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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 2018)
Celebrating ‘City of Roses’ BLACK HISTORY MONTH www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • February 14, 2018 Volume XLVII • Number 7 Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity Inspired to Keep Others Out of Gangs She knows Portland’s history because she lived it by d anny P eterson t he P ortland o bserver Nicky Taylor’s personal story of grow- ing up with gangs in Portland and then es- caping from gangs, a story inextricably tied to the city’s history of murder and mayhem on the streets is now a half hour long doc- umentary, “The Nicole Taylor Story, ” re- leased last month on Amazon Prime. Taylor said her mother, who died from cancer three years ago, inspired her to con- tinue telling the next generation about the perils of gangs, a mission she helmed since 1999 when she published a book for young adults about her experiences and co-au- thored by educator Francs Mejia Caldwell. Now a billboard advertises her mov- ie and book on Northeast 82nd and Ash Street, which Taylor said is a big deal. “On the billboard I’m sitting there and C ontinued on P age 8 Photo by C hrista M C i ntyre /t he P ortland o bserver Nicole Taylor, Portland author of the young adult book ‘Ask Nicky,’ has transformed her personal story about the consequences of gangs to the production of a new documentary ‘The Nicole Taylor Story.’ Court Pick Apologizes for Racist Remarks Oregon nominee says college writings were misguided b everly C orbell t he P ortland o bserver Federal prosecutor and Oregon native Ryan Bounds has come under fire for making racist, sexist and homophobic attacks on multiculturalism back in col- lege, and although he apologized Friday, his nomination from President Trump for a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals still reflects who is today, according to the activist group, Alliance for Justice. The alliance sent a “snapshot” re- port to media earlier this month stating that while a student at Stanford Uni- versity in California back in the 1990s, Bounds complained in opinion pieces by Ryan Bounds that “race-focused groups” should not be allowed on campus and used racist and offensive language to describe people with backgrounds and beliefs that were different from his own. The group also claims that Bounds wrote “condescendingly and dismissive- ly” about sexual assault on college cam- pus and that alleged perpetrators should be punished or expelled only if their guilt is “beyond a reasonable doubt,” the same words the president used when defend- ing a recently-dismissed West Wing staff member. The writings reveal strong biases that call into question Bounds’ ability to fair- ly apply the law and dispense even-hand- ed justice to all, the Alliance for Justice wrote in their Feb. 2 report which is available online at afj.org. Bounds, 44, responded to the claims on Friday in an email to the Multnomah County Bar Association’s Committee on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, a panel he chairs, apologizing for “misguided sentiments” in his youthful writings. In a copy of the email obtained and shared by the Oregonian, Bounds said the remarks no longer reflect his views and called them “ill-considered, tone- deaf, and mortifyingly insensitive pro- nouncements of one’s youth.” If confirmed, Bounds, an Assistant U.S. Attorney for Oregon, is predicted by some to become the president’s stan- dard-bearer where immigration rights are concerned. Others are concerned that the administration is packing federal courts with right-wing justices who can hob- ble progressive objectives for decades to come. But for some — Oregon Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden included — the way Bounds was nominated is even more troubling because they were left out of C ontinued on P age 4
