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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2015)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM A PRIL 1, 2015 P ORTLAND AND S EATTLE V OLUME XXXVII, N O . 26 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 School Use of Force 25 MINIMUM WAGE DAY Family seeks answers after Madison student put in a choke hold By Lisa Loving Of The Skanner News See CHOKE on page 3 INDEX News ..............1,3,9-10 Opinion .....................2 Calendars ..............4,5 A & E .........................6 Bids/Classifieds ........11 PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED A Madison High School mother is tak- ing a stand after her daughter was placed in a choke hold by a school vice principal during a minor scuffle off campus last winter. Video has surfaced of the encounter, inflaming local parenting activists in part because of the recent death of New Yorker Eric Garner from a New York police choke hold which was also videotaped – but also because of the history of choke holds in Portland’s Black community, which includes one of the most reviled incidents of law enforcement uses of force on record. The Portland Parents Union, led by organ- izer Sheila Warren, emailed the Madison High School choke hold image to the Port- land Public Schools Superintendent’s office last Wednesday protesting the lack of reso- lution in the case, which occurred on Dec. 8, 2014. On Friday evening, Portland Public Schools’ Ombudsman Judi Martin respond- ed: Dear Ms. Warren, Thank you for sharing your concerns on behalf of a parent and student at Madison High School. Your email was shared with me by the Office of the Superintendent to allow me to be a further resource. PPS takes allegations of employee misconduct very seriously. Because your concern regards alleged mis- conduct by specific employees, it will be addressed through the PPS Human Resources personnel process. Your concern has been referred to the Chief Human Resources Officer, Sean Murray, and these allegations will be investigated thoroughly. Lisa McCall, the Senior Director for Madi- son High School will be contacting you directly. Please call me if you have any questions. Thank you again for bringing this matter to Washington State Sen. Pramila Jayapal, who represents the 37th district of Seattle, hands out some literature to a Starbucks employee about the April 1 wage increase. Jayapal joined about 100 people for a march and rally on Capital Hill March 28 to celebrate the increase in the minimum wage. Long-Term Kidney Patient Thrives Patience, perseverance help Seattle woman get organ transplant By Cynthia Flash Special To The Skanner News F rom the time she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 13, Jackie Brown remembers hearing the unspoken message that she was going to die. Though doctors didn’t say it in so many words, that’s what Brown understood after she lost 60 pounds during the summer between seventh and eighth grade. “From the moment I was diag- nosed, it was all doom and gloom,” said Brown, who lives in Renton. “It was the best secret never told. ‘You have Type 1 diabetes. You won’t grow to adulthood.’ I felt like I was going to sit and wait to die.” That was 1987 in Chicago. Luckily, Brown moved in 2002 to Wisconsin, where she met a nurse educator from the Univer- sity of Wisconsin who asked, “Who said you had to die?” “I never thought of it in those terms,” said Brown, who had been taking insulin injections all that time. The nurse educator also told Brown that her condi- tion could lead to chronic kidney disease, which often happens in people with diabetes. Brown was encouraged to mon- itor her blood pressure, cut back on salt, watch her diet and exer- cise. March is National Kidney Month, a time to note that Brown is among more than 10 percent of American adults who have chronic kidney disease. Many don’t find out about the silent disease until the damage is severe and irreparable. In the African American community, the incidence of kidney disease increases four-fold because African Americans are also more likely than Caucasians to have diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure, which are common causes of kidney dis- ease. Although African Americans make up 12 percent of the U.S. See KIDNEY on page 3 CAT Lauches Comic on Renters’ Rights Facing eviction? Worried about discrimination? This book is for you By Arashi Young Of The Skanner News C andace walks up to her apartment and finds an eviction notice taped to the door. She had been behind on her rent and making partial payments, but her landlord wants her out. Clutching the notice, she wonders what she is going to do. Candace’s tale is one of three stories rep- resented in the new Community Alliance of Tenants’ comic book “Know Your Rights: Don’t Get Evicted.” The free comic was released on March 30 at the Oregon Public House. The comic book is a reference to help peo- ple understand their legal rights as a renter. It covers the process of eviction and what to do if you are faced with eviction. It also addresses termination notices, evictions court, being locked out by a landlord and more. Educating people on eviction is a formida- ble challenge according to Justin Buri, executive director for the Community Alliance of Tenants. “There are so many different ways that evictions take place and so many different See COMIC on page 3
