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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2011)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM J ANuARy 26, 2011 P ORTlAND & S EATTlE V OluME XXXIII, N O .14 25 CENTS I NSIDE Who’s Next at PDC? page 4 Oregon Income Tax page 4 King Breakfast Pics C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow Private Security Profiling? page 7 Ro deezY on o.G.one Hip hop artist says he was singled out in SmartPark incident By Brian Stimson of The Skanner News J pHoto BY JulIE kEEfE ust days after Christmas, local hip hop artist and educator Mic Crenshaw was given an official exclusion from the city’s SmartPark garages. Crenshaw, who regularly works out by jogging up and down the SmartPark stair- wells after lifting weights at a nearby gym, says he was racially profiled by Clean and Safe security officers in the downtown garage. He chose not to make an official com- plaint about the incident – which the private security officers told him he had five days to appeal. “But I thought, if this shit is happening to me, I know this shit is happening to hun- dreds of people on a day-to-day basis, who get profiled for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, maybe their skin is the wrong color, their age, their clothes fit a cer- MaryEtta Callier admires the book she purchased during the “meet the author and the subject” event for Rochell D tain profile,” Crenshaw said. “It’s problem- “Ro Deezy” Hart’s biography of William “O.G. One” Jackson Jr. at the Talking Drum Bookstore in Portland on Jan. 15. atic.” The Portland Business Alliance — which subcontracts the Clean and Safe security that patrols the garages — says cracking down on trespassers is an effective way of reducing crime in the downtown area. Crenshaw’s case illustrates an authority that the Portland Business Alliance’s Clean and Safe private security officers have – the anted: Your story or worked in the state to submit and these were all significant of stories come in,” Avakian told power to issue criminal trespassing notices The Skanner News. “We’re get- about Civil Rights and personal anecdotes about their course. that can then be used by city police to make ting some stories just about dis- “But none of these things experiences in Oregon’s Civil race. arrests if the notices are ignored. Movement to occur without the swell of expe- criminatory things that have Two upcoming projects are Rights And while the Business Alliance’s patrol hands out trespassing exclusions, they do highlighting local experiences MyCivilRightsStory.net, a web- rience that individuals have that happened to individuals, but not keep track of race, age or gender data by heading out into communi- site where testimony will be lead to those huge events,” he we’re also getting wonderful ties to find personal stories of published and some stories says. “To really understand the stories about how families emi- that official city law enforcement does. selected for an upcoming book progress of Civil Rights in grated to Oregon and what their change and struggle. This Saturday, Jan. 29, Our project. The deadline is Feb. 14. Oregon, I think you have to hear experience was when they got Wrong place, Wrong time “We think of the Civil Rights it from the families who lived it here — sometimes 100 years United Villages hosts a panel of Crenshaw says the incident began inno- local residents sketching out the movements of our country in themselves.” ago.” cently enough. He said one notable story Avakian said some contribu- terms of great events,” Avakian history of Northeast Portland. As a member of the Bally Total Fitness on And in a separate effort, told The Skanner News. “The tors so far have tracked their explores the history of a First Avenue and Yamhill Street, Crenshaw Oregon Bureau of Labor and 1960s marches for freedom, the families’ experiences to the Japanese family that immigrat- often parks in the city-owned SmartPark Industry Director Brad Avakian ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, the present day. ed to Oregon, opened a busi- “We’ve already had a lot of is inviting anyone who has lived Emancipation Proclamation — Civil Rights, History Stories Sought Those who have lived or worked in Oregon are invited to participate W See StorIES on page 8 See EXcluSIoN on page 3 INDEX ‘New School Ballers’ Author Speaks Jan. 29 News ...................2,3,9 Professor Thabiti Lewis examines Black men and sports in new book Opinion ..................4,5 A & E ......................6,7 Food..........................8 Bids/Classifieds ...10,11 By Helen Silvis of The Skanner News I mages of successful Black athletes inspire the dreams of millions of young Black men. That matters in a culture where athletes are viewed as demigods, yet positive images of Black masculinity are hard to find. Author Thabiti Lewis takes a hard look at sport, racism and images of Black masculinity in his groundbreaking new book ‘Ballers of the New School: Race, Sports and American Culture.’ A professor at Washington State University, Vancouver, Lewis has a full schedule that includes talk- ing to young men and women in cities across the country about masculinity, sport and race. Teens are especially welcome at this event. Lewis will speak at 2 pm Saturday, Jan. 29 at Reflections book store, 446 NE Killingsworth St., Portland. The Skanner interviewed Lewis by phone Jan. 25. The Skanner: In your book, you write a letter. What’s that about? thabiti lewis: I write a letter to my cousin, who is turning 16. I had a call from See SportS on page 3
