WWW . tHESkANNEr . COM
J uNE 29, 2011
P OrtlAND , O rEgON
V OluME XXXIII, N O . 35
25
CENtS
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Have a Safe Fourth
C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow
Fighting
For Child
Welfare
Project HoPe
Grandmother wants
to bring reform to the
state agency
By Brian Stimson
of The Skanner News
PHoto BY HElEN SIlvIS
T
here’s a passage in Multnomah
County’s report on Child Welfare that
Evelyn Murray likes to point out. It
may run contrary to what some people think
about the foster care system, but it reflects
what many studies have found.
“When a child is removed from their
home and separated from their family, even
if required for safety reasons, the traumatic
impact is severe and long-lasting,” states the
opening paragraph to the 2010 Multnomah
County Child Welfare Workgroup Report.
Murray, a member of the group
Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, says
she’s been fighting to keep her grandchil-
dren within her family after they were
placed into foster care several years ago.
Her daughter had suffered from post partum
depression, which caused the initial separa-
tion. Murray says the last time she had con-
tact with her grandchildren was September
of 2010.
Murray, along with supporter Margaret
Curtis, has been staging a protest and
fundraiser at the corner of Alberta Street and
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to raise
money for a lawsuit to force DHS to change
policies that keep African American chil-
dren out of, and out of touch with, their bio-
logical families.
For years now, The Skanner News has
interviewed African American residents
with similar stories: Attempts to adopt
grandchildren or relatives by African
Americans are stymied by bureaucratic
hoops that often seem subjective and ever-
changing.
A 2010 study by PSU’s School of Social
Work looked specifically at why racial dis-
parities exist. Not only did they find cultur-
al ignorance on behalf of caseworkers, judi-
cial officers and those who are required by
law to report suspected child abuse, the
researchers found the child welfare system
Dozens of incarcerated youth at the Multnomah County Juvenile Detention Center worked for months to create a
series of murals designed by artist and youth advocate Arvie Smith.
Stunning Murals Created in Detention
Artist Arvie Smith unveils youth paintings at the county juvenile facility
By Helen Silvis
of The Skanner News
“W
ow! I love this
work.” “These
are amazing.”
“The colors are so vibrant, and
look at those textures.” Those
were just a few of the com-
ments from a group of people
invited to the unveiling and
dedication ceremony for of
five stunning murals created
by artist Arvie Smith and teens
in
Multnomah
County
Juvenile Detention Center.
But chair Jeff Cogen may
have said it best: “They are so
moving. I’m far from an art
critic but it’s hard not to feel it
deep inside. You look at this
work and it’s so beautiful,
emotional and inspirational.”
The murals are all part of
Project Hope, created by
Smith and more than 100
young people in detention,
over the course of two years.
Each one is rich with images
and cultural references from ’s
multicultural heritage. And
each tells a different story of
hope. Smith, whose body of
work has received internation-
al acclaim, mines the history
of marginalized and disem-
powered people to create
provocative,
compelling
images filled with beauty and
meaning.
Carol R. Smith, RACC
board chair (not the public
schools superintendent), was
one of the speakers at the ded-
ication ceremony. Creating art
has a transformative impact,
she said. And this project
clearly had a powerful effect
on the teens who worked with
Smith.
“It really reaches their heart
and soul and gives them a tool
beyond the written word.”
About 40 people were invit-
ed to the dedication, including
representatives from Mayor
Sam Adams office, representa-
tives from the Regional Arts
and
Culture
Council,
Multnomah County staffers,
detention staff; and artists.
They were lucky. They were
able to view all five murals in
See art on page 3
See rEform on page 3
INDEX
News .........2,3,8-10,12
Opinion ..................4,5
A & E ......................6,7
Bids/Classifieds ........11
Quakers Hold Portland Freedom School
Events will teach young people of color about their own history
lisa loving
of The Skanner News
T
aking off from the Civil Rights
Movement tradition, the American
Friends Service Committee held the
Jacqueline Lynch Holmes Summer
Freedom School through Saturday, June 25,
at
the
Northeast
Coalition
Of
Neighborhoods. Free workshops and events
planned on Thursday and Friday, with a cul-
tural field trip and outing on Saturday.
AFSC youth coordinator Mireaya Medina
says the event is a crucial point of education
for young people of color who are not ade-
quately taught about the history of their own
communities in school.
“Our goal is to be able to train between 40
and 50 youth, and then those 40 to 50 youth
go and train another 40 to 50 youth,” she
said. “So the training is constantly evolving
sand breaking the chains of racism in
Portland.”
Freedom Schools were grassroots educa-
tion projects by African American Civil
Rights organizers in the South during the
Civil Rights movement. Their subject mat-
ter – race, class and political history – gal-
See frEEDom on page 3