July 7, 2021
Page 2
Portland Man Basks
in Pulitzer Prize
Black author who
overcame hardships
now teaches
creative writing
b y b everly C orbell
t he P ortland o bserver
Mitchell S. Jackson, Portland native and
Portland State University alumnus, was re-
cently awarded the Pulitzer Prize, journal-
ism’s highest honor, for writing about the
life and death of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black
man who was shot dead after allegedly be-
ing racially profiled and chased by three
white men while he was out jogging.
Jackson’s long-form feature story in
Runner’s World magazine, “Twelve Min-
utes and a Life,” (https://www.runner-
sworld.com/runners-stories/a32883923/
ahmaud-arbery-death-running-and-rac-
ism/) weaves back and forth between sig-
nificant and mundane events in Arbery’s
daily life and, in excruciating detail, the
minute-by-minute events that led up to his
stalking and killing in Brunswick, Ga. on
Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020.
Arbery, whose nickname was Maud, was
a formidable high school football player
even though, at 5’10” and 165 pounds, he
wasn’t a real big guy. But what he lacked
in bulk he made up for in heart, as Jackson
described in the article.
“Game time, the opposing team calls
the play that Maud put the fierce kaput
on in practice, and beneath a metal-halide
glare that’s also a gauntlet, Maud barrels
towards the running back and—BOOM!—
lays a hit that sounds like trucks colliding,”
Jackson wrote.
Other excerpts show Arbery’s tender
side, such as helping his sister care for
C ontinued on P age 10
Writing about the life and death of Ahmaud Arbery has given Portland native
Mitchell S. Jackson the Pulitzer Prize, the highest honor in the field of journalism.
(Photo from Mitchell S. Jackson Facebook page)
The
Week
in
Review
COVID Restrictions Lifted
Oregon and Washington lifted most of their
COVID-19 restrictions last week after vac-
cinations against the disease neared 70 per-
cent of the population 16 and older. Gov.
Kate Brown called it a “truly a historic mo-
ment for our state,” with more work to be
done to reach everyone with a vaccine.
audacious” tax fraud scheme that saw the
Trump executive allegedly receive more
than $1.7 million in off-the-books com-
pensation, including apartment rent, car
payments and school tuition.
Nurse Sues for Unlawful Arrest
An OHSU nurse who was volunteering as
a medic during a Black Lives Matter pro-
test last year filed suit against the Port-
land Police Bureau last week, accusing
an officer of chasing after him, knocking
him to the ground, slamming his head to
the pavement and then punching him re-
peatedly.
Hope Fades at Collapse Site
Search-and-rescue workers continued to
look for open spaces where people might
be found alive nearly two weeks after the
Champlain Towers South tower collapse
in Surfside, Fla. Officials sounded increas-
ingly somber Tuesday about the prospects
for finding anyone alive.
Cosby Freed from Prison
Fireworks Ban Limits Calls
Portland Fire & Rescue officials thanked
residents Tuesday for adhering to a fire-
works ban over the long July 4th holiday
weekend. The responsiveness helped lim-
it potential fireworks related fires to nine
incidents, down from 44 during the same
period last year, officials said.
Trump Company Charged
Donald Trump’s company and its longtime
finance chief were charged Thursday in
what a prosecutor called a “sweeping and
Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned
Bill Cosby’s sex assault conviction last
week finding it was unjust because of an
agreement with a previous prosecutor
that prevented him from being charged in
the case. Cosby was released from prison
shortly after the ruling.
Pedestrian Killed on 33rd
A pedestrian died after being hit by a
vehicle at about 1:30 a.m. Monday on
Northeast 33rd Drive near Columbia
Boulevard. Portland Police identified the
victim as Michael L. Bute, the 31st traffic
death of the year.