‘City
of
Roses’
Setting
Up Shop
Racism and the
Environment
Alberta
Commons, new
home for three
black businesses
Film reviews
from eight new
documentaries worth
watching
See Metro, page 9
See Opinionated Judge, page 4
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • April 24, 2019
Volume XLVIII • Number 15
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
College Group
Hosts Civil
Rights Icon
Rev. Lawson to
help form civil
resistance chapter
Rev. James Lawson, one of the key architects of the
modern Civil Rights Movement, is coming to Portland to
assemble an Institute on Nonviolent Civil Resistance at
Portland State University, starting a five day visit with a
public talk on Wednesday, April 24, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
at the University Place Hotel and hosted by PSU’s Stu-
dents United for Nonviolence.
A close colleague
and friend of the late
Rev. Dr. Martin Lu-
ther King Jr., Dr.
Lawson led some of
the most capable civ-
il rights campaigns
of the 1950s, 60s and
70s. Most notably, he
organized sit-ins at ra-
cially segregated lunch
counters in Nashville,
Tenn., which ultimate-
ly led to desegregation
of those facilities and
other public accommo-
Rev. James Lawson
dations.
“Few grasp that nonviolent direct action requires plan-
ning, preparation, strategizing, recruiting, outreach, mes-
saging and all the mechanisms needed for a campaign,
including fierce discipline,” said Lawson in announcing
the plans for the Portland civil resistance chapter, its sixth
assembly to date. “This doesn’t happen spontaneously. It
must be done systematically.”
Participants in civil resistance start by focusing on the
history of nonviolent action that has been found wherever
scholars have searched for evidence of social movements.
They learn both the theory and practice of nonviolent
struggle from case studies, planning tools, exercises, skits,
and research, taught by a faculty of experienced scholar
practitioners and facilitators.
Lawson’s Institute on Nonviolent Civil Resistance will
be hosted by Portland State University’s Conflict Reso-
lution program and will take place over five days, con-
cluding on Sunday, April 28. For more information, visit
jameslawsoninstitute.org/2019portland.
Photo by d anny P eterson /t he P ortland o bserver
Tiffani Penson, a longtime city worker who promotes equity in city contracting, and who has promoted
educational programs serving the black community, is putting in her bid for election to the Portland Community
College Board, Zone 2, the district that encompasses the parts of north and northeast Portland where she grew
up. The upcoming election is on May 21.
Running for PCC Board
Tiffani Penson connects to community
d anny P eterson
t he P ortland o bserver
Tiffani Penson, a longtime Portland city worker, edu-
cation advocate, and community volunteer, is vying for
the Portland Community College Board of Directors for
Zone 2, the district that encompasses the parts of north
and northeast Portland that she grew up in, for the May
21 election.
by
“I understand community and the importance of it. I un-
derstand you have to invest in the people in your commu-
nity because if you don’t, then you won’t have a thriving
community,” Penson told the Portland Observer.
Penson began working on education issues working for
former Mayor Sam Adams back in 2009, where she helped
C ontinued on P age 5