05-14-2024  4:58 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

Portland OKs New Homeless Camping Rules That Threaten Fines or Jail in Some Cases

The mayor's office says it seeks to comply with a state law requiring cities to have “objectively reasonable” restrictions on camping.

Safety Lapses Contributed to Patient Assaults at Oregon State Hospital

A federal report says safety lapses at the Oregon State Hospital contributed to recent patient-on-patient assaults. The report by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services investigated a recent choking attack and sexual assault, among other incidents. It found that staff didn't always adequately supervise their patients, and that the hospital didn't fully investigate the incidents. In a statement, the hospital said it was dedicated to its patients and working to improve conditions. It has 10 days from receiving the report to submit a plan of correction. The hospital is Oregon's most secure inpatient psychiatric facility

Police Detain Driver Who Accelerated Toward Protesters at Portland State University in Oregon

The Portland Police Bureau said in a written statement late Thursday afternoon that the man was taken to a hospital on a police mental health hold. They did not release his name. The vehicle appeared to accelerate from a stop toward the crowd but braked before it reached anyone. 

Portland Government Will Change On Jan. 1. The City’s Transition Team Explains What We Can Expect.

‘It’s a learning curve that everyone has to be intentional about‘

NEWS BRIEFS

Governor Kotek Issues Statement on Role of First Spouse

"I take responsibility for not being more thoughtful in my approach to exploring the role of the First Spouse." ...

Legislature Makes Major Investments to Increase Housing Affordability and Expand Treatment in Multnomah County

Over million in new funding will help build a behavioral health drop in center, expand violence prevention programs, and...

Poor People’s Campaign and National Partners Announce, “Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington, D.C. and to the Polls” Ahead of 2024 Elections

Scheduled for June 29th, the “Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington, D.C.: A Call to...

Legendary Civil Rights Leader Medgar Wiley Evers Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom

Evers family overwhelmed with gratitude after Biden announces highest civilian honor. ...

April 30 is the Registration Deadline for the May Primary Election

Voters can register or update their registration online at OregonVotes.gov until 11:59 p.m. on April 30. ...

No criminal charges in rare liquor probe at Oregon alcohol agency, state report says

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Criminal charges are not warranted in the rare liquor probe that shook Oregon’s alcohol agency last year and forced its executive director to resign, state justice officials said Monday. In February 2023, the Oregon Department of Justice began investigating...

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators who blocked road near Sea-Tac airport plead not guilty

SEATAC, Wash. (AP) — More than three dozen pro-Palestinian protesters accused of blocking a main road into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport last month pleaded not guilty on Monday to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and failing to disperse. Thirty-seven people pleaded...

Defending national champion LSU boosts its postseason hopes with series win against Texas A&M

With two weeks left in the regular season, LSU is scrambling to avoid becoming the third straight defending national champion to miss the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers (31-18, 9-15) won two of three against then-No. 1 Texas A&M to take a giant step over the weekend, but they...

The Bo Nix era begins in Denver, and the Broncos also drafted his top target at Oregon

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — For the first time in his 17 seasons as a coach, Sean Payton has a rookie quarterback to nurture. Payton's Denver Broncos took Bo Nix in the first round of the NFL draft. The coach then helped out both himself and Nix by moving up to draft his new QB's top...

OPINION

The Skanner News May 2024 Primary Endorsements

Read The Skanner News endorsements and vote today. Candidates for mayor and city council will appear on the November general election ballot. ...

Nation’s Growing Racial and Gender Wealth Gaps Need Policy Reform

Never-married Black women have 8 cents in wealth for every dollar held by while males. ...

New White House Plan Could Reduce or Eliminate Accumulated Interest for 30 Million Student Loan Borrowers

Multiple recent announcements from the Biden administration offer new hope for the 43.2 million borrowers hoping to get relief from the onerous burden of a collective

Op-Ed: Why MAGA Policies Are Detrimental to Black Communities

NNPA NEWSWIRE – MAGA proponents peddle baseless claims of widespread voter fraud to justify voter suppression tactics that disproportionately target Black voters. From restrictive voter ID laws to purging voter rolls to limiting early voting hours, these...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Takeaways from AP investigation into police training on the risks of handcuffing someone facedown

For decades, police across the United States have been warned that the common tactic of handcuffing someone facedown could turn deadly if officers pin them on the ground with too much pressure or for too long. Recommendations first made by major departments and police associations...

Risks of handcuffing someone facedown long known; people die when police training fails to keep up

For decades, police across the United States have been warned that the common tactic of handcuffing someone facedown could turn deadly if officers pin them on the ground with too much pressure or for too long. Recommendations first made by major departments and police associations...

AP Investigation: In hundreds of deadly police encounters, officers broke multiple safety guidelines

In hundreds of deaths where police used force meant to stop someone without killing them, officers violated well-known guidelines for safely restraining and subduing people — not simply once or twice, but multiple times. Most violations involved pinning people facedown in ways that...

ENTERTAINMENT

Doug Liman, Matt Damon and the Afflecks made a heist comedy for Apple. 'The Instigators'

Filmmaker Doug Liman realized quickly he wasn't on his home turf anymore. Matt Damon, who he’d directed in “The Bourne Identity” over 20 years ago, had recruited Liman for his new movie “The Instigators,” an action-comedy about a heist gone wrong. Though two decades of...

Book Review: Coming-of-age meets quarter-life crisis in Fiona Warnick's ambitious debut 'The Skunks'

Usually when I see a book described as an “ambitious debut” I read it as a cop-out. Isn’t a debut inherently ambitious? What does that even mean? “The Skunks” is what that means. And Fiona Warnick makes it look effortless. A coming-of-age novel with a...

