Local News
Girls
continued from page 1
youth and older gang members into com-
with the consequences of continuing crimi-
nal behavior, and also offered support and
resources to restore their lives.
Antoinette
Edwards, direc-
tor of the City of
Portland Office
of Youth Vio-
lence Preven-
tion, told the
girls everyone
present
was
invested in their
success.
She
urged them to think carefully and make
good choices so they could have successful
lives.
“You are supposed to be here. You have a
purpose, and I love you,” she told the girls.
“But you’ve got to stop fighting, and texting
mean things. You are carrying a weight that
is not yours to carry. Release it. We need
you.
She said she personally would intervene if
anyone tried to hurt them, and she would
answer their calls if they needed help.
Edwards even handed out her cell phone
number as a sign that she meant what she
said.
This meeting, for young women, featured
mainly women speakers. Rev. Renee Ward
recited a poem for the girls, and explained
where to go to find help if they are experi-
encing violence Anesha, 36, told the girls
she had just got out of prison after a long
sentence. She said her youth had been wast-
ed because of
bad choices,
such as agree-
ing to hold a
gun for a
boyfriend.
“If you’ve
made
a bad
Antoinette Edwards
c h o i c e ,
c h o o s e
again,” Ane-
sha told the girls.
Several members of the gang enforcement
team also spoke. Officer Chris Burley told
the girls he didn’t want to arrest them.
“We don’t want to be putting you in jail
because we know there are better places for
you. But if your boyfriend asks you to hold
a gun, or if he’s telling you to walk the
streets, we are going to be there and you are
going to be arrested. So we don’t want you
to make any more bad decisions. We want
you to make better decisions and we want
‘You are carrying a weight
that is not yours to carry.
Release it. We need you.’
Antoinette Edwards
munity meetings, where they are confronted
Lonnie Nettles
you to be a success.
“We want you to have a happy life.”
After the meeting, several girls told The
Skanner they had found the message help-
ful.
Inequality
continued from page 1
Washington, ranked at number 30 for 2008-
10, the top 20 percent of households had
income 11.7 times greater than the bottom
group. In Oregon, ranked number 36 in
2008-10, the top 20 percent had income
10.7 times that of the bottom 20 percent.
But Oregon is ranked 7th among the states
for the fastest growing gap between top-
and middle-income households.
“Oregon’s economic story of the past
three decades is one of surging income
inequality,” said Jason Gettel, policy analyst
with the Oregon Center for Public Policy.
“The destabilizing and debilitating effect
that income inequality has on our economy
should be a chief concern among Oregon
policymakers.”
What caused the increase in income
inequality?
The researchers say the reasons include:
Growing wage inequality with wage stag-
nation for workers at the lower end of the
wage scale
Globalization and the outsourcing of man-
ufacturing and other skilled jobs
Unemployment spikes
Fewer workers in unions; unions tend to
bolster wages
Government policies that have eroded the
safety net, while reducing taxes for the
wealthy
A federal minimum wage that is not infla-
tion adjusted.
Expanded investment income that bene-
fits largely wealthy households
But does inequality matter? After all, the
American Dream does include the idea of
working hard and getting rich.
Rising inequality brings a host negative
effects, says Liz McNichol, a senior fellow
on state economic policy with the Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities, and a co-
author of the report. One problem is a
reduction in social mobility, she says.
middle class ended up falling to the bottom
of the income distribution, compared to
only 16 percent of white children.”
Another problem is segregation, McNi-
chol said, as the rich increasingly wall
themselves off from the rest of America,
and the poor congregate in low-rent neigh-
borhoods. When the wealthier groups have
no stake in public education, and rarely
come into contact with poor children and
families,
we lose the
political
will
to
improve
public
education.
Children
born into
poor fami-
lies
are
denied a crucial ladder into higher income
brackets.
