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