Page 8 The Skanner December 27, 2017
A Look Back at 2017
Charleena Lyles Killed
Charleena Lyles, a pregnant mother of four in Seattle, was shot and killed by Seattle Police June 18.
Lyles had called the police to report a theft and within minutes of their arrival was shot at least
five times by both officers. The police say she confronted them with a knife but the community
questions whether a less lethal means could have been used to subdue the women who family and
neighbors describe as being tiny and weighing about 90 pounds. Hundreds of people gathered June
18 at the apartment complex where Lyles was killed. The shooting garnered national attention and
fueled De-Escalate Washington’s campaign for Initative 940, which would reform standards for
using deadly force. It would also require law enforcement officers to receive regular trainings in
violence de-escalation, identifying and assisting people suffering from a mental health issue -- as
well as performing first aid. A Force Review Board report made public in December that officer said
the board had determined that the shooting was proportional and consistent with department
training and policy.
PHOTO: NIKKI DAVID / NEON TOMMY
Small Drug
Possession
Lowered to
Misdemeanor
Oregon legislatures passed a landmark bill this
week that reclassifies small scale possession
of illegal drugs — heroin, methamphetamine,
cocaine and others — from a felony to a
misdemeanor. Under previous law, small
possession was a Class B or C felony –
punishable by up to 10 or 20 years in prison
and $250,000 or $375,000 in fines. The new
legislation knocks down small possession to
a Class A misdemeanor, which could result in
one year in jail and/or a $6,250 fine.
In August Mayor Ted Wheeler announced
he had hired Danielle Outlaw to become
the city’s new police chief. Outlaw is a
19-year veteran of the Oakland Police
Department, where she served as a
Deputy Chief since 2013, and the first
Black woman to serve in the role.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CITY OF PORTLAND
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
Wheeler
Hires
Danielle
Outlaw
Forgotten cont’d from pg 2
organization work with
the National Newspaper
Publishers Association
to keep the Black com-
munity informed. Con-
gressional Black Caucus
Chair Cedric Richmond
(D-La.) also pledged to
work closer with the
Black Press in 2017 and
beyond.
The NNPA and Chev-
rolet sponsored eight
students from Histori-
cally Black Colleges and
Universities in Atlanta
and Washington, D.C. to
participate in the 2017
Discover The Unexpect-
ed (DTU) journalism fel-
lowship program.
The 2017 class of DTU
journalism fellows in-
cluded: Alexa Imani
A career you can
be proud of.
Being a carpenter isn’t just a job. It’s a way of life. We’re
devoted to strengthening the lives of our members with
steady work, wealth and personal growth.
We take a stand for our members and all workers. We
work together to lead the building industry in safety,
training and compensation. We create rich lives for our
members and partners.
To learn more about becoming a union carpenter, go to
NWCarpenters.org.
Spencer and Noni Mar-
shall from Howard Uni-
versity; Kelsey Jones and
Taylor Burris from Spel-
man College; Jordan Fish-
er and Tiana Hunt from
Clark Atlanta Universi-
ty; and Ayron Lewallen
“
In 2017, the
Black Press
lost two
of its most
devoted
freedom
warriors
and Darrell Williams
from Morehouse College.
The eight fellows were
rewarded for their in-
trepid, diligent work in
the
Chevrolet-backed
program that provides
students from HBCUs
scholarships and sum-
mer internships at NNPA
member,
Black-owned
newspapers.
Civil rights icon the
Rev. Jesse Jackson also
announced that he has
Parkinson’s disease.
A tumultuous 2017 also
saw TV One announce
the cancelation of the
popular Roland Mar-
tin’s NewsOne Now news
show in December.
In 2017, the Black Press
lost two of its most de-
voted freedom warriors.
Walter “Ball” Smith, the
publisher of “New York’s
Beacon” and the “Phila-
delphia Observer” died
on Friday, November 10.
He was 83.
One month earlier on
Oct. 22, Bernal E. Smith
PORTLAND:
1636 East Burnside, Portland, OR 97214 | 503.261.1862
HEADQUARTERS:
25120 Pacific Hwy S, #200, Kent, WA 98032 | 253.954.8800
More than 20,000 members in the Pacific Northwest.
Please re-use or recycle
this newspaper.
II, the president and pub-
lisher of the Tri-State De-
fender and a well-known
civic leader in Memphis,
Tenn., also passed away.
Smith was 45.
Other Black icons also
were mourned in 2017.
Among them were Del-
la Reese, 86, and Earle
Hyman, 91, both of whom
died in November; Rob-
ert Guillaume, 89, and
Fats Domino, 89, died
in October; the rap star
Prodigy, 42, who died
in June; while singer Al
Jarreau, 76, died in Feb-
ruary; and activist Roy
Innis, 82, died in January.
In December, Simeon
Booker, a trail-blazing
Black journalist who
covered the Civil Rights
Movement for the iconic
African American maga-
zines EBONY and Jet and
who was the first black
person to work as a full-
time Washington Post re-
porter, also died.
He was 99.
On August 19, 2017, ac-
tivist and comedian Dick
Gregory died at the age
of 84.
“During the past six
decades, Dick Gregory,
would periodically write
essays and editorials for
the Black-owned news-
papers of NNPA mem-
bers across the nation,”
NNPA President and
CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Cha-
vis, Jr., wrote in a tribute
to Gregory. “His pen and
his voice were always on
the side of the oppressed,
who dared to speak up
and stand up for free-
dom. Today, in Dick’s
memory, we all are obli-
gated to do no less.”
Chavis continued: “Ev-
ery breath that we take,
we should gain more and
more strength to speak
truth to power and to
stand against all injus-
tice.”