August 2, 2017 The Skanner Page 3
News
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ner. “So I shopped the
idea around last year and
wanted to see if it was of
interest to the Black com-
munity.”
It’s an idea that stuck.
With a small team of or-
ganizers and support
from the offices of Rep.
Janelle Bynum and Sens.
Lew Frederick and James
Manning — as well as
Africa House, under the
“
al opportunities for the
Black community.
Coming from a profes-
sional background in
public health and policy,
Fai said that health ser-
vices are often under-uti-
lized in Black popula-
tions.
“We invited the health
organizations because
there’s a lot of health
disparity in our com-
I picked Pioneer Square
because I wanted to make a
statement
Immigrant and Refugee
Community Organiza-
tion, and the city’s Office
of Equity and Human
Rights — Fai has man-
aged to wrangle an influ-
ential group to kick start
her effort.
The festival, which is
free to enter, will offer
live entertainment, art
and crafts, African cui-
sine, panel discussions
and even storytelling.
But it also aims to show-
case African entrepre-
neurship — and its stra-
tegic location will likely
pull in curious passerby.
“I
picked
Pioneer
Square because I want-
ed to make a statement
about showing the mag-
nitude of the Black com-
munity’s presence in Or-
egon,” said Fai.
Drawing around 30,000
visitors on any given day,
the plaza is one of the
most visited public sites
in Oregon. So the festival
is hoping to boost profits
for local business ven-
dors.
The event’s largest
sponsors, however, are a
number of health organi-
zations, including Kaiser
Permanente and Provi-
dence. The providers will
be on-hand during the
festival to offer health
screenings as well as in-
formation on programs,
careers and education-
Watkins
munities,” said Fai. “One
way to address this is to
provide the platform for
these organizations to
reach out to people di-
rectly.”
With close to 18,000 Af-
ricans in the Multnomah
County, the majority
comes from Somalia,
Egypt and Sierra Leone.
According to 2013 re-
port from the Coalition
of Communities of Color,
while the county’s Afri-
can population is highly
educated, most of the
attained degrees were
earned overseas and are
minimally recognized in
Oregon, leading to low
incomes and poverty.
Moreover, the report
found that the African
community is uninsured
at a rate almost double
that of White people.
It’s why Fai is looking
at the festival as a cultur-
al vehicle to unify and
strengthen the African
community in Oregon,
both socially and eco-
nomically.
“We as Africans believe
that people who are clos-
est to the problem are
closest to the solution,”
said Fai, who landed in
Portland as a refugee 20
years ago, after fleeing
war-torn Somalia with
her family.
Read the rest of this story at
TheSkanner.com
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
Festival
March for Charleena Lyles
Charleena Lyles’ father leads a march to the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct July 29 after a benefit and rally sponsored by
Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman Michael Bennett, along with the Seattle NAACP and Not This Time for Charleena’s family at Judkins
Park. Several other families who lost family members to law enforcement spoke at the event including the mother of Giovonn McDade,
who was killed by police in June, and the parents of Leonard Thomas, who was killed by a police sniper 2013. Thomas’ family was
recently awarded $15 million dollars by a federal court for his wrongful death.
Chief
cont’d from pg 1
group formed after the election
of President Donald Trump, an-
nounced Monday it would pursue
an effort to recall Mayor Wheeler
if Marshman is selected for the
position.
Marshman was appointed in
June of 2016 following the re-
tirement of Larry O’Dea. He was
placed on administrative leave
in March of this year after ac-
cusations of falsifying training
records, and reappointed to his
post in April when colleagues
changed their story. Just weeks
after Marshman was appointed,
The Oregonian reported he had
been investigated for a 2002 in-
cident involving violence against
his stepson, who was then 16.
More recently, Marshman has
come under fire for his depart-
ment’s handling of large protests,
which have increased since the
Presidential election.
Public input
The final four candidates were
whittled down from six who were
interviewed by a panel of city-se-
lected volunteers affiliated with
some community organizations.