Police investigating shooting outside Drake's mansion that left security guard wounded

TORONTO (AP) — Police are investigating a shooting outside rapper Drake's mansion in Toronto that left a security guard seriously wounded. Authorities did not confirm whether Drake was at home at the time of the shooting, but said his team is cooperating. The shooting happened...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Dispute over transgender woman admitted to Wyoming sorority to be argued before appeal judges

DENVER (AP) — A U.S. appeals court in Denver is set to hear arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit brought by six...

Primaries in Maryland and West Virginia will shape the battle this fall for a Senate majority

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Voters across Maryland and West Virginia will decide key primary elections Tuesday with...

Takeaways from AP investigation into police training on the risks of handcuffing someone facedown

For decades, police across the United States have been warned that the common tactic of handcuffing someone...

Misery deepens in Gaza's Rafah as Israeli troops press operation

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Aid workers struggled Monday to distribute dwindling food and other supplies to...

Iranian filmmaker flees to Europe after prison sentence ahead of his Cannes premiere

CANNES, France (AP) — After being sentenced to eight years in prison, the award-winning Iranian director...

Australian judge says it is unreasonable to require X to hide video of church stabbing for all users

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An Australian judge said it would be unreasonable for the country's internet safety...

Snoop Dogg
Raynard Jackson (NNPA News Wire Columnist)

Last week rapper Snoop Dogg put up an epic video rant on his Instagram. In the verbiage that only Snoop can conjugate, he said in no uncertain terms that people should not watch the 21st century remake of the epic TV miniseries Roots that aired on The History Channel last week.

I must say that I thoroughly agree with Snoop Dogg’s position one hundred percent, though I can do without the raw language.

Roots: The Saga of an American Family was a book written by famed author Alex Haley in 1976. In the book, Haley traced his ancestral roots back to The Gambia in West Africa. He was able to trace his family lineage all the way back Kunta Kinte.

Kinte was captured as a teenager in The Gambia and ultimately sold into slavery and brought to the U.S. The book was turned into a blockbuster TV miniseries back in 1977.

The remaking is what led Snoop to do his now viral video on Instagram. His position was that he didn’t want to see any more movies about slavery. “Where are all the movies about Black success?” Snoop asked.

I totally agree with Snoop. I refused to watch the remake of Roots. I was watching my N.B.A. basketball playoffs.

Following Snoop’s rant, TV personality Roland Martin addressed the subject on his news program on TV ONE. The one point that I do agree with Roland is that more Blacks need to step up and be willing to help finance the production of some of these movies about successful Blacks. That’s a legitimate challenge that Snoop should address.

Martin launched into this tirade about Jews “never” getting tired of movies about the Holocaust. He is way off base with his analysis.

Martin and those who agree with him are missing a few, very germane points. I mean can any one name a Black person who has financed, executive produced, produced, directed, or distributed a major movie or TV program about the Holocaust? You can’t, because it hasn’t happened.

But most movies about slavery have non-Blacks in major positions of control or power; even though there may be a Black producer or director attached to the project.

I am not aware of one movie about slavery where Blacks have had total control of the process from beginning to end.

The movie “Amistad” (1997) was written by David Franzoni, directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Debbi Allen (Black), Steven Spielberg and Colin Wilson. John Williams composed the musical score.

“12 Years a Slave” (2013) was based on the life of former slave Solomon Northup and it was directed by Steve McQueen (Black) and produced by Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Bill Pohlad, Steve McQueen (Black), Arnon Milchan, and Anthony Katagas. John Ridley (Black) wrote the screenplay and Fox Searchlight Pictures distributed the movie.

The 2016 version of “Roots” was written by Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal, Alison McDonald (Black), and Charles Murray (Black). The four-part miniseries was directed by Bruce Beresford, Phillip Noyce, Thomas Carter (Black), and Mario Van Peebles (Black).

Now, let’s look at a few of the top Holocaust movies.

“The Diary of Anne Frank” (1959) was based on the writings of Anne Frank and directed by George Stevens and written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett and distributed by Twentieth Century Fox.

“Schindler’s List” (1993) was written by Steven Zaillian and produced by Steven Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen, and Branko Lustig. Steven Spielberg also directed the movie and “Schindler’s List” was distributed by Universal Pictures.

“The Pianist” (2002) was based on the book by Wladyslaw Szpilman and directed by Roman Polanski, who also earned production credits. Robert Benmussa and Alain Sarde were also producers on the movie and it was distributed by Focus Features.

Do you notice anything that stands out to you here? There are no Blacks in any position of control or authority in any of these movies. The Jewish community tells their history through their own eyes and from their own perspective.

Remember, the Chinese sculptor of the statue of Dr. Martin Luther King on the National Mall in Washington, DC, Lei Yixin, was “forced” to redo the statute because some felt that the original rendering made King seem too “confrontational.

Confrontational to whom? To this day, I have refused to visit King’s statue on the Mall.

Yixin was chosen at the expense of very capable American sculptors, both Black and White. The U.S. government also allowed Yixin to bring Chinese workers into the country to assemble the sculpture. They were literally paid slave wages, but I digress.

The U.S. government spent over $120 million on the King sculptor and the money went to China and Chinese workers.

The Jewish community would never allow something like this to happen to anything dealing with their own community.

So, to Roland Martin and his supporters, let’s stop being a slave to slavery.

Raynard Jackson is founder and chairman of Black Americans for a Better Future (BAFBF), a federally registered 527 Super PAC established to get more Blacks involved in the Republican Party. BAFBF focuses on the Black entrepreneur. For more information about BAFBF, visit www.bafbf.org. Follow Raynard on Twitter @raynard1223.

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast