Oregon County Plants Trees to Honor Victims of Killer 2021 Heat Wave
Family members of people killed by record-breaking heat in the Portland area three years ago gathered over the weekend to plant trees across Multnomah County in honor of its 72 victims. Authorities say more people died from the heat in the greater Portland area that June than in the entire state over the past 20 years.
Washington State Bar Association OKs Far Lower Caseloads for Public Defenders
The Washington State Bar Association has approved far lower case limits for public defenders in an effort to stop them from quitting, to help with recruiting and to fairly represent defendants. Skeptics agree the system is breaking down but are concerned about finding more attorneys to hire. Many counties, especially rural ones, already struggle to employ enough public defenders and get almost no state funding, which some say should change.
Portland Establishes Monument Review Process
City Council unanimously votes to create policy for questioning public monuments, now classified as separate from public art.
Lawsuit Accuses Portland Police Officer of Fatally Shooting Unarmed Black Man in the Back
According to the complaint, in 2022, the officer shot Immanueal Clark in the back as he ran away.
Black Girls Do Engineer is a nonprofit dedicated to getting more Black and brown girls into STEM ...
Rose Festival Princess From Grant High School Selected
On March 14, Daniela Gray was named a Princess of this year's court. ...
Portland Rose Festival 2024 Court Member from Cleveland High School Announced
The Rose Festival Princess from Cleveland High School, Zora Forsberg, was selected March 14. ...
Portland Rose Festival 2024 Court Member from Central Catholic High School Announced
The Rose Festival Princess from Central Catholic High School, Jayda Jackson, was selected March 8. ...
Portland Rose Festival 2024 Court Member from Lincoln High School Announced
The Rose Festival Princess from Lincoln High School, Isabelle Muresan, was selected on March 12. ...
Oregon man found guilty of murder in 1980 cold case of college student after DNA link
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man living in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon, has been found guilty in the 1980 cold case murder of a 19-year-old college student. Multnomah County Circuit Judge Amy Baggio on Friday found Robert Plympton, 60, guilty of first-degree murder in the death of...
Oregon county plants trees to honor victims of killer 2021 heat wave
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Family members of some of the people killed by record-breaking heat in the Portland, Oregon, area three years ago gathered over the weekend to plant trees across Multnomah County in honor of its 72 victims. The event, coordinated by county and local officials...
Georgia ends game on 12-0 run to beat Missouri 64-59 in first round of SEC tourney
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Blue Cain had 19 points, Justin Hill scored 17 off the bench and 11th-seeded Georgia finished the game on a 12-0 run to beat No. 14 seed Missouri 64-59 on Wednesday night in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Cain hit 6 of 12 shots,...
Georgia faces Missouri in SEC Tournament
Missouri Tigers (8-23, 0-18 SEC) vs. Georgia Bulldogs (16-15, 6-12 SEC) Nashville, Tennessee; Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. EDT FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Bulldogs -3; over/under is 147 BOTTOM LINE: Georgia plays in the SEC Tournament against Missouri. ...
OP-ED: Congress Is Right: Federal Reserve’s Reg II Will Hurt Minority Communities in America
The Fed is taking every effort to promote income equality and workplace diversity and inclusion, but Regulation II would undercut its great work in this respect and cause potential harm to millions of minority families. Now that a congressional coalition has...
OP-ED: A Silent Killer No More
Data from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City shows that more than 13 percent of African American men between the ages 45 and 79 will develop prostate cancer in their lifetimes. And Black men have a 70 percent higher rate of developing...
Message from Commissioner Jesse Beason: February is 'Black History and Futures Month'
I am honored to join the Office of Sustainability and to co-sponsor a proclamation to mark “Black History and Futures Month” ...
Ending Unfair Contracts Harming Minority Businesses Will Aid Gov. Kotek’s Affordable Housing Goals
Senate Bill 1575 will protect small businesses from state and local government’s unfair contract practices while also allowing the building industry to help the governor meet her affordable housing project goals. ...
6 former Mississippi law officers to be sentenced for torture of 2 Black men
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to a long list of state and federal charges for torturing two Black men will be sentenced by a federal judge starting Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Tom Lee will sentence two defendants each day...
Supreme Court appears receptive to NRA free-speech lawsuit against a former New York state official
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court justices appeared receptive Monday to National Rifle Association claims that a former New York state official violated its free-speech rights by pressuring banks and insurance companies to blacklist the group after the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida. ...
Descendant of judge who wrote infamous Dred Scott decision pens a play about where we are now
NEW YORK (AP) — Writer and actor Kate Taney Billingsley has been thinking a lot about America's racial history and her family's part in it. One of her ancestors had an outsized role. Billingsley's great-great-great-great uncle was Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, who made arguably...
The Lionheart: Dan Wheldon documentary covers grief, loss, love and familial legacy
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — It was 10 years after the death of their father that associates of filmmaker Laura Brownson brought her an article to read about the late Dan Wheldon. Standing below the monument on Dan Wheldon Way along the downtown St. Petersburg race course that honors...
Music Review: Kacey Musgraves’ 'Deeper Well' trades country-pop hooks for deep, folk-y meditation
Just over a decade ago, Kacey Musgraves emerged as a fresh new voice in country music – a mid-tempo storyteller with an incredible acuity both in her lyrics and in her instrumentation, knowing just when to pick up the harmonica, whistle a tune or break out the vocoder. In the years...
