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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2018)
‘City of Roses’ www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • November 21, 2018 Volume XLVII • Number 44 Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity Are “Our Eyes Wide Open” Anniversary of killing draws parallels to today D Anny p eterson t he p ortlAnD o bserver Small permanent memorials were placed atop street signs in a southeast Portland neighborhood to honor Ethiopian immigrant Mulugeta Seraw on the 30th anniversary of his death when white suprema- cists attacked and killed him with a baseball bat be- cause he was black. Dozens of supporters and civil rights activists at- tended the Nov. 14 installation and dedication cere- mony led by Urban League of Portland President and Chief Executive Officer Nkenge Harmon Johnson. The Portland Bureau of Transportation and the com- munity non-profit Southeast Portland Uplift were co-sponsors of the event. Members of Seraw’s family and the city’s Ethio- pian community also attended. Mulugeta Seraw had moved to Portland to attend college when he was killed. Johnson referred to the horrific attack in her re- marks. She also took aim at a new modern white supremacist movement which signals that the fight against racism is not over. “Our eyes are wide open,” Johnson said. “We know that the Patriot Prayer boys, the Proud Boys, the white nationalists, and those other hoodlums who seek to make us unsafe, want to bring us back to 30 years ago when Mulugeta was beaten on these streets by those thugs. Now there are folks who want to bring us back to that. But look at all of you here today.” The unveiling of 16 street sign toppers between Burnside and Stark streets brings a permanent place of honor with Seraw’s name before the public in En- glish and Amharic, Ethiopia’s official language, and the listing his years of birth and death. In Seraw’s death, three skinheads admitted to kill- ing him because of his race, part of a group called East Side White Pride. They pleaded guilty to the 1988 slaying and were sent to prison. The criminal prosecution later became the basis by c ontinueD on p Age 6 photo courtesy A ntonio h Arris p hotogrAphy Nkenge Harmon Johnson, president and chief executive officer of the Urban League of Portland, leads a dedication ceremony in southeast Portland where one of 16 street sign toppers were installed last week to commemorate the life of Ethiopian immigrant Mulugeta Seraw on the anniver- sary of his murder by racist skinheads 30 years ago.