A coalition of Black community leaders known as Reimagine Oregon say they鈥檙e unsatisfied with the incremental progress elected officials have made in responding to a list of demands the group issued a year ago.
The group held a press conference Tuesday to update Oregon media 鈥� as well as several lawmakers who joined the virtual meeting 鈥� on where things stand since they challenged Oregon leaders to do better by the state鈥檚 Black community in a series of requests.
Those requests include major changes to policies on a number of topics including housing reform, policing and community safety, education, public health, transportation, economic development and the state鈥檚 legislative process.
In total, the group listed they hoped to see taken by the Oregon Legislature, Metro regional government, the three metro-area counties and the city of Portland.
Reimagine Oregon was established last summer in response to mounting social discourse on equity and racial justice following the murder of George Floyd and the disparities in opportunity and services in America further exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The group is comprised of community organizers and leaders such as Nkenge Harmon Johnson, president and CEO of the Urban League of Portland; Katrina Holland, executive director of housing advocacy group JOIN PDX; Lamar Wise, political coordinator of public employee鈥檚 union AFSCME Local 75 and ACLU of Oregon board member; Kali Thorne Ladd, executive director of KairosPDX; Marcus Mundy; executive director of Portland-based Coalition of Communities of Color; Elona J. Wilson, executive director of Next Up, a nonprofit incubator of leaders of color; and Justice Rajee, executive director of Reimagine Oregon.
That鈥檚 just to name a few who spoke at Tuesday鈥檚 press conference and provided 鈥済rades鈥� on how Oregon鈥檚 elected officials have responded to the key issues over the last year.
And those grades weren鈥檛 particularly favorable.
Holland kicked things off, giving the state an 鈥渋ncomplete, grade forthcoming鈥� for what she described as 鈥渋ncremental progress and promises for the future鈥� on key housing requests. Those include things such as rent cancelation for people affected by the pandemic, removing barriers to housing assistance and more stringent tests to assure fair housing standards are met.
鈥淚n our second year of this project鈥� we got a lot of work to do to get to that hopeful 鈥楢,鈥� Holland said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 time for catalytic change.鈥�
Holland did acknowledge that there鈥檚 been some good progress in terms of helping Oregonians who have struggled through the pandemic to pay their rent with the passage of .
But according to Holland, there鈥檚 still room for vast improvement in the process with which the
Wise took a moment to provide grades for local jurisdictions on their response to policy demands in the realm of police accountability, which were somewhat more flattering.
According to Wise, Reimagine Oregon has been working with Metro, the Portland area鈥檚 regionally elected government, and the Washington, Multnomah and Clackamas county governments to look at ways to reform how the region approaches public safety.
Both Washington and Multnomah County received a 鈥淏鈥� grade for work they鈥檝e engaged in and investments made in that area.
Clackamas County on the other hand was given an 鈥淔鈥� following what the group characterizes as a complete drop-off in communication between Reimagine leaders and the county following County Chair Tootie Smith taking office.
鈥淲e would love to continue some type of partnership (with Clackamas County), but there hasn鈥檛 been much communication,鈥� Wise said.
The city of Portland was given a 鈥淐鈥� grade as Reimagine awaits results of the city鈥檚 fall budget monitoring process. Wise said that despite a high turnover rate within the city government that hasn鈥檛 allowed much progress, there are some staff within city hall who remain committed to working with the organization on pushing for further accountability within the Portland Police Bureau and an overhaul of policies and practices.
The state of Oregon also received a 鈥淐鈥� grade, a mark that had some lawmakers on the virtual call a bit taken aback considering the state鈥檚 major push in this year鈥檚 legislative session to aimed at many of the specific values shared by Reimagine.
Wise pointed to the body鈥檚 failure to pass in its entirety as the reason for the 鈥淐鈥� grade. Some provisions of the bill were carved out into other proposals, but the bulk of that bill which wasn鈥檛 acted upon this year would鈥檝e reformed the state鈥檚 mandatory sentencing laws 鈥� something lawmakers have had their eye on for years.
Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Happy Valley, who was on Tuesday鈥檚 call, and Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, committed to leading that charge in the 2022 short session with support from the legislature鈥檚 Black, Indigenous and People of Color caucus.
A few other notable grades included Mundy doling out a 鈥淒鈥� to efforts within the legislature to require all bills to include , as well as requiring the same for state agencies during . Mundy commended lawmakers for bringing those bills forth this legislative session, but noted that they remained stuck in committee when the legislature adjourned in June.
Wilson graded efforts by both Metro and Multnomah County to implement a requirement that community advisory boards be consulted in rulemaking processes as 鈥渢entative A鈥� dependent on how those requirements are or aren鈥檛 centered around voices of their respective Black communities.
Rajee said that Reimagine Oregon remains focused on holding the state and local governments accountable to the voices of Black Oregonians who have called for widespread reform and more opportunity in the state.
According to Rajee, the group will continue to work with its partners in organizations throughout the state to put pressure on elected leaders to take action in responding to their requests for change.
鈥淲e have seen movement, but we have yet to see movement from our elected leaders,鈥� Rajee said. 鈥淭he movement is in the streets. It鈥檚 in our lives. But in the halls of power, we鈥檙e still largely resisted, and we鈥檙e here to make sure the spotlight doesn鈥檛 fade on that fact.鈥�
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