opinion
Diversity Awards for the Police? No!
“challenging People to Shape
a better Future Now”
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O
n Wednesday afternoon,
the Council will be pre-
senting the "Spirit of
Diversity Awards" to the Portland
Police Bureau and to the
Independent Police Review
Division's Outreach Coordinator
Irene Konev. We publish a
newsletter, the People's Police
Report, which revels in political
satire, so we can appreciate a joke.
Unfortunately, we don't think you
are joking.
But let's look at what the
Portland Police Bureau has done
in the year 2010 for diversity. Of
the 6 people shot by police last
year, two were African American,
and all were in some kind of men-
tal health crisis. And with the
shooting of Jack Collins, they shot
at least one homeless person.
I guess there's diversity in that
not all of them were people of
color?
Aaron Campbell was shot in the
back and killed because the officer
thought he was going for a gun, a
suspicion often projected onto
people of color but rarely on white
suspects. Keaton Otis was pulled
over because he "looked like a
gang member," and ended up dead
at the hands of the Gang
Enforcement Team. Is it any won-
der that people of color don't come
forward to report to police about
shootings within their communi-
ties?
The new Chief had the opportu-
nity, when he reached outside the
Bureau in July to appoint a civilian
to an Assistant Chief position, to
diversify his command staff, since
there are no Commanders of color
to promote.
P ortLaND c oPWatcH
Dan Handleman
Instead he chose his white friend
with whom he plays in a rock
band, and who had led the
Portland Business Alliance,
prompting the AMA Coalition for
Justice and Police Reform, headed
by African American community
leaders, to call the appointment a
"slap in the face."
Meanwhile,
the
Outreach
Coordinator from IPR started
2010 by expressing concern that
people coming to the Citizen
Review Committee's first public
outreach meeting in many years
would "get out of hand." This was
in early January before the
Campbell shooting, when the
forum was intended to focus main-
ly on the beating death of James
Chasse. After the Campbell shoot-
ing she continued to insist that the
CRC ensure there was adequate
6 people shot by police last year, two
were African American, and all were in
some kind of mental health crisis ...
Statistics for racial profiling in
2010 have not yet been released
but the 2009 numbers show that
the percentage of African
Americans who were searched and
found without contraband went up
from 32 percent to 41 percent, and
this while the Bureau was study-
ing ways to improve its so-called
"hit rate."
And while the hiring that just
occurred may have improved the
pool of officers of color, the
Bureau still has less than 4 percent
African American officers in a city
that is 6 percent Black.
The committees and organiza-
tions that the Bureau lists as its
proof of diversity, including its
own internal advisory boards,
have been around and communi-
cating with the police for years.
So surely, this must be a joke.
security at the meeting. When
CRC continued to plan the event,
the Outreach Coordinator joined
the Auditor and the IPR staff in
refusing to show up to the forum,
at which dozens of people from
the African American and mental
health consumer communities
came to testify about their con-
cerns around police misconduct
issues, and there was no outbreak
requiring security.
The Outreach Coordinator's
efforts to network with other
groups is not a bad thing.
However, as there is no report
back as to what is being learned by
contacting these groups, it is not
making the issue of police
accountability more transparent,
nor is it encouraging communities
who share concerns the ability to
speak with one another.
The best way to know whether
the Outreach Coordinator's work
has resulted in championing diver-
sity is to see how many more peo-
ple of color come forward to file
complaints, and whether their sat-
isfaction with the process
improves both via IPR's own sur-
veys and word on the street. The
IPR's 2010 report, which was pub-
lished on May 24, shows no sig-
nificant change in complaints
from communities of color, but a
relatively consistent percentage of
White complainants (67-68 per-
cent in 2006-2009, 66 percent in
2010). The award might be appro-
priate next year if the numbers
change based on the Coordinator's
reported efforts in various commu-
nities and languages and placing
complaint forms in more conven-
ient locations.
Portland Copwatch gives awards
out from time to time in our
newsletter to officers who "Do the
Right Thing"-- refuse bad orders,
resolve incidents without violence
or blow the whistle on miscon-
duct. But we tend to focus on a
single action rather than saying
that everything the officer does is
something we support. The nature
of these "Spirit of Diversity
Awards" is to make it seem as if
the City is commending every-
thing the recipients have done with
regard to diversity.
