WWW . THESkANNER . COM
M ARCH 23, 2011
P ORTLAND , O REGON
V OLuME XXXIII, N O . 21
25
CENTS
i nSiDe
More on Wilmington 10
page 6
Racism in Central Ore.
page 7
Debit Card Abuse
C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow
Civil
Rights
History
page 10
SEI to SELMA
Ben Chavis says it’s
time to clear names
for 1971 injustice
By Brian Stimson
of The Skanner News
PHoto courteSy of Sei
T
he National Newspaper Publishers
Association this week announced that
they will be leading a campaign to
formally pardon the “Wilmington 10.”
The Wilmington 10 were a group of Black
activists convicted of arson, conspiracy and
other charges in 1971 during a period of
racial unrest and violence. The convictions
stemmed from the firebombing of a grocery
store in Wilmington, NC.
Despite alibis for the accused, and wit-
nesses who later recanted and testified that
they were given favors and gifts in
exchange for their testimony, as well as evi-
dence that the police and prosecutors fabri-
cated evidence and intimidated witnesses, it
wasn’t until 1980 that an appellate court
overturned the convictions.
Dr. Ben Chavis, Jr., now a nationally syn-
dicated columnist and member of the
Wilmington 10, says a formal pardon of
innocence is different from the court’s find-
ing of constitutional rights violations related
to the original case.
“I think it would clear names, records, and
the reputations of the Wilmington 10,” he
told The Skanner News.
He said it would also serve as a reminder
that in 2011, the issue of school segregation
remains. In 1971, the Rev. Chavis was sent
to Wilmington by the United Church of
Christ to help lead a boycott of the schools
after years of stalled and flawed integration
policies.
But the fight for school equality quickly
dissolved into violence.
Tensions rose as members of the Ku Klux
Klan and another White supremacist gang
began patrolling the streets and firing on the
Gregory Congregational Church. African
Americans, without the protection of the
police, armed and blockaded themselves
inside the church. During the ensuing vio-
lence, an unarmed 17-year-old was killed by
SEI students re-enacted the Selma-to-Montgomery National Historic Trail last month in Alabama. Doug Winn from
Grant High School lead the group, with help from Grant teacher Renee Anderson, Monique Serrell and Coya
Goodman from Self Enhancement, Inc.
Liz Paige Brings Gospel Comedy to PDX
‘Let’s Talk Church’ features business leader Baruti Artharee
By Brian Stimson
of The Skanner News
S
he’s been called the
female Tyler Perry. But
comedian and writer Mary
Liz Paige admits she has a ways
to go before living up to that
moniker.
On April 1 and 2, Paige brings
her critically acclaimed gospel
comedy “Let’s Talk Church” to
Portland’s Winningstad Theatre,
1111 SW Broadway. Tickets are
available at the PCPA Box
Office at the Winningstad or
See WiLmington 10 on page 3
inDeX
503-248-4335 or at ticketmas-
ter.com.
In the play, Paige takes on the
central role as the reformed
pole-dancer turned talk show
DIVA (Devoted Inspirational
Victorious Attitude) who is tak-
ing over Oprah’s prime televi-
sion slot. Throughout the show,
the Diva encounters a number of
different personalities from the
church in need of redemption –
the married deacon who loves to
feel on women, the mentally ill
schizophrenic who hears voices,
someone desperately reluctant
to change and the woman who
loves to dress up in glitter but
who has no glory.
“Eventually they have to go
up to the upper room, in some
talk shows they call them
makeovers, where they get fully
delivered, and we have Dr. O.
Phila, you have to have a psy-
chologist to help them, so when
they come back after the com-
mercial, the intermission, you
see they’re all changed,” Paige
said.
Helping Paige bring the play
and the original cast up from
Southern
California
is
Renaissance
Man
Baruti
Artharee, who also acts as
Paige’s co-host in the play.
Artharee is probably best
known for his business work as
president of Coast Industries,
deputy director of the Portland
Development Commission, and
regional director for diversity at
Providence Health Systems.
Artharee can now add ‘actor’
to his list of accomplishments.
He says he happened upon the
opportunity at his Compton
See Let’S taLk on page 3
NW Ethnic Media Create News ‘Hive’
News ...........2,3,6,9,12
Sea Beez helps community news outlets develop on the web
Opinion ..................4,5
A
A & E .........................7
Food..........................8
Bids/Classifieds ...10,11
budding network of ethnic media
from around the Pacific Northwest
gathered in Seattle Friday, March 18
for the Sea Beez Best Business Practices
Roundtable at the offices of public radio sta-
tion KUOW.
Dozens of newspaper, television, online
and radio networks attended the event to
talk about how to work together in develop-
ing better local news reporting that reaches
more people.
Bellevue Mayor Conrad Lee participated
in the event, as did panelists Bernie Foster,
publisher of the Skanner News Group; El
Mundo newspaper President Gustavo A.
Montoya; Michael Crystal, business con-
sultant to Crosscut.com and former publish-
er of Seattle Weekly; Northwest Asian
Weekly and Seattle Chinese Post Publisher
Assunta Ng; John Liu of the Northwest
Asian Weekly; and moderator, Somali
American TV producer Madhi Maaweel.
Janet Matkin of the Washington State
Department of Transportation also spoke.
Sea Beez is a new project in community
reporting using the “hive” model of organ-
izing, developing and training within the
participating organizations, as well as
See SeaBeez on page 3