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Gone but Not Forgotten
Our challenge to
get involved
B ob I ngram
Friday, July 2, 2010 at 11 a.m . is
etched into my m em ory so vivid and
clear. 1 have had m any appointm ents
in m y life, but few feel o r seem as
prom inent o r im portant as the tw o
m em orial services o f tw o very sig ­
nificant people on this particular
date and tim e.
M r. C harles Ford w as a m entor,
advocate, com m unity leader, activ ­
ist, and patriarch. W e m et a few
tim es at co m m u n ity rallies and
events, and often at the O verlook
R estaurant in north Portland. T hat
w as w here he w ould tell m e to com e
find him w hen I needed to.
“ D on’t bother calling, do n ’t think
about sending me those e-m ails ei­
ther, you know w here to find m e,” he
w ould say. In fact, that was the last
thing I rem em ber him saying to me.
W alking from one m eeting to an­
other, w e were chatting about stim u­
lus funds, C alifornia’s gang problem ,
gentrification, and a whole host o f
other issues (o f his choosing).
M r. Ford w as one o f the original
com m unity m em bers w ho stood up
and w arned us all that gangs w ere
planning their operations and m eant
to invade our quiet neighborhoods.
H e said it over 20 years ago, and he
kept saying it, to anyone w ho w ould
by
listen and to som e
w ho w ould rather
n o t h e a r it b u t
needed to hear.
W hen I reflect on
the legacy o f M r.
Ford, 1 c a n 't help
but to w onder how
bad things w ould
have becom e if it
h a d n 't b e e n fo r
him . D id he save
Charles Ford
liv e s ? C e rta in ly !
Did he change lives? A bsolutely!
But w hat he did w as even bigger
than that. H e ch an g ed the city. He
w as alm ost like Paul R evere: I will
rem em b er him fo r sounding the
alarm and d em anding aw areness o f
the problem . H e co u ld have sat back
and lived his life. H e had a fam ily to
take care of, friends to support and
sup w ith, and I’m sure m any asp ira­
tions. But instead he chose to live
his life benefiting others.
T he oth er service w as that o f
B illy M oore. B illy w as 17 years old
w hen he w as shot and killed. He had
re c en tly g ra d u a te d high sch o o l,
w here h e ’d even been elected Prom
King. I m et B illy years ago, w hen he
and m y son play ed on the sam e
football team . T hey w ere part o f the
tight-knit fam ily o f linem en. Big,
strong, m ostly quiet and often h u n ­
gry, he and D erriel w ere alike in
m any w ays.
A fter m iddle school, I d id n ’t see
Billy as m uch, until last spring. A t a
to becom e a beacon for his
fa m ily , c o m m u n ity a n d
friends.
Billy Moore
youth sum m it at the
B lazers Boys and G irls C lu b , Billy
w as in the audience I w as ad d ress­
ing. It was good to see him . A nd
then he spoke! A nd im m ediately I
thought that he had the w isdom ,
articulateness, understanding and
acum en to have been the one sp eak ­
ing to the group. For every point I
started, Billy co u ld finish it. Yet he
also seem ed to know ju st w hen to be
quiet and let the others get involved.
He d id n ’t w ant to brag and parade
his intellect; he ju s t w anted to share
w hat he had learned so that it m ight
help som eone else.
I saw Billy again a few w eeks
later. W e had a chance to catch up,
and he told m e that his m other was
term inally ill. W e prayed. Billy left
that day in g o o d spirits. I told him
that I w as proud o f him and that he
should not hesitate to call m e if I
co u ld help him craft his future. A nd
as I think about that evening, I pledge
to you that had his life not been
abruptly interrupted, he w as going
include that w hile we are thinking
about how to keep kids busy, we
should create and prom ote things
that they actually like to do. People
vote w ith their feet, so w e c a n 't be
upset or surprised if the kids w alk
out. T hey are sending a m essage.
I know it’s not a cure-all. I know
that we will still have people, young
and old, w ho harm others. A nd no,
I do not know w hat to do about
them . But, o ur kids are ours, and w e
ow e it to each o th er to take better
care o f them . G et involved! I c h a l­
lenge you! M en to r a young person
through Big B rothers Big Sisters o f
C o lu m b ia N orthw est, co ach a Little
L eague team , jo in y o u r n e ig h b o r­
hood w atch, if you have tim e to
co m m it. A nd if you d o n ’t have as
m uch tim e, but still w ant to help, jo in
an advisory board.
G reat o rg an izatio n s are great b e ­
cause o f the cap acity and c o m m it­
m ent o f their advisors and d irectors.
