afloat.
could pay its staff or keep its
doors open
But after an outpouring of
com m unity support for the
clinic, Multnomah County gov­
ernment agreed to step in with
financial support.
“We rallied, and we came to­
gether,” said Essie Morphis,
another patient at Garlington.
“We wanted to keep the cen­
ter.”
Walker said that he never
doubted Cascadia would pre­
vail.
“But there were times where
I think I was the only one who
believed that,” he added.
A ccording to W alker,
Cascadia now has its financial
house in order, and a ceremo­
nial ribbon will be cut to mark
the occasion with Garlington
clients and staff hosting a grand
opening for the center on Fri­
day, Sept. 11 at noon.
The center’s floor is freshly
carp eted . Its w alls exude
warmth from the carefully se­
lected colors. Its waiting room
is inviting and spacious. Art­
work from patients adorns the
walls. The smell of sawdust and
drying paint still lingers.
“It doesn't feel like you're in
a psych ward," said Morphis.
The center is named after Rev.
John Garlington. an African
American minister who worked
tirelessly for the poor, and fills
a unique niche in Portland.
According to Amy Baker, se­
nior director of outpatient ser­
vices, African Americans make
up over a third of the patients
at the Garlington Center.
The center utilizes a holistic,
culturally-sensitive approach
to behavioral healthcare that
incorporates family and com­
m unity m em bers into the
patient’s treatment. People who
rely on the clinic also get help
finding housing and develop­
ing a medication regimen.
“We come from a recovery
service model, which basically
means we believe anybody can
live in the community and have
continued
'y f
on page A6