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