Page 2 The Skanner Portland & Seattle February 13, 2019
®
Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
Opinion
Decreasing Harm to Communities
Impacted by the Criminal Justice System
Bernie Foster
Founder/Publisher
Bobbie Dore Foster
Executive Editor
A
Jerry Foster
Advertising Manager
Christen McCurdy
News Editor
Patricia Irvin
Graphic Designer
Monica J. Foster
Seattle Office Coordinator
Susan Fried
Photographer
2017
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t a time when our coun-
try faces deep political
and social divisions, we
see a bright spot that
shows how people from dif-
ferent perspectives can come
together in the name of hope:
the bipartisan efforts under-
way to reform the criminal
justice system.
After decades of tough-
on-crime policies that have
led to burgeoning prison
and jail systems, members
of Congress from across the
political spectrum passed a
federal criminal justice bill in
December that acknowledges
the harm caused by over-pun-
ishment and mass incarcera-
tion.
That national shift comes
as Multnomah County and
other jurisdictions across the
country are working hard
to address pervasive issues
in their local criminal jus-
tice systems. Taken together,
those steps toward reform
make clear that many facets
of the justice system have tak-
en heavy financial and social
tolls on individuals strug-
gling with addiction and/or
mental illness, as well as on
their families and the commu-
nity at large.
This is particularly true for
people of color, and especially
in Oregon, where our racist
past is distinctly ugly. It’s why
local leaders have long been
fighting to make the same
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Guest
Columnists
kinds of changes we’re now
seeing nationally.
Oregon’s founding Consti-
tution excluded Blacks from
the state. Well into the 20th
century, racially restrictive
covenants squeezed people of
“
nomah County’s Jail, despite
making up just 6 percent of
the County’s overall popula-
tion.
Nationally, 15 percent to
17 percent of people booked
into jail are estimated to have
active symptoms of a seri-
ous mental illness, such as
schizophrenia, major depres-
sion or bipolar disorder. But
that share doubles when race
is factored in. A 2015 study
found that Black detainees
with symptoms of a mental ill-
ness were significantly over-
Even today, gentrification contin-
ues to force people of color from
their historic communities
color into certain neighbor-
hoods, then subjected those
neighborhoods to further rac-
ist land-use policies. Even to-
day, gentrification continues
to force people of color from
their historic communities.
Inequity has had a profound
impact on our criminal jus-
tice system. People of color
suffered not only from explic-
it racism, because of policies
and practices stemming from
the Jim Crow-era, but also
from the lack of institution-
al support in a state that was
literally designed by, and for,
whites.
African Americans cur-
rently represent an estimated
20 percent of inmates in Mult-
represented in Multnomah
County’s Jail. As longtime so-
cial workers and executives
in public safety and mental
health, we have seen these
impacts play out across gen-
erations. For Black men and
women, and their children,
the repercussions from dis-
proportionate incarcerations
can echo for the rest of their
lives. Even after those indi-
viduals reach milestones in
their recovery from addiction
or mental health challenges,
persistent barriers to hous-
ing, jobs, credit or even some-
thing as simple as a driver’s
license can keep them from
stability and success.
For the past several years,
Multnomah County and our
partners including judges,
district attorneys, law en-
forcement, public defenders,
victims advocates and more
have worked to identify and
address disparities in our
system. We’ve participated
with national efforts such as
the Square One Project and
the John D. and Catherine
T. MacArthur Foundation’s
Safety and Justice Challenge .
Through our partnership
with the Safety and Justice
Challenge, we’ve acknowl-
edged the need to directly
address the harm caused
by institutional racism and
oppression and recently,
developed the Diane Wade
House, an Afrocentric tran-
sitional housing program
for justice-involved women.
At the conception of the pro-
gram, we walked hand-and-
hand with women of color
who have lived experience
with addiction and/or men-
tal health challenges and
justice involvement. We had
hard conversations about
gentrification, race, racism,
oppression and more. We
slowed down and took a pur-
poseful approach to develop
a tailored-program for Black
women and led by Black wom-
en - even down to a first-of-its-
kind, culturally-specific cur-
riculum.
