NOVEMBER 30, 2016
Portland and Seattle Volume XXXIX No. 9
25
CENTS
News ...............................3,9,10 A & E .....................................6-7
Opinion ...................................2 Voting Rights Activists .10
Calendars ........................... 4-5 Bids/Classifieds ....................11
CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW
PHOTO COURTESY OF METRO
BLACK FRIDAY
A mural decorates the side of a building on Alberta
Street in Northeast Portland.
Alberta
Project
Seeks
Storytellers
T
he Alberta Main Street organi-
zation has launched a new proj-
ect to honor African American
residents in Northeast Portland.
The initiative aims to collect commu-
nity memories and honor these stories
through historical markers.
Sara Wittenberg, executive director
of Alberta Main Street said the project
is in response to feedback from dis-
placed residents.
“Too often I hear accounts from long-
time African American residents that
Alberta Street doesn’t feel like home
OSMO VIA AP
See ALBERTA on page 3
This photo shows an Osmo Creative Set. Toys that
teach aren’t a new thing, but a growing number
are calling for kids to build with blocks, circuits or
everyday items before reaching for a tablet screen.
Hands-on
Toys Teach
Toys teach kids through
touch instead of screens
page 9
Kam Reviews a
Heartwarming
Holiday Movie page 7
For the third year in a row thousands of people showed up for the “Black Lives Matter, Not Black Friday” protest in Downtown Seattle Nov. 25, the day
after Thanksgiving. The protestors marched through downtown and mingled with Christmas shoppers and Seattle’s renowned Dickens Carolers.
ACLU, OJRC Fight for Unanimous Convictions
Court case challenges 1934 state law that requires 10-2 vote to convict
By Christen McCurdy
Of The Skanner News
A
ttorneys challeng-
ing — on behalf of
Olan Jermaine Wil-
liams — an Oregon
law that allows non-unan-
imous convictions on fel-
ony charges expect a re-
sponse by mid-December.
The ACLU of Oregon
and the Oregon Justice Re-
source Center, along with
Williams’ attorney Ryan
Scott, argue Oregon’s law
— one of just two like it in
the country — violates the
equal protection provision
of the U.S. Constitution.
Attorneys submitted am-
icus briefings last week
to contest the law on Wil-
liams’ behalf, and Scott said
Multnomah County Cir-
cuit Court Judge Bronson
James has told attorneys
he will have a decision by
mid-December on the case.
Williams holds a mas-
ter’s degree from Howard
University and is a 2001
graduate of Jefferson High
School. He was tried this
summer on three sodomy
charges and acquitted on
two, but convicted of the
third.
Williams’ attorney Ryan
Scott told The Skanner that
one of the jurors — the only
African American juror to
serve on Williams’ jury
— attended Williams’ sen-
tencing and testified that
she fully supported the de-
fendant and was very up-
set about the verdict.
The one Black juror’s ex-
perience is summarized in
more detail in an academic
paper to be published in
Oregon Law Review early
next year, which coauthor
Aliza Kaplan — who di-
rects the criminal justice
reform clinic at Lewis &
Clark Law School — shared
with The Skanner.
The juror testified that
the majority-White jury
(two jurors were Asian,
nine were women and
three were men) very
quickly decided to acquit
Williams of two charges
for which he was tried. The
jury was split on another
count, however, and the
Black juror testified that
the other jurors spent four
hours of deliberation time
trying to get her, and two
other holdouts, to change
their minds. Finally, one
juror — saying she didn’t
want to come back the fol-
lowing day and couldn’t
stay late that night due to a
lack of child care — flipped
her vote.
The 10-2 vote was enough
See CONVICTIONS on page 3
Jill Stein Demands Recount in Three Key States
Former Green Party candidate leads recount
effort in Pensylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan
By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Contributor
G
reen Party presidential candi-
date Jill Stein now has raised
enough money to formally re-
quest a recount in three key
swing states.
Stein’s camp — and, quietly, Hillary
Clinton’s too — are hoping that ir-
regularities and alleged hacking of
voting machines in some counties in
Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michi-
gan will reverse Trump’s victory.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Stein
had filed recount petitions in all
three states.
If Stein is correct and the votes in
those swing states prove Clinton to
be the actual winner, then the for-
mer Secretary of State could claim
an Electoral College victory and the
presidency.
See RECOUNT on page 3
GAGE SKIDMORE/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
By Arashi Young
Of The Skanner News
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
Alberta Main Street
works to honor African
American history in
Northeast Portland
Jill Stein speaking at a Green Party Presidential
town hall in Mesa, Ariz., in March 2016.