Local News
Juneteenth
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Portland organizers say that Juneteenth is
“meant to rejoice in freedom and remind
everyone that African-Americans’ ancestors
endured one of the worst slave experiences
in human history.”
In Portland, the celebration starts with a
“Freedom Parade” at 11 a.m. along Martin
Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, between North-
east Jarrett and Knott Streets. This year’s
Grand Marshall is “Mother of Juneteenth”
There will be foods, musical artists, spe-
cial guest speakers, arts and craft vendors,
prizes, a play area for children, and much
more. This event is free to the public and
family-friendly.
Rush also praises U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley,
who last December became the 30th signer
of a joint resolution declaring Juneteenth a
national holiday.
“This year marks 150 years since the steel
chains were broken on
African-American people,”
Rush says. “Portland’s June-
teenth events may be small
and not as prominent as in
most other cities, but we still
believe that our communities
should join in celebrating our
freedom as Americans.”
Also slated is a lecture on the history of
Juneteenth by African American historian
Hari Jones, assistant director and curator of
the African American Civil War Freedom
Foundation and Museum in Washington,
D.C. The talk is 7-9 p.m. at the University
of Portland on Wednesday, June 12, and
sponsored by Wells Fargo.
This year marks 150 years since
the steel chains were broken
on African-American people
Clara Peoples, who in 2011 was bestowed
the national honor of “Miss Juneteenth.”
Peoples is credited with leading Oregon’s
first-ever Juneteenth Parade, along the
docks during World War II.
The short parade ends at the Legacy
Emanuel field at Northeast Vancouver at
Graham, where the festival will take place
starting at noon, and running through 6 p.m.
Clara Peoples, the “Mother of Juneteenth,” rode last year with Paul Knauls in the
Juneteenth Parade. This year she is Grand Marshall.
One last special event is, “Juneteenth:
Words Along the Way,” 6 p.m., Wednesday,
June 19 at the North Portland Neighborhood
Library back lawn, 512 N. Killingsworth. In
the case of rain, the program will be moved
to the second floor auditorium.
At this event, PassinArt Theater Company
traces the early history of African Ameri-
cans through poetry and prose, placing
Juneteenth in context. This event will con-
clude with a make-your-own-sundae Ice
Cream Social.
Sponsors of this year’s activities include
Wells Fargo Bank, Legacy Health System,
NW Natural, Skanner News, Passin Art
Theater Company, Multnomah County
Library, Christopher’s Gourmet Grill, and
the City of Portland.
For more information or to get involved,
write to juneteenthoregon@gmail.com.
ple who pretended to have weapons or had
fake weapons.
“I recall a young man who pulled a very
stupid prank and robbed a Gresham pizza
parlor with a toy gun,” Piluso said in her
testimony to the committee.
“It was undoubtedly a terrifying situation
for the people involved. This young man
had no other contact with police and
was fundamentally a good kid. He was
sent to prison under Measure 11. Did
he need to be held accountable for his
actions? Yes he did. However, I think
with more judicial discretion a better
sentence could have been handed
down.”
The measure 11 reforms would have
needed 20 votes in the Senate and 40
votes in the House.
“It’s a very high bar and it’s difficult
under any circumstances to get that number
of legislators on board,” said Rogers. “Of
all the reforms the District Attorneys are
opposed to, they fight the measure 11
reforms most.”
Rogers said that even without the Meas-
ure 11 reforms a bill that includes the other
reforms would move the state significantly
toward prevention, drug and mental health
treatment and re-entry programs that help
people succeed when they are released.
“I think there is still a lot of value in the
reforms,” he said. “But we can’t assume it
will move forward. We need to remind the
governor and our legislative leadership that
this has been two years in the making and
the costs of doing nothing are huge.”
Prison
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The other Measure 11 reform is the “sec-
ond look” idea, which would have allowed
judges to consider reducing sentences for
youth tried as adults, after they have served
50 percent and 75 percent of their sen-
tences.
But any changes to Measure 11 would
need a two-thirds majority to pass. A staffer
from Rep. Garret’s office said the sup-
port was not there.
