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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 25, 2015)
Pot Y-wE Speak continued from page 1 B ERNIE F OSTER Founder/Publisher B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER Executive Editor J ERRY F OSTER Advertising Manager L ISA L OVING News Editor P ATRICIA I RVIN Graphic Designer A RASHI Y OUNG D ONOVAN M. S MITH Reporters M ONICA J. F OSTER Seattle Office Coordinator J ULIE K EEFE S USAN F RIED Photographers ease somewhat for marijuana distribution charges. Black people accounted for about 22 percent of Colorado distribution arrests in 2010 and about 18 percent of such arrests in 2014. The arrest data got a mixed response from the regional head of the NAACP. “The overall decrease in arrests, charges and cases is enormously beneficial to communities of color who bore the brunt of marijuana pro- hibition prior to (legalization),” Rosemary Harris Lytle said in a statement. “However, we are concerned with the rise in disparity for the charge of public consumption and challenge law enforcement to ensure this reality is not discriminatory in any manner.” In 2014, the year Colorado’s recreational marijuana stores opened, black people accounted for 3.9 percent of the population, but they made up 9.2 percent of marijuana pos- session arrests. For illegal marijuana cultivation, the dispar- ities didn’t just persist. They got much worse. In 2010, whites in Colorado were slightly more likely than blacks to be arrested for mar- ijuana cultivation. After legalization, the arrest rate for whites dropped dramatically but ticked up for blacks. In 2014, the arrest rate for blacks was roughly 2.5 times higher. The Drug Policy Alliance did not conduct a similar arrest analysis in Washington state, which also legalized pot in 2012. Last Septem- ber, Seattle’s elected prosecutor dropped all Majuma Abdikadir, 14, and a dozen other young women perform an original theatre piece entitled ‘Y-wE Speak: Our Legacy, Our Leadership,’ March 14 at the Seattle Repertory’s Leo k. Theatre. They created the piece about “honoring your past in order to shape your future,” during an eight-month residency at the Seattle Rep where they worked with mentors from Young women Empowered (Y-wE) and teaching artists. tickets issued for the public use of marijuana through the first seven months of 2014 because most of them were issued by a single police officer who disagreed with the legal pot law. About one-third of those tickets were issued PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED “Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now” to blacks, who make up about 8 percent of Seattle’s population. Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com Cannabis continued from page 1 The Skanner Newspaper, established in October 1975, is a weekly publica- tion, published each Wednesday by IMM Publications Inc., 415 N. Killingsworth St., P.O. Box 5455, Portland, OR 97228. Telephone (503) 285-5555. E-mail: info@theskanner.com World Wide Web site: http://www.theskanner.com Fax: (503) 285-2900 The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Associ- ation and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re - spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. © 2014 The Skanner. ALL RIGHTS RE SERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED. To see The Skanner News on your smart phone go to theskannermobile.com or scan this QR code with your app. • • • • • • • • Local news Opinions Jobs, Bids Sports Entertainment Music reviews Bulletin board RSS feeds (It should be noted that the new laws do not affect the 16-year-old Oregon Medical Marijuana Plan.) Disappointing public participation Part of the OLCC’s process of figuring out the rules has involved a series of public listening ses- sions they held across the state; the public hearings concluded in Portland this month. Commissioner Harper, who is African American, says the Black community’s lack of turnout was disheartening. Tom Towslee, spokesperson for Those with a ‘green thumb’ and an entrepreneurial spirit will have to wait until Jan. 4, 2016, to apply to get their hand in the industry the OLCC, says that assuring minorities and women get a fair shake in obtaining licenses is something they will “definitely be looking at.” “That will be part of the com- mission’s authority and responsibility when it gets around to adopting the rules to implement the law,” Towslee says. Oregon is largely using Col- orado as a model for formulating the new rules because the Boulder State also had a medical marijua- tion. Large sign-up sheets were distributed to each table asking people to contribute their expert- ise to the plan. The social media hashtag and twitter handle pdx- peoplesplan was announced. “We will not allow our communi- ty to be betrayed again.” Despite these reservations, there was hope that this effort would bring meaningful change. Hill told The Skanner News the na program, he said, and the diver- sity of licenses awarded will depend on how diverse the appli- cant pool is. Towslee says he’s seen an array of projections on how much sales will generate for the state, ranging from $5 million to $44 million. But he cautions the numbers are only speculation and hard facts on how Oregon’s faring won’t be available probably until sometime in 2017. Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com PAALF continued from page 1 equity is inadequate. “Mainstream urban policy asks for equity, but that equity isn’t centered around a vision for Black community,”Bates said, adding that the plan would “assert the right of black people to not only be in place, but to shape place.” The plan outlined a set of objec- tives including economic development, culture and arts development, personal safety development and urban planning. It proposes the question “what does Portland’s Black community want?” and asks to visualize a Portland that would reflect these values. Among the leaders present at the reception were former State Senator Avel Gordly; Rev. T. Allen Bethel of the Albina Minis- terial Alliance; and Midge Purcell of the Urban League of Portland. The small ballroom was nearly full with late-comers standing in hallway by the door. Hill gave a call to action to the crowd, asking for their participa- Page 2 The Portland and Seattle Skanner March 25, 2015 [The plan] proposes the question ‘what does Portland’s Black community want?’ Some in the crowd expressed hesitance toward the new plan. There were concerns on how to maintain a Black-centered policy without being excluded from mainstream discussion. Purcell briefly spoke on past failures where plans like these were co-opted by white city plan- ners. She mentioned the failed Albina Plan, which had heavy involvement from the Black com- munity but never translated into actual policy. Purcell passionately declared, time is now for a significant grass- roots push. He cited a growing body of scholarly analysis on the failure of urban planning, the dis- placement of earlier generations, and the heightened awareness of violence against Black people today. Bates told The Skanner News that Portland is more receptive to conversations about racial equity than ever before. “The city and region are recog- nizing that the path we are on — in terms of racial disparity and class disparity and income inequality — is not a good one for the health of the region,” Bates said. She said government bureaus are asking for solutions to equity issues and it is time to give answers from the Black communi- ty. The plan also represents the evolution of PAALF from a grass- roots leadership program to an influential but controversial flash- point. The organization made waves last year in protesting the urban planning policy surround- ing the Trader Joe’s development deal on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Since then, PAALF has been rethinking their role within the community. PAALF Executive Director Cory Murphy said they learned from the encounter and have restructured as a stronger organi- zation. Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com
