May 11, 2016
Page A3
INSIDE
The
Week in Review
O PINION
S PORTS
This page
Sponsored by:
page A2
pages A6-7
L OCAL N EWS
pages A8
M ETRO
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The Multnomah County Elections Ofice, 1040 S.E. Morrison St., opens for extended hours ahead of
Tuesday’s May 17 Primary. Ballots in the vote-by-mail election can be dropped off at the elections
ofice and any oficial drop site location until 8 p.m. on Election Day.
Ballots Due
Decision time for
Oregon voters
Arts &
pages
A10-13
ENTERTAINMENT
C LASSIFIEDS
C ALENDAR
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by c ervante p ope
t he p ortland o bserver
Oregon’s Primary day is right
around the corner and one look
into the Voter’s Pamphlet shows
the magnitude of issues and can-
didates facing voters. With ballots
due by 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May
17, the time to hone in on which
way to vote is now.
A split choice in the Democrat-
ic Party between Bernie Sanders
and Hillary Clinton gives Oregon
a voice on who is best to face Don-
ald Trump in the November Gen-
eral Election. Trump has become
the presumptive Republican nom-
inee nationally after vanquish-
ing all of his primary opponents.
Clinton leads Sanders, but hasn’t
reached the total delegates to push
her over the top. Though Clin-
ton has a longer political resume,
Sanders’ forthright and grassroots
campaign has also made him a
popular choice.
In local races, Tawna Sanchez
and Robert Phillip-Robbins high-
light a primary race for state rep-
resentative in House District 43,
covering the heart of Portland’s
historic African American com-
munity in inner north and north-
east Portland. The winner would
advance to the November General
Election as the odds-on favorite in
a heavily Democratic district.
Sanchez and Phillip-Robbins
are gunning for Lew Frederick’s
seat as he turns his attention to
running for Senate District 22,
which covers the same area as
his house district in combination
with neighboring House District
44 which extends northwest to St.
Johns and the Columbia River.
Some of Frederick’s issues are
cutting healthcare costs and bring-
ing more afterschool and summer
programs to neighborhoods. San-
chez and Phillip-Robbins both
support more affordable housing,
labor rights, and stabilizing the
Cully neighborhood where pov-
erty is greater than other parts of
Portland and where many resi-
dents live on unsafe streets with-
out sidewalks.
c ontinued on p age 5
page A15
Ethnic Studies for All High Schools
W ASHINGTON C LASSIC
B
section
In a 7-0 vote, the Portland
Public Schools Board of Edu-
cation has agreed to support an
expanded ethnic studies curricu-
lum in all of the district’s high
schools.
The proposal was generated
by the Asian Paciic Network of
Oregon (APANO) and its youth
organization group, Asian and
Paciic Islander Leaders for the
Liberation of Youth, or “ALLY”
for short. Public testimony and
letters in support was also drawn
from the Native American Youth
and Family Center, the Urban
League of Portland, Latino Net-
work and Momentum Alliance.
The original plan was heav-
ily backed by Dr. Julie Esparza
Brown, a member of the school
board and a Portland State Uni-
versity professor. It calls for at
least one ethnic studies course
in each Portland high school as
well as the creation of both an
oversight committee and a stu-
dent advisory council to oversee
the curriculum’s implementa-
tion.
Superintendent Carole Smith
will lead the district in working
the courses into their budget,
while also working with an APA-
NO ALLY leader to co-create the
ethnic studies curriculum. With
everything in place, course of-
ferings should be in gear by Fall
2018.