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Parent Night
“I think the one thing that this means is
that we have a lot of work to do: in educa-
tion, in the economic field and even in the
social justice field,” Lee Po Cha says.
“There is a lot of work to be done.”
“Our community needs to not be afraid to
speak out as Americans and our leaders
need not to be shy about being our champi-
ons.”
“I’m hoping that with this data we can
shape policy and design strategies to
address this. So in the future we all can
become contributing members of society.”
At first researchers wondered if things
looked worse here because of the composi-
tion of local API communities – more recent
arrivals with fewer native born Americans,
for example. But the data showed the oppo-
site. About 47 percent of Multnomah
County’s API population was born here,
compared to 40 percent nationally. And just
15 percent are new arrivals compared to 18
percent nationally.
It also looked closely at the Vietnamese
community, which makes up about 30 per-
cent of the local API population. On many
measures, it was clear that Vietnamese peo-
ple here are disadvantaged compared to
their national and King county (Seattle)
counterparts.
Ann Curry Stevens, an associate professor
at Portland State University and the lead
researcher for the report, said the data blows
away notions that Portland is a post-racial
progressive haven.
“Our best understanding is that these are
PHOTO BY HELEN SILVIS
continued from page 1
fare worse than their national counterparts
on a wide range of statistics.
“In each community (NativeAmerican,
Latino, African American, African Immi-
grant and Refugee, and Slavic), disparities
are worse here than national averages, and
worse here than in King County (Seattle),
and in many cases worsening in recent
years,” the report says. “Given this pattern,
we believe that the same dynamic is true
within the API community. Furthermore,
the lived experience of those in the commu-
nity illustrates that racial discrimination and
racial bias are rampant in the region.”
Nationally, for example, 14 percent of
Asians don’t finish high school. In Mult-
nomah County that’s 20 percent. And at the
other end of the education spectrum, nation-
ally 19.5 percent of Asians earn graduate or
professional degrees compared to 12.5 per-
cent locally.
Or take poverty measures. Nationally in
2009, 10.7 percent of Asians were living in
poverty compared to 9.5 percent of Whites.
In Multnomah County, in 2009, 14.2 per-
cent of Asians were living in poverty
compared to 12.3 percent of Whites. Both
groups were worse off in Multnomah Coun-
ty, but the penalty was worse for Asians.
What’s more, looking at progress over
time, several troubling disparities are
increasing. Poverty rates for Asian children
under 5 grew from 11.3 to 15.6 percent
between 2000 and 2009. For Whites it
decreased slightly from 12.5 percent to 12.4
percent. For elders that disparity over time
was even larger.
Lee Po Cha, director of family services
for the nonprofit Immigrant and Refugee
Community Organization, said in general
the communities profiled in the report
expected the results, although the extent of
some disparities did surprise him.
“What is really surprising is that we never
thought our Asian Indian or our Thai com-
munities would be doing that badly,” he
said. “In some of our communities the
achievement gap is huge, especially in read-
ing and writing. Our Karen community is
just not making it. Our Burmese communi-
ty is just not making it. When you look at
education we have a large number of our
communities that are distressed.”
What are the statistics behind his con-
cern? Here’s one: Of the 118 children from
Portland’s Karen community, not a single
child is reaching benchmark scores in lan-
guage skills.
Parents of students of color met with teachers at Grant High School March
2, to talk about the achievement gap and other issues facing students at
the school. Principal Vivien Orlen this year changed the school’s priorities
to offer more academic support classes. Students from the Black Students
Union talked about their visit to Ashland where they viewed an all-Black
cast from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival perform “The African Company
Presents Richard III.” At the end of this year two of Grant’s three African
American teachers will depart the school.
blasts away the idea of Asians as a model
minority who prove that hard work is all
you need to succeed in America.
“It exposes the model minority idea as a
damaging and false stereotype that needs to
be set aside,” he says. “Within every com-
‘Our progressive identity gets in the way of
having a productive conversation about
institutional racism’
local signifiers of institutional racism,” she
says. “Our progressive identity gets in the
way of having a productive conversation
about institutional racism.”
This was not a surprise to the Asian and
Pacific Islander community, Stevens said.
“The fact that we live in such different real-
ities that this information is a surprise to the
White community and doesn’t surprise
communities of color is part of the prob-
lem.”