Other harms include the destructive
impact of large numbers of people being
denied adequate healthcare, food, housing
and education. Crime, mental illness and
other social ills rise when wages are too low
to support families. And when hard work
simply doesn’t pay off, people lose trust in
society, our government and our institu-
tions.
“It’s discouraging for those who are not at
the top,” McNichol said. “People feel that
this is not the American Way, that it’s not
fair, and that it is going to have an effect on
the American economy going forward.”
Enter the Occupy Movement, with its
focus on the enormous advantages of the
wealthiest 1 percent. Occupy activists high-
lighted people’s anger and disillusion over
financial issues, such as: unemployment,
foreclosures, gentrification and student
debt.
And a Pew Research Center study
released in January, found that, “about two-
thirds of the public (66 percent) believes
there are “very strong” or “strong” conflicts
between the rich and the poor—an increase
of 19 percentage points since 2009.”
The federal government could change this
trend toward greater inequality with policy
changes that redistribute resources, the
report says. Congress could remove tax
breaks for the wealthiest groups, strengthen
unemployment insurance and the safety net,
and remove barriers to union representation.
But states also have a big role to play in
reducing income inequality. For some
states, that could mean avoiding increases
to sales taxes, and instead reducing tax
breaks for the wealthy. For most states it
should include raising the state minimum
wage and strengthening supports for work-
ing families, such as childcare assistance
and unemployment insurance.
“States that adopt policies that reduce
income inequality can help their states
recover more quickly from the downturn,”
McNichol says.
``These states have chosen to move from
a drug policy that spends millions of dollars
turning ordinary Ameri-
cans into criminals toward
one that will tightly regu-
late the use of marijuana
while raising tax revenue
to support cash-strapped
state and local govern-
ments,’’ the letter said.
``We
believe
this
approach embraces the
goals of existing federal
marijuana law: to stop international traffick-
ing, deter domestic organized criminal
organizations, stop violence associated with
the drug trade and protect children.’’
Proponents of the marijuana measures
welcomed the letter and DeGette’s legisla-
tion, which would amend the Controlled
Substances Act to clarify that it shall not
pre-empt state marijuana laws.
``It’s fantastic to see congressional repre-
sentatives move decisively to respect the
will of the voters and facilitate the funda-
mental reformation of our marijuana laws at
the state level,’’ said Alison Holcomb, cam-
paign manager for Washington’s Initiative
502.
So far, no Washington lawmakers have
signed onto DeGette’s legislation.
Oregon is ranked 7th among the
states for the fastest growing gap
between top- and middle-income
households
Another is lack of a skilled workforce.
“Income inequality makes it hard to create
the workforce that we need for the future,”
she said. “Lower income kids tend to strug-
gle in school. That’s a problem for them, but
it’s also a problem for all of us.”
African Americans, already dispropor-
tionately represented in the lower income
brackets, are hurt more, the report says.
“Race is an important factor in determin-
ing which individuals move up the income
ladder and how far; studies show that the
upward mobility of black families is half
that of white families. Moreover, in a major
national study, almost half (45 percent) of
black children whose parents were solidly
Read the rest of this story online at
www.theskanner.com
Marijuana
continued from page 1
say.
But marijuana remains illegal under fed-
eral law. States are not required to enforce
the federal prohibition, meaning they can
make marijuana crimes legal under state
law, but whether they can set up licensing
schemes to promote violations of federal
law is another story.
Many constitutional lawyers don’t think
so: In general, state laws that ``frustrate the
purpose’’ of federal laws can be blocked.
But the DOJ hasn’t said whether it plans
to sue to block the licensing schemes from
taking effect. Seventeen Democratic repre-
sentatives signed a letter to Attorney Gener-
al Eric Holder and Drug Enforcement
Administration Administrator Michele
Leonhart urging the DOJ to let the states
The DOJ hasn’t said whether it
plans to sue to block the
licensing schemes from taking
effect
proceed with regulating pot and to refrain
from prosecuting people who comply with
the state laws.
November 21, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 3