Portland Observer. August 8, 1984 Section II Page 3
Herndon to work for
permanent Rainbow
by Chuck Goodmacher
Ron Herndon, one of the earliest supporters o f Jesse
Jackson’ s presidential bid. is now working to build a
permanent presence for the Rainbow in Oregon. H e r
ndon granted this interview to the Observer to discuss the
plans and hopes of the Oregon Rainbow Organizing Co
mmittee as well as his personal views on the Democratic
Convention.
OBSERVER: You and several members of the Jackson
for President steering committee just mailed out a letter
asking support fo r the Oregon Rainbow O rganizing
Committee. What will the political agenda of this group
be?
Ron Hamdon. co-chalr of tha Portland Black Unl-
tad Front and Oragon'a only dalagata commlttad
to Jackaon.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
H E R N D O N : To address several different issues, and
as I see it. all of them revolve around the quality of life in
this state for the average person...what can be done to
im prove that. W e ’ re talkin g about unem ploym ent,
education, or the lack thereof, energy issues and so on.
O: How will the Rainbow pursue that agenda while at
the same time helping to get Mondale elected?
H: W e’ll be getting people together from around the
state that worked on the Jackson campaign to develop a
clearly well-thought-out plan to move that agenda...
O: The Mondale campaign apparently expects people
who supported Hart and Jackson to help out, especially
if victory appears near. What do you think about that?
H: I t ’s a bad strategy. Their move, both locally and na
tionally, should be to extend themselves...to try to bring
everybody together and develop some relationship that
will allow everybody to be involved in a manner that they
reel is comfortable for them. The strategy that people will
come to you presupposes a lot of things that aren’t true.
It ignores the fact that a lot of people are bitter about the
M ondale nom ination. Jackson won 85% o f the Black
vote. The Black Mondale delegates only represented 15%
of the Black electorate...Now if he thinks that because
he’s got Coretta (Scott King) and Andrew (Young) that
somehow that’s going to bring folks out in November,
he’s mistaken. His best move would be to make some ac
commodation with Jesse so that the things he feels are
important can be...m ade part o f this campaign That
likewise should be the move at the local level.
O: What kind of outreach efforts will be made beyond
the people who supported Jackson’s presidential cam
paign?
H: W e ’ re already talkin g with the G ray Panthers.
W e’re also very interested in talking with people in the
peace movement, those involved in the environmental
movement, those who are really concerned about educa
tion, those who are concerned about welfare...those who
are overlooked by this society, those who feel there is
more to life than the profit motive, getting together and
making an effort to force, in this case the state, and in the
broader sense, the nation, to respond to these issues. I
think it can be done.
O: What about at the city level? Do you see any possi
bilities there, especially with the new mayor coming in?
H: The same groups need to sit down and talk about
economic development th a t’ s going to be helpful for
more than just a few people and larger corporations. W ill
economic development mean the development of some
thing th at’s going to be labor-intensive? W h a t’s set up
now is not helping those who need it the most.
O: Getting back to the fact that many people are bitter
about the nomination process and the defeat of Jesse’s
platform planks, what do you say to people who state
that is why they will not vote for Mondale?
M: A couple of things. I understand it. A ll too often in
this country you get placed in a situation like this: would
you have wanted Hum phrey or Nixon? Given w hat’ s
happened historically, I think most people would say, “ I
wish Hum phrey had been in there.” W ould you have
preferred Jimmy Carter over Ronald Reagan? I think I
would have preferred Jim m y C a rter. T hat doesn’ t
suggest that I agree with Jimmy Carter, but in terms of
having someone in there that gives you at least the ability
to make some moves while not watching your people
slowly, or rapidly, destroyed in front of your own eyes.
He (Reagan) has actually been responsible for the death
of literally thousands of people in this country through
starvation, through deprivation. The untold misery that
Oregon dalagata Johnnie Bell enjoyed the frantic
pace and commotion of the convention. She went
aa an unpledged delegate and voted for Gary Hart.
(Photo: Richard Brown)
he has brought upon those who are most defenseless
can’ t be measured. Now, is somebody telling me they
prefer that to a situation where it would not exist? I think
that Mondale would at least lessen some of the misery
that those who are defenseless face today.
O And through organizing the Rainbow you hope to
create more room to Tight for those needs?
H: Yes. I think that we bring a fresh view to the whole
thing. That’s what Jesse did. You bring people together
who have a history of working to improve conditions for
people. Now you have people in the environmental move
ment, they’re not doing that for a paycheck...people in
the peace movement, they’ re not getting paid for that,
but they’re working because they have a sense of morali
ty...p eo p le in the civil rights m ovem ent.. .So y o u ’ re
bringing together people whose lives have been spent in
the service of humanity one way or the other. Generally
we’re more creative than those who are only concerned
with a d o llar b ill...w e have a sense o f vision they
generally don’t.
We bring to this whole discussion some solutions that
are very, very creative and much different than those
which have been put forth.
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(Photo: Richard J. Brownl
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