February 20, 2008

MOHDI's analysis of Obama v. Hillary Flickr accounts

I really enjoyed Drew's analysis of Obama and Hillary's Flickr accounts. I'm not sure that what we see doesn't say more about their staff than their personal choices, but I guess their choice in staff says something about them, in itself.

From Drew's entry:

"Now my main interest is in profiling the candidates based on their social network pages. Basically you can tell a lot about a person by the way they have their sites set up. Since Obama and Clinton are the most interesting to watch of the bunch, I decided to take a closer look at their flickr pages ... There is a great profile and picture on Obama’s profile. I notice he must have some money saved up cause he does have a pro account that costs almost $25 for a year."

Thanks, Drew!

Posted by mary at 7:02 PM | Comments (0)

February 12, 2007

Chasse Lawsuit

On Friday, the family of James Chasse filed a civil lawsuit against the City and county people who killed him either through violence or indifference. (Also named in the suit is AMR Northwest, the ambulance company that allowed the cops to take a hog-tied James into custody after he'd been brutally beaten).

Many have anticipated this lawsuit, but it hadn't occurred to me (probably because I'm ignorant) that a civil lawsuit could go so far beyond punitive fines.

Among the demands (I'm lifting from the Oregonian here, which isn't always prudent, but I think they've done pretty well on this story):

• Change the police bureau's use of deadly force policy.
• Create an independent citizen review commission to investigate deaths caused by police and in-custody deaths.
• Change police anti-discrimination policies to better protect people with mental illnesses and disabilities by requiring officers to treat them fairly.
• Create an early-warning system to identify police officers with high use-of-force rates and take appropriate action against them.

The complaint itself is available as a PDF at the Justice for James Chasse website.

The complaint contains some poignant details, such as the contents of James Chasse's backpack on the day he was killed ("several vintage books, comics, and a sandwich"). I also didn't realize that what Humphreys publicly identified as "cocaine", in fact, bread crumbs.

My sense is the Chasse family is pretty private. I imagine that continuing to be the public face of the issue of police brutality and accountability must be hard and painful work. I'm sure it would be a lot easier to focus on their personal grief and and healing than to work with attorneys and make statements to the press. So I'm grateful to them for their continued work for our city. Their proposals would make us all a little bit safer on the streets, and that would be a fitting legacy for James Chasse.

Posted by mary at 8:22 AM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2006

System Failure for Jim Jim

Multiple failures, no doubt, but another insult is just in.

The police who beat him to death have been let off the hook. KATU would have us believe that they have been exonerated but that's unlikely for most of us.

It's just sickening. I'll be keeping my ears and eyes open for what I can do next.

Update
by way of Mental Health Association of Portland.

In Memory of James Chasse Jr.
community information
EVENT: MEMORIAL VIGIL
"LOVE ONE ANOTHER"
A candlelight memorial vigil for James Chasse Jr.

Friday, October 27, 2006 7:00 PM
First Congregational Church
1126 SW Park Ave

Friends, family, and concerned community members will gather to remember James Chasse, Jr. on Friday, October 27, 2006 at 7:00 PM at Portland's First Congregational Church in a memorial vigil titled "Love One Another." Chasse, who died in Portland Police custody on September 17, is remembered as a peaceful man who wished no harm on anyone. People attending the vigil are asked to honor the family's wishes for a respectful event. Messages to be communicated apart from memories of James should be focused on simple, positive phrases such as "Justice," "Love," and "Remember James Chasse, Jr."

The event is being co-coordinated by members of the Chasse family, the Parkrose Community United Church of Christ, Portland Copwatch (a grassroots group promoting police accountability through citizen action), the Mental Health Association of Portland, and others. For more information call Portland Copwatch at 503-236-3065.

Please note that this event was originally scheduled for Thursday the 26th and has been moved to Friday.

For information about James Chasse, see www.mentalhealthportland.org

Posted by mary at 3:48 PM | Comments (0)

October 9, 2006

Letter to Potter on James Chasse/Jim Jim Case

The Mental Health Organization of Portland which is closely tracking the James Chasse/Jim Jim case has some good suggestions, including writing a letter to Potter. Here's what I said in my letter to him.

October 8, 2006

Office of Mayor Tom Potter
1221 SW 4th Avenue, Suite 340
Portland, Oregon 97204

Dear Mayor Potter:

I am writing you about the James Chasse case for three reasons: First, I knew him as Jim Jim when he was a young man. I was not close to him, but I knew him as a gentle, nutty young man. It is very difficult to know that he died so brutally and senselessly. Second, my father, now deceased, was schizophrenic. My father, like Jim Jim, did not want for family love and support. Nonetheless, because of his illness, he was at many times marginalized, lonely, and vulnerable. With our current system, it takes no stretch of my imagination to imagine him meeting Jim Jim’s fate, had he been at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people. Finally, my vision for Portland is that we are caring and protective of our most vulnerable members. Jim Jim’s death on the streets by a police beating shows a far cry from this vision.

