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.
