Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (June 20, 2018)
June 20, 2018 The Skanner Page 3 News cont’d from pg 1 American Civil Liberties Union and Innovation Law Lab said during a telephone briefing with reporters. The men are from 16 countries including Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Peru and Nicaragua, ac- cording to information provided by Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley’s office. “ detainees have appropri- ate access to their legal representatives.” She could not imme- diately comment on the specific situation at the Sheridan facility. President Donald Trump’s immigration policies have drawn in- tense scrutiny following the forced separation of migrant children from They vowed not to leave un- til the policy of separating children from their families was changed An attorney who was able to enter the facility with a delegation from the Mexican consulate did speak briefly with two Mexican men who said they were separated from their children. Carissa Cutrell, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Office of Immigration and Customs Enforce- ment, said generally im- migrants apprehended crossing the border ille- gally are being housed in federal prisons because capacity at immigration detention centers was exhausted by the Trump administration’s ze- ro-tolerance policy. Because the asylum seekers are in a prison, the Bureau of Prisons regulations apply for vis- its but “ICE is currently ... working to ensure that Pride their parents. Democrats and some Republicans are urging an end to the practice at the U.S.-Mex- ico border. Children split from their families at that border are being held in government-run facilities. Meanwhile, a small group of protesters set up in Portland outside ICE headquarters and held a round-the-clock vigil. They vowed not to leave until the policy of separating children from their families was changed. The protesters calling themselves Occupy ICE PDX are preventing ICE vehicles from entering or leaving the facility. The name recalls the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York in 2011. cont’d from pg 1 Mr. Bobby at mrbobby- dance@gmail.com FRIDAY, JUNE 22 Oaks Park Family Fun Day (ALL AGES): Join Portland Black Pride and Sankofa Collective Northwest for this annu- al family event at Oaks Amusement Park. Pay $10 for a bracelet and get full access to unlimited rides and skates for the skating rink. Portland Black Pride is asking for canned goods for their food drive, along with a potluck snack. Organiz- ers will also provide pic- nic supplies like plates, napkins and silverware, as well as snacks and drinks. SATURDAY, JUNE 23 Sankofa Saturday So- cial (ALL AGES): From 3 – 6 p.m. at Sante Bar (411 NW Park Avenue, Port- land, OR 97209) join your friends for light snacks and good tunes. TUESDAY, JUNE 26 Black Magic Tuesday (21 AND OVER): From 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. at CC Slaughters (219 NW Da- vis Street, Portland, OR 97209) DJs will play R&B and Hip Hop from the 1990s. Disco balls, huge dance floor and adjacent lounge. SATURDAY, JUNE 30 Young Lions Black Pride Party (ALL AGES): At S1 Gallery (7320 NE Sandy Boulevard, Port- land, OR 97213), Friends of Noise – a group that aims to preserve Port- land’s diverse arts and culture scene for young people – hosts a musical and poetry performance. Cover is $3 for under 21, $7 for over 21. Those interested in upcoming events in July and August should check out Portland Black Pride on Facebook. PHOTO BY JERRY FOSTER Protest Elevated Coffee Grand Opening Elevated Coffee celebrated its grand opening under new ownership recently with an evening of art featuring abstract artist J.R. Harris. People flowed in throughout the evening as they were welcomed by new owner Le King. Pictured here are Renee Ingram (left), Peg Malloy, Le King and Nicki Gillespie. Gentrification out long-term residents. In his 2002 book, “The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life,” urban studies theorist Richard Florida argued that the creative class — essentially educated white-collar workers, including tech workers and engineers as well as those in arts, media and advertising — would be the key economic force in reinventing urban centers. The suit notes city planning documents from the 2000s with names like “The Creative Action Agenda,” which focus on not just attracting “cre- atives” but millennials. The suit argues that that focus, as well as a broken planning pro- cess, violating local and national civil rights protections that bar housing discrimination based on age or source of income. “This belies an elevation of mil- lennials and ‘young talent’ over other kinds of people or talent, having labeled the reputation of having them in the city as a ‘no- table asset’ of which to take ad- vantage, compared to what must be a non-notable asset or maybe even a liability,” the suit reads. “District Government has a clear preference for millennial cre- atives, making it somewhat hard- er for those residents that aren’t notable assets.” “I believe there are elements of the suit that could apply in other cities, especially those claims that involve [the Fair Housing Act] and the first amendment,” The- resa said. The complaint claims the city violated the first amend- ment’s establishment clause by favoring White creatives’ “view- points, opinions, and normative and cultural values,” and the Fair Housing Act’s disparate impact clause. Theresa notes that in more re- cent writings, Florida himself has walked back some of his earlier claims and acknowledged that an overt focus on attracting cre- atives in many cities paved the way for gentrification and re-seg- regation of major cities. Attorneys and academics con- tacted by The Skanner said the cont’d from pg 1 idea of making a civil rights claim against a city over gentrification is not unheard of, but unusual, and that the suit bears potential implications for other places. Dr. Karen Gibson, associate professor at Portland State Uni- versity, who has written exten- sively about the history of gen- trification in Portland, said she is “ I believe there are elements of the suit that could apply in other cities, especially those claims that in- volve [the Fair Housing Act] and the First Amendment aware of a few times individuals discussed suing the city over its urban renewal processes. Gib- son’s work chronicles decades of disinvestment and displacement in Northeast Portland, followed by a revitalization effort that ef- fectively displaced much of Port- land’s Black community. According to Gibson, the late Harold Williams, a longtime neighborhood activist and for- mer head of the African Amer- ican Chamber of Commerce threatened the city with a lawsuit when then-Mayor Vera Katz be- gan the Interstate Urban Renewal effort in Albina, an historical- ly Black neighborhood that has since undergone rapid gentrifica- tion -- and, in more recent years, aggressive development. Wil- liams threatened a lawsuit unless neighborhood residents were included in the planning pro- cess. He went on to say on record he thought the initial planning process was democratic, and was able to get the city to put money toward retention of Black senior homeowners, though Gibson said she isn’t sure how Williams felt later on. “Jennie Portis, who ran an em- ployment agency for Albina res- idents and who helped count the number of abandoned and vacant buildings in Albina for the City in the late 1980s (when they be- gan revitalization after decades of disinvestment) once told me that she believed that the only way to get the PDC to do the right thing for the Albina District resi- dents was to take them to court,” Gibson wrote in an email to The Skanner. “She felt that they never complied with residents’ wishes and that they could not be trust- ed to act on behalf of long-time residents.” Attorney Jesse Merithew said he is not sure if the land-use ques- tion at the heart of the suit has a parallel in Portland, but noted that in the 2000s and early 2010s Portland marketed itself aggres- sively as an attractive place for young, creative White people. Portland’s quirky (and heavi- ly White) image was cemented with the premiere of “Portlandia” in 2011, but for years before that national media, particularly the New York Times, wrote numer- ous stories emphasizing the city’s quirky population and scarcely mentioning its history of racism or the gentrification already un- derway at that time. Merrithew pointed to a 2007 Willamette Week article about how the surge of national press beginning in the 1990s was not organic, but the result of the Port- land Oregon Visitors Association and other PR firms engaging in aggressive marketing campaigns to bring travel writers to Port- land. “That marketing was trying to sell the city as a place where young White people want to move. That campaign has not been as successful at making young people of color move here or feel comfortable once they are here,” Merithew said. Theresa is still looking for claimants to join his suit. “We’re going for class action status. We anticipate more par- ties joining in because we still have time to amend the com- plaint,” Theresa said.
