Background
Patrice Lumumba Ford was Ford's birth name -- he is named after Patrice Lumumba. Ford's father, Kent Ford, had been a local leader in the Black Panther Party in the 1960s. A family friend and political activist, Kathleen Sadat commented that "Lumumba was raised by people who taught that we exist in a multicultural world and the trick is learning how to get along with other people, not to destroy them."
Ford dropped out of Morehouse College shortly after enrolling 1989 and later enrolled at Portland State University, majoring in Chinese and International Studies. He studied for three semesters in China, where he eventually converted to Islam. Reflecting on Ford's attitude after his return to Portland, one of his instructors, professor Gerald Sussman said "Ford was head and shoulders above everybody in the class... He was a very nice guy, smart and tremendously responsible." Ford indicated at one point that "he wanted to marry a "real" Muslim - not a "fake" American one - who carries an AK-47 assault rifle and is "ready to run and blow something up.""
In 1998 and 1999, Ford worked at Portland's City Hall and was widely described as a "model intern." In 2001:
| “ | was so upset by this country's Middle Eastern policy that he sent an email to Mayor Vera Katz's office that was troubling enough in its anti-Semitism to be forwarded to the Portland police. | ” |
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