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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 22, 2002)
May 22, 2002 Page A4 (P h e rm rr O pinion Jlnrtlanh (Dbaerurr USPS 95 9 -6 8 0 Established 1970 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211 H Bi Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f 3 Ilje$ Io rtlan t» (0 b a e ru e r E O 1 T O K - 1 N - C H 1 K F , P u l L I S H C » C harles H. W ashington D is t iiiu iio n C e n r M ark W ashington H u s u trs s M A N A C £ * A M ichael Leighton R on H erndon S peaks C urt E o i t o Joy Ram os We Must Do More in Fight for Social Justice sst . P c e L is u e e k C k k a t iv b D i n e r a l P aul N eufeldt G ary A nn Taylor P ostmaster : Send address changes to Portland Observer PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208 Periodical Postage paid in Portland, OR • Subscriptions are $ 60 .00 per year | 5 0 3 -288-0033 • FAX 503-2 8 8 -0 0 1 5 The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property of the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent ot the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad. © 1996 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART W ITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIB ITED. The Portland Observer-Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publication-is a member of the National Newspaper Association-Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver. Advertise with diversity in C 1 (.ObsCVUCX* call 503.288.0033 or email: ads@portlandobserver.com Spring Auto Loan Sale Rates as low as / T hrough M ay 31, 2002 ♦APR = Annual Percentage Rate. Interest rates vary based on repayment period, down payment and credit standing A ll loans are subject to approval Serving all who live, work, worship or attend school in the Portland communities o f Arbor Lodge, Boise, Bridgeton. Buckman north o f Hawthorne, Cathedral Park, China Town, Concordia west o f 33* Avenue, Concordia University, Downtown Portland, East Columbia, Goose Hollow, Humboldt, Irvington, Kerns, King, Northwest Portland, Northwest Industrial Portland, Old Town, Overlook, Pearl District, Piedmont, Portland Community College-Cascade Campus. Portland State University, Ports W IL L A M E T T E F e d e ra l C r e d it U n io n mouth. Sabin, St. Johns, Sullivan's Gulch, University o f Portland, 2151 N.W. Front Avenue Portland, Oregon 97209 University Park, Vernon, and Woodlawn. (503) 299-4539 • (888) 900-8559 Ron H erndon Speaks is a P ort land O bserver series fe a tu rin g com m unity lea d er a n d activist Ron D. H erndon. C orrespondent Yugen F ardan R ashad d id the interview s a n d editing. In previous installm ents, Mr. H erndon offered his perspective on effective leadership. Currently h e’s leading the fight to close the achievem ent gap am ong predom i nantly poor and m inority students. T he follow ing is a synopsis o f H erndon’s com m itm ent to the is sues o f education and youth: •In 1999, Ron H erndon and a vanguard o f com m unity leaders formed the Education Crisis Team, targeting 14 schools in the P ort land School D istrict w here a m a jo rity o f the population is identi fied as below the benchm ark es tablished by state education stan dards. • In 1971, Herndon and Dr. Joyce Harris, co-founded the Black E du cational C enter, an independent prim ary school. He cham pioned education-related issues such as desegregation, school busing an$l quality ed u catio n in Portlancl. From 1970 to 1973, H erndon taught a Black H istory class at O regon State C orrectional Insti tution. • H erndon serves as E xecutive D irector o f the N ational A ssocia tion o f Schools o f E xcellence, a national organization o f public school principals from urban and rural areas w ith a record o f suc cess in the education o f low - in com e children. • M arch 17,2000: H erndon was am ong neighborhood and co m m unity activ ists that m arched from K ing E lem entary School to A lberta Park to dram atize the ur gency to address the problem . H erndon w as part o f a m ock funeral held at the headquarters o f the Portland school board, co m plete w ith a casket, to m ake the point regarding the plight o f inner city students below reading and m ath benchm arks. •Oct. 10,2000: Herndon and the C risis T eam led a group o f parents and com m unity m em bers into a Portland school board m eeting to dem and a solution, and a turn a ro u n d o f th e lo w -a c h ie v in g sch o o ls. Y ugen: Ron, w hat are the chal lenges one faces to address ed u cation reform in P ortland Public Schools, and talk about com m u nity involvem ent? H ern d o n : Community involve ment in many cases is looked upon by a lot o f people as taking clothes to the goodw ill outlet. Folks to day m ust m ake a m ore direct co n n ec tio n w ith h isto ry an d the struggle. T hat m ight m ean pass ing out fliers or donating tim e or money. A connection needs to be m ade between on e’s life, and the life en joyed today in this country as a black person and those that ag gressively and publicly confronted injustices, and made sacrifices for ‘m e’. Because o f those w ho cam e before, I can enjoy the privileges I do today. In many cases, that con nection isn’t being made. The situation is com pletely dif ferent than 20 years ago. T ake Dr. K ing, for exam ple. H is w ork has been sanitized so m uch it’s sick ening. It’s a King that ju st w ants to hold hands. W hat is not talked about w as his involvem ent in pro tests. T hey exclude a King that disrupted the status quo; a per son vilified by the press: The N ew York Tim es talked about him like a dog. King used kids, grade school kids, in dem onstrations, but this is not the Dr. King we hear about today. W hen the status quo said Ron Herndon ‘N o ’ to Dr. King, he confronted it. T here w as an im m ediate confron tation w ith injustice, and that les son has alm ost been lost on us. Y u g en : W ould you say the B lack U nited Front, a collective that dealt w ith social injustice is sues beginning in the 70s, w as the forerunnerto the E ducation Crisis T eam , in execution and strategy? H ern d o n : Back in 1978agroup o f us m et for alm ost a year, quietly, privately, organizing the Front. W e talked about w hat w e w ere going to do, did the study and research. O ur m ission was to form a group o f individuals already actively w orking on a num ber o f social issues that impacted theblack community. Individually we didn't have the kind o f impact we did once we came together. Whether it was housing, economic development, education, or police m isconduct, w hatever battle w e chose, w e d e cided w e would fight until we won. Y u g en : Y o u ’ve replicated the F ro n t’s approaches w ith the E du cation C risis T eam . H e r n d o n : Yes. A nd w e ’ve m ade som e m istakes, too. Y ugen: How ? H e rn d o n : O ne thing w e could have done better is to explain, at the m ost basic level o f organizing in the com m unity, to get the m es sage out to the people w hat it is w e’re trying to accom plish. N EW S E A S O N S ¡M A R K E T C R E A T IN G THE L e t u s h e lp y o u b u ild th e Âfltllttlttwltlttu"" E S S E N T IA L P IC N IC i . 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