August 02, 2023
Page 9
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o
The Need For
By: Ullysses Tucker, Jr.
Despite President Joe Biden’s recent
signing of a proclamation honoring the
late Emmett Till and his mother Mamie
Till-Mobley, the cancer of racism in this
country has metastasized and is perhaps
beyond chemotherapy.
The White House has designated the
river site, the Tallahatchie River where his
body was found, County Second District
Courthouse and Chicago's Roberts Tem-
ple Church of God in Christ, as part of a
national monument, recognizing both the
history of racial violence and the need for
legal justice in this country.
Whether it’s Paternalistic, Symbolic,
Cultural, Intrinsic, Extrinsic, Institutional,
Everyday, Individual, Modern, Competi-
tive, Symbolic, or Aversive as described
in her book (Understanding Everyday
Racism: An Interdisciplinary Theory) so
eloquently by Critical Race, Gender and
Leadership Studies Philomena Johan-
na Maria Essed at Antioch University
(Ohio); racism exists in its own poisoned
and protected world of misinformation
and ignorance.
Its fires of destruction are stoked
by stereotypes and cruel mythology.
Unfortunately, at the root of such in-
tense convictions is a complex attitude
of racial superiority, negative percep-
tions about various cultures or groups,
and a value system that promotes
maintaining dominance.
Man
piNioN
Linked
Justice to Deaths
of Four
Women...
Continued from Page 3
Emmett Till and his mother Mamie Till-Mobley
As the United Nation of people steam fairness. Indeed, we are Baskin Robbins
rolls further ahead into this century and as a country, 31 plus flavors with new
become increasingly minority, it is im- one’s evolving daily and each is very
perative that people take a long hard special in their own right!
look at race relations, especially after
Ullysses Tucker, Jr. is a retired fund-
the upcoming election cycle as well as raiser/development professional around
become more inclusive, tolerant, and the USA and Europe, Adjunct Professor
provide minorities with equal oppor- of Communication at SUNY-Plattsburgh,
tunities. Not only do colleges, corpo- Portland (Oregon) Community College,
rations, and communities have an ob- Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Uni-
ligation to cultivate healthy spaces or versity of Maine-Orono.
environments for minorities; each indi-
He is also a University of Portland
vidual has a responsibility too.
graduate (M.A. 82’ and B.A. 79’) and
Every human being has the right to former contributor to the Portland Ob-
be treated with dignity, respect, and with server newspaper.
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ed on June 6 by members of two sheriff’s
departments with U.S. Marshals Service
assisting, the official said.
The bodies of Kristin Smith, 22; Charity
Perry, 24; Bridget Webster, 31; and Ashley
Real, 22, were found over a three-month
period in wooded areas, under a bridge and
in a culvert in a roughly 100-mile (160-ki-
lometer) radius, spanning from rural Polk
County southwest of Portland to the Co-
lumbia River Gorge, east of the city.
Real’s body was the latest one found,
on May 7. Her father, Jose Real, told The
Associated Press on Friday that he called
police on Nov. 11 after she showed up, cry-
ing, at his Portland home, saying she had
been choked by Calhoun. She had marks
on her throat, he said, and he took her to
a hospital.
A Portland police officer took an initial
report from Real and his daughter and she
gave the officer Calhoun’s name. Police
wanted her to help find him but she was
scared to do so, he said.
Because the location of the alleged as-
sault was outside Portland police jurisdic-
tion, the department referred the case to the
Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office. Real
said he never heard back from the sheriff’s
office, even though he and his wife called
repeatedly.
Details of the attack were first reported
by the Oregonian/OregonLive.