Portland observer., January 15, 2020, 2020 Special Edition, Page 9, Image 9

January 15, 2020
M artin L uther K ing J r .
2020 special edition
Page 9
Communities of Color Leader Fights for Progress
C onTinued From P age 4
grow up with, and they just natural-
ly flow off your tongue and in your
thoughts.”
King was writing about things 50
years ago that resonant today, Mundy
said.
“It’s just as real – that people in
power don’t want to share power.
They don’t think you’re as good as
them, as smart as them, as capable as
them, as strategic as them,” he said.
Mundy said King had such an influ-
ence on him that he often looks back
at King’s language for inspiration.
“Whether I’m talking about the
code change at city housing or home-
lessness issues or who gets to decide
how a campaign is run in the city of
Portland and the state of Oregon,”
he said, “it’s beautiful that his words
were so beautiful and striking, and it’s
miserably sad that you’re still dealing
with the same stuff today.”
Mundy said when he is disheart-
ened by the futility of the struggle, he
thinks of the necessity of the struggle
and the relentless nature of the battle
for full equality.
“You shouldn’t have to fight for
those things,” he said. “You shouldn’t
ever have to fight for what should be
a basic human right, and certainly
shouldn’t have to still be fighting for
the same things that were exposed de-
cades ago.”
The Coalition of Communities of
Color, of which Mundy is president,
is an alliance of 19 culturally-specific
community based organizations with
representation from communities of
color, with a mission “to address the
socioeconomic disparities, institu-
tional racism, and inequity of services
experienced by our families, children
and communities, and to organize
our communities for collective action
resulting in social change to obtain
self-determination, wellness, justice
and prosperity.”
Mundy said each organization in
the Coalition was founded to provide
a social service, including housing,
education and health care.
“Each one of our members was
founded on principles of service to
others, which is a lot of what Dr.
King stood for, and fairness,” he
said. “Fairness in contracting, fair-
ness in access to public funds, and
fairness in funds for services that can
be delivered in a culturally specific
way.”
About a third of the Coalition’s
members are black-led and black-
run organizations, including Self-En-
hancement Inc., Africa House,
KairosPDX, the Portland African
American Leadership Forum and
Unite Oregon, but other member or-
ganizations are geared toward oth-
er culturally-specific groups such as
Pacific Islanders, Native Americans,
Middle Eastern and even the Slavic
community.
And even though Mundy is leading
an organization that represents “dif-
ferent, disparate communities,” he
can’t help but see the world through
the eyes of a black man.
“I view the world, yes, through an
equity lens, but there’s another lens –
the lens of a black man having gone
through for decades and decades
– American stuff,” he said. “And I
can’t ever leave that behind when I’m
making decisions or interacting with
people or understanding how to get
myself and our organization a place
in this city, this world. How you see
things affects everything.”
Mundy agrees that there is a lot
of attention being given to diversity
and equity by government and other
organizations, which have expressed
regret for the gentrification of North-
east Portland and unfair treatment of
the African American community in
the past, but he wants to see results,
not just more words.
“That’s crocodile tears. I don’t need
that,” he said. “If you don’t make pol-
icies that are inclusive and have some
teeth and that there’s penalties if peo-
ple don’t adhere to them, I don’t want
to see your tears or hear your laments.
It doesn’t mean anything.”
C onTinued on P age 24