I have recently enjoyed positive interactions with Portland Police, specifically in the person of Officer Christensen, who is a liaison to our neighborhood association (Portsmouth). Having the understanding and support of a police officer when you are attempting to solve community problems is a wonderful thing, and I’m very glad to have experienced it. I see Officer Christensen’s work and style as a result of a kind of policing that you have personally championed in the past, the kind of approach that gives people confidence that police can be trusted with power, and that they are caring partners in seeking solutions.

I cannot rightly speculate on the motives, training, or temperament of the three grown men who beat to death a man who weighed less than I do; a man who, by all accounts, had committed no great offense, if any. But whatever their motives, Jim Jim’s death is a failure. It is the fatal failure of these individuals, who must be held accountable in order for us to believe that our system has integrity. And the fact that these individuals were allowed on the police force is a failure of the system itself, thus we must look for substantial changes to that system.

I look to you for leadership given your position and your background. I hope that the individuals who killed will be held responsible for their actions. I would also like to learn more about what the City of Portland is doing, and will do, to provide the training and resources to police officers who are trying to do their job, and what it is doing to ensure that individuals with a tendency to violence, anger, and frustration are not recruited or allowed to remain in the police force. I have read that you have formed a committee to research the issue of services for the mentally ill in Portland. Thoughtful research and analysis is a positive step, but it must be accompanied by action and commitment of resources. And your framing of the issue as one that goes beyond the police is accurate, but we must not lose sight of what actually killed Jim Jim: Certainly, the criminal justice system should not be the primary care-giver for our neighbors and friends who are mentally ill, but by the very nature of their work, police will often encounter people who are sick, vulnerable, confused, or otherwise not right in their heads, be it because of mental illness, stress, or intoxication. Their problems may not start with the police, but in this case and many others, it will end with them. Please do what you can to see that those ends are not final.

And as far as “cleaning up downtown” goes, I’d rather have piss in the streets than blood.

I thank you for your work for our City in the past, and look forward to your work in the future.

Posted by mary at 8:34 AM | Comments (0)

October 4, 2006

Jim Jim

James Chasse, Jr., known to many of us as Jim Jim, was beaten to death by police on September 17, as many Portlanders know by now. He was a visible member of the Portland scene or community (or whatever you want to call it) in the 1980s. I didn't know him that well, but he was closer to friends of mine and we went to the same school, hung out in the same crowd, so this is seeming especially strange and awful and infuriating.

I remember Jim Jim as gentle and nutty. Rachel remembers: "crazy or no, he really was a gentle, loving, sweetiepie sort of guy." The Oregonaian quotes Jason Renaud describing him as, "cute and charming and cuddly and quiet and careful and sprinkled with pixie dust." He believed in magic and fairies and stuff like that and once gave me elaborate instructions on a ceremony he wanted me to perform. I think he struck a lot of us, even then, as vulnerable. Linea reminded me of how, when he was hospitalized at Dammasch (a state mental hospital that was closed in 1995), someone wrote, "Free Jim Jim" graffiti -- there was a perception that his hospitalization was a form of imprisonment. Of course, these days, we don't put the mentally ill in hospitals that seem like prisons -- we just put them straight into prison.

Jim Jim was schizophrenic, and his death at the hands of police reminds me that the powerful victimize the most vulnerable (first), and that all of us can be vulnerable at the right time and place. My father was also schizophrenic, and died peacefully on a couch at his parent's home, but I can easily imagine a more tragic end had he encountered the police on the streets in one of his more psychotic states. (It should be said that, from witness accounts, it doesn't appear that Jim Jim was in the midst of a psychotic episode at all. He was tackled by police when he ran away. They were chasing him because they thought he might be peeing in public.)

Police brutality is often perceived as an issue for people of color -- which it most certainly is -- but Jim Jim's death is a reminder to me that there are many ways to become vulnerable and powerless: mental illness, certainly, but also poverty, being drunk, being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't want to over-simplify the issue or demonize individuals: maybe the police involved in this case weren't arrogant, steroid-driven jocks who get off on picking on people weaker than themselves. Maybe they were under-trained, frightened and overwhelmed by the problems we ask them to solve without the resources or education to do so and resorted to the only tool they know how to use -- their fists. Either way, it's a tragic and avoidable problem, and Jim Jim died because of it.