Read the rest of this commentary at
TheSkanner.com
Kindness Is in the Little and Big Things
“Three things in human life
are important: The first is to be
kind. The second is to be kind.
And the third is to be kind,”
proclaimed Henry James.
Local News
Pacific NW News
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Community Calendar
Abby
Stamp and
Ebony
Clarke
andom Acts of Kindness
Day is Feb. 17, 2019. Help
your family, friends,
and co-workers get ex-
cited about Random Acts of
Kindness Day. There are sci-
entifically proven benefits to
being kind. It is contagious,
teachable, and makes you feel
all fuzzy inside. Check out a
video featuring the science
of kindness. Read a plethora
of kindness stories. See the
Kindness in the Classroom
curriculum (no cost). Down-
load Facebook, Twitter, You-
Tube and LinkedIn profile
images. www.randomactsof-
kindness.org.
The Health Benefits
of Kindness
Research has shown that
doing deeds of kindness trig-
gers the release of serotonin,
a neurotransmitter that abets
mood stability and increas-
es oxytocin, a hormone that
makes you feel connected to
others; boosts immunity; and
reduces the effects of stress.
www.randomactsofkindness.
org.
My grandma Hila showed
kindness with food. She
cooked homemade meals for
family; gave garden vegeta-
bles to neighbors and strang-
ers; and fed stray dogs. My
grandma Lyde gave quarters
to the children at church to
put in the collection plate;
gave away crocheted doilies,
and voluntarily painted the
former Hillcrest Children’s
Home. I am grateful for kind
grandmothers.
consider kindness to be weak-
ness and may try to take ad-
vantage. Showing kindness
is not about being a doormat
or allowing others to manip-
ulate you.
“It’s not our job to play judge
and jury, to determine who
is worthy of our kindness
and who is not. We just need
to be kind, unconditionally
and without ulterior motive,
even - or rather, especially -
when we’d prefer not to be,”
affirmed Josh Radnor.
Nonetheless, in today’s
world, people can be suspi-
cious when we offer deeds of
kindness, compliments, or
praise. So we need to balance
caring with caution. But a
lack of showing kind deeds
due to fear of other humans is
an excuse.
Being Kind to
Annoying People
Doing deeds of kindness
and giving kind compliments
comes more effortlessly when
we are in the company of
family or friends. Being kind
to appreciative strangers
warms the heart when they
response with gratitude. But
what about showing kindness
to annoying or self-absorbed
people? There are those who
Kindness Day in Your
County and City
How will you show kindness
to others on February 17? And
the other 364 days of 2019?
Think about what deeds of
kindness you can do in your
area. Give blood. Read to an
elderly person at a nursing
home. Clean out your closet
and donate gently used coats
and gloves. Sign up as an or-
gan donor on your driver’s
Melissa
Martin,
Ph.D.
Guest
Columnist
license. Give eye contact and
smile when you talk to chil-
dren. Be kind to furry friends
by donating pet food to the
local food pantry. Send notes
of gratitude to city and county
leaders, nonprofit organiza-
tions, and school board mem-
bers.
A few of my small kindness
deeds this year includes:
Sending an email to Gov. Mike
DeWine and thanking him
for creating a new position—
Director of Children’s Initia-
tives for Ohio and for his cam-
paign promises of expanding
early childhood education,
increasing access to mental
health services, and reform-
ing the foster care system.
I will daily turn off the wa-
ter when brushing my teeth
to show kindness to planet
Earth. Honking and waving at
the employees who dance and
hold signs for businesses out-
side in the cold.
Kindness is in the little and
the big things we do for oth-
ers. And let’s be especially
kind to oldsters, children, and
animals. Celebrate kindness
day!
Melissa Martin, Ph.D., is an
author, columnist, and educa-
tor. She lives in Ohio.
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