District attorneys and law enforce-
ment groups have opposed the reform
effort altogether, especially the move
to reduce mandatory minimums for
any Measure 11 crimes.
“The professional public safety com-
munity including Sheriffs, Chiefs and
District Attorneys have been unwaver-
ingly direct from the first day of the
commission’s work that we will not support
any reforms which substantially impact the
very successful mandatory minimum sen-
tencing established by Ballot Measures 11
and 57,” the Oregon State Sheriffs Associa-
tion and Oregon Association of Chiefs of
Police, said in their testimony to the Legis-
lature’s Public Safety committee.
“These mandatory minimum sentences
have worked exactly as they were intended:
they put the most dangerous offenders
behind bars for an appropriately long period
of time.”
Rep. Wally Hicks, R-Grants Pass who sits
on the committee has said he won’t support
the proposals and doesn’t know any Repub-
licans who will. And some Democrats too
He was sent to prison under
Measure 11 ... However I think
with more judicial discretion a
better sentence could have
been handed down
balk at voting for changes to Measure 11.
Corrections leaders, victims’ advocates,
children’s advocates and judges have sup-
ported the reforms, along with former Gre-
sham Police Chief Carla Piluso.
They point out that inmates classified as
“violent offenders” include people who may
have been part of a violent offense but did
not themselves act violently, as well as peo-
Here’s what a few people told
legislators:
Thad Betz, a staff attorney at Metropoli-
tan Public Defenders
“I want to tell you about one of my clients
who I believe should have had his case han-
dled in the juvenile court system. My
client, who I will just call J was 15 when he
was arrested for Second Degree Robbery.
He was accused of taking another kid’s
cell phone while a friend punched the kid.
Between the two of them, and because
they were together, their behavior allegedly
met the elements of Second Degree Rob-
bery.
Read the rest of this story online at
www.theskanner.com
Green
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is important not just for people who choose
to pursue science as a profession, but to
people in fields ranging from corporate
executives to beauticians to politicians
because they need to know how the world
works too.
One of the objectives of TEWS is to help
maintain children’s interest in science.
Jemison says that children have a curiosity
and love of science that often gets lost
because of a lack of hands-on experiences
as they get older.
“Kids ask the ‘What if’ questions,” she
says. “You know, about the bugs, the snails
and all of those kinds of things. The stuff
between the couch. Kids want to know
about how the world works and it’s actually
about their natural learning techniques – to
try things and experience things.
“I think it’s our methodology that we use
in school that starts to be a deterrent to this
natural curiosity. By the time we get to third
or fourth grade, we run into a lot of teachers
who are not as versed in doing science train-
ing so they hold remotely to books.”
She says maintaining interest in
science is about allowing children to
develop their natural tendencies and
giving them opportunities to learn
about the difference sciences and
work in those areas. When students
try to do activities, that’s what helps
them hold on to the experience.
“You learn and you watch the but-
terfly grow,” says Jemison. “You
look at the cocoon and the chrysalis
and you see what happens to the but-
terfly. You wire the house so you can
see electrical pathways and understand
when something is parallel or in series.
Those are the things you remember.”
Another important component is making
the lessons relevant, she adds.
Part of the TEWS curriculum is to give
students open-ended questions. According
to Jemison, it’s about letting students use
gy production sources in their homes to
having a pollution police that forces pol-
luters to do community service.
Jemison says that while the solutions were
important, she and the environmental
scientists really stressed the process.
They wanted students to think about
things and hold on to the informa-
tion.
“One of the most exciting things
that happened to me this afternoon is
when one of the young women came
up to me and said she’s on the sus-
tainability council at her school and
this gave her some different ideas
and different ways to think about
things,” says Jemison. “Even the
environmental scientists that we had there
said that they had an opportunity to think
about the world a little bit differently as
they interacted with students.”
Kids want to know about how
the world works and it’s actually
about their natural learning
techniques – to try things and
experience things
their own innate motivation and creativity.
During the Roosevelt activity, students
presented solutions that ranged from people
getting tax breaks for using alternative ener-
June 12, 2013 The Portland Skanner Page 3