April 6, 2016 The Skanner Page 3
News
subject of national and
local media scrutiny
months before it was
scheduled to take place.
Emails from the college’s
faculty and staff Google
Group sent last fall and
obtained by The Skanner,
reveal some faculty and
staff were uncomfort-
able with the concept for
the event — with some
initially
thinking
it
“
cont’d from pg 1
feelings about race.
“We’re really trying to
improve the campus cli-
mate. We’re trying to im-
prove race relations on
campus, race relations in
this country,” Givens
said.
Harrison’s talk empha-
sized the idea that White-
ness is a cultural con-
struct – one that didn’t
even exist when the Unit-
We’re really trying to im-
prove the campus climate.
We’re trying to improve race
relations on campus, race re-
lations in this country
would be a “White histo-
ry month” and some say-
ing the planned events
were intended to shame
White people.
“The name was very de-
liberately chosen, not
necessarily to be provoc-
ative in the sense of cre-
ating conflict, but when
you read that name it im-
mediately gets you think-
ing in a way that Racism
Awareness Month does
not,” Proctor told The
Skanner.
“Studies about White-
ness and White privilege
have been going on for
decades now,” Proctor
added. “This is really a
coordinated, cross-disci-
plinary effort to examine
the consequences of
Whiteness and White
privilege.”
“There wasn’t an aspect
of those three words that
there wasn’t a lot of dis-
cussion about,” said Luke
Givens, coordinator of
PCC’s multicultural cen-
ter.
“To call it something
else, the only reason we
would do that would be
to make people feel com-
fortable. That would be
disingenuous,” Givens
said.
Givens said the events
are meant to be ground-
ed in history, rather than
in people’s thoughts and
Arrest
ed States was founded,
but was instead created
in the early 19th century
to divide lower classes
against each other.
Harrison traced the or-
igin of the concept of
Whiteness in the United
States to 1705 and the in-
troduction of the Virgin-
ia Slave Code, which said
all Black people entering
the
commonwealth
would live as slaves.
Harrison said under-
standing the idea of
Whiteness as a construct
is critical because misun-
derstanding history can
have an impact on policy
decisions.
He said President Lyn-
don Johnson’s rationale
for continued escalation
during the Vietnam War
was that he didn’t want it
to be the first time the
U.S. ever lost a war — ap-
parently unaware, Har-
rison said, that the War
of 1812 was a draw and
the Revolutionary War
could not have been won
without French assis-
tance.
For a full schedule of
events, visit https://
www.pcc.edu/about/di-
versity/cascade/white-
n e s s - h i s t o r y - m o n th /
events.html.
Read the rest of the story at
TheSkanner.com
Black Music Summit
Amazon Echo team member Thomas Phillips and Panel facilitator David Harris listen to some of the comments of Sir Mix-A-Lot (center)
during a panel discussion about Technology & Music at the second Black Music Summit April 2 at the Langston Hughes Performing
Arts Institute. The purpose of the summit was to increase opportunities and strengthen networks for Black music in Seattle and the
Central District.
Protest
cont’d from pg 1
fundraiser called Meet the Heat.
“One of my big problems with
this event is that it is for an elite
class of people with the goal of
schmoozing them, so that they be-
come advocates for more polic-
ing,” said Jo Ann Hardesty, presi-
dent of the Portland NAACP and
the organizer of the protest.
The demonstrators were a small
mixed gathering of police ac-
countability activists, peace ad-
vocates and retirees. Present
were community media outlets
including The Skanner News,
KBOO and Street Roots. As the
Meet the Heat event began, the
parking lot filled with silver and
slate colored late model BMWs,
Mercedes Benzes and Corvettes.
Meet the Heat was advertised as
an exclusive VIP invitation-only
event to demonstrate emergency
vehicle maneuvers, weapons
such as firearms and tasers and
defensive tactics. Fliers adver-
tised the event as a “unique,
hands-on experience.”
Meet the Heat was presented by
the Portland Police Foundation
and the Citizens Crime Commis-
sion, a non-profit organization
affiliated with the Portland Busi-
ness Alliance.
Kathryn Kendall from the Bud-
dhist Peace Fellowship protested
the event because she believed
the event glorified violence and
“
detailed a pattern of excessive
force against people with mental
illness.
“The result was the agreement
between the department of jus-
tice and the city of Portland was
that the police would learn to
People paid $1,000 to come and play
with violent toys as if police were a mov-
ie, as if it was an action show and it’s not
discounted the real life effects of
policing.
“People paid $1,000 to come and
play with violent toys as if police
were a movie, as if it was an action
show and it’s not. It’s real lives.
People are dying,” Kendall said.
Kendall would rather see a
fundraiser for restorative justice
or more efforts to reach out to
people with mental illness and
those who are homeless.
Former Black Panther and so-
cial justice activist, Wiley G. Bar-
net, said the Meet the Heat event
runs counter to the recommenda-
tions of the Department of Justice
settlement. The 2014 settlement
train and carry out disengage-
ment practices, de-escalation
practices, mediation practices,”
he said.
Barnett said the fundraiser
merges corporate money with po-
lice enforcement which will ulti-
mately oppress the poor. At the
demonstration, he carried a sign
that read “Corporate Power + Po-
lice Power = Fascism.”
Former Portland Police Chief
Mike Reese said the event was
created to bring about more com-
munity involvement.
Read the full story at
TheSkanner.com
cont’d from pg 1
Latoya Harris, told the Mercury. “And every-
body saw my daughter get perp-walked to
the car. What stood out was the expression
on my daughter’s face. The fear and the sad-
ness. We still have to see these officers in our
community.”
“
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
Whiteness
In the current case, spokesperson Pete
Simpson told a reporter the girl lashed out
physically as officers were trying to hand-
cuff her. Simpson told The Oregonian, “For
lack of a better term, she chose to have a tan-
trum.”
What stood out was the expression on my daughter’s
face. The fear and the sadness. We still have to see
these officers in our community
The outcry after that incident forced Port-
land Police officials to create a policy that
they would only arrest children age 12 or
older — like the child they arrested last week.
Police say that now they only arrest chil-
dren aged 12 years and older if they get “spe-
cial permission” which can only come from
the Multnomah County District Attorney’s
Office and a judge.
Simpson told the newspaper that “mom
was very much like her daughter,” as officers
prepared to drive the daughter to the deten-
tion center.
Portland police and Portland public schools
officials have arrested, shot or Tasered sev-
eral children and teenagers over the past 15
years (see sidebar). The circumstances vary
widely.
Kids Arrested, Shot or Tasered by Portland Police
MARCH 16, 2016: High school student is arrested after threatening to bring a gun to
school, is charged with attempted assault and attempted unlawful use of a weapon.
MARCH 1, 2016: Portland Parent Union creates Change.org petition on behalf of a
Black female student charged by Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office with
“offensive physical contact” after punching a blonde, affluent student who racially
bullied her at Lake Oswego High School.
SEPTEMBER 15, 2014: Unarmed Roosevelt High School student, Thai Gurule, is vi-
ciously beaten, Tasered and arrested on cellphone video. A circuit court judge later
finds him innocent of resisting arrest, chastises police bureau.
MAY, 2013: Nine-year-old girl arrested over alleged fight at after-school program six
days earlier.
MAY 17, 2011: Student arrested after threatening to bring a gun to school.
OCTOBER 4, 2004: Portland Police Taser an 11-year old student in a mental health
crisis at Buckman Elementary School.