Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 16, 2015)
December 16, 2015 The Skanner Page 3 News ery March for the right to vote. At 19, Bonner moved to San Francisco with a couple of dollars in his pocket and the desire to make a difference. In 1972, he earned a degree in Anthropology at Sono- ma State University, fin- ishing his last 12 units studying Kiswahili in a “ cont’d from pg 1 manitarian aid to Japan after a major earthquake and tsunami — have ex- perienced severe health problems relating to ra- diation exposure at the power plant. Bonner said the cur- rent civil rights issue that most concerns him is the shootings that are happening “on an almost My interest in the event is based on the fact that this is in honor of Dr. King and his message of nonviolence, di- rect action and social action Tanzanian village and obtaining a Certificate of Fluency from the Gov- ernment of Tanzania. After he returned to the U.S. to continue his edu- cation, Bonner received a law degree from the New College School of Law in San Francisco. Bonner has been prac- ticing law for 35 years and owns a private prac- tice in Sausalito, Calif., with his son, A. Cabral Bonner, a Stanford Law School graduate. “My interest in the event is based on the fact that this is in honor of Dr. King and his message of nonviolence, direct action and social action,” Bonner told The Skanner News. Bonner’s legal career has focused on civil and Constitutional rights, in- cluding employment law, police misconduct and environmental issues. Bonner is currently rep- resenting more than 300 U.S. Navy sailors against the Tokyo Electric Power Company in a claim re- lated to the 2011 Fukushi- ma nuclear power melt- down. The suit claims all of its plaintiffs — who were sent to provide hu- daily basis” — both those perpetrated by police and mass shootings car- ried out primarily by White, Christian men. “When cops are just shooting people in the street, there is no due process. The fourth amendment right is rapidly vanishing,” Bon- ner said, adding that the right to privacy and protections against un- reasonable search and seizure have also been severely eroded. “People who worship the second amendment forget the other provi- sions of the Constitution and its foundation, the Declaration of Indepen- dence,” Bonner said of civilian shootings. “Our right to life is being tram- pled every day.” Tickets are available at www.theskanner.com/ mlk-breakfast-tickets. For information about scholarships awarded at the Breakfast, visit www.theskanner.com/ f o u n d a t i o n /s c h ol a r - ship. Information about The Skanner Founda- tion visit www.theskan- ner.com /foundation / info/20224-the-skan- ner-foundation. Displacement PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED Breakfast Seattle Human Rights Day Columbia and UCLA Law Professor Kimberle’ Crenshaw delivers the keynote address at the Seattle Human Rights Day Celebration Dec. 10 at Town Hall. Refugee cont’d from pg 1 There was a hollow floor there,” Doe said. She received aid through the organization Rebuilding Togeth- er Portland, which partnered with Lowe’s to provide $15,000 worth of home repair materials and appliances. The organization “ abuses, political unrest and a bru- tal civil war that killed more than 200,000 people. She and her husband purchased their home in 1994 and was a stay at home mother raising their kids. Life became more difficult after the loss of her husband, who pro- vided their in- come and who maintained and repaired the house. The Rebuilding Together crew put new gates in her backyard. The previous gates were broken and Doe was having theft issues. They also did electrical upgrades because all of the electronics were plugged into the last work- ing outlet in the house. Malone said this was a huge fire hazard that needed to be ad- dressed. Six volunteer carpenters built a ramp from the house to the new- ly paved driveway so Doe could get to her house without using the stairs. The accessibility ramp Our goal is a safe and healthy home for everybody applied and was awarded a com- petitive grant from Lowe’s, only 30 were granted throughout the country. Rebuilding Together Portland’s Executive Director Mike Malone said the organization helps low-income and elderly residents who can’t afford to make repairs. “Our goal is a safe and healthy home for everybody,” Malone said. Malone was inspired by Doe’s story. Doe left Liberia with her husband and three children in 1985 to escape human rights had to be built in the back of the house. Moima now uses it as her primary way to get in and out of her house. “They made a ramp for me to go outside back, I can go to the back and then come to the front,” she said. When Malone and the volun- teers were looking at Doe’s bed- room, the hollow floor nearly broke underneath them. “While we were in the bedroom, we just about fell through the floor... right where she gets into bed,” he said. The crew put in a new floor, subfloor and carpet. Dow said she was very happy with the new floor and carpet in her bedroom as well as the new vinyl flooring installed in her bathroom. She said the volunteers even cleaned the bathroom and kitch- en at the same time as the carpen- try work. All of the work was done by skilled volunteers with Rebuild- ing Together. cont’d from pg 1 tipping point -- to either sell them to de- velopers or to develop them for a high- er income bracket.” Recommendations put forth by the coalition would require local hiring of women and minorities by contractors and developers, living wage provi- sions, targeted business assistant, and an act requiring banks and hospitals to have to reinvest in communities with- in three to five miles of each facility among other suggestions. City leaders from the fair housing bureau held a series of listening ses- sions just a few months prior to the East Portland Action Plan’s release, in which they outlined research of their own that also pointed to early signs of gentrification most prominently along 82nd Avenue and 122nd Avenue. As part of the four key goals outlined in Comprehensive Plan, a document which serves as the framework for how city leadership will develop the land over next 20 years, is to slow the pace and scale of East Portland’s growth. The Bureau of Planning and Sustain- ability says there is recognition that the area has been underdeveloped in the years since it was annexed into the city in the early 1980s. “ area for many years now, and the area has seen an influx of African Ameri- cans and Latinos. According to U.S. Census data, since the year 2000, Black populations had more than doubled in 25 of the 32 tracts in East County, while the White popula- tions fell in many of those areas. According to a re- cent article in the Wil- lammette Week some East Portland neighborhoods most at risk of gentrification — like Montavil- la, Lents-Foster and Parkrose-Argay — have seen increases upwards of 15 percent in the past year alone for the average two-bedroom apartment. “When working with African Youth and Community Organization they told me they were moving their [clients] down to Salem and Wilsonville. Now we’re hearing people aren’t finding housing in Rockwood and Gresham Part of the four key goals out- lined in Comprehensive Plan... is to slow the pace and scale of East Portland’s growth “There’s a recognition that there’s an inequity there,” said Planning and Sus- tainability spokesperson Eden Dabbs. “We have been using an equity lens. How can we address the lack of ameni- ties, access, connectivity in East Port- land, and we should do that at the same time we’re making other investments, if not more so? That’s the thinking be- hind some other land-use policies.” Rents in East County have also been some of the lowest in the metropolitan Activists say they are beginning to see displacement and signs of gentrification in neighborhoods east of 82nd Avenue in Portland. and Fairview,” Wintergreen said. Now she hopes with a renewed call- to-action, community and government leaders alike will heed to the sense of urgency, she say that is needed to make East Portland a thriving area for all res- idents, new and old.
