Page 2 The Skanner June 27, 2018
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Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
Consider Applying for the PCCEP — Portland Needs You
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2017
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Newspapers Throughout the U.S.
ortlanders have strong
feelings about the Port-
land Police Bureau (PPB).
We know this from the
emotionally-charged demon-
strations that overwhelmed
downtown Portland in the
last two years. We know this
because of the quick dismissal
of platitudes and empty reas-
surances from the PPB about
the progress it is making.
There are many people who
haven’t been happy for a long
time, if ever, with how the
police function here. Black
and brown communities have
especially been negatively
impacted by police policies
and behaviors. PPB has a dis-
mal record in terms of fatal
shootings by officers, racial
profiling and police stops of
citizens of color, particularly
African Americans. Police re-
sponse varies depending on
the color of your skin, where
you live, and whether you are
perceived to have a mental ill-
ness.
The U.S. Department of Jus-
tice (DOJ) findings don’t ap-
pear to have had any impact
on community outcomes thus
far. The term “community
policing” is used often — and
with the hiring of Chief Dan-
ielle Outlaw, I recognize that
PPB has a renewed focus on
what this means for the orga-
nization and Portlanders —
but I’m not yet convinced that
there is any policy or philoso-
Dr. Cynthia
Fowler
PCCEP
Selection
Advisory
Committee
phy that could fundamentally
address the schism between
law enforcement and mar-
ginalized communities in our
city.
I imagine that there could
be many ways to change PPB’s
behavior, but I’m convinced
that community members
need to have a lot more input
“
Impacted
communi-
ties deserve
the space to
speak their
own truths
into how policing happens in
this city for things to improve.
The PCCEP (Portland Com-
mittee on Community-En-
gaged Policing) creates an in-
dependent citizen board that
would exist beyond the life
of the Settlement Agreement.
Notably, the PCCEP has been
given the authority to de-
mand review of critical PPB
policies, in addition to con-
tributing to the development
of the community engage-
ment plan.
Why should you apply for
PCCEP?
We know that someone will
sit on this committee--why
not you? The very communi-
ties that are most impacted
by bad policing are usually
not in the room when policies
are developed. This is your
chance to not just be in the
room—but to get a seat at the
table. The PCCEP needs those
who are typically left out of
discussions and not heard–
the poor, people of color, the
mentally ill, and youth–to ap-
ply for and sit on this commit-
tee. Impacted communities
deserve the space to speak
their own truths because they
are the most qualified to do so.
Whatever impact the PCCEP
can have on policy develop-
ment will be felt most strong-
ly in these same communities.
Think about how your work
could even save the life of
someone you care about.
This is a chance for your
ideas about what community
policing should look like to
be reflected in actual policies.
We want to attract passion-
ate people who care about
what is happening in our city.
People with lived experience
through their interactions
with PPB and those who are
unhappy with policing in
Portland are encouraged to
apply. This committee needs
to function as a real voice that
will speak the truth about po-
licing and how issues of bias,
racism, power, the systemat-
ic devaluation of non-white
lives, and a lack of empathy
affect how police interact
with communities. Now, I’m
aware enough to know that
the problems with law en-
forcement are a reflection
of the larger systemic issues
within American institutions
— policing is an extension of
what has insidiously woven
itself into the fabric of this
country over generations.
We have to attack systemic
injustice at as many points as
possible and in as many ways
as we can. The PCCEP is one
of the ways that an informed,
motivated, and diverse group
of Portlanders can try to set
PPB on a better path.
PCCEP members must be
at least 16 years old and live,
work, worship, and/or go to
school in Portland. The time
commitment is a minimum of
8 hours per month. Meetings
will be in the evening and
will be catered. Members will
receive a stipend for their
participation. PCCEP applica-
tions are due Monday, July 2.
You can fill out an online ver-
sion of the application, print
an application from the May-
or’s website, pick up a hard
copy at the Mayor’s Office, or
call Mandi Hood at 503-319-
7736 to request a paper copy
by mail.
