March 24, 2021 The Page 3 INSIDE L O C A L N E W S Week in Review M ETRO page 4 page 7 Members of the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners wear face masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Call for Tear Gas Ban Commissioners lead effort to protect children, others & Housing Community page 8 The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners has asked Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to prohibit the use of chemical munitions by federal police when in close prox- imity to schools, neighborhoods, and other areas where vulnerable children and adults may work, live or play. In a March 15 letter, the Board decried the use of tear gas in res- idential areas, parks, and other places where vulnerable individ- uals may be present, and called on Secretary Mayorkas to ban or restrict their use by federal law en- forcement officers. Commissioner Sharon Meieran led the effort after hearing con- cerns from a Portland school and a community service provider locat- ed near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the South Waterfront area, the K-8 Cottonwood School of Civics & Science and REACH Community Development. The ICE facility has been the site of many protests during which federal law enforcement officers have deployed tear gas as a method of crowd control. Physical debris and residual toxic chemicals have been found on the schoolyard, causing significant concern about the environmental and physical health impacts on young children, teachers, and the surrounding neighborhood, coun- ty officials said. “This indiscriminate use of chemical weapons does not just c ontinued on p age 4 Racial Justice Bills Introduced Leaders call for criminal justice system overhaul page 9 O PINION C LASSIFIED /B IDS pages 10 Established 1970 USPS 959 680 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211 The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property of the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or per- sonal usage without the written consent of the general man- ager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad. © 2008 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. The Portland Observer--Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publication--is a member of the National Newspaper Association--Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Representative Amal- gamated Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers Association PO QR code P ublisher : e ditor : Mark Washington, Sr. Michael Leighton Office Mngr/Clasfds: Lucinda Baldwin Admin.Coord.: Quayuana Washington C reative d ireCtor : Paul Neufeldt o ffiCe a sst /s ales : Shawntell Washington CALL 503-288-0033 • FAX 503-288-0015• news@portlandobserver.com ads@portlandobserver.com• subscription@portlandobserver.com Postmaster: Send address changes to Portland Observer, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208 Oregon lawmakers are hear- ing from the Portland Urban League, civil rights groups and other calling for an overhaul of Oregon’s criminal justice system to address unequal impacts on people of color, from mass incar- ceration to police misconduct. A legislative hearing was held last week that directed an ap- pointed group of lawmakers and leaders from Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander and refugee communities called the Racial Justice Council to study potential changes to the criminal justice system and to provide results to the full Leg- islative no later than the end of the year. Sen. Kayse Jama, D-Portland, a Somali refugee who co-found- Sen. Kayse Jama Nkenge Harmon Johnson ed Unite Oregon to help uplift struggling Oregonians and the state’s first Muslim senator, tes- tified in support of the measure, saying it is an important step in addressing the root causes of the most serious harms in law en- forcement policies. “The public safety system does not work for Black, Indig- enous and people of color. Too many fellow community mem- bers have lost their lives or been separated from their families and excluded from economic oppor- tunities due to systemic racism in the public safety system,” Jama said. The bill is geared to promote restorative justice, advance im- migrant justice, and improve law enforcement accountability.