O ctober 8, 2014
jllortlanò (Observer
IN S ID E
TheWeek Review
JU
E
This page
Sponsored by:
Page 3
Fred Meyer
What's on your list today?.
page 2
? a <3T o pal
L ocal N ews
O pinion
Soulful Singer Farewell
pages 8-9
Diva Linda
Hombuckle dies
at the age of 59
O livia O livia
T he P ortland O bserver
by
H ealth
M
S ustainabiliiy page2
etro
page 11
Portland's very own legendary
soul diva Linda Hombuckle died
Saturday morning, having lost a
battle to liver and kidney cancer at
the age of 59.
Hombuckle was famous through
out the Pacific Northwest for her
powerful voice and amazing stage
presence. She was a close friend to
Janice Scroggins, Portland’s piano
powerhouse and another revered
memberof the black community who
also passed away earlier this year.
The two had a strong friendship,
Linda H om buckle’s passionate life and the people she
touched with her sou lful voice are being rem em bered a fte r her
death on Saturday a t the age o f 59.
"I call her my soul mate in music,"
Hombuckle once said. "She's just
an old soul, and we have this con-
continued
on page 5
Sheila Warren leads the charge against school policies that remove a disproportionate number o f
black students from Portland schools.
Unfairly Expelled from Schools
C alendar
page 14
• •
C lassifieds
F ood
page 20
pages 18
District fined;
parent leader
pushes forward
for change
tionate expelling and suspending of
black special needs students, and
not for the first time. The district has
been fined at least twice before since
2009 for failing to provide students
kicked out of school the appropriate
education, and last week’s fine was
unsurprising to mothers and activ
by O livia O livia
ists like Sheila Warren, founder of
T he P ortland O bserver
the Portland Parent Union.
T he P o rtlan d Parent Union
Warren and her group have been
pushes forward this week in their working over the past six years to
mission to minimize the percentage confront the growing disparity in
of black students unfairly expelled expulsions facing African Ameri
from Portland Public Schools.
can students.
The state of Oregon is fining the
District wide, 17 percent o f black
school system for their dispropor students were suspended or ex
pelled in the 2012-2013 school year,
compared to only 4 percent of white
students. The numbers were an im
provement from previous years, but
for many activists this is just the
beginning of an ongoing battle to
improve opportunities for students
o f color.
Black students have historically
struggled to avoid harsher punish
ments for the same mistakes in
school, and this is frequently re
ferred to as being 'pushed out' -
pushed out of academics, and being
forced to fall behind in their educa-
continued
on page 5