February 3, 2016
Page 7
Black Lives Matter
C ontinued from p age 3
of Black Lives Matter will speak
at Portland State University on
Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. as part
of Black History Month and the
school’s “Living the Legacy” se-
ries honoring the memory of the
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Garza, Tometi and Patrisse
Cullors created the #BlackLives-
Matter hashtag on Twitter in 2013
in response to the acquittal of
George Zimmerman in the Florida
shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
Spurred by the police shooting
death of Michael Brown in Mis-
souri and other deaths of black
people, Black Lives Matter has
emerged as an international move-
ment promoting social justice and
civil rights and condemning racial
violence.
“It is an honor and a privilege
to have the founders share their
vision of justice for all with our
students and broader Portland and
regional community,” says Dr.
Carmen Suarez, PSU vice presi-
dent of the ofice of Global Diver-
sity and Inclusion. “Their work in
engaging audiences in discussions
about race relations in America
is courageous and born from the
pain, frustration and anger over
the ongoing state violence, po-
lice brutality and social injustice
plaguing our country. They also
teach us how their activism be-
came the national movement it is
today, and how we must all take
action to combat the systemic
and institutionalized racism from
which these virulent plagues of vi-
olence and injustice stem.”
Black Lives Matter has grown
to more than 25 chapters across
the nation – including a Portland
chapter – that organizes rallies and
other events. The group relies on
local chapters to focus on issues
such as police brutality, racial pro-
iling and inequities in the crimi-
It is an honor and a privilege
to have the founders share their
vision of justice for all...
— Dr. Carmen Suarez, PSU vice president
of the ofice of Global Diversity and Inclusion
nal justice system.
Garza is an Oakland-based ac-
tivist and director of special proj-
ects for the National Domestic
Workers Alliance. She previously
served as executive director of
People Organized to Win Employ-
ment Rights and has won various
honors, including two Harvey
Milk Democratic Club Communi-
ty Activist awards.
Tometi of Brooklyn, N.Y. is the
child of Nigerian immigrants and
a longtime advocate for immigra-
Graduation Rates Soar
C ontinued from p age 3
students in Portland’s public high
schools graduated in four years
in 2015. That turnaround was
most visible at Jefferson High
School, where graduation rates
soared with the help of Self En-
hancement, Inc.’s Whole School
Model.
Eighty percent of 128 Jeffer-
son seniors received diplomas last
year, representing a 25 percent
increase from 2011 graduation
rates. Almost half of the Jefferson
seniors were mentored by SEI, a
non-proit that serves many stu-
dents of color in north and north-
east Portland.
SEI introduced the program at
Jefferson during the 2010-2011
academic year, a time when near-
ly half of the senior class did not
graduate, and the school faced
potential closure due to declining
enrollment and poor performance.
“The Whole School Model was
created to support all aspects of a
child’s life, relecting our funda-
mental belief that all children have
a gift,” said Tony Hopson Sr., SEI
president and chief executive of-
icer. “This is a huge milestone
for Jefferson High School and its
graduating seniors. We are proud
tion rights and racial justice. She
is executive director of the Black
Alliance for Just Immigration and
has presented at the United Na-
tions’ Global Forum on Migration
and participated in the UN Com-
mission on the Status of Women.
Cullors, a former Fulbright
scholar, is a former community or-
ganizer in Los Angeles, where she
co-founded the watchdog group,
Dignity and Power Now, which
successfully advocated for civil-
ian oversight of the Los Angeles
to have contributed to their suc-
cess, along with Portland Public
Schools, and Portland Communi-
ty College’s Middle College pro-
gram.”
The north Portland high school,
however, is not up to the gradua-
tion rates of predominantly white,
upper class high schools. Lincoln
High School near downtown, for
example, is graduating 93 percent
of its students, Wilson in south-
west Portland is at 91 percent. The
whiter the school, the better the
graduation rates seem to be.
Mayor Charlie Hales visited
Jefferson last week to celebrate
the new graduation igures. He
pointed to Jefferson as an exam-
ple of “what dedicated leaders and
innovative partnerships” can do to
turn an underserved school into
“an exemplar for achievement. “
Margaret Calvert, the school’s
principal, is conident good work
is being done, but said there is
more to accomplish.
“I know there is still a lot of
work to do, but I’m excited for the
work we’ve managed to do with
the help of Self Enhancement,
Inc.,” she explained.
In 2013, Oregon had the lowest
graduation rate in the nation at ap-
proximated at 69 percent.
Sheriff’s Ofice. Cullors is unable
to attend the Portland event.
While tickets are sold out to
the live speaking engagement, the
university will be live-streaming
the talk to the PSU Smith Memori-
al Student Union to accommodate
more attendees. Overlow tickets
are free and can be requested by
contacting the university’s box of-
ice at 503-725-3307 or by visiting
pdx.edu/boxofice.tickets.
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