November 18, 2015
Page 5
NAACP Forum on Education
The Vancouver NAACP invites
fiends and neighbors to join them
for a community forum on the
subject of schools and education
on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 10 a.m. at
the Vancouver Housing Authority,
2500 Main St.
“America’s journey for justice:
Our lives, our votes, our jobs, and
our schools matter,” is the theme.
Representatives of the Vancou-
ver School District and Evergreen
School District have been invited
to present information at this free
public event.
Senator visits Cully Plaza
C ontinued from p age 2
and home to a violent ring of sex
trafficking has been gutted, and
the construction workers on site
are being trained through Oregon
Tradeswomen, Inc., an organi-
zation dedicated to promoting
success for women in the trades
through education, leadership,
and mentorship.
It’s comforting in many ways
to see women are in charge of the
destiny of this block, turning the
buildings painful and misogynist
past into a future that belongs to
them and the community mem-
bers that will make use of the new
Cully Plaza.
Wyden engaged with several of
the workers and teachers working
on the program and said he was
excited to see how the project and
local community would evolve.
“I am so grateful for the work
being put forward here,” he said.
“What was once a blight is now
going to something everyone can
use in a positive way.”
Anna Gordon, an outreach co-
ordinator for Living Cully, also
attended the tour. She was encour-
Activists Profiled
C ontinued from p age 3
return our calls for more informa-
tion, however, both have released
full statements in response to
growing concerns.
In a letter to her Urban League
of Portland membership, Har-
mon Johnson said the depart-
ment’s actions appear to violate
Constitutional laws, including a
right to privacy and freedom of
the speech. “Who else is being
wrongly targeted in this way?”
she asked.
Rosenblum released her own
statement, saying she was “out-
raged” that Erious Johnson had
been targeted, “I immediately
ordered a stop to it,” she said. “I
am working to engage a Special
Assistant Attorney General to
conduct a complete Human Re-
source Investigation and audit to
get to the bottom of this deeply
troubling situation.”
She confirms several of the
charges that Johnson and her
group are leveling, but says it was
the product of an employee who
was profiling on what she called
a “trial basis” when he searched
for users of the Black Lives Mat-
ter hashtag.
Rosenblum put one employ-
ee on paid administrative leave
while she contracts with a Port-
land law firm to conduct an inves-
tigation on how the state justice
division monitors such social me-
dia information.
“On a personal note, I have
now seen firsthand how devas-
tating profiling can be – written
on the face of a member of my
team,” said Rosenblum. “It must
not continue.”
The American Civil Liberties
Union of Oregon has filed for a
records request seeking to know
all the information that was col-
lected in the online sweep and ev-
ery person that was profiled.
“The simple act of expressing
oneself on social media should
not be enough to trigger informa-
tion gathering by the Oregon De-
partment of Justice,” said David
Rogers, executive director of the
ACLU of Oregon.
Mat de Santos, legal director
of the Oregon ACLU, added his
own concerns, “We have some
preliminary answers, but we also
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aged by the progress being made.
“There is so much to look for-
ward to here,” she said pointing
at the cleared out floors behind
the open doors.
Amy James-Neel, a construc-
tion manager and job developer
with the Oregon Tradeswom-
an also expressed pride at the
work the students and teachers
were doing. “They’ve learned a
lot very quickly,” she said. The
tradeswoman program will con-
tinue to work on the project as it
pushes towards its desired goals
throughout the following months.
have many more questions,” said
dos Santos. “Why was a black-
led social movement used as a
jumping-off point for ‘anti-police
sentiment’? How did the inves-
tigation of the DOJ’s own Civil
Rights Division director go so
far? Who else was swept up in
this dragnet?”