June 22, 2016 The Skanner Page 3
News
cont’d from pg 1
ing the announcement,
which was immediately
picked up by local media.
KATU news reported
that board chair Koehler
had asked Smith to stay
on through the end of the
next school year.
“It is not true that the
school board asked Car-
ole Smith to stay,” An-
thony told The Skanner
It is all about coverups and
public relations and promot-
ing the careers of adminis-
trators in PPS
News. “To the best of my
knowledge the school
board has not been con-
sulted on it at all, except
that I got a brief text mes-
sage from Tom Koehler,
the board chair, ive min-
utes before OPB made
the announcement.”
“The board has asked
me to stay through the
end of my contract in
June, 2017 to allow them
to move forward to con-
duct a superintendent
search at the appropri-
ate time and set the dis-
trict up for a successful
and smooth transition
of leadership, as well as
continue our work on
health and safety,” Smith
wrote.
Local activists held
a demonstration – an-
nounced weeks in ad-
vance of the board’s inal
meeting for this school
year — calling for Smith
to be ired.
A crowd of nearly 75
parents, students and
advocates marched and
testiied about high lead
levels in water at the
schools and alleged civil
rights violations against
Black students.
Don’t Shoot Portland
organizer Teressa Rai-
ford testiied about the
short life of her nephew,
Andre Dupree Payton,
who was shot and killed
Pride
Her call for Smith to
be ired was repeated by
the shouts of the protes-
tors in the gallery. She
also called out the school
board, saying they were
complicit and unwilling
to challenge the adminis-
tration.
“If you guys don’t re-
move Carole before next
year, it means that you
don’t have the backbone
to be the board next
year,” Raiford said.
The demonstration at
the meeting represented
a wide swath of parents
and advocates. Their
concerns expanded be-
yond the single issues
of radon, leaded water,
racism, or civil rights.
The crowd called out for
accountability, transpar-
ency and oversight.
Kim Sordyl, parent and
PPS critic, said the dis-
covery of lead in the wa-
ter — and the district’s
handling of the issue —
afected every student,
teacher and staf mem-
ber and has brought the
community together to
demand change from an
administration resistant
to admitting fault.
“There is no leader-
ship at PPS. It is all about
coverups and public rela-
tions and promoting the
careers of administra-
tors in PPS,” Sordyl said.
Vancouver Avenue Baptist Church
After 72 years, the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church is being recognized by the Oregon State Landmarks Preservation Commission
for its cultural signiicance, its contribution to the Civil Rights Movement, and the historical site of the church in being considered as a
designated as an African American landmark in the city of Portland and the state of Oregon. The Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church
has stood as an outstanding pairing of faith and community service in the Eliot neighborhood of the city of Portland. The Church is one
of the oldest postwar African American congregations established in the city and launched in 1944 in the housing projects of Burton
Homes in Vancouver, Wash. On Sunday, Sept. 4, at 2 p.m., the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church, 3138 North Vancouver Avenue,
will commemorate its 72nd Anniversary and beneit fundraiser for the Annual Drum Major Scholarship Fund. For more information,
please contact the church at (503) 282-9495
Golf
cont’d from pg 1
public courses and other facili-
ties,” Nakashima told The Skanner.
There are now 33 member
groups and 1,000 active mem-
bers, most identifying as African
Americans or another racial mi-
nority, in the WSGA. Members
are located in Oregon, Washing-
ton, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada
and California.
The location for WSGA’s annual
tournament rotates throughout
the west, but when a city becomes
the host it actually hosts for two
years in a row, and this is Port-
land’s second. Since there are
few member groups in the Paciic
Northwest – just one in Oregon
and one in Washington – tourna-
ments are much more commonly
held in other states, Nakashima
said.
The 2017 and 2018 tournaments
are scheduled to take place in
southern California.
“The majority of the member-
ship is far away. When the deci-
sion is made to come to Oregon,
the majority of members come
from far away,” Nakashima said.
