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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2022)
PO QR code Volume LII • Number 24 ‘City www.portlandobserver.com of Roses’ Wednesday • December 21, 2022 Committed to Cultural Diversity 17 People From Death Row to Life in Prison Governor Kate Brown in office Gov. Kate Brown commuted all of her state's death sentences AP- Gov. Kate Brown’s decision to com- mute all of the state’s 17 death sentences and dismantle the state’s execution cham- ber has some, including a former prison superintendent-turned-abolitionist, lauding the move as the humane choice. Brown is a Democrat with less than a month remain- ing in office. Others, including a small city mayor whose town was left scarred by a fatal bank bombing, see the change as a derailment of justice. While Oregon has long wrestled with its position on capital punishment — voters have alternately abolished and rein- stated it several times over the past century — in recent years the state’s Department of Corrections has been phasing out death row and the Legislature has passed a law narrowing the circumstances in which the death sentence can be imposed. Brown signed Senate Bill 1013 in 2019. Brown’s order, which took effect on De- cember 14th and changes the 17 inmates’ death sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole, cites that state law along with “the declining support for the death penalty in Oregon” as part of the im- petus behind her decision. The former superintendent of the Oregon State Penitentiary, Frank Thompson, who oversaw the state’s two most recent execu- tions in 1996 and 1997, has pushed for re- pealing the death penalty since leaving the position. He testified in favor of SB 1013 and welcomed Brown’s announcement. In a phone interview with The Associated Press, Thompson described shouldering the “huge responsibility” of overhauling Continued on Page 10 New Lawsuit Claims Racist Destruction and Displacement Oregon lawsuit spotlights destruction of Black neighborhoods (AP) - A home that was a fixture of Bobby Fouther’s childhood is now a park- ing lot, the two-story, shingle-sided house having been demolished in the 1970s along with many other properties in a pre- dominantly Black neighborhood of Port- land, Oregon. “Growing up there was just all about love,” Fouther said. Fouther and his sister, Elizabeth Fouther-Branch, are now among 26 Black people who either lived in the neighbor- hood or are descendants of former resi- Continued on Page 4 In these photos provided by the Fouther Family Archives and Ariel Kane are Elizabeth Fouther-Branch and Bobby Fouther as children standing in front of their great-aunt’s home and in 2021 standing in the front of the parking lot where the house used to stand in Portland, Ore. The siblings are now among 26 Black people who either lived in the neighborhood or who are descendants of former residents who are suing Portland, the city's economic and urban development agency and Legacy Emanuel Hospital for the "racist" destruction of the homes and forced displacement. (Della Williams/Fouther Family Archives and Ariel Kane via AP)