A nd ju s t in case y o u ’ve got no tim e
at all, m ake a donation. In a sh rin k ­
ing e c o n o m y , p h ila n th ro p y has
been a com m on target for reduction.
D o n ated g oods and serv ices are
great, but nothing beats g o o d old-
fashioned m oney. N ot sure w here
to v o lu n teer o r d o n ate? C o n tact m e.
O K , enough reading, tim e to get
busy! T im e to get involved! O ut!
A nd you know the truth?
He w ill still! M aybe not in
his full-sized physique, but
definitely in his larger-than-
life spirit. Billy touched so
m any lives in a positive w ay
that it w ould be unfeasible
to see it any oth er w ay.
A nd so it is that tw o great
people left us. I believe the saying
goes “gone but not fo rg o tten .” I will
rem em b er them w h eth er I try to o r
not, and I ’ m sure I ’ m not alone there.
But that leads to the next question:
W hat will we d o? O r b etter yet, I will
share a question that is asked o f m e
often: W hat are w e going to do
about these kids k illing each other?
Billy d id n ’t have to die. H e w as
the third person k illed in P ortland
this y ear to youth and gang vio­
lence, and they w ere k illed in June.
B illy ’s death w as preventable. No,
I ’m no fortune teller, and I c a n ’t
predict the future. But I do know
that w e have to keep o u r young
people alive. A nd since I know you
are w ondering, h e re ’s the solution:
K eep them busy!
W hether they are at school, w ork,
hom e, a com m unity center, church,
o r a park, kids need to be busy. L ook
at it like this: If w e d o n ’t give them
Bob Ingram is the director o f the
som ething to do, they w ill m ake or Office o f Youth Violence and Pre­
find som ething to do, and w e p ro b ­ vention. His essay first appeared in
ably w o n ’t like it. A nd I w ould even Portland Family magazine.
A Cause for Concern: Black politicians singled out
J udge G reg M athis
R ecently, tw o top ran k ­
ing C ongressional D em o­
crats have been charged
w ith ethics violations by
the O ffic e o f C o n g re s ­
sional E thics, w here m em ­
bers can anonym ously accuse their
peers o f w rong doing.
W hether o r not there is any m erit
to the charges rem ains to be seen
but it is interesting that, o f the last
10 ethics investigations the office
has conducted, eight o f those u n ­
der scrutiny w ere black.
N e w Y ork C ongressm an C harles
R angel is c harged w ith 13 congres­
sional ethics violations and C alifo r­
nia C ongressw om an M axine W a­
ters is charged w ith three.
A m ong the charges R angel faces
are im properly using his office to
secure donations for a school o f
public in N ew Y ork that is nam ed
after him , failing to pay taxes on
by
rental incom e from a hom e he
ow ns in the D om inican R e­
public and fo r using a rent-
c o n tr o lle d a p a r tm e n t in
H arlem for his cam paign o f­
fice. W aters has been a c ­
cused w ith using her in flu ­
ence to arrange a m eeting betw een
the T reasury D epartm ent and a bank
h er h usband o w ned shares in. Both
plan to fully fight the charges against
them.
E lim inating governm ent co rru p ­
tion is im portant but the fact that
blacks m ake up less than 10 percent
o f C ongress yet com prise 80 p er­
cent o f the m ost recent ethic v io la­
tion investigations is a cause for
co n cern .
T he fact that the charges can be
levied an o nym ously only ups the
suspicion factor. Political enem ies
on the o th er side o f the aisle can
bring the charges in hopes o f tar-
n ish in g a p o litic ia n ’s im a g e .E v e n if
the accused isn ’t up for re-election,
his o r her party co u ld suffer from the
negative publicity.
In an election year, this could
m ean a few extra R epublican seats in
C ongress. S ingling out black p o liti­
cians could also be a tactic to play
up on the racist undertones o f g ro w ­
ing m ovem ents, like the T ea Party,
sen d in g a m essag e that “ th e y ” -
blacks - “c a n ’t be tru sted .”
Since o u r achievem ents - and
failures - as a people are often lum ped
together by the m ain stream , h u rt­
ing black politicians could have a
negative im pact on the P resid en t’s
2012 re-election b id dow n the road.
C ongress is right to heavily scru ­
tinize its m em bers. But it should also
scrutinize the w ay charges are made.
H as no one outside o f the C o n ­
gressional B lack C aucus w ondered
w hy so m any black C ongressm en
and w om en are being “ n o m in ated ”
for investigation? T hat, in itself,
w arrants an investigation.
L e t’s hope that H ouse S p eak er
N ancy Pelosi, in h er q u est fo r a
clean C ongress, w orks to bring any
underlining racism to light.
Greg Mathis is a retired Michi­
gan District Court judge and syn­
dicated television judge.
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