May 1, 2019
The
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INSIDE L O C A L N E W S
in
Week Review
C ALENDAR
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page 5
Making the Case
Hopes High
for Measure 11
Reform
D anny P eterson
t he P ortlanD o bserver
A bill proposing juvenile jus-
tice reforms in regard to Oregon’s
mandatory minimum sentencing
law—which has disproportionate-
ly impacted communities of col-
or—is on the cusp of passage after
decades of effort.
“We still need to do some sig-
nificant lobbying to make sure that
folks understand what it’s doing
and what it’s not doing and why
it’s doing those things. But I think
we’ll be able to make that case and
I hope that it will pass out of the
House as a result,” Sen. Lew Fred-
erick, a sponsor of the legislation,
told the Portland Observer.
Senate Bill 1008 would allow
more flexibility in dealing with ju-
venile offenders, ending the prac-
tice of automatically prosecuting
15, 16 and 17-year-olds as adults
when charged with murder, rob-
bery, assault and sex offenses.
The bill had a two hour hearing
last week at the House and is wait-
ing for a work session with the
House Committee on Judiciary
before it can proceed to a vote, ac-
cording to the Legislature’s web-
site, as of Tuesday.
Frederick said the reforms are
long overdue.
by
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M ETRO
Arts &
C ontinueD on P age 4
After blackface and
other unsettling events
ENTERTAINMENT
O PINION
A report from 2011 by Partner-
ship for Safety and Justice and
Champaign for Youth and Justice
stated that while the black youth
population of Oregon was around
4 percent, they represented 19 per-
cent of Measure 11 indictments.
In addition, Frederick said the
recidivism rates for those who
transfer to adult prison—as op-
posed to staying in the youth sys-
tem—were much higher.
SB 1008 would give more pow-
er to judges, as opposed to prose-
cutors, initially placing youth ac-
cused of any crimes in the youth
justice system instead of the adult
justice system. Moving a youth
to the adult justice system would
require prosecutors to request a
special hearing with a judge who
would decide where youth are
placed.
It would also establish a process
Cleveland Tackles Racism
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C LASSIFIEDS
Lew Frederick
where all youth who are convicted
in adult court would eventually be
afforded a “second look,” halfway
through their sentence, by a judge.
A youth could serve the remainder
of their sentence under commu-
nity based supervision, instead of
in prison, if they showed rehabil-
itation and accountability of their
crimes had taken place.
The bill also requires an addi-
tional review by a judge before
a youth is transferred to an adult
prison for those with long sen-
tences. Currently, Oregon youth
who are given long sentences
are allowed to be in youth prison
until age 25, and then they must
transfer to an adult prison. The bill
would make it so that the judge
could review the 25-year-old’s re-
habilitation and accountability of
their crimes and make a determi-
nation to either send him to adult
prison or transfer them to commu-
nity-based supervision—apply-
ing only to cases where offenders
only have two years left on their
sentence.
Life without parole sentences
would also be eliminated, ensur-
ing that anyone under 18 convict-
ed of a crime receives a chance for
parole after 15 years of imprison-
ment.
The bill received bi-partisan
support in passing the Oregon
Senate—receiving three of its
votes by Republicans-- receiving
a 20-10 vote. The legislation was
carried by Senators Jackie Win-
ters, R-Salem, and Floyd Prozans-
ki, D-Eugene.
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pages 10-11
Citing deeply unsettling events of hate speech and
racial insensitivity at Cleveland High School, Prin-
cipal Ayesha Freeman has assembled an after-school
student-of-color-focused panel discussion about
racism, for staff and students to participate in.
The announcement follows an alleged incident
where a group of white students at the school dec-
orated a chocolate cake as blackface and sold it at
a bake sale. Freeman emailed parents Thursday to
relay “an event…that was hurtful to our staff and
students of color.”
A Cleveland student identified as white tweeted
an image of the cake, saying “a bunch of white girls
at my school made a blackface chocolate and we’re
all pissed about it.”
Four days before then, Freeman sent an email
telling students and parents that a teacher had found
a “string tied like a noose” hanging from an entrance
to the school.
At future panel discussions, topics such as “How
is racism showing up at Cleveland?,” “What can we
do about it? What can we do differently?” and “How
A chocolate cake decorated in blackface at
Cleveland High School and posted on Twitter.
can we come together as a community to heal?” will
be discussed, according to Portland Public Schools’
website.
An anti-hate assembly, specifically to honor the
Native American Community will occur this Thurs-
day, May 2 at the school. A Family Equity Council
where concerns from parents will be heard will also
be held on Tuesday, May 7 at 6 p.m. at school’s li-
brary, where “all families who wish to attend for a
community discussion about how to move forward”
are invited.