Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 2017)
Page 4 November 15, 2017 C annon ’ s r ib e xPress 5410 NE 33rd Ave, Portland, Or Call to Order: 503-288-3836 Open (hours) Sun-Thurs: 11a-8p Fri-Sat: 11a- 9p Cannon’s, tasty food and friendly neighborhood atmosphere. State Farm R Michael E Harper Agent Providing Insurance and Financial Services Home Office, Bloomingon, Illinois 61710 We are located at: 9713 S.W. Capitol, Portland, OR 503-221-3050 • Fax 503-227-8757 michael.harper.cuik@statefarm.com Avalon Flowers 520 SW 3rd Ave., Portland, OR 97204 • 503-796-9250 A full service flower experience Cori Stewart-- Owner, Operator • Birthdays • Anniversaries • Funerals • Weddings Open: Mon.-Fri. 7:30am til 5:30pm Saturday 9am til 2pm. Website: avalonflowerspdx.com email: avalonflowers@msn.com We Offer Wire Services Ex-gang member Dontae Blake heads a non-profit, Live Free, where he takes at-risk youth on camping excursions in Bend to get them out of the gang life. No More Gang Lists C ontinued from f ront of Equity and Human Rights, was one of the civil rights or- ganizations that has been ad- vocating for eliminating the gang lists. “It’s an excellent policy change,” said C.J. Robbins, the group’s program coordi- nator. “It’s a piece of a much larger puzzle. I’m definite- ly encouraged by the move- ment.” Robbins thinks the new policy will encourage police officers to see black members of the community as individ- uals a bit more. The old pol- icy also was not helping peo- ple trying to escape gangs or anyone experiencing the stig- ma of being labeled a gang member. Dontae Blake was an ex- gang member who has tak- en responsibility for his past and successfully lived crimi- nal-free for the better part of a decade. He said eliminating the gang lists improves his attitude to- ward police, dusting off an old idea that police were “just bad dudes that […] want to kill us in the streets.” “It means something to me that on a piece of paper, somewhere, it don’t just say, ‘There’s Dontae Blake, he’s a Crip.’” Blake told the Portland Observer. “Personally it feels good to have a stigma off my back. Blake has been doing an- ti-gang outreach for Unify Portland, a violence preven- tion program for at-risk youth for more than two years now. Since 2010, he has been men- toring younger gang members to help them get out of a life of crime by taking them on camping excursions in Bend for his non-profit, Live Free. Lieutenant Andrew Shearer of the Portland Police Bureau feels that eliminating the gang lists has already increased community trust, and he said the new policy has not nega- tively impacted law enforce- ment efforts. Shearer said the bureau’s decision came as the culmi- nation of conversations in the past couple of months with the bureau’s Tactical Operations Division, which Shearer leads; the Gang Enforcement Team, many of whom also advocated for the change; and newly ap- pointed Police Chief Danielle Outlaw, Portland’s first Afri- can American woman police chief. Though a gang designation database was a police tool once thought to help solve crimes, newer technology has rendered it largely obsolete, Shearer said. He cited tech- nological advances in foren- sic shell casing analysis that can now link bullet casings to specific parts of the city and to specific weapons as one ex- ample. “In the previous year, we’ve only had about seven gang designations leading up to this. So it’s not something that’s really used as much as it once was,” Shearer said. Gang designations were also once thought to increase officer safety. However, Shearer said police endanger- ment is now mitigated by flag- ging individuals with a violent or weapons history, instead of simply using a gang affiliation by itself, as an indicator of a potential threat. “The reality is there are people who are involved in some of these organizations who may not be actively in- volved in criminal activity. And we need to focus on those that are.” Shearer said. Police reform advocates for groups like Black Male Achievement are looking for more progress in terms of ex- gang members who are now peace-abiding citizens tran- sitioning back into society, since many of them report having difficulty meeting their needs, like finding gainful em- ployment and shelter. “I think, you know, our view in the future will be towards meeting those needs, towards making sure that the policies, practices and procedures that need to be addressed for them to be thriving [will occur],” Robbins said. According to a 2016 Racial and Ethnic Disparities Report of Multnomah County, Afri- can Americans are six times more likely than whites to be jailed. African American un- employment rates were also seven percent higher than whites from the years 2010- 2012, according to Poverty in Multnomah County report from 2014. According to national statis- tics from Center for American Progress and Crime & Delin- quency, African Americans are 2.5 times more likely to be ar- rested than whites and 49 per- cent of black men will be ar- rested at least once by age 23.