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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (May 25, 2016)
MAY 25, 2016 Portland and Seattle Volume XXXVIII No. 34 News .............................. 3,8-10 A & E .....................................6-7 Opinion ...................................2 Dr. William Couch ...........8 Calendars ........................... 4-5 Bids/Classifieds ....................11 Henderson Named as Interim Chief of PPB O’Dea on administrative leave following revelation of off-duty shooting incident By Christen McCurdy Of The Skanner News P ortland Police Bureau has a new interim chief. On Tuesday the bureau an- nounced that Portland Police As- sistant Chief Donna Henderson would assume the helm of the department following the revelation that Chief Lar- ry O’Dea had shot a friend in the back during a hunting trip in Harney Coun- ty in late April. Harney County Sheriff See O’DEA on page 3 YOUTH VIDEOS ON RACE The Roosevelt High School Urban Griots, a writing group taught by writer and poet S. Renee Mitchell, have produced a video about racial profiling after surveying more than 100 students about their experiences. Pictured here are Joti Mangat (left), Emmerson Donnell, Jordan Harris, Dejonet Sanders, Justice English, Sovoki Kolo and Autumn Sanders. Teen Journalists Take on Racial Profiling PHOTO BY S. RENEE MITCHELL PHOTO COURTESY OF PORTLAND POLICE BUREAU CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW Donna Henderson has been appointed as interim chief of the Portland Police Bureau, following revelations of Chief Larry O’Dea’s involvement in a shooting in eastern Oregon in April. Roosevelt High School Urban Griots’ videos discuss students’ experiences with racism By Arashi Young Of The Skanner News O n the evening of Feb. 20, five students from Roosevelt High School say they went to the Nordstrom Rack in downtown Portland. These Black teens were followed around the store and then falsely accused of steal- ing before being asked to leave. For them, the story could have ended there — just another incidence of racial profiling and “shopping while Black.” Instead, one of the teens brought this experience to his journalism class to bring more exposure to the daily prejudices Black teen shoppers endure. The Roosevelt High School Urban Griots pro- duced a video about racial profiling after surveying more than 100 students about their experiences. Since posting the video on Facebook, it has been viewed more than 22,000 times and has been shared by more than 600 people. The project also created a social media campaign with the hashtag #teens- 4socialjustice. The Skanner News went to Roosevelt High School to talk to the team of students who produced the film. The Urban Griots are taught by the writing teacher and poet S. Renee Mitchell. The word “griot” is a West Afri- can phrase referring to the travelling writers, poets and musicians who are the keepers of oral tradition stories. In the film, students of color spoke about being followed around by secu- rity guards who watched their every move. Some students spoke of feeling unwelcome and ashamed by the treatment. Other students told the film- makers their bags were searched before being kicked out of the store. Emmerson Donnell, a Haiti Health Experts Concerned Over Conditions Linked to Zika Virus page 9 Only a handful of U.S. prisons allow mothers to care for their children while serving time By Colleen Long, Associated Press BEDFORD HILLS, N.Y. (AP) — Jen- nifer Dumas sits on a sofa, her smil- ing 6-month-old girl on her lap. The room is full of bright toys and chil- dren’s books. A rainbow-colored ac- tivity mat is on the floor, and Winnie the Pooh is painted on the walls. It looks like any other nursery, ex- cept that there are bars on the win- dows and barbed-wire fences outside the austere brick building. New York’s maximum-security Bedford Hills Correctional Facility is one of the very few prisons in the U.S. that allow inmates and their babies to live together, a century-old approach that not all corrections experts agree is the best way to deal with women locked up while pregnant. Mothers who get such a chance say it’s better than the alternative: See BABIES on page 3 17-year-old junior who helped produce the video, said it was an eye-opening experience and he was sur- prised at how many people watched the film. “I was surprised at how the video spread. I didn’t expect it, and I don’t think many people in here did expect that,” Donnell said. For Jordan Harris, a 16-year-old Junior, the film was a way to bring togeth- er people who had been racially profiled and give them an opportunity to speak about it. Through these interviews, peo- ple felt less alone as they See PROFILING on page 3 AP PHOTO/JULIE JACOBSON South African Boys Welcome Sandboarding Caring for Babies Behind Bars Weekly activity provides an escape from daily struggles page 11 25 CENTS In this April 12 photo, Jennifer Dumas looks out the window with her daughter, Codylynn, inside her room at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, in Bedford Hills, N.Y. Bedford Hills has one of only eight working prison nurseries where women live with their babies while incarcerated, out of more than 100 women’s prisons around the country.
