Meet the Filmmakers: Roy Silberstein

“I just see that James Chasse came to a classic ending for a person who dealt with his mental illness by himself,” says Roy Silberstein, technical adviser for Alien Boy and founding president of the Mental Health Association of Portland. “And his disease, schizophrenia, is a lot more difficult to function with than bipolar disorder.”

Silberstein was raised in NYC, graduated from CCNY, and went off to graduate school in Madison Wisconsin at 20 in 1963.

Silberstein was diagnosed bipolar disorder in 1966 at the age of 24, and since then, it has robbed him of a great deal.

“At the age of 20, I didn’t believe that at 66 I’d be living hand to mouth, that’s for sure,” he says.

His first breakdown happened at the same moment a romance went bad, and Silberstein’s father, a CPA, paid for private psychotherapists out of a desire to see him finish his Masters. But when Silberstein’s ex-girlfriend moved in with her new boyfriend upstairs in the same apartment building, things fell apart. Silberstein started drinking heavily, then after a few years he had his first involuntary commitment that led to eight months of hospitalization.

Learn about – police oversight, Pt I

We are all human. We must accept that we all make mistakes. Because a mistake made by a person in authority could be easily obscured, supervision, training, oversight, and discipline are essential components to police management.

Portland, Oregon recruits police officers from all over the country. The process is complicated – and competitive with other cities and counties. Police officers are in short supply nationwide.

Prospective officers undergo lengthy background checks, medical examinations, interviews and testing prior to being hired. College degrees are helpful, but no longer essential though many officers continue their college education. Many have military experience; some are recruited for language skills or cultural background.

After officers are hired, they attend the Portland Police Bureau’s Advanced Academy where they receive extensive and lengthy training. The result of the Academy is “certification” – which allows someone to be hired by an Oregon police force.

New officers are often partnered with seasoned officers that result in another layer of education, orientation and oversight. They are introduced to their colleagues and begin to accumulate practical experience.

Officers are directly supervised by a police sergeant, who in turn is supervised by a lieutenant, who is supervised by a precinct commander, who reports to an assistant chief, who is supervised by the Police Chief, who reports to the Police Commissioner, who currently the Mayor of Portland (but can be any one of the Commissioners).

The Portland Police Bureau has an Internal Affairs Division that investigates complaints and concerns about police officers, both from citizens and from police supervisors. However, it was homicide detectives who immediately investigated what happened to James Chasse. Their findings were delivered to the District Attorney’s office and were used an evidence against the officers in a grand jury hearing. The result of the hearing was the officers were not indicted for the death of James Chasse. Immediately after the decision, the District Attorney released materials from detective’s investigation to the public. These documents are located at What Happened to James Chasse.

IPR Report Analysis by Portland CopWatch

Learn about a consultant’s report on the Portland Independent Police Review, including how officers are sometimes not disciplined, in anticipation of a Feb 28 City Council hearing.

Speaking is Dan Handelman of Portland CopWatch.

For much much more, listen to Dan talk with Abe and Joe on KBOO from February 20, 2008 discuss IPR.

Special Thanks to Garth Stein

Seattle novelist Garth Stein is a big supporter of Alien Boy.

Stein is winner of the 2006 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award for How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets, from Soho Press.

Garth’s highly anticipated The Art of Racing In The Rain will be available in May from HarperCollins.

“The Art of Racing in The Rain has everything: love, tragedy, redemption, danger, and–best of all–the canine narrator Enzo. This old soul of a dog has much to teach to us about being human. I loved this book.” — Sara Gruen, Author of Water for Elephants

“The Art of Racing in the Rain takes you on an unforgettable journey through another kind of mind, through the eyes — and nose — of a dog. I found it fascinating.” — Temple Grandin, Author of Animals in Translation

Garth writes, “Thank you for your efforts in bringing the story of James Chasse and his mental illness to the attention of a wider audience. With knowledge comes change, and hopefully this film will lead to greater compassion for those who find themselves marginalized by illness or misfortune.”

Thanks Garth!

Letter of Support – Eva Lake

It had been years, maybe decades since I had seen Jim Jim, also known as James Chasse. I left Portland in 1981, which was around the time his problems began.

I only knew Jim Jim as a sweet young man, someone to march into my small flat and fall exasperatedly into a chair with a big, dramatic sigh, often followed with just a few well chosen words. He made fanzines which he not only wrote but illustrated, in a style all his own and way ahead of the curve. It is actually quite remarkable to see how much art is out there now which reminds us of Jim Jim. Save, of course, that his voice was totally authentic, not copied from something else or assumed as the fashionable stance.

There was certainly no inevitability about a descension into mental illness back then, one aided and abetted by treatments certain to scar him for life. He died at the hands (and clubs) of the police for supposedly threatening violence. From Jim Jim? How in the world could this be true?