She wasn’t sure when Oregon
last hosted a tournament but
said she believed previous tour-
naments had been held in other
parts of the state, such as Sun Riv-
er.
“
by a tax on hotel and car rentals
passed in 2012).
Nakashima noted that Leisure
Hour also host junior golf pro-
grams for youth between the ages
of eight and 18, and have pro-
grams encouraging women to get
more interested in golf, including
The game of golf — we know from the de-
mographics and the changes in the demo-
graphics that it will be women and people
of color who will keep golf prospering
This year participants will play
on three diferent Portland-ar-
ea golf courses: Heron Lakes in
North Portland, the Resort at the
Mountain in Welches and East-
moreland in southeast Portland.
Nakashima said organizers
chose Portland due to a grant
from the Oregon Sports Authori-
ty and Travel Portland, which was
made possible by the city’s visitor
development fund (made possible
opportunities for free instruc-
tion from volunteers. The WSGA
also hosts a Women in Golf Sum-
mit as part of the annual tourna-
ment.
“The game of golf — we know
from the demographics and the
changes in the demographics that
it will be women and people of
color who will keep golf prosper-
ing in the future,” Nakashima told
The Skanner.
cont’d from pg 1
er conversation about violence against
queer people of color.
“Folks that are LGBTQ people of col-
or face tremendous violence and are
not always safe or celebrated in their
communities,” Edwards said, adding
that transgender women of color face
“alarming rates” of violence.
In November of 2015, the Human
Rights Campaign in partnership with
Trans People of Color Coalition re-
leased a report documenting violence
against transgender people. In 2015
there were more transgender homi-
cide victims that year than in any year
on record; 21 people were murdered
— nearly all of them were transgender
women of color.
The 2014 Federal Bureau of Investiga-
tion hate crime statistics list racial prej-
udice as the top single reason victims
were targeted for a hate crime, with the
majority of racial bias —62.7 percent —
against African American people. Sex-
ual orientation was the second largest
reason for victims to be targeted.
Edwards said that Black pride events
will be celebratory and will create safe
places to celebrate black and queer
“
were what helped him feel comfortable
in own skin and gave him the courage to
come out to his family. Tyree Tabb-El-
liott, another organizer behind Black
It is important for us as the LGBT community
to stand in solidarity with our brothers and
sisters down in Orlando
identities. There will be an “Ol’ Skool”
Spades and Bones tournament, a dance
party fundraiser at the Dig A Pony
Bar, a twerking dance competition and
more. A full events list can be found on
the Portland Black Pride Celebration
Facebook page.
PFLAG Portland Black Pride is spon-
sored by the Pride Foundation, Mult-
nomah County Health Department, the
Equity Foundation, the Oregon Health
Authority Oice of Equity and Inclu-
sion, Basic Rights Oregon and Cascade
AIDS Project.
Ngcobo said these Black Pride events
pride said the events gave him a venue
to share his life with his family.
Tabb-Elliott said his family members
oten come to many of the events, but
the Families of Color Day Out picnic
was especially important to bring ev-
eryone together. He said his friends
went out and made t-shirts in support
of his relationship with his husband
and that his mom looks forward to the
barbeque every year.
It was this community and familial
support that made Tabb-Elliott feel like
he could be fully himself, open to his
family and happily married to his hus-
PHOTO BY OLIVIA OLIVIA
“
on the corner of NW 2nd
and Couch at 2 a.m., Sep-
tember 26, 2010.
She said Payton went to
schools that talked about
equity and culturally
competent
education,
but his death showed the
failure of that system.
Raiford asked for over-
sight and accountability
for equity funding.
PHOTO COURTESY OF VANCOUVER AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH
Smith
Cameron Whitten was among hundreds gathered
for the Portland Pride parade during the 2015 Pride
Northwest Festival.
band of ive years.
“Black Portland pride is a part of me
and I am going to always support it and
always be a part of it,” Tabb-Elliott said.
“Even if I am a million miles away, I am
still going to have something to do with
Portland Black Pride.”