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.
Established 1970 USPS 959 680
4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211
The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled
and will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole
property of the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent
of the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad. © 2008 THE PORTLAND
OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION
IS PROHIBITED. The Portland Observer--Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publication--is a member of the National
Newspaper Association--Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers,
Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers Association
P ublisher :
e ditor :
Mark Washington, Sr.
Michael Leighton
e xecutive d irector : Rakeem
Washington
A dvertising M AnAger : Leonard Latin
Office Manager/Classifieds: Lucinda
c reAtive d irector :
Baldwin
Paul Neufeldt
r ePorter /P hotogrAPher : Olivia
Olivia
CALL 503-288-0033
FAX 503-288-0015
news@portlandobserver.com • ads@portlandobserver.com
subscription@portlandobserver.com
Postmaster: Send address changes to Portland Observer , PO Box 3137 , Portland, OR 97208