Please stop this public relations
back-patting and gather input from
the communities who are affected
before giving out these awards.
Dan handelman is the director
of Portland Copwatch, a project of
Peace and Justice works.
Planning – An Essential Part of Family Life
I
f you’re an average woman,
you want two children, accord-
ing to various surveys. That
means you’ll spend about five
years of your life trying to become
pregnant, being pregnant or recov-
ering from pregnancy, and 30
years trying to avoid it.
You can do that thanks to the
June 1965 landmark Supreme
Court decision Griswold v.
Connecticut, which affirmed the
right of married couples to use
contraceptives -- and more impor-
tantly, recognized an individual's
right to privacy in family planning
matters. Universal usage and
acceptance of contraceptives fol-
lowed, transforming the lives of
millions of Americans.
The Griswold case was a cata-
lyst for our national family plan-
ning program -- Title X of the
Public Health Service Act -- the
only dedicated source of federal
funding for family planning serv-
ices. Created in 1970, Title X pro-
vides access to family planning for
all, without regard to economic
circumstances.
Today, contraceptives are an
important part of family life in
America -- so much so that 98 per-
cent of us have used birth control
at some point in our lives, and we
mostly take it for granted.
We shouldn’t. During the recent
battle in Congress over funding
the government, the House of
Representatives voted to eliminate
Title X. Opponents of family plan-
Page 4 The Portland Skanner June 1, 2011
NFP & rHa aSSoc
Clare Coleman
ning used a mixture of misinfor-
mation and innuendo to entangle
family planning in their anti-abor-
tion war, ignoring the fact that
Title X saves the government
some $3.4 billion every year by
preventing unintended pregnan-
cies, nearly half of which would
likely have ended in abortion. The
tests; pregnancy testing; screening
for high blood pressure, anemia,
diabetes and cervical and breast
cancer, and for sexually transmit-
ted infections including HIV; basic
infertility services; health educa-
tion; and referrals for other health
and social services -- as well as
contraceptives and counseling
about them.
These are the facts of life:
According to new Guttmacher
Institute research, unintended
pregnancy costs U.S. taxpayers
Six in 10 women who get care from
Title X consider it their usual source of
health care, and for many it is their
only source
Senate saved the program, but
another attempt to kill Title X is
certain this year. When it comes,
Americans must recognize that
access to basic primary and pre-
ventive care is being threatened.
Title X funds 4,500 nonprofit-
and government-run sites nation-
wide: most are county and local
health departments. The rest are
hospitals, family planning coun-
cils and other private nonprofit
agencies. These agencies are
required to provide preventive and
primary health care services
including pelvic exams and Pap
approximately $11 billion a year.
Without publicly funded family
planning services, these costs
would be 60 percent higher. In
2008, services at Title X centers
helped prevent 973,000 unintend-
ed pregnancies that would likely
have resulted in 432,600 births
and 406,200 abortions. The cen-
ters also performed 2.2 million
Pap tests, 5.9 million STI tests and
a million confidential HIV tests in
2009 alone.
Seventeen million people need
some assistance in order to get this
important care, but today, Title X
is funded to cover just over five
million of those in need. There are
always more patients than subsi-
dies. Seventy percent of the indi-
viduals seen at Title X-funded
health centers have incomes at or
below the federal poverty level --
meaning they earn less than
$10,830 per year. Many of them
are working young adults, living
paycheck to paycheck. They count
down the days until they get paid
and are just one unexpected prob-
lem from disaster -- if the car
engine light comes on; the child-
care center raises its fees; or their
hours are cut.
Six in ten women who get care
from Title X consider it their usual
source of health care, and for
many it is their only source.
Patients under the federal poverty
level receive services at no cost to
them; those who make over
$10,830 a year are provided serv-
ices on a sliding fee scale accord-
ing to income.
Although no patient is turned
away because of an inability to
pay, Title X actually saves money
for the government. Every dollar
invested in publicly funded family
planning averts nearly $4 in
Medicaid costs. Given its proven
effectiveness, it only makes sense
that the Obama administration
should include contraceptives in
the women’s health preventive
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