Portland observer., April 25, 2012, Page 3, Image 3

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A p ril 25, 2012
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Fighting for Social Justice
Native American activist in City Council race
O pinion
by
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T he P ortland O bserver
Pi
M ETRO
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ENTEtTAINMENI
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1
el
M indy C ooper
O bservador
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C lassifieds
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C alendar
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F ood
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“I worry about the future of
my grandchildren and my chil­
dren, and quite frankly I am not
confident that anyone who is run­
ning right now knows the experi­
ence of what I, and other people
of color, have gone through while
living in the city of Portland.”
When Williams, who grew up
with five siblings in Salem, first
moved to Portland, she was a
single mother with a history of
became an organizer,” she said.
“I learned the power of organiz­
ing, working collaboratively and
building collaborative partner­
ships, like defeating the expan­
sion of the 1-5 freeway when no
one said we could.”
According to Williams, some
of the people who empowered
her the most were individuals she
didn’t initially think of as advo­
cates.
Dedicated to the fight for jus­
tice and real change, one local
Native American woman, after
17-years advocating for minori­
ties in Portland, is on the May
Primary ballot for a seat on the
Portland City Council.
Jeri Williams, 51, has seen a
plethora of problems unique to
minority communities within the
city in her employment with the
Portland Office of Neighborhood
Involvement, and as a native Or­
egonian and Klamath tribe mem­
ber.
She has seen how the wheels
of politics turn within the city.
The people in leadership actu­
ally chose what they are going to
prioritize, she said. “We should
be powerful leaders.”
Although Williams acknowl­
edges that she could choose to
keep her mouth shut and make
really good pay and benefits, “That -
is not how I am made,” she said.
According to Williams, the
word ‘equity,’ is continually used
when addressing the work that
needs to be done within the city.
“But we keep talking about eq­
uity, and yet we have no equity on
who gets elected to City Council,
and who are the higher ups in the
photo by M indy C ooper /T he P ortland O bserver
bureaus,” she said. “I believe we
After nearly 1 7-years as an activist and advocate for minority
need to have people of color in
communities in Portland, Native American and single mother Jeri
office with good political analy­
Williams has joined the race for a seat on the Portland City
ses of race in order to shift that Council.
paradigm.”
Williams, a grandmother of domestic violence.
Williams said she was recently
eight, is excited to one day see a
“I was trafficked in 1989 when looking at the campaign pins she
better future for minority youth in I came here after I got away from made for her election contest,
Portland.
an abusive ex-husband,” she said. and the emotions of everything
“I was a welfare mom,” she “I got involved with drugs and she has overcome came to her in
said. “And I have dealt with the gangs and that part of my life full-force.
police and know what it is like to lasted about four years.”
“I would never be running for
be pulled over when you are a
Also periodically battling office if someone didn’t step up
brown skinned person in this city, homelessness, her children were and help me get straight, and do
because I mostly lived in north­ taken from her for a number of what I need to do to give back to
east.”
years by the state until she was my community,” she said.
She proudly pulls out a wallet able to get her act together.
Last week, while in the waiting
size image of two smiling grand­
She said, however, with the room of a health care facility,
children. “I want them to have a help of the community, she was Williams said she began to talk
future where they feel like they able to turn her life around and with a woman and her daughter in
can do anything, and I don’t think carry her past experiences to make the clinic. “We were laughing and
they have that opportunity just for a better life.
continued
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yet,” she said.
“I came from the streets and