M Artin l uther K ing J r .
Page 16
2019 special edition
January 16, 2019
Blistering Schools Audit The Accidental Organizer
C ontinueD froM p age 3
R-Salem, a longtime black
lawmaker and business leader
who attended Portland Public
Schools in her youth, said the
increase in racial discrepancies
was a “a demand for change.”
“I believe if we address the
lack of financial transparen-
cy and monitoring of school
spending, we will begin to see
increases in teacher retention
rates and focus spending on
what matters-the children’s ed-
ucation,” Winters said.
One day before the audit
came out, Portland Public
Schools officials held a press
conference preemptively criti-
cizing its findings, arguing the
report’s analysis, which cap-
tured data from the 2017-18
school year, did not reflect the
progress the district has made
in its systemic issues since the
hiring of Superintendent Gua-
dalupe Guerrero in October
2017.
The district, however, agreed
with the audit recommenda-
tions.
“We are addressing each
and every concern raised in
the audit,” district leaders said
in a statement.
Guerrero told reporters it’s
important to provide extra
training, support, and pay to
principals and teams of strong
teachers at high-needs schools
so they will stick around.
“This is going to take some
work. But it’s work we’ve al-
ready embarked on,” he said.
The Albina Ministerial Alliance City-Wide
Martin Luther King, Jr. Service
Theme: “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos Or Community?”
Speaker: Chief Danielle Outlaw
Portland Police Bureau Chief
When: Sunday, January 20, 2019 at 4:00 P.M.
Where: Maranatha Church 4222 NE 12th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97212
C ontinueD froM p age 14
years prior.
MoveOn’s rapid response
tool was designed to get trig-
gered if certain “red lines” were
crossed, which included things
like Mueller being fired or his in-
vestigation being fundamental-
ly compromised. Pre-planned,
nationwide protests were de-
signed to take place within 24
hours of the “triggering” event.
Emails would immediately be
sent out and MoveOn subscrib-
ers would be asked to join the
demonstrations.
That “red line” was crossed
in November with the ap-
pointment of acting Attorney
General Matthew Whitaker in
the wake of Jeff Sessions’ res-
ignation under pressure from
Trump. Whitaker had been
publicly critical of the Mueller
investigation and refused to re-
cuse himself from the probe as
Sessions did.
LeDoux received a text mes-
sage from the national organi-
zation informing him the rapid
response tool was triggered and
he worked to get the word out
to people in the Portland area
on the email list, asking them
to show up to demonstrate the
next day.
In the months prior, he had
already reached out to City Hall,
including Mayor Ted Wheeler
and the City Commissioners,
the Portland Police Department,
and several elected officials to
give them a heads up about the
possibility of a demonstration,
LeDoux said.
He set up plans with the city
for protest locations, road clo-
sures and other ways to min-
imize any impacts on both
TriMet and traffic.
Thanks to that preparation,
the protests went off without a
hitch and nearly 1,000 people
gathered at Tom McCall Water-
front Park the evening of Nov.
8 calling on the Trump Admin-
istration not to interfere with
Mueller’s abilities to carry out
his investigation.
Oregon’s Democratic Sen-
ators Jeff Merkley and Ron
Wyden, along with Rep. Earl
Blumenauer and others, attend-
ed, speaking to the crowd that
evening, also urging support for
Meuller’s independence.
No one was injured and no
violence occurred at the event,
thanks in part to LeDoux’s in-
sistence during the planning
stages that protesters not violate
any local ordinances.
He said he wanted to make
sure the protest remain abso-
lutely focused on protecting
American democracy and the
rule of law, and not about any-
one’s feelings toward local fig-
ures, the police, or so on. In a
Reddit post, he told supporters
if the protest happens, “It will
be much bigger than that.”
LeDoux added that the nar-
row focus was also designed
to cast a wider net of potential
participants, from across the po-
litical spectrum.
“You can be extremely con-
servative and still be uncom-
fortable with the idea of the jus-
tice system being subverted,” he
said. “Violating local ordinanc-
es would have been a distrac-
tion. It would have definitely
generated a police response, but
the local police and government
weren’t the issue. All of that en-
ergy needed to remain focused
on the Department of Justice
and the Mueller investigation.”
The efforts were the latest in
a long line of political activism
by LeDoux, including working
communications and social me-
dia during the Occupy Portland
demonstrations and campaign-
ing for Bernie Sanders during
his 2016 presidential campaign.
In 2007, he was an activist
and supporter of Libertarian
Presidential Candidate Ron
Paul, helping create a website
that drew donations that broke
a single-day internet fund-rais-
ing record for the political can-
didate. Conceived to coincide
with the anniversary of the Bos-
ton Tea Party, LeDoux said the
effort would later be co-opted
by establishment Republicans
to form the “Tea Party” move-
ment in 2009.
By the time LeDoux joined
the Occupy Portland move-
ment, which was at the time the
largest Occupy encampment on
the West Coast, the experience
had transformed from a centrist
Libertarian to a Socialist, he
said.
For LeDeux, the greatest
takeaway of his “accidental or-
ganizing” and the other experi-
ences he’s had in the battles for
social justice was the realization
that the actions or inactions of
individuals can have a surpris-
ing and rippling impact on oth-
ers.
“I take away the importance
of showing up,” he said.