It's hard to believe that it was just twelve months ago that Portland Police officers shot and killed Aaron Campbell as he tried to surrender. As one of the most controversial police actions in the city's history, over the past 12 months, Campbell's death led to Jesse Jackson calling the city to protest, major police accountability rallies, the firing of the officer who pulled the trigger, and led to Mayor Adams canning the police chief and taking control of the bureau.
Woof. Quite a year. This Saturday, the Albina Ministerial Alliance is holding a memorial to mark the year since his death. The theme of the memorial is "Stop the Violence: Stop unjust police violence, stop gang violence, stop domestic violence. The memorial is Saturday, January 29, 5:00 PM at Emmanuel Temple (1032 N Sumner St).
On a somewhat unrelated social justice note, AMA leader Reverend Chuck Currie has an article up on Huffington Post today about how Obama should address poverty in his state of the union speech tonight. Namely, says Rev. Currie, he should promise to cut poverty in half nationwide. Any chance of that, Obama?