KairosPDX
Leaders
Swap Roles
See Local News, page 3
Summer
of Soul
A beautiful
portrayal of
1969 Black
culture
Black community
school announces
changes
See film’s review, page 7
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Volume XLVV • Number 14
Connecting
‘City
of
Roses’
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • July 21, 2021
with
Nature
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Makayla Harris
Grieving for
Teen Killed
Downtown
The Portland NAACP and Metro is helping Black kids and other young people of color spend time in nature,
drawing benefits that can lead to healthier, happier communities.
NAACP and Metro
sponsor youth-led hikes
b everly C orbell
t he P ortland o bserver
Like generations before them, Black and brown kids
haven’t always felt safe or welcome in the outdoors, but
the Portland NAACP and Metro have started a program
this year to reverse that trend and involve them in a new
hiking program at area public parks.
“It’s so they can build positive memories out in nature
and also to allow some of the youth to be around Black and
brown professionals in environmental fields,” said
J’reyesha Brannon, chair of the NAACP’s Environmen-
tal Justice committee, a lead organizer of the program.
Made possible by a grant from the regional government
by
Metro, and a new bill passed by the Oregon Legislature,
the outreach came with the recruitment of 10 young locals
between 16 and 21 who signed up to be hiking guides.
They were trained for three days by Metro to learn about
plants, animals and waterways along the trails in the Smith
& Bybee Wetlands, Oxbow Regional Park and Scouter’s
Mountain.
The hikes began July 6, and two remaining outings are
still on the schedule, Aug. 2 and Aug. 3. To register for
the hikes, go to the NAACP website at pdxnaacp.org/an-
nouncements.
The young hiking guides earn $700 by leading the two-
hour excursions, another way the program uplifts people
of color or those that are disadvantaged.
“We had over 60 apply (to be guides) but we didn’t
know so many would apply,” Brannon said. “So Metro is
C ontinued on P age 12
Shocking violence
latest in string of
shootings
Friends and family were left grieving after a young
Black woman was killed Saturday in a drive-by shooting
downtown that also injured six other people.
Makayla Harris, 18, was outside in the 300 block of
Southeast Third Avenue around 2 a.m. when gunfire
from a passing vehicle was sprayed intro the street. Six
other people were injured, according to police. No ar-
rests have been made.
Her death was one of two killings from four different
shootings on a Saturday morning across the city, con-
tinuing a string of gun violence and associated homicides
that has seen rates soar in the past six months.
According to relatives left mourning, Harris gradu-
ated from Grant High School in northeast Portland last
month and was the youngest in a family of six siblings.
C ontinued on P age 4