Opinion
Special Election 2015
the Skanner Endorsements
“Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now”
B ERNIE F OSTER
Founder/Publisher
B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER
Executive Editor
J ERRY F OSTER
Advertising Manager
L ISA L OVING
News Editor
P ATRICIA I RVIN
Graphic Designer
A RASHI Y OUNG
D ONOVAN M. S MITH
Reporters
M ONICA J. F OSTER
Seattle Office Coordinator
J ULIE K EEFE
S USAN F RIED
Photographers
The Skanner Newspaper, established
in October 1975, is a weekly publica-
tion, published each Wednesday by
IMM Publications Inc.,
T
he May 19th, 2015, Multnomah
County Special Election is all
about education, with candi-
dates running for school boards, the
Multnomah Education Service District,
and the Portland Community College
Board.
While some voters might think these
positions are not as important as city
councils, state legislatures, and Con-
gress, it’s local school boards that
shape the future of our communities
because they have such an impact on
the pipeline of leadership for our
future governance.
The recent conflict over pay raises
for top administrators at Portland Pub-
lic Schools, as well as upheaval at the
MESD – and the fact that so many
incumbents for both are leaving their
posts rather than try for re-election —
means this ballot could have a long-
range impact on Portland K-12
schools.
Ballots are already out. Look for
yours, and weigh in on these impor-
tant issues.
The Skanner News endorses:
For Portland Public Schools Board
Position 1, Julie Esparza Brown.
A professor at Portland State Univer-
sity with expertise in special
education, Brown is also a third-gen-
eration Chicana and expert on
multiculturalism. She is endorsed by a
long list of city and civic leaders, as
well as the Portland Association of
Teachers PAC, and the nonprofit edu-
cation advocates Stand for Children.
Position 2, José Gonzalez. While
he has not spent his career as a pro-
fessional school teacher, Gonzales is
the perfect example of a citizen board
member who would use his experi-
ence in the nonprofit arts world to
inform the decisions made at the top
of Portland schools. He is organized,
he has a vision that dovetails with the
ways our community demographics
are changing, and his wide-ranging
endorsements reflect that: Gonzales
is supported by parents, lawmakers,
movers and shakers in our local com-
munity who hail from all over the
world.
Position 3, Bobbie Regan. This is
perhaps our most controversial
endorsement. Regan has been on the
board already for years, and those
years have included some votes that
we have disagreed with. But at the
same time we see Regan’s passion
about this nonpaid – and largely
thankless – position. With new blood
coming to the board, we believe
Regan might prove the perfect com-
plement to an influx of new ideas
there.
Multnomah Education Service Dis-
trict
Position 6 Stephen Mark Beau-
doin. Over the years we have
watched Beaudoin evolve from an
alternative newspaper reporter to a
leader in arts education for people
with disabilities. He is the perfect
choice to help build the troubled
MESD into a top-notch education
agency.
Position 7 Siobhan Burke. Burke
bills herself as a mom, but her skills
are wide ranging and geared towards
the future. With roots in labor union
organizing and grassroots campaign-
ing, Burke’s current day job is in
providing special education services
for children. She has a grasp of how
the system works from the bigwigs
down to the little kids.
Portland Community College
Board of Directors
Director Zone 2 Kali Thorne Ladd.
As the incumbent candidate, and run-
ning unopposed, we do not need to
endorse Ladd. But of all of the com-
munity leaders in our region, few
individuals are as capable of laying
out an educational vision for our chil-
dren’s future, and then actually taking
the time to build that vision out. Her
ability to connect the dots makes Ladd
a leader to watch.
Director Zone 3 Michael Sonnleit-
ner. The candidate is a full-time
teacher at the community college —
so his many years there have given
him experience and knowledge for the
position. He is endorsed by other rank
and file PCC employees, as well as a
handful of past presidents including
former PCC Cascade President Algie
Gatewood. We can’t wait to see what
it will happen when he gets on the
board.
415 N. Killingsworth St.,
P.O. Box 5455, Portland, OR 97228.
Telephone (503) 285-5555.
E-mail: info@theskanner.com
World Wide Web site:
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Fax: (503) 285-2900
The Skanner is a member of the
National Newspaper Pub lishers Associ-
ation and West Coast Black Pub lishers
Association.
