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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 2016)
Page 2 November 16, 2016 Week in Review The Established 1970 USPS 959 680 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211 The Portland Observer welcomes free- lance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All creat- ed design display ads become the sole property of the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or person- al usage without the written consent of the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad. © 2008 THE PORTLAND OBSERV- ER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRO- DUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIB- ITED. The Portland Observer--Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publication--is a member of the National Newspaper Association--Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Representa- tive Amalgamated Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers Association Mark Washington Sr. e ditor : Michael Leighton P ublisher : e xecutive d irector : Rakeem Washington A dvertising M AnAger : Leonard Latin Most Protesters Did Not Vote Out of 108 Donald Trump protest- ers arrested in Portland following last week’s presidential election, only 31 voted, in the election, according to voter logs released Tuesday by the Multnomah Coun- ty Elections Division. Among the 72 who did not participate in the election, 36 were not registered to vote. Wheeler to Protect Immigrants “Moonlight,” is new movie portraying African-Americans as beautifully complex and not reduced to the flimsy stereotypes so often presented on-screen. A Rare Film to Embrace the Black Experience o PinionAted J udge by J udge d Arleen o rtegA Office Manager/Classifieds: Lucinda Baldwin c reAtive d irector : Paul Neufeldt Reporter/Web Editor: Cervante Pope P ublic r elAtions : Mark Washington Jr. 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 “Moonlight” is the kind of art that makes you ache what you have been missing. It is the kind of film that builds hunger for more than we have been forced to settle for, only because of the narrow band of stories that make it to screens in our neighborhoods. A black boy who is sensitive. Who hides from bullies. Who barely speaks. A black man who is both a drug dealer and a gen- tle mentor and father figure to the sensitive boy, a drug dealer with a conscience. A boy who hardly recognizes why he is “other,” who scarcely can allow himself to rec- ognize what others already see. Who really has no one to protect him from bullies, least of all his teachers. And whose only visible out is violence. The languorous slow build of longing between two black men. Stories like these are no more than hinted at in the films we see. Black men and boys rarely have the opportunity to enact roles be- yond pimp, drug dealer, or violent criminal, and then only the two-di- mensional kind. Perhaps they might play cops, though more like- ly as a sidekick to a white police officer who is the main character. What a pleasure, then, to sink into this story, which takes its time building the pieces of a young man’s identity. What a treat to have the opportunity to linger long enough to notice how sorrow and fear manifest in a school-age boy, what kindness looks like from a complicated man who is both car- ing and dangerous, the struggle of a mother caught in the throes of addiction and the specific signs that her life is unraveling. This story takes its time, and feels lived in. It is the work of two men who grew up in the same housing project in Miami -- Tarell McCraney, whose play in- spired this work, and Barry Jen- kins, who also directed the film. These men know some things, and they have the skill to show what they know in a way that feels truer and more lived in than most films, and certainly films about people of color. All the characters here are complicated, and the film keeps them that way. Their protagonist is played by three different actors who don’t look much alike but who manage to convey a common thread. As a youngster, he is known as Little, a slight boy whose life appears to c ontinued on p Age 4 Portland Mayor-elect Ted Wheeler says Portland will remain a sanctu- ary city despite President-elect Don- ald Trump’s threats to withhold mil- lions of dollars in taxpayer money if cities don’t cooperate with his plans to deport illegal immigrants. “Port- land is a city that values inclusion, diversity, and has been welcoming to thousands of people from around the world,” Wheeler told the Willa- mette Week Tuesday. Gwen Ifill Dead at 61 Gwen Ifill, the vet- eran black journal- ist and co-anchor of PBS’ “News- Hour” with Judy Woodruff, died on Monday of can- cer, the network said. She was 61. A former newspaper reporter, Ifill switched to television and worked for NBC News and PBS. Co-work- ers called her “a standard bearer for courage, fairness and integrity.” Macy’s to Leave Downtown The downtown Portland Macy’s store, which occupies five floors of the historic Meier & Frank Building, will close this spring. Industry observers say sales and profits at Macy’s are on decline and the retail giant is selling off its most valuable real estate holdings.
