March 29, 2017 The Skanner Page 3
News
cont’d from pg 1
rights and they got away
with it,” Frazier told The
Skanner. She declined to
say whether she planned
to pursue additional ac-
tion against OHSU.
In November — shortly
after the election, Frazier
notes — she came to work
and discovered a sign
with a noose attached to
it and filed a grievance
through her union, Local
“
‘An especially cruel
form of race harass-
ment’
James Ryan, a spokes-
person for the Equal
Employment Opportu-
nities Commission, said
the presence of nooses in
workplaces is an “espe-
cially cruel form of race
harassment” and one his
office has seen more of in
recent years.
The presence of nooses in
workplaces is an ‘especially
cruel form of race harass-
ment’
328 of the American Fed-
eration of County, State
and Municipal Employ-
ees.
Frazier took photos of
the sign and noose and
posted them to Face-
book. The sign reads,
“Stress Reduction Kit –
Bang Head Here.” Below
the text is a large circle;
above it, the photo shows
a small hanging noose.
Frazier and her fami-
ly were the victims of a
hate crime in September,
which was reported on
by The Skanner and other
media. (In that story, she
is quoted using her legal
name, Foia, where Maria
is a nickname she uses at
work.) While her young
sons were sitting in their
car in front of her moth-
er’s house, according to
Frazier’s account and
police reports, a passing
bicyclist sprayed bear
spray into the parked
vehicle, screaming racial
slurs at the children. The
children were hospital-
ized and the interior of
the car was destroyed.
The Portland Police
Bureau is investigating
the incident as a hate
crime, and for Frazier,
the noose connoted the
long history of lynchings
of African Americans.
Welch
According to informa-
tion released by the com-
mission last summer, the
EEOC had filed or recent-
ly resolved about 20 ra-
cial harassment lawsuits
involving nooses in the
workplace. Charges of
racial harassment filed
with the commission
increased fivefold be-
tween the 1980s and the
1990s and tenfold from
Fiscal Year 1996 to 1999.
Only a few hundred of
the tens of thousands of
complaints filed annual-
ly with the EEOC, which
specializes in enforcing
federal discrimination
laws, end up resulting
in a lawsuit. Others re-
solve with employers
choosing to settle out of
court or with complain-
ants reaching out to lo-
cal agencies, since some
states have stronger an-
ti-discrimination laws
than the federal govern-
ment.
Matt Hilton, presi-
dent of Local 328 of the
AFCSME, said Frazier’s
case is the first case of a
racial harassment com-
plaint he’s seen that went
as far as it did and had
the result it did.
Read the whole story at
TheSkanner.com
Sheley Secrest
Kickoff
Mayoral candidate, attorney and spoken-word artist Nikkita
Oliver (left), former Seattle Public Schools Superintendent
Candidate Erin Jones, Seattle/King County NAACP Vice
President Sheley Secrest and former Ohio politician and
Bernie Sanders surrogate Nina Turner celebrated Women’s
History Month and kicked off Secrest’s campaign for
Seattle City Council Position 8, March 24 at Langston
Hughes Performing Arts Institute. The event also featured
performances by the dance team Kutt-N-Up and renowned
Seattle songstress Josephine Howell.
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
OHSU
Assault
cont’d from pg 1
believe there is value in talking
to everyone. Even people you dis-
agree with.”
Whitten had hoped to engage
in civil discourse on the Salem
Capitol grounds, but was instead
surrounded by several masked
members of a patriot movement
group.
One of the men loudly and ag-
gressively threatened Whitten’s
physical safety, while accusing
him of being a child molester.
“I made the grave mistake
of thinking that I could stand
peacefully at the March4Trump
rally without becoming a target
of threats and hostility,” wrote
Whitten in a letter addressed to
Salem Mayor Chuck Bennett and
Salem City Council. “Because I
am a Black man, a White Trump
supporter saw me and loudly
accused me of being a child sex
predator, because they thought I
looked like a different Black man
who has been accused of such
crimes in the media.”
