local news
Prison
Holiday gifts
continued from page 1
daughter, or a family member or friend who
went to Coffee Creek to learn more about
what that experience was like.
“We’re right now in the research phase of
this work and one of the things we want to
do is hear from our members and others
about what their experiences are at Coffee
Creek,” White said.
She invites calls to her office at 503-335-
8449
ext.
210,
or
emails
to
Shannon@safetyandjustice.org .
Some key facts about youth in adult
prisons:
Youth who are held in adult
facilities are at an increased risk
of physical and sexual victimiza-
tion. The National Prison Rape
Elimination Commission found
that “more than any other group
of incarcerated persons, youth
incarcerated with adults are prob-
ably at the highest risk for sexual
abuse.”
Many children are often placed
in
isolation for 23 hours a day.
White
These conditions can cause anxi-
ety, paranoia, and exacerbate
existing mental disorders.
Youth are 36 times more likely to commit
suicide in an adult prison or jail than a juve-
nile detention facility.
The consequences of
juveniles in adult prisons are
very serious and that’s why
we at Partnership for Safety
and Justice are working to
address that issue
—Shannon
people who have either themselves been
through Coffee Creek as a 16 or 17 year old,
or maybe it was a family member a son or a
Shamika Bishop checks out necklaces at the African American Holiday
Marketplace at Talking Drum Café and Books, (also known as Reflections)
446 N.E. Killingsworth Street. Owner gloria McMurtry is inviting vendors to
set up kiosks in her store during the holiday period. S. Renee Mitchell took
the opportunity to showcase her African-inspired art and jewelry, which is
pictured here with a interested shopper.
Jobs
continued from page 1
the same period, Black unemployment
increased from 15.4 to 16.3 percent.
Oregon and the Portland Metro Region’s
most recent figures from 2009 show that
white unemployment is at 11 percent while
Black unemployment is 18 percent.
Statistics show the impact of joblessness
is most visible for youth and children.
In fact, US Census Bureau figures say that
one in two Black children in Oregon live in
poverty.
“Black people are two percent of
Oregon’s population but make up seven per-
cent of those on child welfare,” says
Purcell.
2010 US Department of Labor statistics
show that unemployment amongst Black
youth is at 33.4 percent, which is twice as
high as white youth unemployment and
over 11 percent higher than the next highest
group, Latino youth.
“When the economy is bad for everyone it
takes attention away from our community,”
says Purcell. “(Black) unemployment has
been at 15 percent or more since 1970.”
She says a number of factors, such as
housing stability, gentrification and policy
decisions cause long term unemployment.
pHoTo bY Helen SIlvIS
times longer,” said White.
“Kids are usually kept in isolation for 23
hours a day, and which for the time when
they are not kept in their cell — which can
be a horrifying experience in and of itself —
they’re out and exposed to the adult prison
population, which is just not a safe place for
kids to be,” she said.
White says the Partnership is looking for
community testimony about the conditions
for juveniles at Coffee Creek, whether
directly from the youth, from the parents or
other family members.
“So we’re gathering stories now from
Purcell also says there has been a general
disinvestment in the Black community.
She says the city can do a better job of
focusing where it invests its money.
According to her and the Urban League, the
initiatives of attracting more companies to
Oregon and hiring a local and diverse work-
force don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
The Urban League has worked with the
National Association
of
Minority
“These companies should reach into com-
munities that are more than prepared to
meet the needs of an emerging job market,”
she says.
The National Urban League has a 12
Point Jobs Plan that includes funding to
restore the Summer Youth Jobs Program as
a stand-alone that will employ five million
teens.
The
plan
also calls for a
national pub-
lic
private
jobs initiative
to create jobs
and
train
urban
resi-
dents in such
fields as tech-
nology and
broadband, health care, manufacturing,
urban transportation/water and community
facilities infrastructure, and clean energy.
Purcell says the American Jobs Act,
President Obama’s jobs bill, which has been
stifled in Congress, contains a number of
Oregon and the Portland Metro
Region’s most recent figures from 2009
show that white unemployment is at
11 percent while Black unemployment
is 18 percent
Contractors of Oregon (NAMCO) to advo-
cate for fairer access to contracting and pub-
lic procurement.
Purcell says this has made the Urban
League a partner in making local companies
more socially responsible.
important elements that coincide with the
National Urban League’s goals.
The American Jobs Act includes a $50 bil-
lion immediate investment in infrastructure,
an expansion of unemployment insurance
and specific job training to help the long
term unemployed, a $5 billion investment in
youth and young adult employment and a
tax cut for American workers.
In addition to these measures, the act also
contains specific language to prevent dis-
crimination against the unemployed in the
hiring process.
Purcell says the Urban League is working
to make the community aware of the impor-
tance of these policies and how they can be
implemented at the state and city level.
She says it’s also important to make poli-
cymakers aware of the impact of long term
unemployment on the Black community.
“We want to make sure Black unemploy-
ment doesn’t fall off the radar,” says
Purcell. “When the Oregon unemployment
rate is 9.5 percent for the general population
and 18 percent in our community, it calls for
a targeted approach.”
Just One in Four with HIV Have Infection Under Control
mike Stobbe ap medical Writer
Only about 1 in 4 Americans with the
AIDS virus have the infection under con-
trol with medications, federal health offi-
cials said Tuesday.
Part of the reason is that about 20 per-
cent of those infected with HIV don’t
know it. People can have an infection for
years without developing symptoms.
CDC also announced Tuesday a $2.4
million campaign to encourage HIV test-
ing. It’s the government’s first campaign
aimed specifically at black gay and bisex-
ual men, who account for nearly a quarter
of all new HIV infections in the country.
An infection was once a death sentence,
but medications that have been available
for 15 years can turn it into a manageable
condition, allowing those infected to live
longer and healthier lives.
However, in its first study of the issue,
the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention found only a small fraction of
people are being successfully treated.
“The big picture is we could do a lot
better than we’re doing today,” said Dr.
Thomas Frieden, the CDC’s director.
Of the nearly 1.2 million people with
HIV, only about 40 percent are getting
HIV-fighting medications regularly.
Worse, only 28 percent have gotten the
virus to low levels in their blood.
That translates to roughly 850,000
Americans who don’t have the virus con-
trolled, Frieden said.
Success rates were lowest in blacks and
women, the CDC found.
There are various reasons why more
people aren’t doing better, health officials
said. Some were still early in their treat-
ment, when the virus hadn’t been beaten
down to low levels yet. Some dropped
routine care because of money or other
obstacles. Some didn’t stick with it for
other, more personal reasons. And, in a
small percentage of cases, the medicine
may not have worked.
The HIV virus can cause AIDS, an ill-
ness that destroys the body’s immune sys-
tem and causes about 16,000 deaths annu-
ally. In the , the number of new infections
each year has held steady in recent years,
at about 50,000.
The good news is that once HIV-infect-
ed people get plugged into medical care,
the drugs bring the virus under control
nearly 80 percent of the time, health offi-
cials said.
november 30, 2011 The Portland Skanner page 3