04-18-2024  11:44 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

Don’t Shoot Portland, University of Oregon Team Up for Black Narratives, Memory

The yearly Memory Work for Black Lives Plenary shows the power of preservation.

Grants Pass Anti-Camping Laws Head to Supreme Court

Grants Pass in southern Oregon has become the unlikely face of the nation’s homelessness crisis as its case over anti-camping laws goes to the U.S. Supreme Court scheduled for April 22. The case has broad implications for cities, including whether they can fine or jail people for camping in public. Since 2020, court orders have barred Grants Pass from enforcing its anti-camping laws. Now, the city is asking the justices to review lower court rulings it says has prevented it from addressing the city's homelessness crisis. Rights groups say people shouldn’t be punished for lacking housing.

Four Ballot Measures for Portland Voters to Consider

Proposals from the city, PPS, Metro and Urban Flood Safety & Water Quality District.

Washington Gun Store Sold Hundreds of High-Capacity Ammunition Magazines in 90 Minutes Without Ban

KGW-TV reports Wally Wentz, owner of Gator’s Custom Guns in Kelso, described Monday as “magazine day” at his store. Wentz is behind the court challenge to Washington’s high-capacity magazine ban, with the help of the Silent Majority Foundation in eastern Washington.

NEWS BRIEFS

Governor Kotek Announces Investment in New CHIPS Child Care Fund

5 Million dollars from Oregon CHIPS Act to be allocated to new Child Care Fund ...

Bank Announces 14th Annual “I Got Bank” Contest for Youth in Celebration of National Financial Literacy Month

The nation’s largest Black-owned bank will choose ten winners and award each a jumi,000 savings account ...

Literary Arts Transforms Historic Central Eastside Building Into New Headquarters

The new 14,000-square-foot literary center will serve as a community and cultural hub with a bookstore, café, classroom, and event...

Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Announces New Partnership with the University of Oxford

Tony Bishop initiated the CBCF Alumni Scholarship to empower young Black scholars and dismantle financial barriers ...

Mt. Hood Jazz Festival Returns to Mt. Hood Community College with Acclaimed Artists

Performing at the festival are acclaimed artists Joshua Redman, Hailey Niswanger, Etienne Charles and Creole Soul, Camille Thurman,...

OPINION

Loving and Embracing the Differences in Our Youngest Learners

Yet our responsibility to all parents and society at large means we must do more to share insights, especially with underserved and under-resourced communities. ...

Gallup Finds Black Generational Divide on Affirmative Action

Each spring, many aspiring students and their families begin receiving college acceptance letters and offers of financial aid packages. This year’s college decisions will add yet another consideration: the effects of a 2023 Supreme Court, 6-3 ruling that...

OP-ED: Embracing Black Men’s Voices: Rebuilding Trust and Unity in the Democratic Party

The decision of many Black men to disengage from the Democratic Party is rooted in a complex interplay of historical disenchantment, unmet promises, and a sense of disillusionment with the political establishment. ...

COMMENTARY: Is a Cultural Shift on the Horizon?

As with all traditions in all cultures, it is up to the elders to pass down the rituals, food, language, and customs that identify a group. So, if your auntie, uncle, mom, and so on didn’t teach you how to play Spades, well, that’s a recipe lost. But...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

ENTERTAINMENT

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Latoya Harris testifies before the Citizen's Review Committee
The Skanner staff and wire reports

PHOTO: Latoya Harris testifies before the Citizen's Review Committee after her 9-year-old daughter was handcuffed and taken downtown in a police car in her bathing suit because of a fight at a youth club six days earlier. Helen Silvis photo.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge has accepted the settlement between the U.S. Department of Justice and the city of Portland on reforms intended to improve the way police deal with the mentally ill, and to rebuild community trust.

But U.S. District Court Michael Simon said Friday he wants annual progress reports, a requirement the City of Portland previously opposed and could challenge in court.  Simon ordered the first such hearing for September 2015. He also brought up the issue of having police wear cameras to monitor their interactions with the public. 

The Justice Department in 2012 found Portland police engaged in a "pattern or practice" of excessive force when dealing with the mentally ill and those perceived to be mentally ill. And a fairness hearing which allowed the public to comment brought a parade of individuals, legal and civil rights organizations who testified about racial profiling and excessive force. Portland Police Bureau announced a slate of reforms but police accountability activists say they want deeper reforms. 

The Department of Justice report acknowledged that a deep mistrust marred relations between police officers and Portland's minority communities, but did not specifically investigate race discrimination. The City of Portland rejected the findings even as it instituted a slate of reforms.  

Among the reforms underway, the city must create a crisis-intervention team, expand its mobile crisis units from a single vehicle to one vehicle per precinct and complete investigations of officer misconduct within 180 days.

The Portland Mercury, which broke the news has posted the judge's ruling in full here.  Read The Portland Mercury story here.

 The Albina Ministerial Alliance issued the following statement:

The Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform supports the ruling of Judge Simon affirming the Settlement Agreement for reforming the Portland Police Bureau and the active participation of Judge Simon in reviewing the progress or non-progress of implementing the Settlement Agreement.

The Coalition is particularly grateful that Judge Simon has insisted on the participation of all four parties to the lawsuit-- the DOJ, the AMA Coalition, the City and the Police Association-- as well as reports from the Compliance Officer/ Community Liaison.

The Settlement Agreement, while primarily focused on those experiencing mental health issues, should lead to better treatment of all Portlanders.

This ruling is a major step to creating a true community policing culture within the Portland Police Bureau in light of the national attention on Deadly Force and Excessive Force by the Police Department in the Michael Brown death in Ferguson, Missouri.

Yet, there is an intensified need for community engagement and community dialogue to prevent a Ferguson upheaval in Portland and keep Portland striving to create a national model of community policing.

The AMA Coalition for Justice and Police Reform is working toward these five

goals:

1. A federal investigation by the Justice Department to include criminal and civil rights violations, as well as a federal audit of patterns and practices of the Portland Police Bureau.

2. Strengthening the Independent Police Review Division and the Citizen Review Committee with the goal of adding power to compel testimony.

3. A full review of the Bureau's excessive force and deadly force policies and training with diverse citizen participation for the purpose of making recommendations to change policies and training.

4. The Oregon State Legislature narrowing the language of the State statute for deadly force used by police officers.

5. Establishing a special prosecutor for police excessive force and deadly force cases.

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast