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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 18, 2015)
Activists Profiled Oregon Department of Justice surveillance under fire QR code for Portland Observer Online See Local New, page 3 Professors in Poverty Oregon adjuncts relate to message in new film See Metro, page 9 ‘City of Roses’ Volume XLIV Number 49 www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • November 18, 2015 Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity photo by o livia o livia /t he p ortland o bserver A new community-led billboard along Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard makes a plea to speak up and help bring justice to the families of murder victims. Cold Case Murders Confronted New campaign urges witnesses to come forward photo by o livia o livia /t he p ortland o bserver Taunya Mayo, a grieving mother who lost her son to an unsolved murder in October, embraces Antoinette Edwards of the Portland Office of Youth Violence Prevention, during a meeting to launch a campaign pleading for witnesses to come forward with information on homicide cases. by o livia o livia t he p ortland o bserver A long-standing tension between police and black resi- dents when it comes to witnesses coming forward is being addressed with a new billboard campaign. Enough is Enough PDX, a community-led group aimed at encouraging people to take a stand against deadly vio- lence, has put forward the new statement: Someone Needs Information That Can Help – or abbreviated, “SNITCH” – a loaded term usually referring to informants or people willing to take information directly the police. The history of police brutality, discrimination towards African Americans in law enforcement, and acts of retri- bution from violent gangs, has created a culture of fear – fear to confront crime sometimes in community, but also fear to trust police with sensitive information. For decades, the term ‘snitch’ hasn’t just been a derisive C ontinued on p age 4