JULY 13, 2016
Portland and Seattle Volume XXXVIII No. 41
25
CENTS
News ........................... 3,8,9,10 A & E .....................................6-7
Opinion ...................................2 Call for Special Prosecuter ..8
Calendars ........................... 4-5 Bids/Classifieds ....................11
CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW
THE SKANNER FILE PHOTO
1,000 MARCH
Lead test results released this week showed
Jefferson High School had the most pervasive high
levels of lead in drinking water in Portland Public
Schools.
High Lead
Levels at
Jefferson
By Christen McCurdy
Of The Skanner News
L
ead testing results released this
week from 24 Portland Public
Schools showed high lead levels in
all — and a pervasive problem at
North Portland’s Jefferson High School.
Oregon Public Broadcasting report-
ed that nearly 200 fixtures at Jefferson
had lead levels above the federal limit
(15 parts per billion), or close to two-
thirds of the 335 water sources. Most of
the fixtures tested were shower heads
or spigots, but 26 were drinking foun-
tains. Full test results are posted on the
school district’s website at http://www.
pps.net/Page/5378.
PHOTO COURTESY BUFFALO SOL-
DIERS NATIONAL MUSEUM
See LEAD on page 3
The Buffalo Soldier Museum will hold a 150th
anniversary celebration this month to remember
the creation of the first Black peacetime army.
PHOTO BY ARASHI YOUNG
County expands the age
limit on lead testing at
free clinics
Last Thursday’s protest by Don’t Shoot Portland – a reaction to the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile -- drew more than 1,000 demonstrators.
A conservative blogger named Michael Strickland drew a gun on the crowd and was arrested shortly after at the otherwise-peaceful event.
1,000 Rally in Portland After Police Shootings
Mostly-peaceful event interrupted as conservative blogger draws gun
By Arashi Young
of The Skanner News
D
emonstrators met at
Pioneer Courthouse
Square last Thursday
and surrounded a
group of speakers who ral-
lied the crowd into action
following two police shoot-
ings in Minnesota and Lou-
isiana.
Don’t Shoot Portland’s
rally, “This Can’t Be Jus-
tice,” drew more than 1,000
people by the end of the
night.
One advocate was Joe
“Bean” Keller, the father of
Deontae J. Keller, who was
fatally shot on February
28, 1996 by PPB Officer Ter-
ry Kruger.
Keller expressed frustra-
tion towards officers who
are fearful and quick to
use deadly force.
“I think if you are in fear
for your life and you have
to pull your gun, you need
to quit your [expletive]
job,” Keller said.
The demonstration was
prompted by two back-
to-back shootings — both
caught on camera — that
shocked the nation. On July
5, Alton Sterling was killed
by two White Baton Rouge
Police Department officers.
Sterling had been wrestled
to the ground by Officers
Howie Lake and Blane Sal-
amoni and shot multiple
times at point-black range.
Bystander video of the en-
counter quickly went vi-
ral, sparking protests and
candlelight vigils.
The very next day, on
July 6, Philando Castile
was fatally shot by Officer
Jeronimo Yanez after be-
ing pulled over in Falcon
Heights, a suburb of St.
Paul, Minnesota. Castile’s
girlfriend, Diamond Reyn-
olds, was in car as was her
4-year old daughter.
Reynolds live-streamed
Historian calls this a
milestone
page 10
Kam Interviews
President Obama’s
Half-Brother page 7
By Christen McCurdy
Of The Skanner News
S
elf Enhancement, Inc. an-
nounced earlier this summer
it is closing SEI Academy — the
only charter middle school in
the city — and will begin phasing out
services this year.
The nonprofit provides culturally
specific support for African Amer-
ican students in schools through-
out the city, and opened the middle
school 10 years ago following the
closure of other middle schools in
the Portland Public Schools system.
Tony Hopson said SEI made the de-
cision in response to the school dis-
trict’s recent announcement that it
would reopen some middle schools,
including Harriet Tubman and Ock-
ley Green in North and Northeast
Portland in 2017.
“The charter school, which has
See SEI on page 3
See RALLY on page 3
PHOTO COURTESY OF SEI
Buffalo Soldiers
Celebrate 150th SEI to Close Middle School
CEO Tony Hopson says school’s closure will
Anniversary
enable organization to focus on its mission
video of the police en-
counter after Castile had
been shot, recording both
his last moments and her
arrest. By the following
morning, graphic video
had been watched more
than one million times.
These two public deaths
were called 21st centu-
ry lynchings by NAACP
President Cornell William
Brooks. Protests erupted
in cities around the nation,
including St. Paul, Chica-
go, Sacramento, Atlanta,
Memphis, New York City,
Washington D.C., Denver,
Tony Hopson said the impending closure of SEI
Academy will enable the organization to get
back to its core mission of supporting Black
students throughout the school system.