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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 19, 2010)
Gateway to College Prehistoric Dropouts earn diplomas. at PCC See inside, page 5 Predators Dinosaurs descend on zoo See inside, page 13 IfJnrtÎanù Established in 1970 Volume X X X X , Number 20 www.portlandobserver.com Committed to Cultural Diversity Wednesday • May 19. 2010 Police Chief Reset New top cop has public service roots unsure to optimistic. For advocates o f police reform, Reese seems to be an unknown quantity.. "I don't know him very well," said Jason Renaud, a co-founder o f the Mental Health Association o f Port land, who made a short-lived run for C ity Hall on a platform o f reforming the Police Bureau. "We don't know much about him," said Ron Williams, the interim executive director o f the civil rights group Oregon Action. In announcing Reese’s appoint ment, Adams sought to reassure the public stating that he recog nized that police are often the first- responders to situations that have been unaddressed by the fraying social safety net. "My incoming police chief un derstands this reality better than perhaps anybody," said Adams in a statement. Reese a graduate o f Roosevelt High School and Portland State University, began his career in 1983 as a counselor, program manager, and later direct for the Boys and Girls Club in Lents. by J ake T homas T he P ortland O bserver Mike Reese, the former com mander o f East Precinct, said he got a call from the mayor at about 10 in the morning on Tuesday last week. M ayor Sam Adam s was having a very public dispute with Police C h ief Rosie Sizer, and w anted to get his thoughts on how to take the em battled Police Bureau in a new direction. Later that evening, Reese said he got a call from the mayor who of fered him Sizer’sjob. Reese has his work cut out for him. Tensions have been high be tween the community and the police in the wake o f several high-profile shootings that left Portlanders dead by an officer’s shot. So far, reac tions to his appointment range from photo by J ake T homas /T he P ortland O bserver Police Chief Mike Reese answers questions during a news conference. continued ’W on page 8 Black Panthers Retrospective Exhibit brings powerful images by J ake photo by J ake T homas /T he P ortland O bserver Eve Crane, a photo journalist who vividly captured the Black Panther Party in the late 1960s, features her work during an exhibit at A 'Kasha gallery in Beaverton. Next to her stands David Hilliard, a former chief of staff for the Black Panthers, who met Crane during the tumultuous time. T homas T he P ortland O bserver An art gallery in Beaverton is an unexpected to place to catch a rare glimpse into a radical civil rights movement that once shocked the country. But A ’kasha gallery in dow n town Beaverton brings some o f the powerful images o f that tu rbulent time to the pubic with an exhibit this week that highlights the work o f Eve Crane, a photo journalist who captured pictures o f the Bay Area Black Panther Party during the 1960s and 70s. In 1968, Crane, now retired and a resident o f Aloha, met a writer and activist named Eldridge Cleaver while covering the tum ultuous Democratic National Convention for the now defunct Ramparts maga zine. What ensued was a deep friend ship that granted Crane access to burgeoning Black Panther Party movement in the Bay Area, which Cleaver was a key member of. “I was interested in what he had to say,” said Crane, speaking at A ’kasha, o f how she secured such intimate access to the radical politi cal movement. “I was there to take pictures, not steal a man,” A soft-spoken and unassum ing woman. Crane chronicled the movement that shocked the Bay Area and the nation with its mili tant demands for civil rights and prominent toting o f firearms. She photographed marches, speeches, the tense protests, and the after- math ofperiodic conflicts with the police in vivid detail. But she also captured the more human side o f a controversial po litical movement that was widely demonized in the press. continued on page 16