Healthcare Blues
Concert with
Norman Sylvester
to push fo r single­
payer, universal
coverage
i w-
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Urban League
Appoints Watts
L.
" A,
Executive will
serve during
CEO search
See page 3
See page 3
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Read back issues of the Portland Observer at www.portlandobserver.com
‘City ö/Roses’
Volume XXXXI, Number 14
Wednesday • April 4, 2012
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity J^Ommi!nitv
Killer Cop
Wins Back Job
Activists outraged by officer’s reinstatement
photo by
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Johnnie Anderson came to City Hall Monday to p ro te st an a rb itra to r’s decision to reinstate
the em ploym ent o f a Portland police office r who shot Aaron Campbell, an unarmed African
American man in 2 0 1 0 . Her picket sign also spoke out against other acts o f deadly
violence in the community.
M em bers o f the Albina M iniste­
rial A lliance and other activists ex­
pressed outrage M onday over a
decision by a state arbitrator to rein­
state a Portland police officer who
killed an unarmed African American
man in 2010.
Rev. LeRoy Haynes, chair o f the
alliance’s Coalition for Justice and
Police Reform, urged a federal re­
view o f the state arbitration system
because of its long history o f ruling
in the favor of Portland police.
He said F riday’s arbitration rul­
ing says that those who are elected
cannot hold police officers in this
city accountable.
“It says any police officer can do
what they want to do,” Haynes said.
It means we cannot trust our police
departm ent.”
A police union challenge o f O f­
ficer Ronald Frashour's term ination
largely rested on the testim ony of
police training instructors who said
Frashour followed his training when
he used deadly force against the 25-
year-old Cam pbell on Jan. 29,2010.
Cam pbell was distraught over his
brother's death when he em erged
from a N ortheast Sandy Boulevard
apartment, with his back toward of­
ficers and his hands behind his head.
One officer fired six bean bag rounds
at the man. Cam pbell ran toward a
parked car. Frashour fired a single
rifle shot, killing Campbell.
At M onday’s protest, more than
a hundred people stood around the
steps of City Hall to hear speeches
against the arbitrator’s decision.
M idge Purcell, director of advo­
cacy for the Urban League of Port­
land, said as a m other she was con­
cerned about her children’s encoun­
ters with police.
The Rev. T. Allen Bethel, presi­
dent o f the Albina M inisterial A lli­
ance, said it was time for Frashour to
leave the police bureau. He asked
the president o f the police union to
look into his heart and quit defend­
ing police officers who shoot un­
armed black residents.
State Rep. Lew Frederick, repre­
senting north and northeast Port­
land, and form er state Rep. Jo Ann
Hardesty, also of Portland’s Afri-
continued
on page 5
■■MMMKI
Budget Axe Points to Humboldt, Tubman
Proposal closes schools,
cuts teachers district wide
Two historic schools serving minority and eco­
nomically disadvantaged populations would be
closed, and 110 teaching jobs would be eliminated
district wide, as part as a proposed budget by Port­
land School Superintendent Carole Smith.
Smith announced Monday that Humboldt Elemen­
tary School, 4915 N. Gantenbein A ve., and the Harriet
Tubman Leadership Academy for Young Women,
continued
on page 2
Humboldt Elementary
School, 4 9 1 5 N.
Gantenbein Ave., would
close and students
transferred to Boise-Eliot
School, as part o f a
school district budget
proposal for next year.
PHOTO BY
M ark W ashington /
T he P ortland O bserver