A new generation of readers embraces bell hooks' 'All About Love'
NEW YORK (AP) — In the summer of 2022, Emma Goodwin was getting over a breakup and thinking hard about her life and how to better herself. She decided to try a book she had heard about often, bell hooks’ “All About Love: New Visions." “I loved it. It takes seriously a subject...
Housing Secretary Fudge Resigning. Biden Hails Her Dedication to Boosting Supply of Affordable Homes
The average bonus on Wall Street last year was 6,500. That's down slightly from 2022
NEW YORK (AP) — The average Wall Street bonus fell slightly last year to 6,500 as the industry added...
US defense chief vows continued aid to Ukraine, even as Congress is stalled on funding bill
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin vowed Tuesday that the U.S. will continue to...
Tuesday's primaries include a key Senate race in Ohio and clues for the Biden-Trump rematch
NEW YORK (AP) — Five states will hold presidential primaries on Tuesday as President Joe Biden and former...
At least 100 villagers are kidnapped in the latest mass abduction in northern Nigeria
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Armed gangs attacked two villages in Nigeria's northwest over the weekend and seized at...
The UK's contentious plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda is close to clearing Parliament
LONDON (AP) — The British government hopes one last push can revive its stalled plan to send some asylum-seekers...
South Korea will suspend licenses of 2 senior doctors in first punishment for doctors' walkouts
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean authorities will suspend the licenses of two senior doctors for allegedly...
Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James (23) drives past New York Knicks' Cole Aldrich (45) during the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
I was prepared this week to write an article on sports and fatherhood. Instead, I was struck by the season opening basketball game of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday, October 30th, featuring the return of Akron, Ohio's native son, LeBron James. With hours of national sports coverage and thousands of fans who traveled downtown to enjoy a free concert from Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons—including live commentary from Charles Barkley and jokes from comedian/actor Kevin Hart—the event was overwhelming.
The city unveiled a new 10-story high LeBron James banner, featured six hours of fan experience from Nike, invited fans to game watching parties at more than 40 bars and restaurants, and unveiled a humungous, state-of-the-art scoreboard inside Quickens Loan Arena, where those with tickets to the game received free LeBron James T-shirts, a season schedule magnet for their refrigerators and twenty-thousand glow-in-the-dark wands to wave during the game announcements in high-definition 3D.
Of course, the game was sold out, with superstar musician, Cleveland native and part team owner, Usher Raymond and his protégé Justin Bieber sitting courtside, along with filmmaker, Spike Lee, football Hall of Famer turned TV star, Michael Strahan, and dozens of other national and local celebrities all to see the homecoming of LeBron. Nike even unveiled a new commercial, where "King James" invites the entire city of Cleveland into a team huddle and prep-talk to win a championship in classic black and white film.
It felt like I was watching the NFL Super Bowl, but it was only Cleveland's first game of the season with LeBron back, featuring his new teammates; Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, Deon Waiters, Tristan Thomas and more. It was also the season premiere of new Cleveland head coach, David Blatt.
By the way, the game included NBA All-Star an Olympian Carmelo Anthony and his New York Knicks, with the second game of their new head coach, Derek Fisher. And after all of the crazy build-up, LeBron James went on to have a horrible outing in a 95-90 loss. At one point in the first half, he was 1-9 shooting with four turnovers, on his way to 17 points and eight turnovers.
I felt sorry for the dude. I could only imagine how anxious he was to get it all over with. At the end of the day, he still needed two and half hours worth of energy to play a basketball game before granting a hundred post-game interviews about the loss. Not only that, I read his wife Savannah finally gave birth their first baby girl to add to his excitement and exhaustion on Monday night, October 27th.
But with all of the sports commentators speaking about how amazing the opening night was, I couldn't help thinking about the American hypocrisy of sports and race. I've been to the city of Cleveland on several occasions and know people from the area, as well as from other cities of Ohio. And it's the same old American story; blacks live on one part of town in poverty, while whites live on the other in wealth. And race relations still don't mix like you would think they would in year 2014.
So I watched the rehashed stories of white Cleveland Cavaliers fans who angrily burned LeBron James jerseys just four years ago when he left the city to take his talents to South Beach, and I chuckled at their audacity. Thousands of these same angry white fans now profess to love him again, including Cavaliers owner, Dan Gilbert, who was forced to humble himself and apologize for his tantrum and public letter, which lambasted LeBron and his character.
I'm sorry, folks, I know we all look at sports as the perfect meeting ground between race, gender, class, creed and culture, but it continues to astonish me how the white American populace could care less about Lebron James' twin brother, if he wasn't blessed with the same freakish athletic skills to play basketball. And if James had such a twin brother, would these fans bother to even buy him a drink? Not unless he brought LeBron with him.
As we inch closer to year 2015, we still have millions of white Americans who would never read this sports column just because it has the word "black" in it, identifying a people and culture that they refuse to learn anything about. And if black athletes couldn't dunk, shoot, rebound, or pass a basketball; run, pass, catch, intercept, kick or punt a football; or throw, catch, hit or pitch a baseball, white Americans wouldn't care to know them either.
Omar Tyree is a New York Times bestselling author, an NAACP Image Award winner for Outstanding Fiction and a professional journalist @ www.OmarTyree.com