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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 2018)
OCTOBER 24, 2018 25 CENTS Portland and Seattle Volume XLI No. 4 News ................................ 3,6,8 A & E ........................................5 Opinion ...................................2 Dr. Jasmine ......................6 Calendars ...............................4 Bids/Classifieds .....................7 CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW PHOTO BY LYNN FRIEDMAN (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) VIA FLICKR SUN-RA EXHIBIT OPENS The latest jobs report says Oregon’s unemployment is at an all-time low – but data on the unemployment rate of Black Oregonians is more difficult to ascertain. Available data suggest Black Oregonians see less benefit from boom By Christen McCurdy Of The Skanner News L ast week the Oregon Employment Department released its latest jobs numbers, reporting the state’s un- employment rate is the lowest it has been since comparable records be- gan in 1976 — and keeping apace with low national unemployment rates. But it’s hard to get a good picture of how Af- rican Americans are faring in the cur- rent boom. The state’s unemployment releases new jobs data every month, and a Sept. 16 press release reported Oregon’s job- less rate at 3.8 percent. Unemployment rates nationwide dipped from 3.9 per- cent in August to 3.7 percent in Septem- ber. But the OED’s numbers aren’t seg- See JOBS on page 3 PHOTO COURTESY OF PORTLAND ART MUSEUM Oregon Unemployment At Record Low In the final project of the Portland Art Museum’s year-long series, “We.Construct.Marvels.Between.Monuments.,” artistic director Libby Werbel partners with Deep Underground (Bethlehem Daniel, Madenna Ibrahim, Mia O’Connor-Smith, and Janessa Narciso) to present “MONUMENTS. The Earth Expedition of Sun Ra” — a multimedia presentation of film, music, and art by Afrofuturist artist, musician, and philosopher Sun Ra (1934-1993). Sun Ra was a jazz composer, musician, bandleader, teacher, and poet who became known for his theatrical performances and personal mythology: his name references the Egyptian sun god, Ra, and his origin story proclaimed that he had come to Earth from Saturn. Sun Ra has been considered the pioneer of Afrofuturism, a school of thinking that utilizes science fiction, music, art, and political theory to propose a thriving destiny for Black people. Sun Ra and his collaborators left a comprehensive archive including 130 albums, countless books and broadsheets of poetry, posters, paintings, photographs, and performance attire. The exhibition includes artifacts on loan from the University of Chicago’s Alton Abraham Collection of Sun Ra Archive, with supplemental support from private collectors and music enthusiasts. The exhibit opening event and viewing, featuring performances from Alima Lee, Anaka and The Ah Ra Dance Ensemble, will take place from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Portland Art Museum. Admission for the event is $5. Staged Reading Comes Down With ‘Gospel Blues’ Play examines faith and music against backdrop of Memphis sanitation strike By Christen McCurdy Of The Skanner News AP PHOTO/AMANDA LOMAN “G In this Oct. 3, photo, Satyawart, left, and Balvinder Singh, immigrants from India freed from the federal prison in Sheridan, Ore., talk at the Dasmesh Darbar Sikh temple in Salem, Ore. ospel Blues,” a musical about faith, a chance encounter with Martin Luther King, Jr. and a perceived tension between the two musical genres referenced in the title, will be performed a staged reading this weekend at two Portland got him writing. He reached out to pia- nist and composer Janice Scroggins and vocalist Linda Hornbuckle for help bringing his idea to life. He wanted to create a musical that was rooted in the mu- sic itself, with the story fol- lowing. The story focuses on a character named Clarence — a nod to the late gospel singer Clarence Fountain churches. Portland playwright Wayne Harrel, who wrote the book and lyrics for the show, said he started work- ing on the play 20 years ago. He grew up in the church, played in a high school jazz band and start- ed listening to the blues in college. An overhead state- ment — “Christians got no business singing the blues” — got him thinking. Then it of Blind Boys of Alabama — who sings and works as a sanitation worker in Memphis in 1968. Hazard- ous workers for sanitation workers, many of whom were Black and shut out of more lucrative jobs, such as driving garbage trucks, eventually led to the now-historic sanita- tion workers strike, which got the attention of the the See GOSPEL on page 3 Oregonians Crude Pipe Bombs Sent to Obama, Clintons, CNN Help Detainees ‘Acts or threats of political violence have no Rihanna Says No to Superbowl page 5 place in the United States,’ says Trump By Michael Balsamo, Eric Tucker and Colleen Long Associated Press WASHINGTON — Crude pipe bombs targeting Hillary Clinton, for- mer President Barack Obama, CNN and others were intercepted Tues- day night and Wednesday in a rash of attacks two weeks before nationwide elections that could reshape Con- gress and serve as a referendum on the first two years of President Don- ald Trump’s presidency. The devices, which officials said shared a similar design, were aimed at prominent Democrats and a cable news network often criticized by political conservatives. A similar de- vice was found Monday at the New York compound of liberal billionaire George Soros, a major contributor to Democratic causes. The bombs overtook other cam- See BOMBS on page 3 AP PHOTO/RICHARD DREW Sheridan has become a way station for migrants page 6 New York City Police Dept. officers arrive outside the Time Warner Center, in New York Oct. 24. A police bomb squad was sent to CNN’s offices in New York City and the newsroom was evacuated because of a suspicious package. No injuries have been reported.