Page 2
August 21, 2019
The
Week Review
Desperate for Answers
A local black
family was
desperate for
answers after
their loved
one
was
found dead
at the Oregon
Zoo.
Carl
Ross Sr., 62,
went missing
while attend-
ing a Sat-
urday night
concert Aug. 10 with a friend
and reported missing. His body
was found the following Mon-
day morning in an area under
construction at the zoo. Police
are investigating.
photo by J enny g raham /o regon s hakespeare F estival
Kimberly Monks (Riley) and Christiana Clark (Tami) star in “How to Catch Creation” at the Oregon
Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, a play featuring an excellent cast of six African American characters
and projecting voices that ring with a clarity borne of struggle.
Black Voices Ring with Clarity, Integrity
o PinionAted
J udge
ple’s yards in southeast Portland.
Police said the victim in one of the
incidents received intimidating
text messages from the suspect
and may have been targeted due to
their sexual orientation, according
to law enforcement.
Mental Health Crisis
Mental health
crisis negotia-
tors spent five
hours trying
to calm a man
throwing fur-
niture
from
his third sto-
ry apartment
window
on
North Interstate Avenue on Sat-
urday before spraying a chemical
agent into his home and arresting
Rule Ends Family Planning him. The man was identified as Jo-
Planned Parenthood said Mon- seph J. Lee, 40.
day it was pulling out of the
Officer Fired for Choke Hold
federal family planning pro-
After five years of investigations
gram rather than abide by a new
and protests, New York City’s
Trump administration rule pro-
police commissioner on Monday
hibiting clinics from referring
fired the officer involved in the
women for abortions. “Our pa-
2014 chokehold death of an un-
tients deserve to make their own
armed black man whose dying
health care decisions, not to be
cries of “I can’t breathe” fueled a
forced to have Donald Trump
national debate over race and po-
or Mike Pence make those deci-
lice use of force.
sions for them,” said the group’s
president and CEO.
Discrimination Claim
by
D arleen o rtega
Every once in a while, I stum-
ble on the opportunity to see a
play that I didn’t realize I was
longing for. The richly realized
production of Christine Ander-
son’s marvelous play, “How to
Catch Creation,” at the Oregon
Shakespeare Festival in Ashland
through October, was such an ex-
perience for me--an opportunity
to spend an evening with six Af-
rican American characters who I
in
wish I knew in real life, not one
of which I’ve seen in a play be-
fore.
Griffin (especially well played
by Chris Butler) is newly out of
prison where he served 25 years
for a crime he did not commit.
Tami (an equally remarkable
Christiana Clark), an artist and
professor, has been Griffin’s
friend since they were both young
adults. Their friendship is deep,
familiar, lived in, but not roman-
tic; each talks truth to the other as
Griffin searches for a way to be-
come a parent and Tami befriends
Riley, a young woman who
awakens her artistic and romantic
passions. Riley, too, is inspired
by Tami, but also entangled with
and committed to her boyfriend
Stokes, a frustrated painter who
is inspired to write after being
introduced to the works of black
feminist writer G. K. Marche.
These intersecting relation-
ships unfold in overlapping
scenes and overlapping conversa-
C ontinueD on p age 12
Established 1970
A former employee at the Ore-
gon Department of Corrections
is suing the state for almost $1
million accusing the department
of retaliating again him for aid-
ing employees with discrimi-
nation complaints. Gary Sims ,
who is black, says he stopped
working with the department
after a superior reprimanded
him in 2017 and his office was
closed over reported budget
concerns.
Cremated Remains Found
The Portland Police Bureau asked
for the community’s help Tuesday
in locating the loved ones of Floyd
“Frank” Leslie Hill who passed
away on Oct. 17, 2000. A box
labled as his cremated remains
were found outside, near the in-
tersection of North Chase Avenue
and North Chautauqua Boulevard
Fire Bomb Intimidation
Police arrested a Portland man on Monday. The bureau has ex-
last week for allegedly throwing hausted all resources to try and
Molotov cocktails in two peo- find any family or friends.
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