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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. Central
L ib ra ry C o lle c tio n s A d m in is tra to r
Deanna Cecotti is confident in the higher
security system decreasing thefts.
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