March 10, 2021
The
Page 3
INSIDE L O C A L N E W S
Week in Review
page 4
Madison Renamed
Leodis V.
McDaniel was a
beloved Portland
educator
Arts &
page 7
ENTERTAINMENT
M ETRO
O PINION
C LASSIFIED /B IDS
page 8
page 9
pages 10
page 11
F OOD
Leodis V. McDaniel at Madison High School in the 1980s. The
northeast Portland school will be renamed Leodis V. McDaniel
High School in honor of the highly respected Black educator who
died in 1987.
name change under a new district
policy that takes into account the
district’s desire to eliminate sys-
temic racism and discrimination.
The high school formed a re-
naming committee that engaged
in several community outreach
efforts and gathered nearly 2,500
comments to consider a new name
USPS 959 680
4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.,
Portland, OR 97211
PO QR code
P ublisher :
e ditor :
Mark Washington, Sr.
Michael Leighton
Office Mngr/Clasfds: Lucinda Baldwin
Admin.Coord.: Quayuana Washington
C reative d ireCtor : Paul Neufeldt
o ffiCe a sst /s ales : Shawntell Washington
CALL 503-288-0033 • FAX 503-288-0015• news@portlandobserver.com
ads@portlandobserver.com• subscription@portlandobserver.com
Postmaster: Send address changes to Portland Observer, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
that fits the schools’ stated values
of community, respect, education,
equity and diversity (CREED).
Prior to becoming principal at
Madison, McDaniel worked as
a science teacher at MacLaren
School for Boys, a counselor at
C ontinued on P age 4
Hardesty Subject of False Report
Police say she
was not involved
in recent
hit-and-run
M iChael l eighton
P ortland o bserver e ditor
Mayor Ted Wheeler has called
for a formal review into the events
surrounding a report of an alleged
hit-and-run crash on a Portland
street that falsely named Portland
City Commissioner Jo Ann Hard-
esty as a suspect.
“What happened to Commis-
sioner Hardesty is wrong and
unacceptable,” Mayor Wheeler
said. “It’s a reflection of broader
systemic racism and it must be ad-
dressed. We need to get to the bot-
tom of it as soon as possible. No
one should be subjected to false
accusations publicly.”
Hardesty, a lifelong champion
for police accountablity in Port-
by
Established 1970
The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions.
Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and
will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope.
All created design display ads become the sole property of the
newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or per-
sonal usage without the written consent of the general man-
ager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such
ad. © 2008 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART
WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. The Portland
Observer--Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publication--is a
member of the National Newspaper Association--Founded
in 1885, and The National Advertising Representative Amal-
gamated Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast
Black Publishers Association
Portland Public Schools is re-
naming Madison High School as
Leodis V. McDaniel High School
for a well-known and admired
black educator who died in 1987
while serving as principal of the
northeast Portland school.
The unanimous decision last
week by the Portland School
Board followed the recommenda-
tion of the Madison school com-
munity and a recommendation by
the district superintendent.
McDaniel, a Black man who
served as the school’s principal
in the 1980s, earned praise for
embracing his administrative du-
ties with the singular purpose of
fairness to all. He was said to be
well-known for his kind demean-
or, contagious laugh, absolute in-
tegrity, and his instinctual ability
to deeply connect with all people.
The new name will become
active this coming fall when the
school is scheduled to open in a
newly remolded building. The
school was originally named after
James Madison, the fourth U.S.
president, when it was founded in
1957. But Madison’s ties to slav-
ery were cited as reasons for the
Jo Ann Hardesty
land, and the city’s first Black fe-
male member of the City Council,
was relieved to see the truth pre-
vail, but said she was frustrated
by the unnecessary burden put on
her office to disprove a completely
false accusation.
“Now the Portland Police Bu-
reau has admitted what we knew
all along – I was not involved in
any way with any hit and run inci-
dent and am not a suspect. While
I am relieved to see the truth pre-
vail, this incident brings up a num-
ber of urgent questions,” she said.
“How did this false information
get leaked to the Oregonian and
fringe right wing media groups?”
Hardesty called on those who
made the accusations to take re-
sponsibility and apologize, “I
hope those that brought this harm
to me and my office today will feel
compelled to do the same.”
Earlier she called the allega-
tions a partisan spear campaign
involving a prominent Republi-
can and other opponents to her
demands for more police account-
ability.
“I’m telling you today, these
allegations are false, and to be
frank, these allegations are very
suspicious,” Hardesty said.
In a podcast on Thursday morn-
ing from the Coalition to Save
Portland, a pro-police group and
posted to Facebook, Jeff Reyn-
olds, a former chair of the Mult-
C ontinued on P age 6