Local News
Swim
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around 2,000 children every year. Parents can sign up for
the free lessons from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. June 15 at any
Portland pool. It’s first-come first-served and you need to
register in person. Free classes are held from June 18 to
June 21.
For the rest of the summer, lessons will run in two-week
blocks. If you miss the free week and can’t afford the
$52.50 fee for the classes, you can apply for a financial aid
scholarship at any Portland pool.
Every pool has a free open swim each week as well as
offering teen nights, and during August, Dive-In movies.
This year’s movie will be The Lorax.
Teens interested in working as a lifeguard or swim
instructor this summer, need to complete the lifeguard’s
training. The City hires more than 700 lifeguards every
summer to keep swimmers safe. You need to be a strong
swimmer and be able to complete the required training. The
trainings are almost done for this year, so sign up soon.
Check out the class schedule at Portland Parks website
aquatic training.
Learning to swim saves lives. More than 3,500 people die
in accidental drownings every year. And according to
national statistics, African Americans are at higher risk.
Black children aged 5 to 14 are almost three times more
likely to drown than their White peers. But it doesn’t have
to be this way. Parents can learn how to keep babies and
toddlers safe. And everyone can learn to swim and be safe
around water.
This alligator isn’t going into the water, but kids all over the city have a safe, fun summer planned with the
help of Portland Parks and Recreation. Sign up now for classes and mark special events on your calendar.
Photos
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the Black presence. I’m looking for our
life.”
This search is one of the reasons why she
started her project. Not having a sense of
easily accessible Black culture is discon-
certing and hurtful, she says.
Almost everyone she meets wants to talk
about gentrification. This includes non-
Black people as well. From her discussions,
it has become the main story of Black life in
Portland. She sees a pervasive trauma in
people’s stories of displacement.
Although Abioto has familiarized herself
with some of the Black history of Oregon
and the history of the Black community in
Portland, she was particularly affected after
reading “Portland Gentrification: The North
Williams Avenue That Was – 1956,” which
was written by the Skanner News’ Lisa
Loving.
“Gentrification is not the right word to use
here. For this population to be so small, five
percent, and you’re just going to thump
these people to the edge of the city, that’s
vicious.”
While the trauma is real and the story is
sad, she wants to show that Portland’s Black
community is much more than that.
“It’s not who we are,” she says. “It’s not
who Black people are. We are more than
this story. We are more than that history. We
are more than this present even.
“To me, doing this project is about show-
ing us to ourselves. I just want to tell stories
about the truth about who we are in this
place to the Black people that are here. We
are diverse within ourselves, not just in the
spectrum of other races.
“Beyond this sadness, I want to tell stories
about who Black Portlanders were; who
they are now. In the 50s, it was Jazz on
Williams Ave. In Memphis it was Jazz.
They know about WC Handy and BB King.
Every city has its thing. What’s the thing
According to her, the response to the proj-
ect has been all positive so far. People want
to see each other, she says. She rarely comes
across people that don’t want to talk and
have their picture taken. The rejuvenation
Abioto gets from these encounters and her
‘For this population to be so small, five percent,
and you’re just going to thump these people to
the edge of the city, that’s vicious’
here for Black people?”
When Abioto goes to arts events about
Black culture or African history and culture,
she finds that she’s usually the only Black
person in attendance. As someone who con-
love of photography are what guide the
project.
“You can find a way that connects to who
you are to involve yourself,” she says.
“There are ways that I’m not able to involve
‘To me, doing this project is about showing us to
ourselves’
--Intisar Abioto
siders herself an adventurer, she says
getting out and seeing people can lift her
spirits when she’s having a down day. See-
ing Black people in particular, especially in
Portland, is good for the soul, she says.
myself because it’s not what I do, it’s not
my passion, but this feels right.”
The day after she read the story of
Williams Ave., Abioto says that she was
looking for a notary with her mother and
happened upon Rose City Cab. They found
out that the owner, Mr. Arthur Palmer, had
recently passed.
She attended his funeral and she spent the
time listening to stories about his contribu-
tions to the community. The experience was
inspiring to her.
“After hearing that story about Williams,
the details of the Portland Development
Commission and all these things, I needed
to hear those stories because I was hurting
from the previous day,” says Abioto. “You
need stories. Beyond just that story, there
are other important stories that can be told
that can help people in their day to day
lives.”
At the end of the day, she doesn’t think
that the people and businesses that have
profited from gentrification are bad. In fact,
she wonders if many even know the history
of the area. Either way, Abioto doesn’t think
that the businesses are going to pack up
anytime soon. She believes we, as Black
people need to be responsible for creating
our own change and that’s the purpose of
The Black Portlanders.
“If we aren’t in an area, we can be at this
domain,” she says. “We can be seeing each
other. We can be finding out who we are so
we’re not dispersed.
“I love showing the beauty that’s in peo-
ple. That’s one way I can share this
community. That’s one way I can alter the
terrain here.”
For more information, go to http://the-
blackportlanders.com/ or email Abioto at
theblackportlanders@gmail.com.
CIA
continued from page 1
Some Republicans in the state House have
expressed concern that the licenses will be
provided without sufficient oversight. How-
ever, the measure passed the state Senate
unanimously Friday.
Democratic Sen. Tracey Eide of Federal
Way, who sponsored the legislation, said the
law strengthens the state’s control over the
licenses. On the issue of whether the CIA
Republicans in the state House have expressed
concern that the licenses will be provided
without sufficient oversight
would qualify, Eide said that decision
would be up to Inslee and the state’s attor-
ney general.
A spokeswoman for Attorney General
Bob Ferguson said it was premature to com-
ment in the legal interpretation of a bill that
is not yet law.
April 24, 2013 The Portland Skanner Page 3