Rev. Santos-Lyons said the report also
munity there are exceptions that can be held
up to show the prosperity of a community
and Asian and Pacific Islanders have those
success stories. At the same time it damages
our community and gives policy makers an
excuse to ignore the real and persistent
inequity.”
Identifying racism and White privilege is
uncomfortable, the report admits, but it
stresses that the aim is not to point fingers at
White people, but to raise awareness of
inequity so all people can work together to
In part the letter advised, “Ultimately,
payday loans erode the assets of bank cus-
tomers and, rather than promote savings,
make checking accounts unsafe for many
payday lenders. As banks market the loan as
a short-term cash advance for checking
account customers, the predatory product
typically leads to a long-term cycle of high-
create a level playing field where everyone
has opportunities to succeed and every com-
munity’s contributions are valued.
“Please know that the Asian and Pacific
Islander community supports the creation of
White allies in this work to advance racial
justice.”
The report singles out 14 communities as
needing immediate help.
“Our most distressed communities are
Cambodian, Thai, Hmong, Korean, Tongan,
Samoan, Asian Indian and Laotian,” it says.
“And while we have only one data point for
some communities, the rates of their dis-
tress in this education score is so terrible,
we have decided to place these communities
in the priority list: Karen, Pohnpeian,
Rohingyan, Nepali (of Bhutanese origin),
Chuukese and Burmese.”
And it makes 11 major policy recommen-
dations that include: Better data keeping
that doesn’t lump everyone together; reduc-
ing poverty; education equity; social
inclusion and language training; increasing
the visibility of the Asian and Pacific
Islander community; giving immediate help
to the most distressed communities; and
identifying and naming racism.
Banks
continued from page 1
“We are so pleased that there is finally a
regulator, the CFPB, whose primary respon-
sibility and commitment is to ensuring that
reasonable rules of the road are in place to
reform harmful and reckless financial prac-
tices” said Borne. “Today’s typical bank
overdraft practices remain in dire need of
that reform.”
Sarah Ludwig, executive director of the
New-York based Neighborhood Economic
Development Advocacy Project, drew a
connection between costly overdraft fees
and the emergence of bank payday loans. As
lenders sat nearby, Ms. Ludwig presented a
letter with signatures from more than 250
national, state and local organizations from
across the country calling for immediate
federal action to stop bank payday loans.
The list of supporters included representa-
tives of religious, civil rights, labor, higher
education, fair housing, consumers and
community activists. Together, these organ-
izations warned against the looming
prospect of overdraft fees worsening con-
sumer financial circumstances once bank
payday loans are made. The letter and its
full list of signers is available at: http://rsp-
nsb.li/vdfUSO
Sarah Ludwig, executive director of the New-York
based Neighborhood Economic Development
Advocacy Project, drew a connection between
costly overdraft fees and the emergence of
bank payday loans
customers. They lead to uncollected debt,
bank account closures, and greater numbers
of unbanked Americans. All of these out-
comes are inconsistent with consumer
protection and harm the safety and sound-
ness of financial institutions.”
The letter was also mailed to three other
federal regulators: Federal Reserve, Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Currently, Wells Fargo Bank, US Bank,
Fifth Third Bank and Regions Bank use a
system previously developed by storefront
cost debt – just like a storefront payday
loan.
Banks offering payday loans repay them-
selves first. The entire loan and its
accompanying fee are taken directly from
the account as soon as a customer’s pay-
check or benefits check is deposited.
Typically, banks charge $10 per hundred
borrowed; with an average loan of only 10
days, the annual percentage rate for bank
payday loans is 365 percent. According to
research the Center for Responsible Lend-
ing, bank payday borrowers are in debt an
average 175 days of the year. Social Securi-
ty recipients are especially vulnerable,
making up one quarter of bank payday bor-
rowers.
Once bank payday loans are repaid, the
likelihood of accounts falling short of funds
for regular purchases runs high for cus-
tomers with little or no cushion in their
checking accounts. With an average over-
draft fee of $34, multiple fees can be
charged to these customers without their
knowledge – until after fees are assessed
when a bank statement arrives.
The connection between bank payday and
overdraft fees is akin to that of the knee
bone’s connection to the leg bone – finan-
cially they affect the same consumer. No
one needs or wants a product that devastates
their finances and builds debt instead of
wealth. Consumer lending shouldn’t make
anyone financially crippled.
Charlene Crowell is a communications
manager with the Center for Responsible
Lending.
March 7, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 3