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September 4, 2013
IN S ID E
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Fred Meyer
Whafs on your list today?.
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O pinion
pages 6-7
1
photo by D onovan M. S mith /T he P ortland O bserver
Pastor E.D. Mondaine (second from left) joins a patron outside his soul food eatery Po’ Shines in
north Portland to symbolically ring the bells of freedom on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther
King’s infamous “I Have A Dream” speech and the March on Washington for Jobs and Justice.
Let Portland Ring !
Bells toll
for justice
and freedom
by D onovan M. S mith
T he P ortland O bserver
B ells lite ra lly ra n g a c ro ss th e
c o u n t r y l a s t W e d n e s d a y as
p e o p le sy m b o lic a lly ra n g b e lls in
c o m m e m o ra tio n o f th e 5 0 y ears to
th e e x a c t tim e w h en slain civ il
rig h ts le ad e r M artin L u th er K in g ’s
d e liv e re d h is in fa m o u s “ I H av e A
D re a m ” d u rin g th e M a rc h on
W ash in g to n fo r Jo b s an d Ju stic e
on A u g . 28, 1963.
In Portland, the o w n er o f the soul
food eatery ‘P o ’S h in e s’ and the
fo u n d er o f C elebration T abernacle,
p asto r E.D . M ondaine, took it upon
h im self to m em orialize the m om ent
w ith his staff and patrons. O n the
c o m e r o f N orth K ilpatrick and D en
v er in the K enton N eighborhood,
M ondaine p roclaim ed “W e ’re ring
ing the bell fo rju stice, w e ’re ringing
the bell for freed o m ”
“T h ey w ere rin g in g the bells
across the nation and I said you
know w hat, w e need to be a p art o f
th at,” he said.
In the half-century old address,
King fam ously dem anded that “free
dom rin g ” throughout A m erica.
M ondaine recalls seeing K in g ’s
speech on T V as a boy, and being
“m esm erized by the figure on the
screen.
M oving forw ard he hopes that
A frican-A m ericans in O regon will
increase their concern fo r one an
other.
“W e are as distant as night and
d ay ,” he said, referring to issues
th a t im p act the tw o p e rc e n t o f
O reg o n ’s population w ho are A fri
can A m erican.
“ W e have forgotten that injus
tice anyw here is injustice every
w h e re .” he said , q u o tin g K ing.
continued
on page 8
Hefty Fine for ‘P Club’ Discrimination
Enforcement a
first under 2007
civil rights law
C lassifieds
C alendar
on sexual orientation. The law pro
vides an exem ption for religious or
ganizations and schools, but does
not allow private business ow ners to
discrim inate based on sexual orienta
tion, ju st as they cannot legally deny
Last year, investigators with the service based on race, sex, age, dis
Bureau o f Labor and Industries found ability or religion.
substantial evidence o f unlawful dis
The Bureau issued a final order
crim ination, including phone m es last week that directs Penner to com
sages from P C lub bar ow ner Chris pensate the patrons, 11 m em bers o f a
Penner asking a group o f transgender group called th e ‘T G irls,’ $20,000 to
patrons to stop visiting his establish $50,000 per aggrieved person for
m ent because he d id n ’t want the em otional, mental and physical an
venue to becom e know n as a “tranny guish as a result o f their treatment.
bar” o r “gay bar.”
The bar on North Lom bard Street is
U nder the O regon Equity Act o f now know n as the Twilight Room
2007, O regonians legally cannot be Annex
denied full and equal service based
“O regonians deserve to be treated
fairly under the law ,” said O regon
Labor C om m issioner Brad Avakian.
“For businesses seeking to under
stand the law, we can help them navi
gate the O regon Equality Act and
other existing state and federal pro
tections. O ur technical assistance for
business program can field their ques
tions and help them avoid potential
violations in the first place.”
Since 2007,11 com plaints o f un
lawful discrimination in public places
have been filed under the 2007 law.
A fte f investigations, BOLI found
no substantial evidence in five o f
the com plaints; parties negotiated
settlem ents in three cases, w ith one
case at northeast Portland bakery
‘Sw eet C ak e s’ still being review ed.