January 6, 2016 The Skanner Page 3
News
Portraits
cont’d from pg 1
be not always seen.
TSN: This didn’t start
in Portland, did it?
KA: It started at Afro-
punk [an annual arts
festival] in New York,
but I didn’t go there with
that intent. I started do-
ing videos with people,
almost like a mini-docu-
mentary with video por-
...in doing these things, we
are connected to each other
traits of people. Gener-
ally they range from 30
seconds to eight seconds.
And in it, I feel like so
much can be described
about the person, about a
situation, a story.
It’s interesting, be-
cause I’m still developing
it. It’s not — and maybe
this is how experimen-
tal film works — you’re
with that crow in your
hand?” And she was like,
“Well, I feel like every
time I see a dead animal,
I need to make prepara-
tions for it, I need to bury
it, I need to cover it with a
cloth.” And she was from,
she might have said, the
Ivory Coast. And so that
just really struck me
right there, that she felt
PHOTO BY CHRISTEN MCCURDY
“
Carolina, and I had gone
to an event at Bethel
A.M.E. and I had seen her
during the service and
she looked really inter-
esting. And, then after-
wards, she was walking
ahead of me, and I saw
her pick something up.
Then I saw that it was
a crow. Then I was like,
“What are you doing
Frozen
The snow that blanketed the Portland area Sunday turned to freezing rain by Sunday night, resulting in the closure of Portland Public
Schools Monday and Tuesday. By Wednesday afternoon, most snow had melted and temperatures had reached the low 40s. This photo
was taken Monday morning on N. Killingsworth.
Frashour
A still from Kalimah Abioto’s mini-documentary series ‘The Ace Book.’
This image was taken outside of Bethel AME church in Northeast
Portland following a vigil Abioto attended for the Charleston shooting.
developing something,
you’re not always sure
where it’s going to go.
TSN: There’s no blue-
print.
KA: Yeah exactly. But
you keep moving.
TSN: Tell me more
about the girl with the
dead crow [in the video
— see photo].
KA: That’s what made
me realize [I should do]
short
documentaries.
Of course it was the day
of the shooting in South
Wapato
she needed to take care
of these dead animals.
And somehow to me that
connected with what was
happening, like that we
need to take care of each
other. Not just on this
plane, but in another
plane — in doing these
things, we are connected
to each other. No matter
the distance, no matter
what dimension we are
on, it matters. Her story
just touched me.
Read the rest of the interview at
TheSkanner.com
the court’s decision.
“The City of Portland takes use-of-
force seriously, and demands that it
be employed judiciously.
Portland Police Bureau training
emphasizes de-escalation, and while
the vast majority of our officers per-
form exceptionally well, incidents
like the tragic death of Aaron Camp-
bell undermine that success,” Hales’
“
home, he was shot with a beanbag
round, then ran and, witnesses said,
reached for his waist.
Some witnesses said it looked like
Campell was touching the part of his
abdomen that had received the bean-
bag rounds.
Frashour reported he thought
Campbell, who turned out to be un-
armed, was reaching for his gun.
Frashour then shot
Campbell in the back
with an AR-15 assault
rifle.
The Portland Police
Association filed a grievance re-
garding Frashour’s firing, which ul-
timately went to arbitration.
The state arbitrator ruled Fra-
shour’s termination had not been
justified, but then-Mayor Sam Ad-
ams announced the city would not
honor that ruling.
The Oregon Court of Appeals
ruled that the arbitrator was correct
in determining Frashour had not vi-
olated any city policy regarding use
of force.
The City of Portland takes
use-of-force seriously
statement said.
City staff later told a local televi-
sion station they are reviewing the
ruling and are considering taking
the matter to the Supreme Court.
Frashour shot and killed Aaron
Campbell in January 2010, and was
terminated later that year.
Campbell was an African Amer-
ican man whose brother had died
earlier that day.
A 911 caller reported Campbell was
suicidally depressed, and requested
a welfare check.
When Campbell came out of his
Read the rest at TheSkanner.com
cont’d from pg 1
the Home for Everyone Executive Commit-
tee, said Wapato was not a viable option.
The reasons include a bond condition
that Wapato can’t be sold to a non-govern-
mental agency while the bonds are being
paid off. The county stated operational
costs to get the facility ready for use could
cost $ 5 million, and more money would be
“
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them for what they could be.”
Instead of having the homeless navigate
multiple support agencies, Woodward
thinks Wapato should provide services
such as meals, job training, clothing, and
addiction support meetings.
There has been growing support for
Wapato as a homeless shelter.
On Dec. 8, the Portland
Business Alliance President
and CEO Sandra McDonough
sent a letter to Deborah
Kafoury, urging the county
to start a pilot project to use
a portion of Wapato as a shelter.
On Jan. 1, the Oregonian Editorial Board
endorsed the use of Wapato as a temporary
shelter. The board stated that the city of
Portland’s homeless state of emergency ne-
cessitated creative solutions from decision
makers.
Woodward said opening Wapato would
require systemic changes to how money is
being spent on the homeless in Portland.
He said local governments spend up to
The idea behind Wapato is that
people aren’t going to leave
until they are set up for success
needed to run Wapato as a shelter.
Wapato would also need to be zoned for
a shelter and changes made to the city’s
transportation plan. Accessibility is an
issue as well. The closest bus line to Wap-
ato stops three-fourths of a mile away and
doesn’t run on weekends.
“Certainly there are issues, but I don’t
believe there are any that cannot be over-
come,” Woodward said. “They only see
things for what they are. They don’t see
$40,000 per year for each homeless person,
but those efforts go towards short-term
stop-gap efforts like the Sears Armory
shelter which will operate for 6 months
and then close.
He hopes the petition, endorsements and
discussion will encourage Multnomah
County to hold a public forum on using
Wapato.
Woodward sees a deep irony that the fa-
cility is vacant while tent camps are pop-
ping up throughout the city, and the Ore-
gon Department of Transportation runs
sweeps to upend the homeless.
He sees it as a matter of life and death.
The Multnomah County Coroner record-
ed 56 deaths of the homeless in 2014, more
than one death every week.
“How much is a life worth?” Woodward
asked. “Since Wapato was available to be
used as a poor shelter, over 500 homeless
people have died in Multnomah County.
That’s almost the same number of beds
available at Wapato.”
Mayor Hales’
Statement on
the Re-Hiring of
Frashour
I am disappointed the court
blocked the City’s efforts to
terminate an officer who
used force inappropriately.
The City of Portland takes
use-of-force seriously, and
demands that it be employed
judiciously. Portland Police
Bureau training emphasizes
de-escalation, and while the
vast majority of our officers
perform exceptionally well,
incidents like the tragic
death of Aaron Campbell un-
dermine that success.
Every day officers avoid us-
ing force by de-escalating
tense and dangerous situa-
tions; the number of times
police use force has declined
by 37 percent since 2010, and
represents just 3 percent of
arrests today. And officers
use force in less than 1 per-
cent of all citizen contacts.
Employees who cannot per-
form up to those standards
should be terminated, and
have been: Since 2013, 11
bureau members have been
terminated, or left employ-
ment in lieu of termination,
for violation of bureau poli-
cies, including use-of-force.
With this regrettable deci-
sion, the officer will return to
the Bureau and be assigned
to appropriate duty.
Meanwhile, we will continue
efforts to build a Police Bu-
reau that serves the commu-
nity through relationships
and an understanding that
the police are the public, and
the public are the police.