FEBRUARY 24, 2016
Portland and Seattle Volume XXXVIII No. 21
Opinion ...................................2
Calendars ...............................4
A & E ........................................5
Bids/Classifi eds ....................11
CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW
25
CENTS
INSIDE:
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Special Edition
PHOTO BY M.O. STEVENS VIA WIKIMEDIA COM-
MONS (PUBLIC DOMAIN)
SEATTLE KILLING
The Oregon House passed a bill last week that
would make it easier for police departments to
conceal offi cers’ names if they receive a “credible
threat” following a controversial incident, such as
use of force.
House passes bill that
would allow courts to
hide cops’ names
By Christen McCurdy
Of The Skanner News
A
bill that would conceal the iden-
tities of law enforcement offi cers
who receive “credible threats” on
their lives passed of the House
last week, aft er being fast-tracked by a
Portland-area Democrat at the request
of Oregon State Police.
House Bill 4087 would permit an offi -
cer or law enforcement unit to petition
circuit courts to withhold identifying
information of offi cers or their imme-
diate family in the event of a “credible
threat of present danger to life of police
offi cer or police offi cer’s immediate
See OFFICERS on page 3
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
Concealing
Offi cers’
Identities
Gerald Hankerson, the President of the Seattle King County Branch of the NAACP, described the killing of Che Taylor by Seattle Police Sunday as an
“execution” and “cold blooded murder” during a press conference on Tuesday at the offi ces of the NAACP. Hankerson was joined by the family of Mr.
Taylor and their attorneys Sheley Secrest and James Bible.
State Seeks Information About Profi ling
System created by profi ling bill last year makes it easier to fi le complaints
By Lisa Loving
Special to The Skanner
News
H
ave you experienced
racial profiling re-
cently while driving
in the state of Ore-
gon?
The Oregon End Profiling
Act – passed last year – has
rolled out a series of re-
forms including a place
you can file a complaint
about your experience on-
line anytime of the day or
night, in five diff erent lan-
guages.
That information won’t
be used to discipline offi -
cers but rather to study
ways to minimize racial
profi ling, advocates say.
It’s all part of an eff ort to
drill down into the issue
and eventually, create pol-
icies to combat it.
“What’s really unique is
that we have data collec-
tion, and that will really
help us in the long term
create a picture of profi ling
so we can see who that was,
what were their identities
and what was the outcome
of that stop,” said Adrian
Martinez of the Center for
Intercultural Organizing.
“Anybody who thinks
they have been profi led – if
you or someone you know,
you love, your neighbor
has experienced profi l-
ing from law enforcement
— whether it’s police or
sheriff s or campus secu-
rity, you should fi le a com-
plaint.”
Pushed by Oregon Reps.
Lew Frederick, Peter Buck-
ley, and Jessica Vega Peder-
son, the End Profiling Act
gave power to the Law En-
forcement Contacts Policy
See PROFILING on page 3
Portland Playhouse event brought Black and
White neighbors to talk about gentrifi cation
Movie
Reviews
By Arashi Young
Of The Skanner News
page 5
INSIDE: Black History
Month Special Edition
T
wenty people took the stage to
tell the story of their Northeast
Portland neighborhood. They
each chose a moment in time
that was important to them.
For some, it was opening their fi rst
business in the area. For others it was
the heyday of Jeff erson High School
and running around the neighbor-
hood with friends until curfew. The
group created a timeline of memo-
ries, including many Black voices
representing the old community,
many White voices representing the
new neighborhood.
People from these eras came face
to face for a dialogue about race,
displacement and community. The,
event, The Stories of Our Neighbor-
hood, was held at the Portland Play-
house Feb. 20.
The organizer of this meeting,
Tanisha Jones, said it was created
to bring together members of the
neighborhood who have been aff ect-
ed by gentrifi cation and to honor
these diff erent perspectives.
“I think we are at a crossroads right
now, where there is a lot of divisive-
ness with people feeling pushed out
and those who are benefi tting from
gentrifi cation are thinking... how
PHOTO BY ARASHI YOUNG
The Stories of Our Neighborhood
A Feb. 20 event at Portland Playhouse gave 20
people – including those who have benefi ted
from gentrifi cation and those who have been
harmed by it – a chance to talk about changes
in North and Northeast Portland.
can we help?” Jones told The Skanner
News.
The community conversation was
facilitated by Resolutions North-
west who use confl ict resolution
See NEIGHBORHOOD on page 3