06-12-2025  9:45 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

City Council Approves and Increases Central Albina Settlement

Black residents who were forcibly relocated for Emanuel Hospital expansion that never happened, and their descendants, sued over loss of property, wealth and community.

VanPort Mosaic Festival Fights Cultural Amnesia

Two-week event honors survivors of VanPort flood, their descendants and survivors of Japanese Internment in annual festival.

Prosper Portland Fights For Continued City Funding

Two city councilors suggest ending city’s funding to wide-reaching economic development agency. 

The Bottle Redemption Law may Change due to Concerns over Drugs and Homelessness 

Oregon's trailblazing bottle redemption law may undergo changes because of concerns that redemption centers have become gathering places for drug users and homeless people while having no services to support them. Proposed changes could allow nonprofits to run alternative bottle redemption centers possibly mobile centers such as trucks. Stores could stop accepting bottles after 8pm and convenience stores in some areas after 6pm

NEWS BRIEFS

Volunteers Needed: “Beautifying MLK” Black-Led Community Clean-Up Day of Service Set for This Saturday

Led by: The Coalition of Black Men in partnership with Soul District Business Association and fueled by Reimagine Oregon grant funds...

Parklane Park Grand Reopening Event On June 12 - Free for Everyone

Food, face painting, basketball, arts activities, music, and more ...

Class of 2025: Panthers Star Headed to University After Back-to-Back Titles

Hillsboro’s Edy Essien was on PCC’s men’s basketball team that repeated as NWAC regional basketball titles and excelled in...

WA Launches Police Use-of-Force Database

The exchange is a publicly available, cloud-based platform to help the public see and analyze police use-of-force data. ...

Black Information Network Partners with The Obama Foundation to Advance Community Engagement with Youth

The network’s first-ever nonprofit collaboration will help build community and drive meaningful conversation and change ...

OPINION

Policymakers Should Support Patients With Chronic Conditions

As it exists today, 340B too often serves institutional financial gain rather than directly benefiting patients, leaving patients to ask “What about me?” ...

The Skanner News: Half a Century of Reporting on How Black Lives Matter

Publishing in one of the whitest cities in America – long before George Floyd ...

Cuts to Minority Business Development Agency Leaves 3 Staff

6B CDFI affordable capital for local investment also at risk ...

The Courage of Rep. Al Green: A Mandate for the People, Not the Powerful

If his colleagues truly believed in the cause, they would have risen in protest beside him, marched out of that chamber arm in arm with him, and defended him from censure rather than allowing Republicans to frame the narrative. ...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

ENTERTAINMENT

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

By The Skanner News | The Skanner News

(AP) -- "In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance" (Alfred Knopf, 368 pages, $26.95), by Wilbert Rideau: Wilbert Rideau, who went to prison as a terrified 19-year-old and emerged 44 years later as an award-winning journalist, has written "In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance," an account of the time he spent in prison and the crime that sent him there.

Rideau tells his story in riveting detail, beginning with how he grew up a poor black kid in heavily segregated Lake Charles, La.
He writes about the crime that landed him on death row at Angola, Louisiana's penitentiary, then known as the bloodiest prison in the nation: It was an ill-conceived bank robbery hatched by a naive kid who planned to finish in time to meet his ride home so he wouldn't have to face the danger of waiting for the bus in the white part of town.
Rideau also makes a convincing argument that he was kept in prison far longer than anyone else convicted of murder in 1961 because he is a black man who killed a White woman -- bank teller Julia Ferguson.
The amazing part of Rideau's story, however, is his transformation from an uneducated, prejudiced teen to a thoughtful, well-read adult who became so well-respected by prison wardens that they began calling on him for help and advice.
Rideau became editor of The Angolite. He writes of his goal to make the magazine a truly independent journal of prison life. Several wardens supported the effort, especially C. Paul Phelps. Rideau became close to Phelps, and dedicated his book to him.
The Angolite won several national prizes, including a George Polk Award and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award.
Rideau has surprisingly kind words for Angola's wardens, except for Burl Cain, the present warden. Among other things, he accuses Cain of undermining the independence of The Angolite and of keeping awards Rideau had won for his work on several video projects.
Rideau's death sentence was commuted to life in prison after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed the then-existing death penalty in 1972. He was found guilty of murder twice more, but was finally freed in 2005 after a manslaughter conviction, for which he was sentenced to 21 years. This allowed him to be freed for time served, after 44 years behind bars.
The picture of prison life painted by Rideau isn't the one portrayed in many movies. There is violence and brutality, especially for the weak, who become slaves of powerful prisoners, providing sex and other services, he writes. But Rideau mostly shows that prison is a place where people are still living their lives and violence, for the most part, is targeted.
Not that Rideau -- and most of his fellow prisoners -- were without knives. The logic, which he argues is sound, was that it was better to be caught by the guards with a knife than by your enemies without one.
Amazingly, after the fear, the periods of isolation and the hate he experienced, Rideau was able to lead a productive life and help others.
Now he has provided a wonderful chance to share his remarkable life.

 

 

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