parttani» (Obstruer
September 4, 2013
IN S ID E
The W eekîn Review
This page
Sponsored by:
Page 3
Fred Meyer
Whafs on your list today?.
Page 2
•sv?*»
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.