All photos submitted become the
property of The Skanner. We are not re -
spon sible for lost or damaged photos
either solicited or unsolicited.
© 2015 The Skanner. ALL RIGHTS RE SERVED.
REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART
WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED.
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Baltimore: Another horror Movie Re-run
T
he movie we are watching
in Baltimore is a re-run and
a sequel. The price of
admission has always been too
high, but we continue to pay the
exorbitant price, anyway. As the
opening line in the old TV show,
“Dragnet,” proclaimed, “The story
you are about to see is true. The
names have been changed to pro-
tect the innocent.” In today’s
society, that second line should
say, “The names have been
changed to protect the ‘guilty.’”
My 11-year-old nephew, since
the age of five or six, has been
reciting, verbatim, the words from
his favorite movies. He knows the
directors, the release dates, and the
bios of the stars in those movies.
He has seen his favorite movies
many times over. He reminds me
of Black people, as we watch the
same movie over and over, except
we do not remember the vital
information contained in the
movie, and we even forget who
the main characters were and the
roles they played.
The latest movie being run in
Baltimore is a sequel to the ones
we watched in Ferguson, Mo. and
Staten Island, N.Y. It is a rerun of
what we saw in Los Angeles,
Cleveland, and North Charleston,
S.C. How many times are we
going to pay the price of admis-
sion to see the same movie
without memorizing the lines and
learning from them? How many
times must we go through the
same experience before we change
Page 2 The Portland and Seattle Skanner May 6, 2015
B LACKONOMICS
James
Clingman
our response to it?
Some very interesting and pitiful
responses (reviews) have come
from some of the “leaders” in Bal-
timore in the aftermath of Freddie
before the looting and burning
started in Baltimore? Were they
busy teaching the youth that what
took place in the 1960s was detri-
mental to their neighborhoods, as
they now like to say to TV news
reporters?
Some of the sanctimonious
comments being made by my gen-
eration very strongly suggest that
even though we have seen this
movie many times, we are content
to watch it again without having
shared its lessons. Is it because we
are ashamed of ourselves now? Do
we think we are better than our
How many times must we go through
the same experience before we
change our response to it?
Gray’s death. The older folks, who
decry the violence as “insulting”
and “disrespectful” to Freddie’s
family, are even more disingenu-
ous. They seem to have forgotten
about 1968 when their generation,
and maybe even some of them,
burned down buildings and looted
all across this nation, in the after-
math of MLK’s assassination.
Were their actions deemed insult-
ing and disrespectful to King’s
family? If so, did that stop them?
The self-righteousness I hear
from those in my generation about
the youth who are doing the same
thing they did in the 1960s is
unfortunate. Where were they
youth today? We should be bring-
ing the generations together rather
than separating them and acting
like we have not been where they
are.
Amos Wilson said, “The violent-
ly oppressed react violently to
their oppression.” He also said,
“Just as power corrupts, power-
lessness also corrupts.” This is the
main plot of our 21st century ver-
sion of the 1968 movie. Why do
we only react to what young peo-
ple do, rather than work with them
every day by giving them alterna-
tives? It irks me to see our grown
men saying, “They need jobs.”
Well, create some jobs to give
them. It’s so sad to hear our adults
crying out, “They need educa-
tion.” Well, provide them with
education. Our youth see many of
us as weak and impotent when it
comes to protecting them.
We have the resources to pro-
vide everything we say our youth
need. What must they think of our
words, our prayer sessions, our
news conferences, our political
speeches, and our tepid efforts
now to stop and correct their
behavior, when we have not used
our resources to take care of them?
Our answer is to run to those who
don’t care about them and beg for
jobs, food, education, and every-
thing else they need.
Frederick Douglass’ words are
clear regarding power, but as I
always add, a demand not backed-
up by power will not come to
fruition; and the real power in this
country is the almighty dollar. Just
look at what happened in Indi-
anapolis when the LGBT folks
were upset. They did not burn any-
thing down or throw one brick,
because they know that dollars
rule the day. Their threats to with-
draw
their
dollars
were
immediately addressed by the
politicians.
People whose families own
storefront businesses are very
unlikely to throw bricks through
the windows and burn them down.
Sgt. Joe Friday had another saying
in Dragnet: “Just the facts ma’am,
just the facts.”