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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 19, 2013)
Diversity in Public Art Decade in the Making A new frontage fo r Jefferson High School fulfills a late activist’s dream JEFFERSON Arts group looks fo r works out o f the mainstream See Local News, page 3 ■ b o See c c iv iciro , p page a g e 11 Metro, h g* JJn i‘t la nh © b serv er _ VolumeXLIII ■City «/Roses' Number 24 U j is Established Established in in 1970 1970 www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday Wednesday . • lune June 19. 19, 2013 2013 C Committed o m m itte d to to C Cultural u ttu m t r Diversity ti^ m , Troubleat the Workplace Employees impacted by recurring acts o f racism by D ohotan M . S mith pursued in an effort to better support his T he P ortland O bserver It is still happening, people are going to work only to be met with unacceptable acts of racism and a paystub as the only consolation for an apology. In a city where protests against injustice are plen- tiiul, and the unofficial motto is progres- <J1VP n n l l t l P C i t i c t r n u l - t l i n r r trv. sive politics, it is troubling to hear that several o f Portland’s own have been the victims of such bigotry recently. Lifetime Portlander Ivery Mays Jr. says, as an African-American, he is cer tainly “underrepresented” in his profes sion as an Apprentice Pipefitter, how ever, he never thought he would encoun ter racism on job, especially not so bla tant. But to his surprise racism is what the 39-year-old says he found in the trade he 3 family. His sense o f normalcy was destroyed while finishing up work at a Camas, Wash, jobsite in early December. As per usual, his supervisor asked him and three other apprentices to begin cleaning out toolboxes before everyone left for the day Mays was given four toolboxes to clean, but the very first one would pro- vide a disturbing surprise; a hangm an’s noose was revealed when he opened it, taped to the inside door. He immediately went to the bathroom to attempt to re- group and then snapped a picture of it with his cam eraphone. “Nooses aren’t . . . . As an African-American, Ivery Mays Jr. is certainly ‘underrepre-sented’ in his profession as an Apprentice Pipefitter, but he never thought he would encounter racism on the job. photo by D onovan M. S mith / T he P ortland O bserver -, V S!.;,• « « « ; A* Sifts gÜ ■ --- • fr f I' I 1 I I R I I ? fe H ll ü I L 5 < IN 1 '“ 5 I s I M ** t •: S â i . _ part of our materials.” says Mays. i l r whenever,her e isa„ i„cide„ ,o rco„- apprentice m u s o X w V r ^ T r t i f The second-year trainee did so. but without resolution. Now he has acquired an at- tomey and has filed a complaint with the state of Washington and is pursuing legal action against his employer Harder Me- chanical for racial discrimination, M ays’ attorney Sean Bannon savs J J' u u u n u ii aays ‘It’s shocking that it’s happening in this day and age, and a big part of why w e’re taking legal action is to make sure that there’s accountability for companies tol erating this conduct.” Perhaps more troubling is that he is not alone. Community leader and activist Rev. Leroy Haynes, the pastor of Allen Temple continued on page 4