Police in Washington City Banned From Personalizing Equipment in Settlement Over Shooting Black Man
The city of Olympia, Washington, will pay 0,000 to the family of Timothy Green, a Black man shot and killed by police, in a settlement that also stipulates that officers will be barred from personalizing any work equipment.The settlement stops the display of symbols on equipment like the thin blue line on an American flag, which were displayed when Green was killed. The agreement also requires that members of the police department complete state training “on the historical intersection between race and policing.”
City Elections Officials Explain Ranked-Choice Voting
Portland voters will still vote by mail, but have a chance to vote on more candidates.
PCC Celebrates Black Business Month
Streetwear brand Stackin Kickz and restaurant Norma Jean’s Soul Cuisine showcase the impact that PCC alums have in the North Portland community and beyond
Unusually Cold Storm That Frosted West Coast Peaks Provided a Hint of Winter in August
The calendar briefly skipped ahead to November as the system dropped out of the Gulf of Alaska, down through the Pacific Northwest and into California. Mount Rainier, southeast of Seattle, got a high-elevation dusting. Central Oregon’s Mt. Bachelor resort did, too. A spokesperson at the resort says it was exciting to see the flakes flying. Far northern California's Mount Shasta also wore a white blanket after the storm clouds passed, and the Yosemite high country received a dusting.
RACC Launches New Grant Program for Portland Art Community
Grants between jumi,000 and ,000 will be awarded to support arts programs and activities that show community impact. ...
Oregon Company Awarded Up to $50 Million
Gov. Kotek Joined National Institute of Standards and Technology Director Laurie E. Locascio in Corvallis for the...
Greater Vancouver Chamber Announces Finalists for 2024 Business and Leadership Awards
Two Ways to Celebrate: Live-Streamed Ceremony and In-Person VIP Social, Set for October 10 ...
US National Parks Are Receiving Record-High Gift of $100M
The National Park Foundation was created by Congress in the 1960s to support national parks. It will receive the donation from...
3 dead after small plane crashes into row of townhouses in Oregon, TV station reports
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Three people were dead after a small plane crashed into a row of townhouses Saturday morning in a neighborhood east of Portland, setting the homes ablaze, authorities told KATU-TV. Officials earlier in the day had said the plane was carrying two people and that...
Workers breach key Klamath dams, allowing salmon to swim freely for the first time in a century
Workers breached the final dams on a key section of the Klamath River on Wednesday, clearing the way for salmon to swim freely through a major watershed near the California-Oregon border for the first time in more than a century as the largest dam removal project in U.S. history nears completion. ...
Brady Cook, Luther Burden III show No. 11 Missouri's potential in opening 51-0 rout of Murray State
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — It was hardly surprising that Missouri's Brady Cook looked for Luther Burden III on the first play of the season. How far the No. 11 Tigers go will the rest of the way will depend largely upon them. Cook, the senior quarterback, and Burden, his...
Brady Cook, Luther Burden III lead No. 11 Missouri to season-opening 51-0 rout of Murray State
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Brady Cook threw for 218 yards with touchdowns running and throwing, Toriano Pride Jr. returned an interception 25 yards for a score, and No. 11 Missouri routed Murray State 51-0 on Thursday night in the season opener for both teams. Luther Burden III had a...
As consumers struggle to cope with mounting debt, a new economic report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York includes an unprecedented glimmer of hope. Although debt for mortgages, credit cards, auto loans and more increased by billions of...
Carolyn Leonard - Community Leader Until The End, But How Do We Remember Her?
That was Carolyn. Always thinking about what else she could do for the community, even as she herself lay dying in bed. A celebration of Carolyn Leonard’s life will be held on August 17. ...
‘Deepfakes’ Require a Real Federal Response
The stakes of November’s election are real. Campaign communications should be, too. ...
California lawmakers pass landmark bills to atone for racism, but hold off on fund to take action
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers this week passed some of the nation’s most ambitious legislation aimed at atoning for a legacy of racist policies that drove disparities for Black people, from housing to education to health. None of the bills would provide widespread...
On the first day without X, many Brazilians say they feel disconnected from the world
SAO PAULO (AP) — The blocking of social media platform X in Brazil divided users and politicians over the legitimacy of the ban, and many Brazilians on Sunday had difficulty and doubts over navigating other social media in its absence. The shutdown of Elon Musk’s platform started...
Brazil blocks Musk’s X after company refuses to name local representative amid feud with judge
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil started blocking Elon Musk’s social media platform X early Saturday, making it largely inaccessible on both the web and through its mobile app after the company refused to comply with a judge’s order. X missed a deadline imposed by Supreme Court Justice...
Book Review: 'Swallow the Ghost' a promising but uneven exploration of memory in internet age
In many ways, Eugenie Montague's “Swallow the Ghost” feels like three separate novels. That's what makes her debut novel so imaginative — and also so frustrating. The story's center is Jane Murphy, who works at a New York social media startup on an internet novel that's become a...
Celebrity birthdays for the week of Sept. 1-7
Celebrity birthdays for the week of Sept. 1-7: Sept. 1: Comedian-actor Lily Tomlin is 85. Singer Archie Bell of Archie Bell and the Drells is 80. Singer Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees is 78. Drummer Greg Errico of Sly and the Family Stone is 76. Talk show host Dr. Phil is 74. Singer...
