M artin L uther K ing J r .
2021 special edition
Page 6
January 13, 2021
Rep. Janelle Bynum on fight for Racial Progress
Says much needs to be done
to fulfill Dr. King’s legacy
b eveRly c oRbell
t he p oRtland o bseRveR
State Rep. Janelle Bynum, a
Black lawmaker who recently
campaigned for House Speaker in
a bid to bring racial equity issues
to even greater prominence in the
Legislature, has backed off her
bid to take over Rep. Tina Kotek’s
leadership post as the New Year
began, but she tells the Portland
Observer that will not impede her
efforts to push to enact legislation
to make Dr. Martin Luther King’s
dream for racial equality closer to
reality both for her constituents
and all Oregonians.
Bynum, a Democrat, represents
House District 51, which in-
cludes many communities in east
Portland, including Clackamas,
Gresham, Damascus, Boring and
Happy Valley.
She said progress has been
made for Black citizens over time,
but more remains to be done, and
with a greater focus on direction
and purpose.
“We need to be much more
strategic about where we put our
energies,” she said. “I saw peo-
ple marching this summer in the
by
streets, but real change is in the
courts, city councils and the Leg-
islature.”
Bynum said she feels a person-
al obligation to do whatever she
can in state law to reduce gun vi-
olence and end the grief of moth-
ers agonizing over a child’s death,
whether it’s from person to person
violence, police violence or from
incarceration.
Bynum said she was inspired
recently when she re-read the
late U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm’s
1972
presidential
candidate
speech.
“There is so much in there you
could lay over today,” Bynum
said. “She was fighting for inclu-
sion, to make sure children were
not hungry, that they were edu-
cated, the same outcomes we are
fighting for today.
“Those are the things I care
about, and one of the biggest, my
deepest mission, is to make those
changes that would bring about
Black joy and Black peace,” she
said. “People want to go back to
the way things were — peaceful
— but I want to remind them that
it never was that way, it was the Janelle bynum
peace that other people have. We
are seeking the peace we’ve never
known.”
Bynum said it’s important for
children to be educated about
Black history, not just for their
own sakes, but for the sake of the
country, she said, so we can build
a foundation for progress.
“One other thing. It is import-
ant for us to understand the rules
— they weren’t written for us,”
she said. “So when the Portland
Police contract comes up, people
should be reading what that really
means. We should be ready to ac-
tivate and motivate to say what we
want to have.”
One thing Bynum wants to
accomplish is more meaningful
legislation like Measure 98, a suc-
cessful school funding measure in
2016 that took aim at increasing
the state’s high school graduation
rate, among the lowest in the na-
tion at the time, but now reaching
80 percent, an all-time high.
Her racial justice priorities for
the Legislative session set to begin
Jan. 19 include added police and
juvenile justice reforms, teacher
standards and more mental health
services.
“My number one goal right
now is working on a bill on im-
c ontinued on p age 10