FEBRUARY 1, 2017
Portland and Seattle Volume XXXIX No. 18
25
CENTS
News ...............................3,8,10 A & E .....................................6-7
Opinion ...................................2 Dr. Jasmine ......................8
Calendars ........................... 4-5 Bids/Classifieds ....................11
CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW
PHOTO THE SKANNER NEWS
IMMIGRATION PROTEST
Dr. T. Allen Bethel, President of the Albina
Ministerial Alliance, at The Skanner’s Martin Luther
King Jr. Breakfast 2010.
AMAC Urges
City to
Continue
COAB
L
See COAB on page 3
Thousands of people filled Westlake Park and the surrounding streets to protest President Trump’s executive order which imposes a temporary, 90-day
ban on people entering the U.S. from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The order stopped dozens of people who had already received
visas from entering the country which prompted protests in dozens of airports including Seatac on Saturday evening and larger protests in several
cities, including Portland, through the weekend.
Sharon Gary-Smith Passes the MRG Torch
Former MRG director reflects on the foundation’s growth during her tenure
By Melanie Sevcenko
Of The Skanner News
AP PHOTO/CAROLYN KASTER
T
President Donald Trump speaks during the 58th
Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in
Washington, Friday, Jan. 20, 2017.
Inauguration
Speech Talks
of ‘Carnage’
page 10
‘Bowing Down Is Not
an Option’
page 8
he idea of a force like
Sharon Gary-Smith
ever slowing down
seems almost com-
ical. But, at 68-years-old,
this mogul has recently
stepped down from her
role as the executive direc-
tor of the McKenzie River
Gathering (MRG) Founda-
tion, a 40-year-old philan-
thropic organization that
mobilizes resources for
Oregon communities.
With
unprecedented
vigor and integrity, Gary-
Smith joined MRG in 2011
and helped steer the char-
itable nonprofit into the
spotlight.
As the daughter of a
fierce activist who once sat
on MRG’s grant-making
committee,
Gary-Smith
was raised with her moth-
er’s social justice spir-
it, which she took to the
streets and communities of
Portland.
“You did the work, no
matter what your station
in life, whether you were
African America or fe-
male,” recalled Gary-Smith
in an interview with The
Skanner.
From her earliest years,
Gary-Smith
remembers
wanting to stand out for
her talents and passions,
especially among Oregon’s
overwhelming
White
population. And so it was
MRG’s support of groups
such as the Black United
Fund, the Coalition for
Black Men and various la-
bor and immigrant orga-
nizations that aligned with
her own interests.
“That work was very
challenging and different
in Oregon, to stand up po-
litically and say, ‘We’re in-
vesting our money in this
change,’” she said.
Gary-Smith’s
life-long
drive to make change led
to careers in Atlanta, Geor-
gia, where she worked with
a national Black Women’s
Health Imperative, and as
the president of the Urban
League in Austin, Texas.
But her unwavering aspi-
ration was to challenge the
changemaker persona of
philanthropy. Coinciding
with that urge, she devel-
oped a knack discussing
diversity, equity and inclu-
See GARY-SMITH on page 3
‘Constructing Identity’ Puts Black Artists on Display
Portland Art Museum will work throughout the
spring to engage community, local artists
By Christen McCurdy
Of The Skanner News
W
hen Trayvon Martin was
killed, Monica Montgom-
ery was working as a pre-
school teacher in Washing-
ton, D.C. Suddenly she found herself
fielding kids’ questions about wheth-
er it was bad to eat Skittles or wear
hooded sweatshirts.
“It made my community feel very
unsafe,” Montgomery said.
She started to create curricula
around community care that impart-
ed the Black Lives Matter message to
children. Soon after, she said, she was
fired.
“I was told, ‘Your politics aren’t wel-
come here. You’re too radical. You’re
fired,’” Montgomery said.
She started the Museum of Impact,
which she describes as the world’s
See ART on page 3
PHOTO BY CHRISTEN MCCURDY
By Melanie Sevcenko
Of The Skanner News
ast Thursday, the City of Portland’s
Community Oversight Advisory
Board (COAB) met for the final time
in its current formation.
With Mayor Ted Wheeler in atten-
dance, along with representatives of
the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ),
the closing meeting was a culmina-
tion of years of confusion, conflict and
distrust. It seems no one party was
equipped to save the sinking ship, amid
pleas from COAB members to keep it
afloat.
The COAB was formed after a 2012
investigation of the City of Portland
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
Members of police
oversight board plead to
keep it afloat
Monica Montgomery, founding director of
the Museum of Impact, addresses a crowd of
about 100 people at the community opening
of “Constructing Identity,” the Portland Art
Museum’s exhibit of African American art dating
back more than 130 years.
