December II, 2013
Fortiani» (¡Observer
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Fred Meyer
The Week Review
What's on your list today?,
photo by A my R osenheim
Lewis and Clark President Berry Glassner addresses a large crowd of students who rallied against
racism on Friday during a protest on the southwest Portland campus.
Racism Ignites Protest
E l O bservador
page 10
Lewis and Clark
students call for
more diversity
A n unofficial 10-point list o f de­
m ands m ade clear that the graffiti was
only a sym ptom o f a m uch larger
problem at the school and in society;
a lack o f diversity.
From the faces sitting at the desks,
by D onovan M. S mith
to the ones teaching the m aterial, to
T he P ortland O bserver
the m aterial itself, the university cre­
Lew is and C lark students and their ates and fosters an illusion o f ‘ ’ w hite­
B lack Student U nion are calling for ness’ ’ as the norm, the BSU students
m ore diversity on cam pus after a string charged.
o f racist incidents.
Lew is and C lark Senior M usa
D espite bitter cold tem peratures, A hm ed, a BSU representative, re­
around 200 Lew is and C lark College cently detailed som e o f the problem s
students show ed up Friday m orning in an opinion piece he authored for
for an on-cam pus sit-in. O rganized the school paper ‘T he Pioneer L o g ’.
by the Black Student U nion, theevent
W hen school started in A ugust,
generated m ajor support from the he said a black dorm student had
southw est Portland school’s m ostly w ritten “W elcom e back” on a b u lle­
w hite students.
tin board outside h er room and it
w as changed to “W elcom e back
N igg.”
O th er racist scribes have been
found m ore recently across the cam ­
pus, including a m isspelled call o f
“Jim C row e for life”, and the w ords
“N iggers Stink.” C heers o f the so-
called “n-w ord” and “w hite p ow er”
w ere reported to A hm ed as a resi­
dent advisor.
It is w orth noting that blacks
m ake up the second sm allest racial
segm ent o f the 14 6-year-old private
institution, m aking up around 2 per­
cent o f its total 2,150 u ndergradu­
ates edging out N ative A m ericans
by a m ere percentage point. It is also
ranked as one o f the m ost liberal
continued
on page 14
Equity Officer Admonishes Police
Urges enforcement of
professional behavior
V IM ILIAINMtNI
pages 11-13
C lassifieds
page 14
C alendar
page 15
F o o d
page 16
But for street officers w ho inter­
act w ith com m unity m em bers every
day, Jam es recom m ends that the re ­
cent racial slur allegation be used as
T he d irecto r o f P o rtla n d ’s O ffice o f Equity
an opportunity to discuss p ro fes­
and H um an R ights is urging the P ortland Po­
sionalism at every roll call, in every
lice B ureau to resp o n d to recent reports o f an
training session, and in off-line d is­
o fficer using a racial slu r as an opportunity for
c u ssio n s.
daily training and m aking rem inders about
Jam es said the w ord “nig g er” can
ex p ected pro fessio n al behavior.
never be used by a w hite o fficer in
D ante J. Jam es m ade the request last w eek
interactions w ith som eone on the
after n ew spapers rep o rted that a P ortland p o ­
street.
lice o fficer used the w ord, “nig g er,” during an Dante J. James
“People w ill argue that it is a
interaction in O cto b er w ith a m em b er o f the black
double standard because som e black people use the
com m unity.
w ord. T his is not an argum ent about w ho gets to use
Jam es also praised the police bureau for racial sen­
the w ord. T his is an opportunity for PPB to rem ind its
sitivity training g iv en to its co m m and staff and ser­
staff that any pejorative o f this type is unacceptable.
geants that w as o rg an ized by P o rtlan d ’s C om m unity
T his is about p rofessionalism , plain and sim ple, and
and Police R elations C o m m ittee’s training subcom m it­
this is the con v ersatio n that needs to h ap p en ,” Jam es
tee.
said.