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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 2016)
AUGUST 31, 2016 Portland and Seattle Volume XXXVIII No. 48 25 CENTS News ...............................3,9-11 A & E .....................................6-7 Opinion ...................................2 African American Museum..9 Calendars ........................... 4-5 Bids/Classiieds ....................11 CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW PHOTO/DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE (CC BY-NC 4.0) HOOD TO COAST A proposed 3 percent tax on recreational cannabis – which Portland voters will decide on this November — would create a fund to help businesses owned by women and minorities. Pot Tax Would Fund Minority Businesses Proponents say tax could help address harms of War on Drugs By Christen McCurdy Of The Skanner News The West Coast Steppers pose for a group picture at the 2016 Hood to Coast relay event August 26 - 27, 2016. The walking team walked on behalf of The Skanner News. T The Skanner News Screens ‘Wake of Vanport’ AP PHOTO/ABDELJALIL BOUNHAR, FILE See POT on page 3 In this May 6, 2015, photo, former President Bill Clinton speaks during a plenary session at the Clinton Global Initiative Middle East & Africa meeting in Marrakech, Morocco. Clinton has promised to step down from the foundation if his wife wins the election in November. World News Briefs page 11 Kam Previews Movies Opening This Labor Day Weekend page 6 Newest segments discuss construction of town, complex racial politics By Arashi Young of The Skanner News O ver 68 years ago a lood destroyed the most racially diverse city in Oregon, Van- port — but the stories live on through the oral histo- ries of the survivors Last Friday, The Skanner News hosted a showing of “The Wake of Vanport,” at the downtown Embassy Suites hotel ballroom. The media piece showed short ilms capturing the experi- ences of those who lived in Vanport before the lood. Lee Moore, who was a child when he lived in Van- port before the lood, spoke to the audience before the showing of the ilm. Moore described a city of utility -- a quickly constructed pub- lic housing project built to house Kaiser Shipyards workers during the Second World War. “How long does it take to build a community of 42,000 people?” Moore asked the crowd. “110 days.” Moore’s mother worked in the shipyards, his grand- father was a barber and his aunt worked as a seam- stress — all parts of a thriv- ing wartime community. The work brought people from all over the country searching for opportunity. Vanport ofered furnished houses, schools, recreation centers and a movie the- ater. More than 40 percent of the population of Van- port was African Ameri- can. Moore described a town that was both integrated and segregated: people of diferent races worked together but did not live together. There was much more racial cohesion for the children of Vanport — Black, White, Native American children who went to school with each other. Ater the lood hit Van- port on Memorial Day, May 30, 1948, many of these families were let with few possessions be- yond the clothes on their backs. “The only thing my par- ents were able to salvage from the lood was a photo album... and everything else was lost,” Moore said. See VANPORT on page 3 Calls for Measure 11 Reform Black Male Achievement event discusses problems with treating youth ofenders as adults By Arashi Young Of The Skanner News U nderneath the sweltering mid- day sun, Sang Dao described his coming of age within the criminal justice system. Involved in drugs and gangs, Dao was in and out of juvenile detention since he was 13-years -old. When he was 17, about to turn 18, he was ar- rested for a Measure 11 ofense and was given a plea agreement of 150 months in jail. “For someone who couldn’t plan a day or a week ahead, 12 1/2 years seemed like my whole life right there,” Dao said. Community members gathered at Woodlawn Park in NE Portland to hear about the impact of Measure 11 on incarcerated youth. The event, “Rise Above: Measure 11 Reform” was a youth-led community engagement project from Black Male Achieve- ment. The measure, which was placed on the ballot by the tough-on-crime group Crime Victims United and vot- ed in by Oregon voters in 1994, has changed the nature of juvenile jus- tice for a generation of young Black PHOTO BY ARASHI YOUNG he Minority Cannabis Business Association and the Coalition of Communities of Color say a pro- posed 3 percent tax on cannabis sales in Oregon could bring as much as $3 million to minority communities, and may help people of color get started in the cannabis industry. Portland City Council voted in June to refer the tax to voters, who will de- cide in November whether to accept or reject it. Put forward by commissioner Amanda Fritz and written with help from the industry as well as city stake- Black Male Achievement members James Jiles, Jamal Magee, Herman Singleton, and Ben Smith hand out programs for the Rise Above: Measure 11 Reform community event. men in the state. The measure requires that all youth 15 and older be tried as adults. Judges cannot give shorter sentences than the mandatory minimums and See BMA on page 3