VETERAN’S DAY
Special Edition
November 9, 2016
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Page 9
O PINION
Creating a More Equal and Just America
Museum a tribute to shared past
M arian W right e delMan
The recent opening of the
National Museum of African
American History and Cul-
ture in Washington, D.C. is the
realization of a dream that’s
been a very long time coming,
beginning a century ago when
black leaders first proposed a
memorial to black Civil War vet-
erans.
Dr. Rex M. Ellis, the muse-
um’s associate director for cura-
torial affairs, speaking to young
teachers during the Children’s
Defense Fund’s 2016 Freedom
Schools training, shared his
hopes that the museum will help
light the way for the next gener-
ation of Americans and that the
museum’s vision will “change
the master narrative of our na-
tion:”
The new museum opens at a
by
critical inflec-
tion point in our
nation’s history.
By
capturing
America’s strug-
gle to overcome
our birth defect
of slavery and
our ongoing struggle to close
the gap between America’s creed
and deed, for the first time our
children will be able to accurate-
ly learn the too often hidden or
misstated history of America.
With this museum, I hope new
generations of children will grow
up not only learning the truth
about who we are and where we
came from but also what they
can do to create a more equal and
just America.
The struggle to build the mu-
seum often seemed to mirror the
story it was trying to tell. One
that required grit, determination,
and persistence — a struggle Dr.
Ellis feels was well worth hav-
ing:
“When we began back in
2005, we had nothing. We had
no building. We had no collec-
tions. We had no land to put a
building on and very little mon-
ey. We had a very small staff of
about three people. Now, just 11
years later, we have a staff of
over 180 people, nearly 37,000
objects, five acres of land that
shares our neighborhood with
the Washington Monument and
the White House and the United
States Capitol and the National
Park Service and 18 Smithsonian
museums.”
Ellis said there were many
people who never believed they
could raise the $540 million to
build the museum and doubted
organizers could find a world-
class collection. But they accom-
plished both feats.
The museum’s artifacts in-
clude the vest Michael Jackson
wore during his Victory Tour
and one of his signature gloves
— but that’s not all.
“We’ve got Chuck Berry’s
Cadillac,” Ellis said. “We’ve got
Maybelline, his guitar. But that’s
not all. We got hip-hop artist
Chuck D’s jacket. The origi-
nal funkmaster George Clinton,
we got his Mothership. We got
Prince’s tambourine.”
Dr. Ellis went on as the au-
dience cheered. “We got Nat
Turner’s Bible. We got Harriet
Tubman’s shawl. We got Radio
Raheem’s boombox from Do the
Right Thing. We got a training
plane flown by Tuskegee Air-
men. We got the Olympic torch
that Muhammad Ali signed in the
1999 games in Atlanta, his head
gear, his training robe, and on and
on and on . . . We never stopped
believing that we could do it. We
could build this museum. We
could make it happen. We didn’t
give up, didn’t turn back, didn’t
listen to those who said that we
would fail, and the more people
saw and experienced our belief,
they caught the fever too.”
The African American experi-
ence has always been an integral
and essential part of the larger
American experience. Now, with
this beautiful and powerful new
museum finally open in the heart
of the nation’s capital, many of
those connections that help com-
plete the true and full American
narrative are on full display. Ac-
knowledging our shared American
past and all of the ways it echoes
in the present is the only way to
keep moving forward together.
Only the truth can make us free.
Marian Wright Edelman is
President of the Children’s De-
fense Fund.
Support Open and Accountable Election Reform
City Council proposal builds trust
s teven C arter
Recent polls show the pub-
lic is increasingly distrustful of
government, is angry over big
money in politics, and is con-
vinced that the common interest
takes a back seat to special inter-
ests with large wallets.
Here in Portland there’s an
opportunity to fight these per-
ceptions with the Open and Ac-
countable Elections reform pro-
posal before the City Council.
AARP Oregon, and many oth-
er civic groups, are backing this
proposal because it will encour-
age the kind of government we
all want: elected representatives
who reflect the increasing demo-
graphic, cultural and economic
diversity of our city, the ability
of small donors to amplify their
voices in elections and the abili-
ty of ordinary Portlanders to run
competitive campaigns for may-
or, city council and city auditor.
The proposal would empow-
er qualified candidates who
opt into the program and prove
they have a wide base of public
support to run their campaigns
– matching six-for-one every
dollar they raise up to $50 per
donor with limited public funds.
In return, candidates would face
strict limits on what they could
spend the money for and could
accept donations only from indi-
viduals, and not political groups
by
or corporations.
In addition, requirements for
reporting contributions and ex-
penditures would be tightened,
producing greater campaign
transparency. Only donations
from Portlanders would be
matched, and donations larger
than $250 per individual would
be banned.
Candidates using the sys-
tem would have every reason to
spend their time campaigning
among and listening to a wide
spectrum of Portlanders because
individuals with limited means
would have the ability to mag-
nify their donations with public
dollars. It will help bring bal-
ance to our political system so
that big donors don’t have the
loudest say.
Small donor matching is
proven way to create more open
and accountable elections. Thir-
teen states have some form of
small-donor funded elections, as
well as local governments like
Seattle, New York City, and Al-
buquerque. In New York, for ex-
ample, their matching program
has led to much wider array of
candidates for office, a greater
number of citizens contributing
to campaigns and an increase in
the percentage of small donors.
Providing Insurance and Financial Services
Home Office, Bloomington, Illinois 61710
Ernest J. Hill, Jr. Agent
4946 N. Vancouver Avenue,
Portland, OR 97217
503 286 1103 Fax 503 286 1146
ernie.hill.h5mb@statefarm.com
24 Hour Good Neighbor Service R
State Farm R
The new proposal is a great
improvement on Portland’s ear-
lier experience with publicly
financed elections. Candidates
won’t get all their public money
up front once they qualify, rath-
er they will have to prove that
they have community support to
receive matching funds. Expen-
diture reports are required more
frequently, and any campaign
violations can result in very stiff
fines – up to $10,000.
The City Council would con-
trol how much public money
is used in the program, and it
would require no new taxes. The
program may take no more than
two-tenths of a percent of the
city budget. In return voters will
get a government accountable to
everyone.
AARP Oregon believes the
Open and Accountable Elections
reform is a big step in the right
direction toward more open,
fairer and accountable Portland
elections. We believe it will cre-
ate a wider array of candidates
for city positions and make the
voices of ordinary Portlanders
count much more in our elec-
tions. We urge the Portland City
Council to approve this program.
Steven Carter is an AARP
volunteer and past member of
AARP’s Oregon Executive Coun-
cil.
The Law Offices of
Patrick John Sweeney, P.C.
Patrick John Sweeney
Attorney at Law
1549 SE Ladd, Portland, Oregon
Portland:
Hillsoboro:
Facsimile:
Email:
(503) 244-2080
(503) 244-2081
(503) 244-2084
Sweeney@PDXLawyer.com