Book Review: Technology and chaotic government programs doom family farms in 'Land Rich Cash Poor'
Brian Reisinger's “Land Rich Cash Poor” emerges as an anthem to the family farm in America, romanticized despite the never-ending work even in good times, which have been sparse in the last century. The book follows a procession of efforts by other authors laboring to explain...
Catholic diocese sues US government, worried some foreign-born priests might be forced to leave
For more than a year, religious organizations have lobbied Congress and the Biden administration to fix a sudden...
Japan wants its hardworking citizens to try a 4-day workweek
TOKYO (AP) — Japan, a nation so hardworking its language has a term for literally working oneself to death, is...
Error messages and lengthy online queues frustrate fans scrambling to secure Oasis reunion tickets
LONDON (AP) — Some Oasis fans celebrated like a champagne supernova, while others looked back in anger on...
When the US left Kabul, these Americans tried to help Afghans left behind. It still haunts them
The United States' longest war is over. But not for everyone. Outside of San Francisco, surgeon Doug...
Ukraine somberly marks 33 years of independence as war with Russia rages on
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine somberly marked its 33rd Independence Day on Saturday, setting the usual fireworks,...
6 people hurt in a knife attack on a bus in Germany. No political or religious motive seen
BERLIN (AP) — Police arrested a 32-year-old woman after six people were hurt in a knife attack on a bus headed...
The revolutionary and iconic stance of the great Muhammad Ali rang in my mind this morning as I woke up and thought about writing a new sports column for The Black Athlete. With a bonanza weekend of American sports that includes the NFL Draft, The NBA Playoffs, The Kentucky Derby, the Yankees and Red Sox baseball game, and the Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao fight, all I could think about is downtown Baltimore burning down with reports of 100 Black American men killed by police in the past year, while we still have our first African-American president in office at the White House.
Excuse me for being political in a sports column, but athletes are people first. They come from families with mothers and fathers. They come from communities in cities and towns. They come from fanbases of loyal people who have supported them. But once they make it to the highest professional level of sports, where they voices, wallets and social/political impact becomes the greatest, they are then advised to leave politics alone and keep their personal views private, or else suffer the consequences of repulsion from those American citizens who would rather not hear it.
Typically, in America, the mainstream white community has been the main culprits of wildly supporting athletes, while rejecting where they come from, what they stand for, or what their families and communities are still having to deal with in their lives daily.
“Hey pal, don’t push that stuff on me. I have anything to do with all that. I’m only here to watch the game.”
Nevertheless, American sports leagues have been allowed to support cancer awareness and wear pink every year, support military veterans who return home to their families from active duty overseas, and a half dozen other mainstream campaigns. But only if the professional sports leagues—controlled by billionaire white men—allow it.
Surely, I understand that to bring certain injustices to light before, during and after each and every game would be a bit overkill and undesirable, even for me. But these athletes should at least be able to speak about it as they see fit in interviews, particularly when they are often forced to answer questions about the game. Allow them to also address a few questions about what’s going on their lives, in their families and in their communities, if they choose to do so.
But why are so many professional athletes punished for that? Is it to control the social/political impact that they would have? Is it fear of moving the status quo of America into spaces that it still refuses to discuss or transition from? Is it to continue the stereotype that athletes are brainless and physically gifted brutes who are better off seen than heard?
The sports world has now become grossly hypocritical. Do we not now witness these same sports league authorities coming out strongly against domestic violence, abuse of children, cheating through performance enhancing drugs, driving while under the influence, smoking marijuana, and many other societal infractions of its athletes? These stronger league stances and rules of discipline for professional athletes are mainly in play because buying public now demands it. Thousands and millions of supported will no longer accept such transgressions, and the leagues’ owners are forced to feel it in their bank accounts from negative public relations. However, no such fear happens from the desires and demands of economic freedom, justice, equality and certain protective rights of black people, who now make up the majority of professional football and basketball players.
So I watched a 20-minute interview on YouTube this morning of Muhammad Ali and “Why I Refuse To Go To Vietnam” on the Malcolm X channel and was blown away by how astutely this uneducated black man and boxer from poverty in Louisville, Kentucky, could speak about the obvious politics of a black people, who were being forced to fight a war for America abroad, while not being allowed to fight a war at home to for the safety, education, dreams, aspirations and hope of their people at home in America. You need to watch it too for an historical perspective and update on how America continues to avoid the elephant in the room, even in year 2015.
Muhammad Ali was willing to go to jail and give up everything for a message of defiance and justice for his people, and he surely suffered for it as he quickly became Public Enemy Number #1 of mainstream white America, simply for voicing his honest opinions that were all based on the facts of our country’s treatment to millions of black people, a people who Muhammad Ali—previously named Cassius Clay—happened to be an extremely popular and respected member.
And I will say more. Go online and watch the tape and be proud of a man who deserved our respect FOREVER. The brother is indeed a special man, not just for blacks, but for all people.
Omar Tyree is a New York Times bestselling author, an NAACP Image Award winner for Outstanding Fiction, and a professional journalist, who has published 27 books, including co-authoring Mayor For Life; The Incredible Story of Marion Barry Jr. View more of his career and work @ www.OmarTyree.com