The job opening was posted in
May.
One of the six who apparent-
ly didn’t make the cut is Charles
Moose, 63, who led the Portland
“
[Marshman]
was placed on
administrative
leave in March
of this year after
accusations of
falsifying train-
ing records
Police Bureau from 1993 to 1999,
serving as the city’s first African
American police chief. The Ore-
gonian reported last week that
Moose had been seen downtown
wearing a suit during the week
candidates were being inter-
viewed, and later quoted a Face-
book post from Moose’s wife, San-
dy, saying he had failed to make
the cut.
A community panelist who
spoke with The Skanner said the
majority of the six candidates —
including Scirotto, who is bi-ra-
cial — were people of color, as
were the majority of those serv-
ing on the panels. During the in-
terview process, the group of 15
volunteers was broken into three
groups, and all had an hour to
speak with each candidate.
A city staff member provided
them with questions to ask —
based on the posted job descrip-
tion and survey results — and col-
lected their notes and feedback at
the end.
E.D. Mondaine, first vice pres-
ident of the NAACP Portland
Branch and one of the community
panelists, said he was impressed
with the breadth of experience
his fellow panelists brought to
the interview process.
Read more at TheSkanner.com
cont’d from pg 1
But the majority of what I did during
my time there was criminal defense
work and plaintiff personal injury.
Part of the reason I wanted to be a
lawyer was so I could be a litigator, be-
cause I love being in the courtroom. So
being a defense lawyer was a fantastic
experience – you get to help people,
there’s never the same case twice, you
go to court daily. It was amazing. Before
law school,
I did juvenile delinquency work and I
really loved that because you have con-
tact with kids and you can be a mentor
and help them out of their situation. I
loved defending people. It was reward-
ing for me knowing that I got to help
people through a tough situation and
got the best results for them that’s pos-
sible.
When I came to GEICO, I started doing
person injury, but on the defense side.
As the managing attorney I worked
long hours and was responsible for ev-
ery file in the office. If you have GEICO
insurance and someone hits you in a
car accident, then my office would rep-
resent you in court and defend you on
that lawsuit.
“
It was rewarding
for me knowing that
I got to help people
through a tough sit-
uation and got the
best results for them
that’s possible
TSN: Gov. Brown appointed you a
judge of the Clackamas County Circuit
court. How does one go from being a
lawyer to a judge?
UW: You are either appointed or you
run for office. In my case I was appoint-
ed. For me, I think all of the times I’ve
spent in the courtroom are going to
help. Being familiar with how trials are
conducted and how people are charged,
and what it takes to have probable
cause and understanding the rules of
evidence, all that is going to make this
an easier transition for me. Clacka-
mas judges all handle family law and
that’s an area I’ve never practiced, so
there’s going to be a learning curve
for me in that respect.
All of the judges in Clackamas do
a rotation, so they all hear criminal
cases — civil cases and family law
cases; unlike Multnomah County,
which separates the cases. But ev-
ery single judge in that court has al-
ready reached out to me and offered
to help in any way. It’s amazing how
supportive this group of judges is.
TSN: You’re a member of Oregon
Minority Lawyers Association. What
does that entail?
UT: It was one of the first minority
lawyer organizations that we created
for lawyers of color to support each
African American female judges
of the Oregon State Bench
Mercedes Deiz was the first Black woman to
practice law in Oregon, the first to serve as a
district court judge and the first to be elected
as a county circuit court judge.
Adrienne Nelson’s judicial appointment in 2006
made her the second female African American
judge in Oregon. She’s currently a judge with
the Multnomah County Circuit Court.
Ulanda Watkins is a newly appointed judge of
the Clackamas County Circuit Court and the
third female African American judge in Oregon.
other and further the goal of diversify-
ing the state of Oregon.
Since then, we have so many more
organizations — the Black Lawyers As-
sociation, the Filipino American Law-
yers Association, the Asian Pacific
American Bar Association, and the His-
panic Bar Association.
