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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 4, 2009)
PageA5 N ovem ber 4, 2 0 0 9 L aw & J ustice MLK’s Daughter to Lead SCLC Civil rights group co founded by her father (A P )-T h e Rev. Bernice King was named Friday as the first w om an to head the civil rights organization co-founded by her father, the Rev. M artin Luther King Jr. Southern C hristian L eader ship Conference Interim Presi dent Byron Clay called King and said she accepted the position. "She is excited," C lay told reporters. "1 am excited. The nation will be excited." Bernice King T h e o th e r c a n d id a te w as Judge Wendell Griffen o f Little Rock, Ark. He was the first black nation in 1968. His eldest son, M artin L uther K ing III, w as president from 1998 to 2003. B e rn ic e K in g in h e rits an SCLC much changed from the days o f her father's leadership. And she will have to w ork to re b u ild the o rg a n iz a tio n — which has stum bled in recent years — w hile she heals deep rifts within her own family. Internal bickering has over shadowed signs o f progress for SCLC that included paying off m illions in debt and opening a $3 million headquarters in At lanta. A form er state director in F lo rid a accu sed sev eral n a tional leaders o f financial m is m anagem ent and the president o f the Los A ngeles chapter last fall clashed with leadership over his support for gay m arriage in California. The Rev. Eric Lee, the Los A ngeles chapter president, said in a statem ent Friday that he hopes King will follow her par ents' exam ple w ith respect to the rights of lesbians, gays and transgender people. In 2004, she marched against gay m arriage in Atlanta. "We know that her mother, C oretta Scott King, was sup portive o f LG BT equality, and we believe that Dr. King would have been as w ell,” Lee said. "M y hope is that her election is a sign that SCLC is returning to its sp irit o f e q u a lity fo r all people." Local Leaders Make Call to Action Video Captures Robbery The Portland Police Bureau, in cooperation with Crime Stop pers, is asking for your help in identifying a robbery suspect caught on surveillance video. On Thursday, Oct. 8, at about 3:23 a.m „ the Shell Gas Station at 7433 N. Interstate Ave. was robbed by a lone m ale who en tered the store, w alked behind th e c o u n te r a n d d e m a n d e d money from the clerk. T he suspect, d escrib ed as H ispanic m an in his 20s and about 5 foot -8 inches tall and 180 p o u n d s, fle d d riv in g a C hevrolet Suburban and was la st se e n h e a d in g e a s t on L om bard. He w as w earing a dark green stocking cap, blue jacket, tom blue jeans and tan attorney to w ork for a m ajor A rkansas law firm and is an o r dained m inister and pastor of New Millennium Church. Chairm an Raleigh Trammell o f D ayton, Ohio, called King a "dynam ite person with a great personality and a great heart.” "The national organization has done itself well to elect the daughter o f Dr. King to lead the organization during this time," Tram m ell said. "She seem s to have renewed her com m itm ent to the ideas and legacy o f her f a th e r... There was a tim e that she was hot as interested in the movement, but she talked to us about going back and reading her father's books and study ing her father's message." Martin Luther King Jr. was the SCLC's first president, serv ing from 1957 until his assassi Addressing State of Black Oregon A surveillance camera shows a man who robbed the Shell Gas Station at North Insterstate Avenue and Lombard Street. boots. Crim e Stoppers is offering a cash rew ard o f up to $ 1,000 for information, reported to Crime Stoppers, that leads to an ar rest in this case, or any un solved felony, and you remain anonym ous. Contact Crim e Stoppers at 503-823-HELP (4357), or online at crimestoppersoforegon.com or text 823 plus your tip and send it to CRIMES (274697). A symposium on the ‘‘State of Black Oregon: A Call to Action” will be held 5:30 p.m. on Thurs day, Nov. 5, at the Oregon State University Memorial Union ball room at 26th Street and Jefferson Way in Corvallis. T h e U rb a n L ea g u e o f Portland's State of Black Oregon report was published in July. The study show ed that social and econom ic disparities and sys temic disadvantage still exist for A frican A m ericans and other people o f co lo r in Oregon. T he rep o rt co n tains a stark inven tory of statistics that show s a persistent gap in living stan dards between black and w h ite O re g o Marcus C. nians - a gap that is growing wider as a result of the current economic downturn. The featured speakers at the OSU event include M arcus C. Mundy, president o f the Urban League o f Portland, Robert T h om pson, assistant professor in O S U ’s D epartm ent o f Ethnic Studies, H enry Luvert, presi dent o f the Eugene chapter of Device for Library Thefts Stealing from the M ultnom ah County L i brary system used to be a sim ple m atter of selecting a book and walking out with it. Officials said the downtown Central Library th e N A A C P , an d Carla Gary, assistant professor in the O f fice o f Institutional Equity and Diversity at the U niversity of Oregon. M u n d y w ill also a d d re s s th e re p o rt Mundy during an appearance before the City Club of Portland during its regularly scheduled Friday forum, a public event at 11:45 a.m. at the G overnor Ho tel in Portland. “During the last eight years, the poverty gap in America and in this state has continued to grow,” said Mundy. “If there’s a poverty gap for A m ericans has had no security system since the build ing was renovated 13 years ago. None of the 16 branches has working security sys tems either. That's meant hundreds of thou sands of dollars in lost materials each year; nearly $300,000 in the past six months. generally, the African-American poverty gap widens to chasm proportions. T his flies in the face o f the ideals our country stands for, and simply should not be acceptable here in O r egon or anyw here else.” In Corvallis, the speakers will ad d ress the issues and other c h a lle n g e s fa c in g A fric a n A m ericans living in O regon. Problems, as well as solutions, will be discussed in depth. M u n d y w ill jo in a n o th e r group of African American lead ers from Portland to address the report in a third presentation before the M ultnomah County Com m issioners, scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 12 at 9 a.m. For the past month, library workers have been affixing tamper resistant elec tronic tags to books and CDs. 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