April 18, 2018 The Skanner Page 3
News
Cyber Crime
There are a number of
cryptocurrencies cur-
rently circulating, with
the most popular being
Bitcoin, which Assis-
tant FBI Special Agent
In Charge George Cham-
berlain said first came
to many people’s atten-
tion due to ransomware
said, is the targeting of
business email accounts
with
convincing-look-
ing spoof domains. Us-
ing addresses that look
convincingly like the
address belonging to a
chief financial officer or
comptroller, hackers will
request wire transfers
There’s nothing inherently
wrong with cryptocurrency,
and having it is not illegal
scams. Ransomware is
a type of viral software
that either threatens to
publish the victim’s data,
or block access to files
on the victim’s computer
until a ransom is paid.
Typically, that ransom
has to be paid in a spec-
ified
cryptocurrency.
(Other currencies, such
as Ehteriu, Monero and
Ukash have also been
created in recent years.)
Another increasingly
common scam, agents
Multnomah County, together with the City of Portland,
Metro, TriMet and the Portland Business Alliance,
announced this week the planned installation of six new
syringe disposal drop boxes in neighborhoods citywide.
The effort, in neighborhoods ranging from Lents to St.
Johns, builds on a pilot disposal project launched in 2016
by Multnomah County and the City of Portland, which
included installing two secure disposal drop boxes on the
downtown paths lining the Willamette River.
The first-phase expansion will include 24-hour syringe
disposal drop boxes installed at: the Multnomah County
Bridge Shop, in inner southeast, and Fire Station 11, in the
Lents neighborhood.
Syringe disposal drop boxes will also be placed in
downtown Portland and near popular public areas.
Existing free 24-hour disposal drop boxes are installed
on the west-side walkway below the Burnside Bridge
and below the west approach to the Steel Bridge. Metro
offers syringe disposal at its transfer station facilities
in northwest Portland and Oregon City. Metro also
offers a container exchange program for residents and
households in Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington
counties. Residents can enroll for $5 and receive a new
sharps container at no cost each time they bring a full
container back for disposal.
cont’d from pg 1
Birth.
Board member Diane Saunders told
The Skanner the organization began
to consider rebranding a few years
ago, with a process that included focus
groups on how the organization was
perceived. The discussion continued in
2016, when founder Shafia Monroe an-
nounced her retirement.
Most of the organization’s work takes
place in the United States, Saunders
said, and in recognition of that the
“international” part of the name was
dropped, and the organization wanted
to highlight its emphasis on improving
Black birth outcomes.
It was at a board retreat to discuss
the future of the nonprofit that board
member Noelene Jeffers proposed the
new name.
“We all just looked at each other and
said, that’s it,” Saunders told The Skan-
ner.
The announcement came the same
evening the organization screened a
short documentary called “The Loud-
est Silence: Black Women’s Birth Expe-
riences,” which Saunders said the orga-
nization plans to show at organizations
UPRISE
across the country beginning this sum-
mer.
The film, which features an introduc-
tion by Portland writer and musician
S. Renee Mitchell, portrays two differ-
ent birthing stories featuring African
“
The organization
wanted to highlight
its emphasis on im-
proving Black birth
outcomes
American women. One woman gives
birth in a hospital, and describes the
experience of being talked over and
having concerns dismissed; another
gives birth at home with help from a
Black midwife. The video also features
expert commentary on the physical ef-
fects of racial trauma, and disparities
in Black birth outcomes, including the
fact that African American babies are
twice as likely as White babies to die
before their first birthday.
“A lot of it is really the way that
[Black] women are treated in the health
care settings, in terms of not being lis-
tened to, being talked over, not having
their concerns treated as valid as if
they were White,” Saunders said.
According to paperwork on file with
the Oregon Secretary of State’s busi-
ness name registry, the ICTC first regis-
tered as a nonprofit in 1997. The state’s
filings also reflect the organization
filed for a name change April 11. The
organization’s website has been redi-
rected to a new URL (https://www.the-
naabb.org), but according to Saunders,
Facebook has not allowed NAABB to
change the name of its Facebook page,
because the new name is too different
from the old one. The new website lists
the following as the group’s objectives:
• Combat the effects of structural rac-
ism on Black maternal-infant health
through advocacy, research, educa-
tional programming, activism and
policy change;
• Work to equip birth workers (doulas,
midwives, nurses, and doctors) and
maternity institutions with the prac-
tical tools and education they need to
improve outcomes for Black women
and persons;
• Develop and support innovative
models of care that are sensitive to
the cultural and social needs of Black
families;
• Partner with organizations that are
connected to and can help advance
NAABB’s vision.
NAABB, while Portland-based, has
board members all over the country,
and one in Barbados; the organization
also does advocacy and education work
nationwide, Saunders said.
Its rebranding comes on the heels of
several news stories examining Black
birth outcomes. Last week the New
York Times published a story report-
ing that racial disparities in Black and
White birth outcomes are now worse
than they were before the Civil War.
In December, ProPublica and National
Public Radio published detailed inves-
tigative stories on Black women’s ex-
periences giving birth, and in January
tennis star Serena Williams described
a harrowing series of complications
that immediately followed the birth of
her first child.
Read the full story at TheSkanner.com
cont’d from pg 1
against both Palestinians and residents
of Ferguson, Missouri.
“People from Palestine were actually
giving support to the people of Fergu-
son, like how to deal with tear gas at-
tacks and how to protect themselves,”
said Akinjiola. “So Davis looks at when
those movements started to support
each other. Even though they’re dif-
ferent communities with different cir-
cumstances, it’s the same oppressive,
hegemonic forces.”
Based on stories of intersectionality
such as these, Akinjiola gave the word
“uprise” to her choreographers to in-
terpret. The result is five forceful and
distinctly different dances.
“Each choreographer leads their own
work, but there’s a lot of collaboration
within that, with one mind framing the
perspective of the dance,” said Akinjio-
la.
The company spent the last year, from
inception to stage, to bring the works to
fruition.
Combining her background in Af-
ro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian and mod-
“
People from Pales-
tine were actually
giving support to
the people of Fer-
guson, like how to
deal with tear gas
attacks and how to
protect themselves
ern dance, Akinjiola presents “Quiet
Strength,” which questions patriotism
through the Black women’s perspec-
tive, from the Underground Railroad
and the election of Barack Obama. The
dance echoes the protest cries of the
Black Panthers, inner-city Chicago,
Standing Rock, and Flint, Michigan in a
nod to civil rights activism.
Michael Galen’s “A Light of Hope”
draws movements from b-boying, ca-
poeira and street to present a dance
performance with deep roots in resis-
tance, confrontation, and community
strengthening; while Jamie’s Minkus’s
“To Protect” embodies the warrior
spirit of Ogum as a call for systemic
change on social justice issues, includ-
ing police brutality and its aftermath.
To accompany UPRISE, the gallery
within the Interstate Firehouse Cul-
tural Center will feature multi-media
work on the African diaspora by lo-
cal artists Intisar Abioto and Sharita
Towne.
PHOTO COURTESY OF OLUYINKA AKINJIOLA
ICTC
or request an employee’s
W2s so they can steal the
victim’s tax refund.
Their advice? Buyer be-
ware.
Don’t click suspicious
or unknown links on
websites, read terms and
conditions and be care-
ful what information
you share online – and
double-check the source
of the request if you’re
asked for specific finan-
cial information, Cannon
said.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MULTNOMAH COUNTY
“
Syringe Disposal
Options Increase
Across East, North
Portland
cont’d from pg 1
Oluyinka Akinjiola, artistic director and
choreographer at Rejoice: Diaspora Dance Theater
