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Volume XLVV • Number 18
‘City
of
Roses’
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • October 20, 2021
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Buried Truth
Revealed
Sports executive
killed a man when
he was at 16
Colin Powell
Powell
Legacy
Mixed
by Michael Leighton
Portland Observer Editor
Former Trail Blazers and current
Nike executive Larry Miller shook the
sports world last week when he allowed
a secret from his past to become public,
revealing that he shot and killed a man
when he was just 16.
In an interview with Sports Illus-
African Americans
reflect on leader
who made history
(AP) -- As an American leader, Colin
Powell’s credentials were impeccable:
He was chairman of the Joint Chiefs
and secretary of state. But his legacy as
the first Black person in those roles is
murkier, with some African Americans
saying that his voice on their behalf
could have been louder.
Powell, who died Monday of
COVID-19 complications, spent 35
years in the Army and rose to polit-
ical prominence under Republican
presidents Ronald Reagan and George
W. Bush. His stature fueled persistent
speculation that he would one day run
for president as a member of the GOP.
Through it all, Powell never seemed
entirely comfortable talking about
race, said Kevin Powell, a New York-
based writer and rights activist who is
not related to Colin Powell.
Colin Powell later became disen-
chanted with the Republican Party
and endorsed Democrats for president,
starting with Barack Obama. Pow-
ell also called then-President Donald
Trump a national disgrace and said he
no longer considered himself a Repub-
lican following the Jan. 6 storming of
the Capitol.
“By the time the Bush years were
Continued on Page 10
A street littered with bullets is a familiar scene for Portland Police investigating
a shooting last month on Northeast 82nd Avenue that left a juvenile and adult
suffering from gunshot wounds.
A Grim Toll of
Shootings, Deaths
armed Street Response team in the Lents
neighborhood of southeast Portland has
encouraged its expansion, but more police
officers are also being called for.
Hiag Brown, co-director of communi-
ty outreach with the Portland Opportu-
nities Industrialization Center, or POIC,
a school serving the Black community,
has advocated for more healthy activi-
ties for young people to keep them out
of gangs.
Tony Hopson Sr., president and CEO
trated, the 72-year-old Miller said he
buried the truth about the killing for de-
cades, keeping the murder secret from
his employers, closest business associ-
ates, friends and even his children.
Now he wants to tell the entire story
so he can help others, especially at-risk
youth and people in prison.
According to the article, published in
advance of a book Miller wrote with his
oldest daughter Laila Lacy, and sched-
uled for release early next year, Miller
was part of a gang looking for revenge
on the streets of Philadelphia when he
fired a .38-caliber gun into the chest of
another teenager, an act of retribution
after a younger friend had been stabbed
and killed during a fight with another
gang.
He told the magazine he has been
haunted by the killing, with the 50 –
Continued on Page 4
Continued on Page 10
Pandemic has made things worse
by Beverly Corbell
The Portland Observer
With 69 violent deaths as of Oct. 10,
Portland is just one count short of break-
ing its record of 70 violent deaths back
in 1987. The grim statistics show gun
violence accounts for 75 percent of the
city’s homicides, and more than half of
those killed were Black, Latino or Asian,
with the greatest toll in the Black com-
munity, by far.
Community leaders are grappling with
the problem, with several ideas being
floated. The success of the city’s new un-
Larry Miller