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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 5, 2014)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM M ARCH 5, 2014 P ORTLAND AND S EATTLE V OLUME XXXVI, N O . 22 For The Skanner website scan this QR code CENTS Pacific NW The Skanner News presents our new regional edition, featuring more news and local information. C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW War on Hip Hop Heats Up 25 ‘THE HOOD AIN’T THE SAME’ IPR says it plans review of Portland Police practices Lisa Loving Of The Skanner News he City of Portland’s reported “war against hip hop” just got hotter. Community outrage over what some see as a racist targeting of hip hop events peaked over the weekend when recording artist Luck-One and Illmaculate’s Saturday night show at the Blue Monk was halted, reportedly by the Portland Fire Marshall due to overcrowding. A Portland Police spokesman confirmed Monday that Gang Enforcement Team members were there, although, he said, the Blue Monk has no history of gang activity. Illmaculate reportedly left his own show in protest after authorities entered the club. “I will not perform in this city as long as the blatant targeting of black culture and minorities congregating is acceptable com- mon practice,” he tweeted. Now the Portland Independent Police Review Division says they planning to “review” what happened that night and how police actions are impacting the hip hop community. “The City Auditor’s Independent Police Review Division will be conducting a review of the Portland Police Bureau’s poli- cies and procedures that relate to its interactions with hip-hop music events and venues,” IPR Director Constantin Severe said Tuesday in a statement. “IPR staff members will conduct interviews with members of the community, music industry, and the Police Bureau.” Mayor Charlie Hales’ office issued this statement: “Members of the mayor’s staff have been working on this topic for some time now, and met with industry representatives on Monday for our own education and infor- mation gathering, in an effort to ensure that all fans have an opportunity to enjoy any music in a safe, comfortable atmosphere. Mayor Hales supports a review of police PHOTO BY DEVEN MORGAN T Draze’s single describing how gentrification hit Seattle’s South Side grew into a music video picked up for Seattle Center’s 50 Next project, inspired a major art show at the Experience Music Project Museum and has now touched off a local movement launching a series of community dialogues on community displacement and gentrification that will soon bring local people together in coffee shops across the city. D raze, also known as Dumisani Maraire, has an unequalled lineage in the Pacific Northwest: Born in Seattle, he is the son of Dumisani Maraire (1944- 1999), the marimba superstar from Zimbabwe who became a University of Washington ethnomusicologist while ignit- ing a musical movement throughout Oregon, Washing- ton and beyond. This year Draze’s single describing how gentrification hit Seattle’s South Side grew into a music video picked up for Seattle Center’s 50 Next project, inspired a major art show at the Experience Music Project Museum and has now touched off a local movement launching a series of commu- nity dialogues on community displacement and gentrifica- tion that will soon bring local people together in coffee shops across the city. The Skanner News spoke with Draze about displace- ment, race, art, and what it will take to bring all our communi- ties together. The Skanner News: How did this project come about? Draze: I’m a rapper, I’m an artist and musician. I was in the central area of Seattle, and I was getting ready to go to the East Side but it was traffic time, and I said you know what? I don’t want to go to the East Side right now. I’m just going to stay right here in the Central Area for a couple hours until traffic dies down, and then I’ll travel across the bridge. And then I thought maybe I’ll go get something to eat. And I was in the mood for some soul food. I started look- ing around and the two or three places that I used to go weren’t there. I can’t even find any soul food in the heart of the Central Area? And then the next was, I’ll go hang out at my friends’ houses. And I was going through my phone, only look to look up and say wow – nobody’s here. As an artist, there is a moment when the light goes on and this thought came – man the hood ain’t the same. And that sparked this song, See HIP HOP on page 3 INDEX News ..............1,3,8-10 Opinion .....................2 Calendars ..............4,5 A & E ......................6,7 Bids/Classifieds ........11 “It Ain’t The Same.” And that was just the song — the actual movement took longer to get to. So I ended up with 50 Next, which is an organization in combination with Seattle Cen- ter; they were doing a compilation. The concept behind 50 Next is in the spirit of celebrating the space needle turning 50 years old. So the idea was, let’s create a hip-hop project looking at 50 or 100 years from now, some- thing people can look back on and say this is what was going on in Seattle. I felt this was a great opportunity, to send in this track, I did that. Steve fell in love with it and everyone at See HOOD on page 3 Healthcare Accountability Gutted Bill would have required price, quality information for consumers By John Webster The Spokesman-Review SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Lobbying behind closed doors, Washington’s largest health insurance company persuaded Republicans in the state Senate to gut a widely supported bill that aimed to reveal health care price and quality information to consumers. The battle pits Premera Blue Cross against a broad coalition representing just about everyone who buys, uses, provides or shapes health care: small and large busi- nesses, consumer advocates, tribes, hospitals, doctors, nurses, the governor, the insurance commissioner, the agency that governs insurance for state employees and the poor, and even Premera’s competitors. That coalition seeks more than sunlight on the industry’s finances; it also backs a com- prehensive new statewide plan to change the way the industry operates. The battle focuses on House Bill 2572, which passed the state House of Represen- tatives and came up for a hearing Thursday in the Senate Health Care Committee. After some fiery testimony, committee Chair- See HEALTH on page 3
