KBOO Volunteer Susan Gibson, on some of the every day superheroes that we can notice in our everyday lives.

September 17th, 2008 is the second anniversary of the death of James Chasse Junior, Jim Jim, an early fixture in the Portland Punk Scene, a schizophrenic man living independently in Downtown Portland, and the victim of a brutal and fatal police beating.
Two years ago James Chasse was attacked and beaten to death by Multnomah County Sheriff deputy Bret Burton, Portland Police officer Christopher Humphreys and Portland Police Sargent Kyle Nice. on NW 13th and Everett before a dozen eyewitnesses. Chasse was not suspected of a crime, he had not committed a crime, and had no criminal record. The officers beat him, kicked him, tasered him repeatedly, and broke 17 ribs and his shoulder.

Chasse was sent by paramedics to jail, where the Jail nurses refused to admit him. He died en route to a hospital in the back seat of a police car driven by the same officers who had earlier beaten him.

The Multnomah County medical examiner ruled that Chasse died of blunt-force trauma to the chest, but declared the death “accidental.” A grand jury later cleared the officers of criminal wrongdoing. The officers involved are all back on duty.

This interview is with Jason Renault of the Mental Health Associaton of Portland, and film director Brian Linstrom , about James Chasse, and the film project about his life, called Alien Boy.
It also includes excerpts from the Public Memorial Service held for Chasse in October, 2006.

The film’s title comes from a song written about Chasse in 1979 by his friend, Greg Sage, lead singer of the seminal Portland punk band, the Wipers. He was also the subject of the song Nothing to Fear by Portland’s first all female punk band, the Neo Boys.

http://alienboy.org/

http://jameschasse.blogspot.com/

http://mentalhealthportland.wordpress.com/

http://brianlindstrom.wordpress.com/

http://readingfrenzy.com/

Kayse Jama spoke during the 2008 conference of the Peace and Justice Studies Association and the Peace and Conflict Studies Consortium.  He participated in the plenary session "Localizing and Colorizing Peace and Justice."  Jama recently organized for the Western States Center under a New Voices Fellowship.  He lives in Portland, a refugee from Somalia and helped found the Western States Center.

Col. Ann Wright is the co-author of "Dissent:Voices of Conscience". A retired 29-year veteran of the Army and Army Reserves, she resigned from the Department of State ion March 19, 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war.  Wright was a diplomat in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, MIcronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia. 

Wright participated in the plenary discusion "Three Powerful Women," of the 2008 conference of the Peace and Justice Studies Association, and the Peace and Conflict Studies Consortium.