NAACP on the Front Lines: Trump’s War Against Civil Rights
BALTIMORE — Recently, the
NAACP, alongside members
of the Congressional Black
Caucus, gathered on the steps
of Capitol Hill to demand a
halt of the Trump adminis-
tration’s continued attempts
to force Thomas Farr—a
known racist with ties to the
late segregationist Senator
Jesse Helms—into the federal
judgeship of North Carolina.
Located in eastern North
Carolina, this federal district
under this judgeship has one
of the highest densities of Af-
rican American voters than
any other part of the state,
making Farr one of the worst
possible candidates that could
be considered. Sadly, instead
of representing an anoma-
ly, Farr instead represents
the archetype for federal
judge nominees put forth by
the Trump Administration.
Whether it’s nominees that
refuse to publicly support
the Brown v. Board decision
that desegregated our public
schools or individuals with
ties to known racist organiza-
tions, what we are seeing are
people whose attitudes reflect
norms more associated with
the era of Jim Crow than our
time.
It cannot be ignored that
Trump’s White House is en-
gaged in none other than
a war against civil rights.
Though this is a battle we had
Derrick
Johnson
NNPA
President &
CEO
hoped to have ended by now,
it is not a fight we are afraid
of nor is it one we will lose.
We have waged war against
the foes of civil rights for
over 109 years. We fought
hard against the nomination
of Senator Jeff Sessions to the
office of Attorney General
and we will continue to fight
against Trump’s nearly all-
white and mostly male federal
judge nominees. Mr. Sessions’
redirection of the Depart-
ment of Justice (DOJ) away
from its civil rights commit-
ment under the Obama Ad-
ministration to an agency
that condones police brutali-
ty and other racially based in-
justices is hardly surprising.
We knew he would push the
DOJ to withdraw its support
for our legal cases against
voter suppression and he did.
The simple point is that these
moves against civil rights
cannot be divorced from his
boss—President Trump.
Over the past few months,
the NAACP has sued the
Trump administration on its
failure to properly prepare
for Census2020. This failure
to prepare for the Census
means that communities of
color, including wealthy com-
munities like Prince Georges
County, Maryland, our part-
ner in the lawsuit, will likely
be once again undercounted.
When this happens, our com-
munities lose out on political
representation, federal dol-
“
It is not a fight
we are afraid
of nor is it
one we will
lose
lars, and resources that are
rightfully ours. We’ve also
taken the fight to this admin-
istration on the decision by
Secretary of Education, Betsy
DeVos and the Department of
Education to basically throw
civil rights under the bus and
arbitrarily determine that
the department no longer
has to investigate complaints
of discrimination in our
schools. We are also commit-
ted to ensuring that DeVos
plans for privatization, plans
that would destroy our pub-
lic-school system, never come
to completion.
There is a direct correlation
between the racism emanat-
ing from the White House
and the expansion of attacks
on the humanity of persons
of color. This is clear not only
from Trump’s poisonous
rhetoric that disparages peo-
ple, cultures, and nations, but
also in the policies that ema-
nate from his office.
The infection of blatant rac-
ist speech and behavior be-
gan the day after Trump was
elected and it has continued
to spread, giving inspiration
to closet bigots and encourag-
ing implicit and explicit racial
biases that pervade from the
golf course to the coffee shop
and every space in between.
During our 109th Annual
Convention July 14-18 in San
Antonio, Texas, the NAACP
will bring together some of
our nation’s most brilliant
minds, activists, and legis-
lators, as well as powerful
voices from the hip-hop com-
munity to map out the agen-
da for moving forward. Our
goal is to unite our voices into
a powerful symphony that
resonates with communities
of color and inspires them to
join us in standing against
government-sponsored
hate. This year’s theme is sim-
ply “Defeat Hate — Vote.”
Trump’s refusal to address
the nation’s premier civil
rights organization and its
hundreds of thousands of ad-
vocates is, by default, a refus-
al to speak to the entirety of
the Black Community.