JUNE 14, 2017
25
CENTS
Portland and Seattle Volume XXXIX No. 37
News ...............................3,8,10 A & E .....................................6-7
Opinion ...................................2 Bystander Training .........4
Calendars ........................... 4-5 Bids/Classifieds ....................11
CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MULTNOMAH COUNTY
STILL GOOD IN THE HOOD
County Chair Deborah Kafoury, left, and
Commissioner Loretta Smith, right.
By Melanie Sevcenko
Of The Skanner News
A
fter two former employees of
Multnomah County Commis-
sioner Loretta Smith came for-
ward with allegations of miscon-
duct by the commissioner, an outside
investigation has concluded a report
on the claims first reported on by Wil-
lamette Week Friday.
Smith has denied any wrongdoing,
and according to the investigation’s
final report — dated May 18, 2017 and
conducted by Clarence M. Belnavis,
partner at law firm Fisher Phillips
PHOTO VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS (CC
BY-SA 3.0)
See SMITH on page 3
Confederate monument in Wesley Bolin Memorial
Plaza in Phoenix, Arizona
Arizona’s
Confederate
Monuments
page 8
Summer Reading
and Workshops at
the Library page 7
Paul Knauls, Sr., the honorary Mayor of Northeast Portland and an early booster of the Good in the Hood festival and parade, is shown here in the 2013
parade. Last week event organizers received a letter threatening event attendees and current Good in the Hood president Shawn Penney, but have
decided to go forward with the event, which enters its 25th year this year.
Organizers Say They Won’t Give Into Fear
Good in the Hood will go on as planned, but with heightened security
By Christen McCurdy
Of The Skanner News
G
ood in the Hood or-
ganizers are unde-
terred by a racist
threat targeting the
multicultural festival and
say the festival, which cele-
brates its 25th anniversary
this year, will go forward
as planned.
On June 7 a staff mem-
ber at Northeast Coalition
of Neighborhoods, going
through the day’s mail,
discovered a threat using
repeated racial slurs and
promising a “blood bath”
if the festival goes ahead
as planned. The threat also
named festival organizer
Shawn Penney specifically.
A digital photo of the let-
ter was shared to Facebook
that afternoon; by the fol-
lowing day the threat had
gone viral on local social
media accounts. Local me-
dia quickly picked up the
story.
The threat makes multi-
ple references to the KKK
and seems targeted not
only at Penney and likely
festival attendees, but the
festival’s explicitly multi-
cultural mission.
Initially, Penney said,
when he received the
threat he couldn’t sleep
and considered cancelling
the event.
“I just had a gut feeling
that we really must go on
with this,” Penney said.
Otherwise, whoever is-
sued the threat would win.
Penney
confirmed
Wednesday
morning
that there would be an in-
creased law enforcement
presence at the event, as
well as private armed se-
curity. Organizers will
take additional security
measures, like requiring
vendors’ vehicles to go
through a check point and
more carefully vetting vol-
unteers.
A few participants have
declined to participate in
the event, he said — most-
ly groups of children that
previously planned to par-
ticipate in the parade. But
more organizations have
stepped up to sponsor the
event, and Penney said he
hopes the Good in the Hood
Organization — a 501c3
nonprofit run entirely by
volunteers — will be able
to issue more scholarships,
See GOOD on page 3
Juneteenth Commemorates the End of Slavery
The Skanner’s roundup of events leading to June 19
The Skanner News
O
n June 19, 1865, from the balco-
ny of Galveston’s Ashton Villa,
Union General Gordon Grang-
er read aloud General Order
No. 3, announcing the abolition of
slavery in the state of Texas.
That was two years, however, after
President Lincoln’s Emancipation
Proclamation — declaring all slaves
be freed in the Confederate States of
America — became effective on Jan. 1,
1863.
Today, Juneteenth honors African
American freedom with an emphasis
on education and achievement. It’s
also the oldest-known commemo-
ration of its kind, widely celebrated
with local festivities throughout the
country.
Every year, a number of organiza-
tions in Portland and surrounding
areas host free community events in
observance of Juneteenth.
The largest among them, which
draws close to 400 people, is the June-
teenth Oregon Celebration, preceded
by the Clara Peoples Freedom Trail
Parade.
Taking place this year on June 17,
the event — hosted by the Juneteenth
Oregon Committee — will celebrate
under the theme “Bringing Our Com-
PHOTO: GRACE MURRAY
Report raise questions
about Smith’s treatment
of staff, including
women of color
THE SKANNER ARCHIVES
Smith
Investigation
Reaches
Conclusion
Juneteenth Emancipation Day Celebration, June
19, 1900, Texas.
munity Back 2 Life.”
“Growing up in Northeast Port-
land, I’ve (seen) the different chang-
See JUNETEENTH on page 3