Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses Spring 6-12-2018 "On the Murder of Rickey Johnson": the Portland Police Bureau, Deadly Force, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Oregon, 1940 - 1975 Katherine EIleen Nelson Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Part of the United States History Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Nelson, Katherine EIleen, ""On the Murder of Rickey Johnson": the Portland Police Bureau, Deadly Force, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Oregon, 1940 - 1975" (2018). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 4434. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.6318 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. “On the Murder of Rickey Johnson”: The Portland Police Bureau, Deadly Force, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Oregon, 1940-1975 by Katherine Eileen Nelson A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History Thesis Committee: Marc Rodriguez, Chair Patricia Schechter David Johnson Darrell Millner Portland State University 2018 © 2018 Katherine Eileen Nelson i Abstract On March 14, 1975, twenty-eight year old Portland police officer Kenneth Sanford shot and killed seventeen-year-old Rickie Charles Johnson in the back of the head during a sting operation. Incredulously, Johnson was the fourth person of color to be shot and killed by Portland police within a five-month period. Due to his age and surrounding circumstances, Johnson’s death by Sanford elicited extreme reactions from varied communities of Portland. Unlike previous deaths of people of color by the police in Portland, Johnson’s death received widespread attention from mainstream media outlets. In response, some white citizens decried Johnson’s death as unjustified police brutality. Still, several white citizens defended the Portland Police Bureau and their actions. Members of Portland’s African American community, however, firmly believed that Johnson’s death was just another instance in the PPB’s long history of police brutality within Portland’s black neighborhoods. Johnson’s death motivated young black activists in Portland, Oregon to form the advocacy group the Black Justice Committee (BJC). The BJC, along with several pre- established advocacy groups in Portland, demanded that the city host its first public inquest to investigate Johnson’s death. A public inquest is a public “trial” that usually occurs after a sudden or unexpected death. Black citizens felt this public inquest would hold the city accountable for repeated mistreatment of the city’s communities of color; whereas, the nearly all white city government believed a public inquest would quell racial unrest within Portland. Mayor Neil Goldschmidt and District Attorney Harl Haas agreed to host the inquest, at which assistant District Attorney John Moore questioned Officer Sanford’s motivations and actions. Despite the advocacy efforts before the public inquest, the jury voted 4-1 for Sanford’s innocence. The only black jury member casted the sole vote against Sanford’s innocence. Heralded for its progressivity, the city of Portland, Oregon is contemporarily viewed as a liberal mecca where all are welcome to speak their truth and “Keep Portland Weird.” However, communities of color have experienced widespread repression, oppression and discrimination since the establishment of the city. Whereas some may see Portland as a city that cherishes individuality, Portland’s black community has been robbed of autonomy for generations. Police surveillance, harassment and brutality have plagued Portland’s black community for years and continues to be a contentious issue within the city. This project focuses on the history of Portland’s black community, the history of the Portland Police Bureau, and the relationship between the two. Starting with World War II and ending with Officer Sanford’s public inquest in April 1975, this thesis showcases the determination of Portland’s black activist community and the city’s continued denial of culpability for police actions. Despite the inquest’s results, Johnson’s death and the advocacy surrounding the incident fueled the motivations of activists at both the national and state level, and encouraged the city to acknowledge the wrongdoings of the Bureau. ii Figure 1: Zine circulated by Lucien Loiseau after Rickie Johnson’s death. Source: Lucien Loiseau, “On the Murder of Rickey Johnson,” 1975, Verdell Burdine and Otto G. Rutherford Family Collection, 1900-1980, in Box 7, Portland State University Special Collections and University Archives. iii Dedication For Rickie Charles Johnson. May your story—and stories so similar—always be told. iv Acknowledgements To the people who first encouraged me to go back to school and get a Master’s in History—my parents, Jon and Priscilla. Throughout my youth my mom and dad encouraged a tenacious love of reading and for that I am thankful. Without their endless encouragement and support this degree and thesis could not have been completed. Another thanks to my older brother Sam, whose writing gumption and expertise I admire and to my little brother Caleb for always showing enthusiasm in my work. Thanks to my partner Kevin for his support throughout this endeavor. For always giving me the appropriate space to study and work while simultaneously always making sure I ate dinner. I’m thankful for his unyielding listening skills as I admittedly “beat a dead horse” and for his consistently positive attitude. To my historian comrades Taylor Rose, Jenna Barganski, Taylor Bailey, Tanya Monthey, Ryan Wisnor, Melissa Lang and Dave Hedberg, to name a few, for their commiseration, line edits, ideas, and enthusiasm. Most of all, for their friendship. Thank you to the faculty at Portland State University—specifically David Johnson, Marc Rodriguez, Patricia Schechter and Darrell Millner—for their advice and expertise. A special thanks to community members Baruti Artharee, Charlotte Rutherford, Joyce Harris, and Ray Tercek for their willingness to share personal experiences for this project. The discussions I had were invaluable and helped guide my wandering ship of a thesis. Lastly, a thanks to you for reading. v Table of Contents Abstract...............................................................................................................................i Dedication..........................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgements............................................................................................................v List of Figures .................................................................................................................vii Abbreviations..................................................................................................................viii Introduction On the Murder of Rickie Johnson........................................................................................1 Chapter One The history of policing Portland’s black community.........................................................14 Chapter Two Police brutality and black advocacy..................................................................................42 Chapter Three Multnomah County’s first public inquest...........................................................................70 Conclusion The legacy of Rickie Johnson’s death................................................................................92 Bibliography...................................................................................................................100 vi List of Figures Figure 1: Zine by Lucien Loiseau entitled, “On the Murder of Rickie Johnson”...............iv Figure 2: Map of the Albina District..................................................................................25 Figure 3: Picture of Joseph Hopkins, a victim of police brutality.....................................39 Figure 4:Victims Charles Menefee and Kenneth Allen as distributed in The Oregonian.40 Figure 5: A sketch of the night of March 14, 1975 from The Oregonian..........................45 Figure 6: Charlotte Rutherford speaking at the march on the police station.....................53 Figure 7: Charlotte Rutherford and Baruti Artharee of the Black Justice Committee at a press conference following the march on the police station..............................................55 Figure 8: Kent Ford of the Black Panther Party in an argument with a deputy at the public inquest.....................................................................................................................58 Figure 9: Black Coalition members list.............................................................................62 Figure 10: The family of Rickie Johnson at Sanford’s public inquest..............................83 vii Abbreviations: AMA: Albina Ministerial Alliance BJC: Black Justice Committee LCRM: Long Civil Rights Movement NAACP: National Association of Colored People PARC: Portland Archives and Records Center PPA: Portland Police Association PPB: Portland Police Bureau viii Introduction The Murder of Rickie Johnson and Police Brutality in Portland, Oregon On March 14, 1975,