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‘City o/'Roses’
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Volume XLIV
Number 47
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U l 3 w e Wednesday
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• November 26,
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Established in 1970
2014
Committed to Cultural Diversity Xomnu^tvs^vice
Lesley McSpadden, mother o f Michael Brown, is escorted away from in front of the Ferguson police department after a grand jury's decision was delivered Monday night
in Ferguson, Mo. The St. Louis County grand jury decided not to indict Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting of Brown. (AP/Getty photo)
Decision
Ignites
Protests
Activists in solidarity after
Ferguson officer walks free
B y O livia O livia
T he P ortland O bserver
Portland civil rights activists joined voices across the
country in response to a grand jury’s decision not to indict
a white police officer for the shooting of an unarmed black
teen in Ferguson, Missouri.
Their names, now synonymous with issues of racial injus­
tice and police brutality are Darren Wilson, the officer who
fired the fatal shots, and Mike Brown, the young man killed
Aug. 9 and whose death inflamed deep racial tensions be­
tween many black Americans and police.
Protests erupted Monday night when the verdict was
announced in Missouri and across the country as the deci­
sion was broadcast on live TV, although Portland’s response
was relatively small and peaceful.
Community members gathered in front of the Portland
Justice Center, with protesters vowing to regroup in front of
the same location late Tuesday afternoon, in solidarity with
the protestors in Ferguson.
The Portland rally came with the support of the Albina
Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform,
along with the All African People’s Revolutionary Party of
Portland, Portland Copwatch, Jewish Voices for Peace, and
the Iraq Veterans Against the War, among other organiza­
tions.
At Portland State University, students gathered Monday
afternoon and into the night waiting to hear the grand ju ry ’s
decision, many expressing hope there would be justice for
Brown. Another protest occurred at the University Place
Hotel as PSU was hearing a proposal to arm campus security,
turning the department into a full fledge police force. A group
of professors and students united to object to the proposal,
continued
on page 4