JUNE 6, 2018
Portland and Seattle Volume XL No. 36
25
CENTS
News ..........................3,8-10,12 A & E .....................................6-7
Opinion ...................................2 Black Mormon Leaders .....9
Calendars ........................... 4-5 Bids/Classifieds ....................11
CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW
CHESS PARK POP-UP
Quanice Hayes
By Christen McCurdy
Of The Skanner News
T
he family of 17-year-old Quanice
Hayes, who was shot and killed by
Portland police in February 2017,
has filed a lawsuit against the City
of Portland and Andrew Hearst, the of-
ficer who fired the shots that killed the
teenager.
The suit is not unexpected: on the
anniversary of Hayes’ death the fam-
ily, with civil rights attorney Jesse
Merithew, announced their intention
in February to bring a suit against the
city.
AP PHOTO/JACQUELYN MARTIN
See HAYES on page 3
In this June 1, 2018 photo, President Donald Trump
attends a Change of Command ceremony at the
U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington.
Trump asserted his presidential power and
escalated his efforts to discredit the special
counsel Russia probe Monday, declaring he has the
“absolute right” to pardon himself and attacking
the investigation as “totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL!”
Trump Says
He Can Pardon
Himself page 10
Black Men with
Prostate Cancer
page 8
Fare Well
Seattle Police Detective Denise “Cookie” Bouldin looks on as 2 girls shake hands before playing a game of chess during the Chess Park Pop-Up June 4. The
Pop-Up was a chance for the community to play some chess, enjoy some free food and music and learn about the plans for the Detective Cookie Chess
Park, which will include a giant built-in chess board and chess boards inlaid into tables. The park will be named in honor of Detective Cookie because of
her long-running chess program in Seattle’s Rainier Beach neighborhood.
First ‘Hip Hop’ Cannabis Dispensary to Open
Full-service dispensary Green Hop brings together art, hip hop, cannabis
The Skanner News
O
n June 16, Portland,
Oregon will be the
proud home of what
its owners are calling
the world’s first hip hop
dispensary.
“Hip hop, in a sense,
saved my life,” said Green
Hop co-owner Karanja
Crews, who added that
groups like KRS1, Public
Enemy and A Tribe Called
Quest were in high circula-
tion on MTV in his youth.
“That was a rough time
in my life, my parents were
struggling with drug ad-
diction and there was a lot
of a gangs, drugs and nega-
tive activity,” he continued.
“(Hip Hop) was my refuge
growing up. It planted a
seed of consciousness and
shifted me towards the tra-
jectory I’m on now.”
As a teacher and found-
er of Teaching With Pur-
pose — an organization
that promotes culturally
responsive practices in
the classroom — Crews
wanted to pay homage to
the culture of hip hop that
inspired a positive turn in
his life.
He also believes that hip
hop had a major influence
on the legalization of mari-
juana in some states, as the
culture has always been
unapologetic about using
the plant for both recre-
ation and medicine.
Crew’s efforts have paid
off in Green Hop, a hip
hop-inspired brand that
meets at the intersection
of music, art and cannabis,
while ushering in the in-
dustry’s next wave of Black
entrepreneurs.
As one of the fastest
growing industries in the
United States, cannabis is
still largely leaving Afri-
can Americans out of the
rush — with only one per-
cent of dispensaries owned
by a Black person.
Some, however, are ad-
amantly trying to change
that statistic. In March
2017, a group of cannabis
business owners, policy
makers and activists draft-
ed the first-ever cannabis
bill that would assist those
harmed by racial dispar-
ities in drug law by pro-
viding them opportunities
within the cannabis econ-
omy — through business
ownership, certification,
See DISPENSARY on page 3
Merkley Refused Entry to Facility Holding Children
Oregon Senator attempted to visit Texas center
was told to leave and officials summoned police
By Andrew Selsky
Associated Press
A
U.S. senator said Monday he
tried to enter a federal facili-
ty in Texas where immigrant
children are being held, but
police were called and he was told to
leave.
The attempt late Sunday by Sen
Jeff Merkley of Oregon came amid a
national debate over the practice of
separating families caught crossing
the border illegally.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions re-
cently announced a “zero-tolerance
policy” against all people crossing
the border illegally. More children
are expected to be separated from
their parents as a result.
“The administration has started
ripping these children out of the
arms of their parents,” Merkley said
See MERKLEY on page 3
AP PHOTO/MANUEL BALCE CENETA, FILE
Family still raising funds
for legal expenses after
February 2017 shooting
death of 17-year-old
Quanice Hayes
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
Hayes
Family
Sues City
In this Nov. 28, 2017, file photo, Sen. Jeff Merkley,
D-Ore., speaks at a rally in Washington. Merkley,
while trying to gain access to a federal facility
housing immigrant children in Texas near the
Mexico border and talk to a supervisor was
turned away after police were summoned.