Here's some coverage of the story:

A comprehensive index of media coverage by the Mental Health Association of Portland.

Oregonian article on his death.

Oregonian coverage of the autopsy

Portland Cop Watch (that website seems a little out of date, but you can see a statement they issued on the Chasse case here.

Other places where people are commenting on Jim Jim's death:

Comments and memories at PortlandIndyMedia.

Memories from a friend.

Political commentary on police brutality.

Political commentary on police brutality.

Political commentary on the lack of care for the mentally ill.

Posted by mary at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)

March 20, 2006

Peace

It was a beautiful day for a rally, and I've heard estimates ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 for the number of us who showed up to show our opposition to the war.

There are some good photographs showing the crowds here. I'm kind of surprised there aren't more available at flickr -- of the Portland march, that is.

(Credit for the photo goes to Justin -- thanks, Justin!)

Posted by mary at 8:01 AM | Comments (0)

February 2, 2006

Unionizing Walmart

Not a bad idea -- terms like "jobs that are fair and humane" make me teary eyed, even when not set to the inspirational tunes of Garth Brooks and flash animation ...

Posted by mary at 9:36 PM | Comments (0)

November 4, 2004

One Good Reason to Get Divorced

Maybe Chris and I can both marry a Canadian and move north (not the same Canadian). I'm just cribbing from memepool, but I am also very excited about the idea of being annexed by Canada. Please! Annex me, baby!!

Posted by mary at 3:31 PM | Comments (0)

June 4, 2004

Chris's Great Idea: Al Franken book club

I was thinking it would be fun to be in a political book club. There's all these books coming out lately that sound kind of exciting, but they aren't really the kind of thing I'll sit down with over the summer without some kind of support system. I mentioned the idea to Chris and he had an even better idea, which is that Al Franken should sponsor a book club, a la Oprah, as part of his talk show. Then he would have the author on and we could all call in. We'd meet indendently in groups in our communities, too.

So, while I wait for Al Franken to respond to the email I sent him, I may still just see if anyone I know is interested in a political book club. Anyone?

Posted by mary at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)

May 7, 2004

My Great Excuse not to Excercise

I knew there was something wrong with Curves (thanks, Neon!).

Actually, I've already been doing what the reporter recommends -- just plain walking. It's great! Pica and I have been walking at least an hour and usually an hour and a half every morning. Now that it's light outside, she wakes me up at 6:15 or so. Then I lazz around in bed disturbing Chris's REM for another half hour, and then we're (me and Pica -- Chris still in bed trying to resume REM) out the door by 7 (okay, that's just been this week -- but the walking part has been for longer). The iPod and the puppy definitely make it more interesting - I don't think I could stand the boredom otherwise. We found a spot behind the University of Portland where Pica can chase Canadian geese and I can walk up and down a hill in an attempt to make my stroll actual excercise. I do worry about getting raped, killed, and dumped sometimes (it's the kind of place that makes you expect to encounter dead bodies all the time) but besides that, it's beautiful, with long views of the bridges and hills and river etc. The other day in Weight Watchers (I'm doing that too -- I love it precisely because it challenges my self-defeating snobberies) they announced a new contest for people who walk the most miles (we're going to win!) and I wanted to know if the second place prize was mace and first place prize a gun. Anyway, I'm creeping myself out. Walking is lovely, and paranoia is bad.

Posted by mary at 1:27 PM | Comments (1)

September 3, 2003

Public Safety Campaign For Poor and Working Adults on Bikes

I'm still working on a good title for this idea, and it's is kind of site-specific, but I really want someone to launch a bicycle visibility/safety campaign in my neighborhood focusing on the working people, poor people, and drunks out biking out after dark.

I could see two campaigns (which may or may not overlap): Poor and working people, and DUI recipients.

My assumption is (and I know it's a little prejudiced, but it's based partly on family experience) is that a fair number of the guys I see in my neighborhood out late at night on bikes have lost their licenses due to DUIs. Some are ne'er do-wells, as I discovered on Lombard one night myself (bike-by-groping). But some are probably on their way home from work, and regardless, just because someone's up to no good doesn't mean I want to run them over.

The other reason why people might be on bikes around here is because they can't afford a car or insurance. I rarely see bike helmets on adults in my neighborhood, and when I do, I assume they are yuppie/hipster newcomers. I do see a lot of people (men and women) collecting bottles and cans by bike. Poverty, like alcoholism, is not a pleasant thing to acknowledge in a public safety campaign because you're not actually addressing the root of the problem, but you can't solve all the problems all the time. Homeless people and drunks generally aren't as cute as little kids, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't work to make their biking lives safer.