But what I am hoping for, as regards the upcoming film Alien Boy, is a reflection of his life and interests, as well as an investigation into his death. It’s all important.

Help a Good Filmmaker Do Some Good

By Shawn Levy, The Oregonian, February 18, 2008

One of the greatest and most inspiring surprises for me last year was “Finding Normal,” a gripping and moving documentary by local filmmaker Brian Lindstrom, who went deep into the world of recovering addicts and turned up an amazing fly-on-the-wall portrait of the addicts and the peer mentors who help them find a new path in life through a downtown Portland program.

Well, Lindstrom has set his sites on another story set on the local streets: the case of James Chasse, a troubled 42 year old who was effectively beaten to death in September, 2006, in broad daylight on a Pearl District corner by three Portland cops. The Chasse case has been a real lightning rod for critics of the training and technique of police officers, particularly in their encounters with the disenfranchised and/or disturbed. (You can read details of the incident and the shockwaves it produced here.)

Lindstrom has begun work on “Alien Boy,” a documentary about Chasse’s life and death and the issues his killing has raised, and, being a virtual one-man show operating on a not-even-shoestring budget, he could use a hand. It seems to be a perfect marriage of artist and subject matter, and you could feel pretty good about yourself if you visited the film’s web site and donated money or support or even helped tell other folks about the project.

The word you’re looking for is mitzvah.

Learn about – James Chasse

What the public can know about what happened to James Chasse has been well documented by a Portland mental health advocacy organization, the Mental Health Association of Portland.

The organization created a web site to collect every news article and every public document about what happened to James.  Currently the site hosts over 350 articles and documents – possibly the most comprehensively documented untried legal case in the web.  The site is hosted by Google and will remain online for as long as that company exists.

The site is What Happened to James Chasse.

The Mental Health Association of Portland is a nonprofit organization launched in 2003.  The organization is the sponsor of Alien Boy.

Letter of Support – Mary McDonald-Lewis

I read with interest of the James Chasse film you are working on now. Wonderful — a great use of the medium and a story that needs telling.

I was onstage in “Metamorphoses” at Artist Repertory Theatre when Chasse was killed, with the entire thing witnessed by my director, Randall Stuart, who was passing by at the moment Chasse encountered the police. Obviously Randall and everyone else there that day was deeply affected by the tragedy.

Mary McDonald-Lewis – http://marymac.com/

Grant submitted – Spirit Mountain Community Fund

We’ve submitted a proposal to the Spirit Mountain Community Fund for support of Alien Boy.

Wish us luck!

Oregonian Writes Up Alien Boy

Film will examine Chasse’s life, death

Documentary – “Alien Boy” deals with the case of James Chasse Jr., who died in police custody

Tuesday, February 12, 2008 – BY MAXINE BERNSTEIN of the The Oregonian Staff

The Mental Health Association of Portland will be working with a Portland filmmaker to produce a documentary about the life and death of James P. Chasse Jr.

The title, “Alien Boy,” refers to a song written by a friend of Chasse, Greg Sage, the lead singer of The Wipers band. As a young teenager, Chasse described The Wipers as “my fave local band” in a magazine he wrote called “The Oregon Organism.”

Sage dedicated the lyrics from his 1979 song “Alien Boy” as a memorial to Chasse, a 42-year-old man who died in police custody Sept. 17, 2006. Chasse, who suffered from schizophrenia, died of broad-based trauma to his chest after police struggled to take him into custody in the Pearl District.

Sage’s lyrics are: “Go and grab your gun; Got him on the run; Cause he’s an alien; They hurt what they don’t understand.”

The association will work with Portland filmmaker Brian Lindstrom to make the film, and follow the family’s civil case against the city and police.

The federal lawsuit, pending in U.S. District Court in Portland, contends that the officers involved violated Chasse’s civil rights and that the city has a pattern of failing to discipline officers involved in use of deadly force.

Lindstrom has made two other documentaries, called “Kicking,” about drug detoxification in Portland, and “Finding Normal,” about recovery from drug addiction, also made in Portland.

“Our hope is to create a film powerful enough to persuade other cities to make the changes Portland did after James died — before someone like James in their hometown dies,” said Jason Renaud, a friend of Chasse’s and a volunteer board member of the mental health association.

The film’s Web site lists the following positive changes made since Chasse’s death: the requirement that all Portland officers complete 40 hours of crisis intervention training; Multnomah County’s call for a sub-acute center to treat people suffering from a mental health crisis; and changes to the Portland Police Bureau’s Use of Force policy that encourages officers to use the “least force reasonably necessary.”

More information about the film can be obtained at the Web site: www.alienboy.org. All donations to the Mental Health Association of Portland this year will go toward the production of the film.

“Only a full, public account of who James was and what happened to him can prevent another tragedy,” the film’s Web site says.

Maxine Bernstein: 503-221-8212; maxinebernstein@ news.oregonian.com