local news
Professionals
continued from page 1
exacted more respect and action from
Oregon’s largely White political class than
for decades previously. The league’s State
of Black Oregon report blew the lid off the
city’s complacency about race-based pover-
ty, spurring Portland State University to
produce its own, influential, Communities
of Color report. Partnering with the African
Women’s Coalition on an urban garden, the
league is recognizing that food production
will be one of the most important challenges
facing the next generation. Yet arguably,
one of its most effective and creative moves
has been to build out this platform for
young African Americans.
“The
Urban
League’s
Young
Professionals is the single most vibrant
group of minority professionals aimed at
changing the status quo locally,” says C.S.
Alexander, a member of the Portland, Ore.,
branch. Alexander works for the department
of Housing and Urban Development. But he
also owns his own clothing line.
This kind of ambition is almost a require-
ment. Educated strivers, they well under-
stand that Black Americans need many
more friends in high places, if equality is to
become a reachable goal instead of a cruel
mirage.
Still at the heart of their mission is serv-
The Young Professionals
is the single most
vibrant group of
minority professionals
aimed at changing
the status quo locally
ice. On Saturday June 11, young profes-
sionals across the country will be volunteer-
ing in their communities. In Portland, the
group has organized “ Let’s Move,” a free
four-hour health and fitness event that will
include Zumba and African dance classes,
healthy lunch, cooking, gardening, and a
film about mother and baby health.
“We spend 90 minutes once a month, in a
meeting just taking care of business,” says
Rob Ingram, the dynamic president of the
Portland branch. “It’s not fun; it’s not sexy.
We take our work very seriously.”
Ingram leads the City of Portland’s Office
of Youth Violence Prevention. Inspirational
and driven, he has brought in a series of
heavy hitters as speakers: people like State
Rep. Lew Frederick; Multnomah County
Commissioner Loretta Smith; the Mayor of
Portland’s public safety advocate,
Antoinette Edwards; and financial superstar
Charles Wilhoite.
Ingram’s also an exacting leader who
demands high standards from everyone. He
will tell you it’s because he knows that to be
taken seriously in the circles of power, you
must embody powerful qualities such as:
poise, politeness and political smarts.
“The young part is negotiable: if you
think you’re young then you are. That’s
negotiable,” Ingram says. “What’s not
Grace Uwagbae with Chabre Vickers
and Blake Dye.
negotiable is being, acting and carrying
yourself as a professional. Because if you
represent us, we expect and require you to
be a professional at all times.”
What: “Lets Move” Dance, food, garden-
ing, health insurance information and
healthy lunch.
When: Saturday June 11, 11am-3pm
Where: Legacy Emanuel, 2801 North
Gantenbein Ave., Portland.
Wear: Clothes to move in. Workout
clothes.
Rosebuds
continued from page 1
MLB teams in the ‘40s and ‘50s, providing
Richards a knowledge and history of base-
ball far exceeding his own. Wilson
was even a mentor to Willie Mays,
says Richards. Unfortunately,
Wilson died on Oct. 31, 2010, right
before the library received notice
that the grant for the baseball exhi-
bition was awarded.
The traveling exhibit will cover
far more than Portland’s two-
month foray into negro baseball,
instead covering the entire history of
Blacks’ involvement in the sport. Created
by the American Library Association, the
National Endowment for the Humanities’
money dispute. He maintained throughout
that he did not participate in the robbery.
After 45 minutes of questioning, Hollins
wrote in his report, he put Kyeron back in a
cell because he was “getting excited and
animated.” After a break the questioning
resumed – still without a lawyer present.
After more than two hours, Hollins wrote,
Fair demanded an attorney and the session
ended with him trying to get up and leave
the room. He was restrained and placed in a
cell.
Half an hour later, Hollins wrote, he
“learned” that Fair’s mother Kelli Jarrell
was waiting in the Central Precinct lobby,
lem.
Many details of the conflicting medical
opinions on his case – which played out
over two trips to the hospital within several
days – weren’t sorted out until Sudaisar and
Eriksen conducted interviews with Trillium
Family Services Children’s Farm Home
staff weeks after Fair was admitted there
and began to improve.
During his first two days in juvenile
detention, Fair refused to eat any of his
meals and remained isolated in his cell, the
state report says. He was seen by Project
Respond, the mobile mental health crisis
team for Multnomah County, on Sept. 16
ing to pull the history display to Portland for
about three years.
