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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 2015)
Page 2 November 25, 2015 The Week in Review Portland Section 8 Rent Hike Requests Set Record A record-breaking number of private landlords in the Portland area have rushed to raise rents and evict tenants in proper- ties participating in section 8 vouchers, Home Forward, the housing authority for Multnomah County, reported last week. Since Oct. 15, when the city approved protective measures for tenants, landlords have put in over 489 requests to raise rents on subsidized housing, the most since April 2012 when the monthly total was 389. Black Lives Mater Activists Shot at Rally Clara Peoples’ niece Debra Ingram holds her aunt’s posthumous Lifetime Achieve Award at this year’s Spirit of Portland Award Ceremony. Other family members pictured are (from left) Laura Jacobs and Ruth Scur- lock, Peoples’ sisters; Jenelle Jack, a granddaughter; and Marsha Peoples Jack, a daughter. Clara Peoples Mother of Juneteenth Honored Clara Peoples, a late beloved community to her fellow workers at the Kaiser Shipyards, leader, educator, and mother of Portland’s and later helped to initiate Portland’s annual annual Juneteenth celebration, was posthu- citywide Juneteenth celebration in 1972. mously honored with a Lifetime Achieve- She eventually became known as Port- ment Award at last week’s Spirit of Portland land’s “Mother of Juneteenth.” She also gave Awards Ceremony. Family members stepped years of service as an active and dedicated forward to accept the award on behalf of community leader. She was a counselor at the Peoples, who died Oct. 5 at the age of 89. former John Adams High School in northeast Born in Muskogee, Okla. on Sept. 8 1926, Portland and she helped fight hunger in our Clara Peoples Peoples grew up with a passion for commu- community as well as multiple other good nity service and spread her efforts to Oregon works. when she moved here in 1945. The award shows Peoples continues to be a guiding Peoples was surprised to learn that Juneteenth, the cel- influence for a community that loved her, and her living ebration of the end of American slavery, was not celebrat- relatives were proud to honor her work in the community ed in this part of the country. She introduced the holiday for this year’s Portland Spirit Awards. by o livia o livia t he p ortland o bserver Mayor Charlie Hales has assured the community that Portland will keep its doors open as a safe haven to refugees and immigrants. “Portland looks very different than it did when I moved here in the Charlie Hales 1970s, and much of that change has come with the integration of refugees and immigrants into our community. From the East African All-Stars, to the Jade Night Market, to the Portland Mercado, Portland is made richer because we’ve welcomed new neighbors. Refugees from Syria are no different,” Hales said. Hales issues the statement last week in the wake of calls by Republican presidential candidates and mem- bers of Congress to end the resettlement of refugees from Syria and Iraq in the wake of recent terrorism in Paris. “The White House has assured us that refugees will undergo the highest level of security checks of any trav- eler to the United States to ensure Americans’ safety. Meanwhile, we as Portlanders, Oregonians, Americans, and human beings need to remember that refugees are fleeing the senseless violence that has taken so many lives recently,” Hales said. He pledged to greet Portland’s first Syrian refugee family at the airport, and said the community will wel- come them because “It’s the Portland way.” Portland has long supported refugee and immigrant resettlement with its New Portlander Policy Council and associate programs, which work with community partners to keep families safe, make neighborhoods more livable, create recreation services, and engage el- ders in community gardens. This year, Hales created a full-time position in the C ontinued on p age 4 Chicago Cop Charged in Black Teen’s Death A white Chicago police officer who fatally shot a black teen last year, including two shots to his back, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder. Jason Van Dyke is being held with- out bail in Cook County in the death of Laquan McDonald, 17. Police video shows the officer opening fire from 15 feet and continuing to shoot even after the teen is on the ground. Activist Attacked at Trump Presidential Rally Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump on Sun- day said a Black Lives Matter activist maybe “should have been roughed up,” defending the physical assault he endured at a Trump rally in Alabama on Saturday. A cellphone video shows white attendees repeatedly kicking the black activist, Mercutio Southall Jr., who says he was also called the n-word. Rapper ‘Killer Mike’ Endorses Bernie Sanders Portland Welcomes Refugees Mayor says he will not turn them away Minneapolis police have three people in custody in connection to multiple shootings at a Black Lives Matter protest Monday night. A spokesperson for the activists said a group of white supremacists showed up at their protest and when asked to leave “opened fire on about six protestors.” The rally was in support of Jamar Clark, 24, a black man shot to death earlier this month by police. Popular hip hop artist Killer Mike took Dem- ocratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sand- ers out to eat an Atlan- ta restaurant Monday, officially endorsing his candidacy. “Brought this guy to Busy Bee on MLK at ATL,” Killer Mike captioned Monday in posting a photo of him and Sanders on social media. Car Drowning Victim on Willamette Identified A man who drowned when his car got submerged at Meldrum Bar Park on the Willamette River near Oregon City Sunday was identified as Harland Ryman, 37, a Jamaican-born trans- plant from New York who just relocated to Portland in recent weeks. Authorities say he was in the back of an SUV that was swept off the Meldrum Bar by a fast-moving high tide. North Portland Fire Destroys Garage A garage fire that started with an overloaded amp breaker caused an estimated $10,000 in damages at a north Portland home Monday night. Crews responded to the fire around 7:18 p.m., arriving to flames coming out the windows. All residents were cleared out safely. 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