Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 2013)
The 2013 Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast PDC Executive Director Patrick Quinton; Frank Taylor, Portland Prime Restaurant; Doug Tweedy, CEO Pacific NW Council Of Carpenters; Amanda Fritz, Portland City Commissioner Keynote speaker Dr. Irma McClaurin lectured on poverty and Internet access Bobbie Dore Foster, Editor, The Skanner News Group; Ron Person, Vice Pres., Retail Operations, Safeway, NW Div.; Dan Floyd, Vice Pres., Marketing Dev., Hood To Coast Portland Relay; Larry Miller, President, Brand Jordan, Nike; Dr. Jean Pollard, Co-Pastor, Emmanual COGICU. ALL PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE ARE BY THE JULIE KEEFE Multnomah County Judges .... at right, Lee Fleming of Portland Public Schools, winner of the Text iTunes competition 2013 Drum Major for Justice Award honoree Joe McFerrin of the POIC Oregon Lottery Board Chair Elisa Dozono Live continued from page 5 almost 100 years in legal apartheid from 1865 to 1965, founded a Civil Rights movement, and passed legislation to close that trap door of contradictions in the hope of restoring two documents to their grandness, the Declara- tion of Independence & the Constitution of the United States.” Today, as we celebrate the birthday of this prophet. Today, on the birthday of this visionary leader so filled with hope so many years ago, a man born January 15, 1929, who I now realize never got the opportunity to reach my age. He died at the young age of 38. I stand before you to say that since that momentous event of the historic March on Washington and the decla- ration of a war on poverty, since MLK, Jr. shared with us his vision, in the intervening 50 years of struggle and the press for racial equality for the common good, we have made some progress. Yes, we have made some progress. “Although the majority of voting Americans helped to elect an African American man to guide the country for a second term, we have not established a post-racial socie- ty. Race still matters, poverty still matters, and racism is not a figment of our imaginations. America is walking a tight rope in which the democratic promise and social contract of equality stand at one end and poverty/limited access/and racism stands at the other. The safety net of a denial of an authentic life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap- piness as a fully vested citizen is still just out of reach.” “How can we tolerate the fact that more than 20.5 mil- lion Americans live on less than $11,000 a year for a family of four — half of the federally defined poverty level? That means living on just $7.55 a day. What’s worse is that the quality of life of these poorest Americans resembles that of people in the world’s least developed countries. Americans value fairness. Yet 20.5 million Americans are born into and ensnared in a poverty trap, Page 6 The Portland Skanner January 23, 2013 never getting a fair break. What has happened to Ameri- ca’s promise that everyone get access to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?” “The Technology Revolution will increase the digital divide between the haves and have nots;it will leave you behind if you are a member of the “…46% of poorest households [who] do not own a computer…[as compared to the] only 4% of the wealthiest households that go with- 50 years of struggle and the press for racial equality for the common good, we have made some progress. Yes, we have made some progress. out one.” “The Technology Revolution /will not be televised.It will not be brought to you/by Comcast, Direct TV, or AT& T Uverse. It will not be available in analog, through cable, HDM1 or HDM2. The Technology Revolution will be/is LIVE. It will be uploaded onto UTube with 10,000 views per second; it will be streamed live, while being tweeted using 140 characters or less. The Technology Revolution will tell the world to ‘THINK DIFFERENT’ “Is there a glimmer of hope? “In 15 months, we completed a 21,000sf renovation of the facility for the first Urban Research and Outreach Engagement UROC. It became the symbol of progress and movement towards a collective vision of change. Itwas technologically a state-of-the-art facility that would house programs committed to improving the lives of peo- ple living in North Minneapolis.The most notable accomplishment was receiving a $2.9M ARRA grant to support Broadband Access for North Minneapolis and other underserved communities across the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. In keeping with the agenda that the University needed to demonstrate true commit- ment, it contributed $750K in cash and in-kind support to bring the entire project total to $3.6M. “ 9:42: Standing ovation for the keynote speech Dr. Irma McClaurin Emcee Bobbie Dore Foster: Thanks speaker and intro- duces scholarship presentations. 9:44 Scholarship presentations: 10:05 Mother Lorene Wilder sings. Standing ovation. 10:15 Drum Major for Justice Joe McFerrin: Wow! Thanks Bobbie and Bernie for being role models in com- munity. “I’m super excited about expanding our services to kids and families in East Portland. Thanks his wife Lisa, his family, parents, board and staff at POIC. “This award is for you. It’s your hard work every day that gets the job done.” 10:14 News editor Lisa Loving presenting the Drum Major for Justice Award “In the spirit of Dr. King’s final battle, the War on Poverty, This year’s Drum Major for Justice is an indi- vidual who has worked to bring education and job training to some of the most disadvantaged people in our community. As the president and CEO of the, our honoree has worked for almost 20 years to build work training programs for youth using corporate and community part- nerships. In his free time he has earned a masters degree in Public Administration from Portland State University See BLOG on page 8