There is a big emphasis on bikes here in Portland right now. Bike lanes are going in all over the place as a result of Portland's urban planning priorities -- and that's totally cool. But where I live, bike lanes are seen as a "City of Portland" driven thing, coming from politically active yuppies or anarchists in SE Portland. I was at my neighborhood association meeting the other night, and it was really interesting (and depressing) for me to see how bike lanes (and curb extensions, and other things aimed at making busy streets friendly to things other than cars) are seen as an outside agenda, not something that benefits those of us who live here or are from here.

I think outreach -- specific, concrete outreach -- should be done on behalf of bicycle activists recognizing that bike safety is not something just for kids, radicals, and hipsters, and that bike advocates care about all biker, even poor ones.

So here are some ideas:

• Coors or Bud or whoever could give away reflective stickers and vests with their corporate logos at bars.
  
• You could go into bars with a poster with two pictures, each showing a bike at night, one with reflective tape, one without, to demonstrate how invisible bikes are without help.
  
• Carharts could make bike helmets in their distinctive khaki.
  
• Mothers Against Drunk Drivers gives away reflective bike stickers that say something like "I'm Biking So That Others May Live!"
  

All my ideas so far seem to have the drinky tie-in, but jokes aside, practically speaking, our eighborhood really does need bicycle safety work focusing on adults.

I think that ideally, our local bike shop, Weir's Cyclery would spearhead the effort, and get support from the "socially progressive" biking community here in Portland. There's a pretty politically active biking community here in Portland, for instance, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, and a bunch of biking anarchist types who need to do outreach.

Even if someone stood on a street corner handing out reflective tape and lights to guys they saw who were otherwise almost invisible, it would help a lot.

Anyway, that's my idea. If I had more balls I might actually get off the couch and pitch it to the local bike activists, or even just buy a roll of reflectee tape and hand it out myself. I'll keep you posted, but at this point, I kinda doubt I'll get around to it. I actually started this entry like a week ago and then got all riled up about how I should email Weir's Cyclery and tell him to do it but that just made me procrastinate on the blogging.

Posted by mary at 7:08 PM | Comments (1)

August 21, 2003

Great Rally Fundraiser Idea: Mini-Megaphones

Turns out Jennifer (the visitor who thinks I am a freakshow for my doggie hit man idea), came to my site looking for great cheap campaign ideas! I am the number one hit when you google for that term! Things are going to start happening to me ... now.

Now I kinda feel obligated to come up with a great cheap campaign idea, but I don't have any at the moment. (I think it's kind of funny to google for adjectives like "great" btw.)

Instead, I'll present this idea in honor of Bush's visit today, which I just came back from protesting and people are still in the streets protesting now. (I came home to write thank you notes -- which I'll do as soon as I finish this -- and things seemed pretty much over, although now I'm hearing on KBOO and seeing on TV that there are still protesters milling around. I gather there was some pepper spraying, too. Portland Indy Media will probably have the full scoop.)

OK -- so my idea for a rally fundraiser. I had this idea first as a way for Jobs with Justice to raise money for a better megaphone, but you could use it for other groups as well (like the Radical Cheerleaders, for instance) -- and of course you wouldn't even have to do it with as a for-money model -- it's just my natural instinct to come up with profit models.

So what you'd do is take some box board -- like old cereal boxes, fer instance -- and make a cone which you'd tape together. There you'd have your basic mini-megaphone form which you'd decorate with the words for chants and slogans and information appropriate to your cause or rally. My thought was that you'd make xeroxes and then paste them onto the cone form with flour paste -- you know, using a basic paper mache method. You'd poke small holes at the top, put string through the holes so people could wear it around their necks, and there you'd have a cute little mini-megaphone to hand out or sell at rallies.

My idea was that you'd make them very cute and artistic. Maybe have a mini-megaphone making party with your friends. And then you'd do different ones for different rallies -- if they were cool, people would want to collect them all! (This idea was again particularly tailored to Jobs with Justice, which gets you to rallies for a real smorgasbord of causes and coalitions -- it's one of the things I love about it!).

And then at rallies, a lot more people would be equipped to lead chants because they'd have ideas in front of them and a little mini-megaphone to make them more audible. It would democratize the whole leading a chant thing.

I guess you could use this as a campaign idea, too, although it seems like campaigns are more about having one person speak rather than having the crowd chant.

Posted by mary at 3:15 PM | Comments (0)