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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (June 10, 2015)
News OHSU continued from page 1 The SHARP study would like to expand the collection of photos to include as many family histories as possible 1970s to 2010, because people aren’t giving those yet,” Croff said. The SHARP study would like to expand the collection of photos to include as many family histories as possible. The collection is open to a wide range of image types from po- litical rallies to street views, community events to birthday parties. Event fliers, old business advertisements, theater programs are welcome as well. Donating images does not mean giving up family keep- sakes, Croff said. She had previously visited a donor’s house and scanned the im- ages right there. She would like to make sure that any donated pictures are re- turned as soon as possible. Selected photos may be- come part of a communi- ty website for the SHARP program which will be an archive for the black expe- rience in Portland as well as a community resource for brain health. The SHARP study will be looking for participants in July. The study will last six months long and re- quire three and a half hours A street view of Williams Avenue in 1970 a week. Participants will go on moderate 45 minute If you would like to contribute your family images to the walks three times a week and have one weekly health edu- SHARP program, contact Raina Croff at croff@ohsu.edu or cation session via the internet in their homes. 503-494-2367. PHOTO COURTESY OF OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY deep history of Black Portland, but there are fewer collec- tions of modern images. “Those are our two main sources, however with the Ore- gon Historical Society, we don’t have very much from the Saadat continued from page 1 one so far to have a Com munity Oversight Advisory Board made up of citizens, and encouraged members of the public to get involved. COCL is soliciting public feedback on its first quarterly report, downloadable at CO- CL-COAB.org. The Community Oversight Advisory Board meets from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Montavilla United Meth- odist Church (232 SE 80th Ave). Members of the public may also submit written com- ments are by 5 p.m. Saturday, which can be emailed to rosenbaumandwatsonllp@gmail. com. The Skanner News: Start by talking about your role and your vision for what you hope to accomplish with COCL. Kathleen Saadat: The effort to include the community in the development of policy and institutional change, for our local police department, is brand new. It’s an opportu- nity for the citizens of Portland to come and learn how things work, including the local police, and to express their respons- es to the implementation of the settlement agreement. That’s huge. That’s big. That’s not small. And we are being watched to see how that goes. There’s been some mistakes made at the beginning but right now a lot of effort is going into resolving complicated issues. A lot of effort is going into develop- ing a clear focus on what the tasks are. My vision is that we, Portland, the people who tection. This is not a new struggle — that is, the one between the community and the police. But it is a new step in trying to get a better understanding. My whole thing is to get everybody to come out to our pub- lic meetings to listen and learn and express This is not a new struggle — that is, the one between the community and the police. But it is a new step in trying to get a better understanding live here and care about what happens, have a chance to make a real difference in the world. It is what comes about when one is relentless in the pursuit of justice. One be- gins to shape the culture. Part of this is to shape the culture of the police department and our response to the police. Because if they change, we can too. If they get better at how they treat us, we can get better at how we treat them. I’ve spent much of my life advocating for justice for marginalized people and this is a part of that struggle, that we should have justice, we should have fairness. We should be regarded as worthy of respect and pro- their opinion. We’re not going to resolve in- dividual cases, but we have taken the stories of the many who have given them to us and tried to shape them into recommendations for policy changes in the police department. Right now we’re looking at the first report, quarterly report of the implementation of the particulars of the settlement agreement and we’ve taken public testimony. We want to hear from people about what their recom- mendations are for change. TSN: You have a lot of background in advocating on LGBT issues and for com- munities of color. Have done criminal jus- tice-specific work? KS: No. What I’ve done, I’ve worked in bureaucracies enough to have a skill at understanding how it works, how a lot of it works, intuitively. I’m not the voice. I’m the conduit for the voices. I’m a person to help build the structure so the voices can be heard. And that’s all the voices – that’s ev- erybody that’s a stakeholder in this process. TSN: How much contact have you had with the Rosenbaum group so far? KS: They’re my boss. I’m hired by COCL. So let’s say every other day. A part of my job is to give them my opinion on how we are affecting the community, how to get better input from the community, how to work with the community to get the input that we want. Bottom line, what that means is listen- ing to the people who are talking to us. TSN: Who have you heard from so far? KS: We had a public hearing, so there were lots of people there. I’m not sure I want to single anybody out. There was a public hearing not long ago, three weeks ago, at See SAADAT on page 11 Baccalaureate continued from page 1 ing us all back together in a very exciting way and saying we’re here for you, we sup- port you, we believe in you,” Edwards said. The Black Baccalaureate welcomes grad- uating Black students from all schools in the area, high schools and alternative schools -- including students who are getting their GED. C.J. Robbins of the Black Male Achieve- ment program said an important part of the ceremony is the recognition of youth in the Oregon Youth Authority who will be receiv- ing a GED or diploma while incarcerated. There is no limited seating for attendees either, the event is free of charge and open to the public. “As long as you are there to celebrate the shared value, the young people, you are more than welcome,” Robbins said. “That’s your ticket in, there’s no reserved seats,” Edwards said, laughing. The keynote speaker is Dr. Alisha Mo- reland-Capuia, director of the Avel Gordly Center for Healing at Oregon Health & Sci- ences University. The ceremony will also honor an elder of the community, Dr. Harri- et Adair, assistant Superintendent Office of School Operations & Support with Portland Public Schools and an advocate for school diversity. The baccalaureate will celebrate of Afri- can ancestry through traditional Ghanaian drumming from the Okropong ensemble, as portunity to rewrite the story of Black youth. “When you talk about rebuilding a village, I think that celebrating is often lost. We tend to focus on the negatives,” Robbins said. “Celebration of the positive is what pro- vides that hope that we need.” ‘As long as you are there to celebrate the shared value, the young people, you are more than welcome’ well as graduation sashes made from Gha- naian kente cloth. Black Education Achievement Movement Director Noni Causey said the celebration of ancestry is important because it helps stu- dents take pride in their history. “If you don’t see yourself in the big pic- ture of things, then you don’t believe that you belong there,” Causey said. Edwards and Robbins said the event was important, because the achievements of the Black community are often overshadowed by the challenges. The celebration is an op- According to Causey, the Black Bacca- laureate had thrived in Portland because of the work of Kevin Fuller, who founded the Bridge Builders Black male achievement non-profit. His work with Bridge Builders and Prospective Gents kept the event going for a number of years. Causey said when Fuller moved on to other work, the event was lost. Edwards said that PAALF, SEI, Portland Public Schools and BMA were all looking for a way to honor graduating students. When the organizers spoke with each other, it became evident that there needed to be a larger all-inclusive ceremony. “Collaboration is the only way we get any progress. When we are siloed off and doing our own thing, we’re often trying to do the same thing,” Robbins said. “We often have way more common ground that we think.” Organizers hope that the Black Baccalau- reate will grow in future years and become a local institution. There are plans to reach out to students farther away from Portland who may feel disconnected from the Black community. There are also plans to hold the ceremo- ny in May so that graduates could take their kente cloth graduation sashes back to their own high school graduations to represent their community. Edwards said the day is ultimately about honoring the youth and instilling a sense of pride to those embarking on their journey. “I think it’s important for our young peo- ple to have that sense of history, greatness and that you are special to us. You are spe- cial to us and we speak your names,” she said. June 10, 2015 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 3
