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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 2014)
Local News Breakfast Pushout Goldberg also spoke to the controversy surrounding CoverOregon’s failed website launch, which has led to calls for the feder- al government to take it over. “It’s been a disappointment for con- sumers, for the state, and for me,” he said. “Because here’s the thing: We have eleven health care plans that have joined Cover Oregon. We want people to be able to get to them... “We’re making improvements as we work to get up our full website,” he said. “ I want to ask this of you – stay with us.” (Read full speech as prepared for delivery in our opinion commentary section.) In a departure from the usual breakfast format, Goldberg took questions from the floor from The Skanner News’ Lisa Loving. “We’re actively signing people up -- Bruce Goldberg and we will get everyone signed up,” he said. “We also are asking for sub- sidies for people who from no fault of their own were not signed up in CareOregon – spoke about his career dedi- time.” Scholarship winners for 2014, and their cation to community health and his wide experience in addressing health disparities. community sponsors, include: Kaitlan “But first, I want to say it is very person- Purkapile, Portland State University, the al for me, as I know it is for everyone in the Pacific NW Regional Council of Carpen- room, to honor Dr. King and to reflect on ters; Marneet Lewis, Warner Pacific Uni- his work and his legacy, and on what it versity; the Portland Division of Safeway; Selam Wako, the University of Oregon, means to us,” he said. “Indeed, it is shocking and inhumane that Portland Development Commission; for generations in our country – and in our Shaniece Curry, University of Oregon, the state – there has been a great divide in University of Oregon; Alyson Knapper, Rice University, Oregon Health & Science; health and health care.” and Pastor Wheatfall. Hales read out a city proclamation announcing that The Skanner News Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast is now a “central event in the life of the city.” “Dr. King helped us understand equal rights are not a destination, but a journey,” Hales said. Highlight of the event was the keynote speaker, Interim Executive Director of Care Oregon, Bruce Goldberg, M.D. Goldberg – who was tapped to speak at the breakfast before his appointment to ‘We’re actively signing people up and we will get everyone signed up’ PHOTO BY THE SKANNER STAFF continued from page 1 Community organizers with the Portland Students Union, the Portland Parents Union, and the Portland Association of Teachers held a press conference calling for more resources for classrooms to address school push-out as it impacts the schools-to-prison pipeline. The demonstration came in light of the Portland Public Schools’ announcement that they have a budget surplus. Read the whole story on www.TheSkanner.com. Christine Trinh, Georgetown University, Providence Health Systems; Ashleigh Miller- Hayes, currently attending Franklin High School and heading to Seattle Pacific University, Home Forward; Dayja Curry, attending DeLa Salle North Catholic High School and heading to the University of Illi- nois, Family Care; Hanna Atenafu, Oregon State University, Legacy Health Systems; Henry Sissac, attending DeLa Salle North Catholic High School and heading to Wash- ington State University, Vancouver, Wells Fargo Bank; Veronica Medhanie, Portland State University, Pacific Power & Light, and Sanrawit Dagne, attending Reynolds High School and on his way to Oregon State University, and Michelle Carr, Kent State University, and Kevin Jones, Oregon State University, The Skanner Foundation. government should stay out of most tribal membership disputes. Mass disenrollment battles started in the 1990s, just as Indian casinos were establish- ing a foothold. Since then, Indian gambling revenues have skyrocketed from $5.4 bil- lion in 1995 to a record $27.9 billion in 2012, according to the National Indian Gaming Commission. Tribes have used the money to build hous- ing, schools and roads, and to fund tribal health care and scholarships. They also have distributed casino profits to individual tribal members. Of the nearly 240 tribes that run more than 420 gambling establishments across 28 states, half distribute a regular per-capita payout to their members. The payout amounts vary from tribe to tribe. And membership reductions lead to increases in the payments — though tribes deny money is a factor in disen- rollment and say they’re simply trying to strengthen the integrity of their membership. Disputes over money come on top of other issues for tribes. American Indians have one of the highest rates of interracial marriage in the U.S. — leading some tribes in recent years to elim- inate or reduce their blood quantum require- ments. Also, many Native Americans don’t live on reservations, speak Native lan- guages or ``look’’ Indian, making others question their bloodline claims. Across the nation, disenrollment has played out in dramatic, emotional ways that left communities reeling and cast-out mem- bers stripped of their payouts, health bene- fits, fishing rights, pensions and scholarships. In Central California, the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians has disenrolled hundreds. Last year, the dispute over banishments became so heated that sheriff’s deputies were called to break up a violent skirmish between two tribal factions that left several people injured. In Washington, after the Nooksack Tribal Council voted to disenroll 306 members cit- ing documentation errors, those affected sued in tribal and federal courts. They say the tribe, which has two casinos but gives no member payouts, was racially motivated because the families being cast out are part Filipino. This week, the Nooksack Court of Appeals declined to stop the disenrollments. including the water bill collector and the gas company – to build community around their programs and booklists. In the mid-1950s, the county library sys- tem moved to expand into six larger, full- service libraries, and the North Portland Library we know today – with some 30,000 books – evolved. The library’s Black Resource Center opened in 1987, putting North Portland Library on the map for anyone interested in reading up on racial equality sand Civil Rights, among many other related topics. Library-lovers today often enjoy the orig- inal art of beloved painter Charlotte Lewis, who died in 1999. One of many key cultur- al figures in Portland, Lewis especially loved the North Portland Library and start- ed the annual Kwanzaa celebration there in 1993. Welch says she was surprised some few years ago when she got the library’s piano tuned for the first time in years. “I thought it was an old player piano until I got it tuned,” she said. “This is the library that has Steinway piano donated from the community.” If you have library memorabilia, call the branch at 503-988-5394 or just stop by. For more information about the North Portland Library and all the system’s offer- ings go to www.MultcoLib.org. Native continued from page 1 debate over identity — over who is ``Indian enough’’ to be a tribal member. “It ultimately comes down to the question of how we define what it means to be Native today,’’ said David Wilkins, a politi- cal science professor at the University of Minnesota and a member of North Caroli- na’s Lumbee Tribe. ``As tribes who suffered genocidal policies, boarding school laws and now out-marriage try to recover their identity in the 20th century, some are more fractured, and they appear to lack the kind of common elements that lead to true cohesion.’’ Wilkins, who has tracked the recent increase in disen- rollment across the nation, says tribes have kicked out thousands of people. Historically, ceremonies and prayers — not disenrollment — were used to resolve conflicts because tribes essentially are family-based, and ``you don’t cast out your relatives,’’ Wilkins said. Banishment was used in rare, egregious sit- uations to cast out tribal members who com- mitted crimes such as murder or incest. Most tribes have based their membership criteria on blood quantum or on descent from someone named on a tribe’s census rolls or treaty records — old documents that can be flawed. There are 566 federally recognized tribes and determining membership has long been considered a hallmark of tribal sovereignty. A 1978 U.S. Supreme Court ruling reaf- firmed that policy when it said the federal Wilkins, who has tracked the recent increase in disenrollment across the nation, says tribes have kicked out thousands of people Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com Books continued from page 1 Albina first gathered 500 books in a reading room in 1909. In 1911 that collection was merged with another to form the first North Portland Library. But just one year later, local residents donated the land for construction of the cur- rent building after Carnegie donated $60,000 — to build a total of four libraries in Portland. After construction, library staff worked through close neighborhood contacts – January 22, 2014 The Portland Skanner Page 3
