Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 2011)
local news Teen Price is wrong She added that it appears the county will not pay any of the cost of Fair’s medical treatment for his injuries, all incurred at the hands of deputies while he was in custody, and that she is being held responsible for them. Multnomah County Chief Deputy District Attorney Norm Frink Wednesday kyeron Fair stressed that Fair had not been, “beaten by jailers,” and that the Multnomah County investiga- tion into the incident showed that staff did not act inappropriately. “A criminal investigation was done regarding whether this man was, quote, beaten by jailers, and it was found that there was no wrongdoing in this case. “Before you go around saying he was ‘beaten by jailers,’ you may want to look at that,” Frink said. He added that it is too early in the case to determine how Fair’s mental state will play out in criminal proceedings. “I cannot comment on his case specifical- ly but as a general proposition, psychologi- cal issues can play out in a number of ways. “Not commenting on a specific case, those issues may lead us to determine that prosecution is not appropriate, it might be appropriate for mental health court,” he said. Frink offered to allow The Skanner News to examine the county’s investigation report for the first time; he declined to comment on the Oregon State Police investigation completed earlier this year. Oddly, county officials have repeatedly told other media that no state report exists, including in 2010 at least one weekly newspaper that filed a Freedom of Information Act request earlier this year. Oregon State Rep. Lew Frederick and Sen. Chip Shields, as well as staff members for Rep. Mike Dembrow and U.S. Rep Earl Blumenauer, spent weeks last year trying to determine how Fair was injured, when he was injured, and by whom, as Multnomah County officials stonewalled their inquiries. Records contained within the more than 1,000-page state police investigation show that Fair was Tazed by Multnomah County Sheriffs Deps. Mindy De Armond and Gordon Glasser simultaneously (Glasser reported he used two cycles), as they forced him out of his isolation cell to transport him from the Multnomah County Detention Center to OHSU on Sept. 18. Documents show Fair was carried out of the juvenile jail by half a dozen staff members, his wrists and ankles shackled, then dumped PHoto BY SuSaN FrIED continued from page 1 At the Lloyd Farmer’s Market August 29, OsPIrg held a “Price is wrong” event with $20 of high fat, high calorie processed food, next to $20 of healthy, low calorie fruits and vegetables. The pile of unhealthy food contained 15,600 calories, whileere the unhealthy food contained 1960 calories. out onto the pavement outside the facility. After some struggle by the teenager, fol- lowed by curses and threats by MCDC Deputy Tim Barker, Fair was picked up off the pavement and alternately dragged, dropped, punched in the legs and pushed into the back of a transport van. OHSU officials soon released him, charg- ing that he was “faking” his mental illness and that his physical symptoms were not significant. 2007. That is in contrast to the general U.S. public, whose satisfaction has dropped from 32 percent to 23 percent. Andrew Kohut, Pew president, said in an interview that Muslim Americans’ overall level of satisfaction was striking. “I was concerned about a bigger sense of alienation, but there was not,” Kohut said, contrasting the U.S. to many places in Europe where Muslims have become more separatist. “You don’t see any indication of brewing negativity. When you look at their attitudes, these are still middle-class, main- stream people who want to be loyal to America.” The latest numbers come amid increased U.S. attention on the risks of homegrown terrorism after the London transit bombings in 2005. The problem has been especially pressing for President Barack Obama, with federal investigators citing a greater risk of attacks by a “lone wolf” or small home- grown cells. Such terror warnings have stirred raw emotions as the U.S. struggles to talk about religion in the context of terrorism. Tensions erupted last summer over plans to build a mosque near the Ground Zero site in New York City after critics assailed it as an insult to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., held House hear- ings earlier this year to examine whether American Muslims are becoming “radical- ized” to attack the U.S., declaring that U.S. Muslims are doing too little to fight terror. The Associated Press reported last week that with CIA guidance, the New York Police Department dispatched undercover officers into minority neighborhoods, scru- tinized imams and gathered intelligence on cab drivers and food cart vendors, jobs often done by Muslims. It is now common in U.S. mosques for Muslims to preface public remarks by say- ing that they know the government is eaves- dropping but Muslims have nothing to hide. Still, one factor behind the somewhat upbeat sentiment of Muslim Americans is the 2008 election of Obama, who pledged to improve relations with the Muslim world. Muslim Americans who vote largely identi- fy themselves as Democrats, and fully 76 percent of those surveyed say they approve of Obama’s job performance, compared with 15 percent in 2007 who approved of Bush’s performance. Regarding possible terror risks, about 21 percent of Muslim Americans say there is “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of support for extremism in their communities, according to the Pew survey. About 81 percent of Muslim Americans say suicide bombings and other forms of violence against civilians are never justified in order to defend Islam, and growing numbers also express an unfa- vorable view of al-Qaida - 81 percent com- pared with 68 percent in 2007. a Fugitive Slave, Recently Escaped from North Carolina’. The book was rediscov- ered and evaluated by Harvard University Professor Dr. Henry Louis Gates. After researching the author and the book, Gates concluded the story was a genuine work of African American fiction written around 1855. Romanski said she will focus on Black writing about politics, economics and cul- ture as well as international writing. Among the American writers she plans to highlight are: Frederick Douglass, Frances Harper, Charles Chestnutt, W.E.B.DuBois, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Jacobs. But she’ll also study Alexander Pushkin, a hero of Russian literature, who had an African great-grandfather, and Alexander Dumas, who experienced plenty of racism in France, despite being one of the most popu- lar novelists of his time. Joyce Harris, director of the Equity Center at Education Northwest, said African American literature has something to offer everyone. “Broadening our collective knowledge of the contributions of diverse people is so important to developing a healthy and inclusive view of what has shaped the academy today,” she says. “If we don’t have courses that focus on the contri- butions made by writers of African descent, we lose a lot in terms of what has shaped lit- erature universally.” Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com Terror continued from page 1 from 40 percent in 2007, the first time Pew polled Muslim Americans. Asked to identify in what ways they felt bias, about 28 percent said they had been treated or viewed with suspicion by people, while 22 percent said they were called offensive names. About 21 percent said they were singled out by airport security because they were Muslim, while another 13 percent said they were targeted by other law enforcement officials. Roughly 6 percent said they had been physically threatened or U.S. anti-terrorism efforts as insincere than sincere - 55 percent to 26 percent. The vast majority of Muslim Americans - 79 percent - rate their communities as either “excellent” or “good” places to live, even among many who reported an act of vandal- ism against a mosque or a controversy over the building of an Islamic center in their neighborhoods. They also are now more likely to say they are satisfied with the current direction of the country - 56 percent, up from 38 percent in ‘When you look at their attitudes, these are still middle-class, mainstream people who want to be loyal to America.’ attacked. On the other hand, the share of Muslim Americans who view U.S. anti-terror poli- cies as “sincere” efforts to reduce interna- tional terrorism now surpasses those who view them as insincere - 43 percent to 41 percent. Four years ago, during the presi- dency of George W. Bush, far more viewed Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com Literature continued from page 1 scheduled for 11am to 12:50 pm on the Cascade campus. ‘Students are always requesting African American or African teachers,” Romanski said. “This year we have both classes being taught from an African American perspec- tive.” Romanski’s course will look at the earliest Black writing in America, including what may be the earliest novel written by an African American writer: ‘The Bondwoman’s Narrative, by Hannah Crafts, Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com august 31, 2011 The Portland Skanner Page 3
