May 22, 2002
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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
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