Caught on video
At about 19 minutes into Whit-
ten’s livestreamed Facebook vid-
eo, an unidentified man – mask-
ing his face with a yellow scarf
and sunglasses – threateningly
“
Meanwhile, behind the officer, a
female Trump supporter – iden-
tified as Angela Roman, a policy
analyst for State Representative
Mike Nearman – yells at Whitten,
“you have mental f---ing illness”
‘I made the grave mistake of think-
ing that I could stand peacefully at the
March4Trump rally’
tells Whitten, “I know you’re the
sex offender.”
Whitten is heard defending
himself repeatedly, asking his
accuser to say his name as the
masked man, backed by a circle
of cohorts, becomes increasing
hostile. The man curses and de-
mands, “Get back on your side,
you rapist son of a bitch.”
Whitten then asks a nearby
photographer to alert police of
his threatened safety. In the vid-
eo, which has over 13,000 views,
the officer is seen doing little to
address the threats and instead
asks Whitten to leave the area.
because he and fellow protestors
“get off on ruining peoples’ free-
dom to assemble.”
“I told (the officer) that I had
done nothing wrong and that he
could choose to protect me from
being killed if he’d like to,” Whit-
ten continued in his letter. “The
police officer almost immediately
decided that my concerns were
not significant, and left so that
this physically aggressive male
could continue to harass and
push me.”
Read the rest at TheSkanner.com
cont’d from pg 1
Skanner, that she went to Nordstrom’s
before her big interview and bought
the most expensive suit she’s ever pur-
chased.
“And I got the job!” she grinned, let-
ting out a big laugh.
On April 1, Welch will retire from
her post and pass the baton to Kirby
McCurtis, a young African American
woman who is currently the branch’s
youth librarian.
“She’s smart, committed, efficient, but
she also has heart,” Welch said of Mc-
Curtis, who in 2013, received Library
Journal’s Mover & Shaker award for
her efforts in community building.
Welch herself is no stranger to es-
teem.
In February 2015, she was honored
with the Flemming Award for her com-
mitment to social justice by the Mult-
nomah County Managers of Color,
during its Black History Month cele-
bration. Dr. Arthur Flemming was the
Secretary of Health, Education and
Welfare, under President Dwight D.
Eisenhower. He was also appointed
Chairman of the U.S. Commission on
Civil Rights and fought for racial equal-
“
got involved with the employee re-
source organization, Managers of Col-
or, which works to enhance cultural
diversity in Multnomah County.
‘I wanted to work someplace where I thought I
could make a difference, and this job has been
all of those things’
ity, before serving as president of the
University of Oregon.
Portland has never been well-known
for diversity, Welch emphasized
during her interview with The Skan-
ner.
And in fact, the librarian had had her
eye on Atlanta as a career destination.
But when she landed in the Rose City,
she was surprised.
“People were very welcoming to me,
beyond anything I could have ever have
expected,” said Welch.
She was readily invited to social
events with diverse groups, and soon
Over the decades, Welch has helped
make her branch a leader in adult pro-
gramming.
She’s exhibited the work of local art-
ists, partnered with PassinArt to host
a Juneteenth celebration, and has con-
tinually encouraged the community to
engage in Black literature.
“There was very little programming
for African Americans, though when I
got here there was a much larger Afri-
can American community,” said Welch.
“So I feel that I have been intentional
in making sure that African American
voices and culture are heard.”
That effort has come to fruition
through the library’s annual African
American Read-In, a national event
which Welch kick-started in Portland,
as well as through the integrity of the
Black Resource Center.
Launched in 1987, the collection is
unique to the North Portland branch,
and also in its selection of first editions,
including titles by Maya Angelou,
W.E.B. Du Bois, and James Baldwin.
“I’m happy to know that before I even
got here, Black people in this communi-
ty used this library and cared enough
about it to say, ‘We’re not seeing our-
selves here.’ They raised the money to
establish this collection.”
“African American reading is not just
for Black people,” continued Welch.
“This is a genuinely fantastic collection
for anyone. It speaks well to the system
to have this collection, but it also en-
riches this neighborhood.”
Read the full story at TheSkanner.com
