On the afternoon of Sept. 28, Talmage Ellis became the latest victim of the years of violence plaguing Dawson Park. Portland police say Ellis, 57, died after a man chased him down with a knife and repeatedly stabbed him.

A killing is not unheard of in the North Portland park that’s been ravaged by gunfire in recent years. But Ellis’ death was unusually troubling to the Eliot neighborhood, for two reasons.

First, he was well known in the Black community as a mentor to young men involved in gangs or at risk of joining them. As a young man himself, Ellis ran the streets as a Crip, brawling with members of rival gangs. He’d spent nearly 20 years in prison because of it, receiving a 10-year sentence for attempted murder in 2002. After he got out of prison for the second time in 2011, his work

See Full Page