Celebrating
Kirk Reeves
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Mural will pay tribute to
popular street performer
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Portland Observer
See story, page 5
‘City of Roses’
Volume XLIV
Number 28
Silencethe
Violence !
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • July 16, 2014
D onovan M. S mith
T he P ortland O bserver
Portland youth gathered in McCoy Park,
just down the street from where a young man
was recently shot and killed, to say this,
“Silence the Violence”.
Historic park
ready for new
memories
See Local News, page 3
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
by
soviet
D onovan M. S mith /T he P ortland O bserver
Calvin Jackson takes a stand against violence at north Portland’s McCoy Park. He was among a group o f
about 90 young people and adults who rallied at the park Friday, many wearing tape over their mouths
stating ideas important to them, to protest a rash o f shootings in north Portland and elsewhere that has
cost lives and left the community traumatized.
Youth take a stand to stop the bloodshed
by
Dawson Unveiling
They were among nearly 90 people, kids
and adults likewise, who filled the New Co
lumbia greenspace in north Portland on a
blazing hot Friday afternoon to spread a
message for peace against a backdrop of
summer gun violence that is up from previ
ous years.
The majority of the victims have been
black males in their 20’s and younger. One of
the latest shootings saw five people injured
outside the Soobie’s Bar & Grill on South
east 122nd Avenue and Oak Street, leaving
26-year-old Hahrachio Branch dead just
hours after Independence Day. Days later, a
5-year-old boy was struck in the leg in what
police said was an unintentional target of a
‘gang-related’ shooting outside his south
east Portland apartment.
Other summer shootings police have tied
to gang violence have occurred in north,
continued
on page 4