The exhibit will be on display in
the third floor of the Multnomah
County Central Library in
Downtown Portland starting in
November 2011.
If you have any information,
remembrances, or artifacts about
African American Baseball in
Portland, please contact Strasfeld
at
503-988-3496
or
cynthias@multcolib.org.
Multnomah County Library is
trying to find anyone with old
artifacts, memories or information
on the Portland Rosebuds
Cindy Strasfeld, Multnomah County
Library’s Program Development
Specialist
and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the
Multnomah County Library has been work-
Kyeron
continued from page 1
Oregon State Police Det. Scott Sudaisar and
Multnomah County Sheriffs Det. James
Eriksen.
Among the questions tackled in the state’s
use of force investigation, three stand out:
Did the teenager get the care he needed
once he began showing signs of mental
health crisis? Was he subject to unjustified
use of force? And how did Fair end up in an
ICU unit while in custody?
Measure 11 Charges
Fair started showing signs of mental agi-
tation during the initial police interview.
On Aug. 31, 2010, a medical marijuana
card holder named Martin Hensley called
Portland Police to say three African
American males entered his home, pulled a
gun and robbed him of more than a pound
of pot and $80.
Hensley said he could identify one of the
men, by first name only: “K-Ron,” who, he
said, was approximately 17-years-old. He
said the two unidentified intruders – one of
whom held a handgun during the robbery –
were about 20-years-old.
On Sept. 13, Det. Robert Hollins arrested
Kyeron at school and proceeded to question
him about the incident without an attorney
present and without his parents’ knowledge.
In his police report, Hollins said Kyeron
rambled extensively, first implying he knew
about the crime, then denying it, at times
saying he knew who did it but that he “did
not want to tell on his friends.” He said he’d
bought pot from Hensley for months, but
that the dealer was angry with him over a
‘I didn’t do it, they made me do it, they held a
gun to my head’
-Kyeron Fair
and Hollins brought her up and allowed her
to hug her son before he was booked.
Fair was charged with first and second
degree robbery with a firearm – including
separate charges on each for all five people
who were in the house at the time of the
alleged robbery — plus unlawful use of a
weapon. All are Measure 11 counts involv-
ing use of a firearm, even though Fair was
never said by the victim or witnesses to
have held or used one in the alleged inci-
dent.
Juvenile Jail
Fair’s path to the ICU was bumpy and
paved with officials denying he had a prob-
and their recommendation was that he be
hospitalized immediately.
“… however they expressed concern that
he would likely injure himself if placed in
shackles and handcuffs,” the state report
says. A JDH staff member was assigned to
watch him one-on-one through a two-way
mirror in his cell.
The report says he began ranting about
being watched and being recorded; he did-
n’t recognize his parents. Staff reported that
he started shouting, for hours, words to the
effect of: “I didn’t do it, they made me do it,
they held a gun to my head.”
Fair tried to charge out of his cell when-
ever the door was opened; he wouldn’t
cooperate with staff trying to check his
physical health. At one point he hung his
pillowcase around his neck, the report says,
like an athlete wearing a towel to wipe
sweat off his face – prompting staff to
declare him a suicide risk.
Next the documents show that, as Fair
was placed on suicide watch Sept. 18, an
odd game of ‘hot potato’ broke out between
the JDH manager and the MCDC manager.
Juvenile officials sought to get Fair
moved out of the Donald E. Long Center
because, they said, he was violent, disrup-
tive, suicidal and they couldn’t handle him.
Numerous interviews and records show that
JDH officials thought the teenager was fak-
ing mental illness, despite reports from
more than one mental health evaluator that
his crisis was real.
JDH Customer Services Manager Craig
Bachman directed his staff to call MCDC
and arrange a transfer; at first MCDC
Corrections Sgt. Michael Phelps refused.
The two agencies traded phone calls and
memos for hours on Sept 19 before the JDH
finally won out.
In the end, the state report says, MCDC
officials were not filled in by JDH on the
extent of Fair’s illness – and the fact he was
on suicide watch – when he was transferred.
“Sergeant Phelps told us that Mr.
Bachman told him the juvenile inmate was
not suicidal but the form showed that he
was on suicide watch,” the state report says.
read Part 2, “use of force Hot-
Spots,” next week
June 8, 2011 The Portland Skanner Page 3