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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (July 7, 2021)
Page 2 The Skanner Portland & Seattle July 7, 2021 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher Letter to the Editor: About the South Park Blocks Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor Jerry Foster Advertising Manager Patricia Irvin Graphic Designer Monica J. Foster Seattle Office Coordinator Susan Fried Photographer 2019 MERIT AWARD WINNER The Skanner Newspaper, es- tablished in October 1975, is a weekly publication, published every Wednesday by IMM Publi- cations Inc. 415 N. Killingsworth St. P.O. Box 5455 Portland, OR 97228 Telephone (503) 285-5555 Fax: (503) 285-2900 info@theskanner.com www.TheSkanner.com The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Association and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. ©2020 The Skanner. All rights re served. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission prohibited. Local News Pacific NW News World News Opinions Jobs, Bids Entertainment Community Calendar LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS LOCAL EVENTS Updated daily online. n F ebo m me • nts TheSkannerNews o k • learn • co in y o u r c o m m u n d ay ! • L i ke u s o ac it Hear about it first. Sign up for Breaking News and Events at to y • Opinion Mike Lindberg, Former Portland City Commissioner Stephen Kafoury, Former Oregon State Legislator T he Skanner carried an article from American Forests, the country’s oldest conservation or- ganization, naming Portland as being the second worst city in the country for tree in- equality. Neighborhoods where com- munities of color live have significantly fewer trees than white neighborhoods. The benefits of a large tree canopy include cooler temperatures and cleaner air. At the same time that this study is coming to Portland- ers by means of The Skan- ner, our City Parks Bureau is bringing to the city council a plan for redoing the South Park Blocks in the center of downtown. This plan calls for spending $46 million for what they call activating the park, which includes a new bike path for downtown cy- clists. This is happening when “ ...it is clear that Port- land’s East- side is parks deficient it is clear that Portland’s East- side is parks deficient. Portlanders from all neigh- borhoods enjoy the wonder- ful canopy of old elms when they go to the Art Museum , Historical Society or the Ore- gon Symphony. The splendid environment of the South Park Blocks provides a place for strolling, enjoying the Rose Garden and sitting on a bench to visit with a friend. The trees and greenery help mitigate the impact of climate change. This refuge is en- dangered with a master plan which significantly reduces the number of trees. We don’t need a place with more bikes, electric bikes and scooters flying by. The Qualified Immunity of Whiteness T he systemic racism in the American criminal justice system is obvious to all who care to see it. And one of its worst abuses is the policy of qualified im- munity. It is not enforcement that is meant to be protected by qualified immunity; it is whiteness. While there are tendrils of qualified immunity stretch- ing back to the days just after the Civil War, this policy ce- mented a wall of protection around police forces across the county by the U.S. Su- preme Court during the civil rights era. In 1956, segregated bus ter- minals were held to be un- constitutional. And in1961, 15 Black and white priests, or- ganized by the Rev. Robert L. Pierson, were arrested by lo- cal police when they entered a “whites only” section of a bus terminal in Jackson, Miss. A local judge sentenced each of the priests to the maximum four months in jail, plus a $200 fine. The charges later were dismissed on appeal. The priests then sued police Capt. J.L. Ray and two other officers under Section 1983 of the Ku Klux Klan Act for violating their constitutional rights through unlawful ar- rest. The suit against the po- lice officers made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court and was decided in 1967 in the case known as Pierson v. Ray. Oscar H. Blayton Guest Columnist Chief Justice Earl Warren stunned civil rights advocates when he wrote the opinion of the Supreme Court ruling against the priests and hand- ing down a decision that held that while police do not have absolute and unqualified im- munity, they should not be “ “Good faith” has become the “get-out- of-jail-free card” for so many vicious police officers held liable when acting in good faith. Although Chief Justice War- ren had come to be viewed as a champion of civil rights for all Americans, his opinion in Pierson v. Ray poisoned the well of law enforcement for people of color from that day through the present. In this case, the racist police officers had argued that they only arrested the priests to prevent violence, while the priests argued that the offi- cers’ intent was solely to en- force segregation in violation of the priests’ constitutional rights. Given the history of fire hoses, dogs and batons being used to abuse African Ameri- cans of their civil rights, it is incredible that the high court could have found any cre- dence in the version of facts presented by the racist police officers, but it did. “Good faith” has become the “get-out-of-jail-free card” for so many vicious police offi- cers who solemnly claim that they feared for their safety, or thought it was the best course of action to take at the time – as they stand over the body of a slain person of color. The lack of justice in the policy of qualified immunity is glaringly obvious when a police officer of color is called to account for injuring or kill- ing a white person. Prior to the conviction of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the hor- rendous murder of George Floyd in broad daylight and caught on cell phone video, the only Minnesota police of- ficer to be found guilty of an on-duty killing was Mohamed Noor. Noor, who is Black, fa- tally shot Justine Damond, a 40-year-old white woman who had called 911 to report a possible assault of a woman in an alley behind her house. Noor testified at trial that when he and his partner ar- rived at the scene, he heard a loud bang against their squad car and his partner yelled, “Oh, Jesus!” Noor then testi- fied that he then saw a blonde woman in a pink T-shirt raise her right arm outside the squad car’s open window and he then made a split-second decision to use his gun to pro- tect his partner’s life. No qualified immunity here. The prosecutor made a point of the victim’s blondness when arguing his case to the jury, and Mohamed Noor was sentenced to 121/2 years in prison. In 2017, Marksville, La., Dep- uty Marshal Derrick Stafford was convicted in the death of a 6-year-old white boy. The boy, who was a passenger in his father’s car, was fatally shot after the father, Christopher Few, led officers on a two-mile chase. Stafford said he shot at the car because he feared Few was going to back up and hit Deputy Norris Greenhouse Jr. with his vehicle. Stafford said Greenhouse had stum- bled and fallen to the ground as he tried to back away from Few’s car. No immunity here. Stafford was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com nt • lo c a l n e w s • eve
