September 14, 2016 The Skanner Page 3
News
IntersectFest
“
you doing this year that’s
diferent?
AV: Last year was very
radical let, kind of spe-
ciic politics. This year
we wanted to make it
more broad and kind of
introduce issues of class
as well. One of the things
to address that was to
have two days of events
in downtown at P:Ear,
where downtown Port-
It started with the idea that
Portland is viewed as a very
White-dominated city, even
though that’s not demo-
graphically true in a lot of
neighborhoods
view has been edited for
space and clarity.
The Skanner News:
Tell me a little bit about
how the event came
about, how it got started.
Anna Vo: Last year the
event was a little bit more
speciic. It started with
the idea that Portland is
viewed as a very
White-dominated city,
even though that’s not
demographically true in
a lot of neighborhoods.
Last year’s event was sort
of speciically in the
North Albina, North Kill-
ingsworth where it’s ac-
tually
POC-dominated
anyway, the neighbor-
hoods.
We invited lots of non-
proits and neighbor-
hood organizations to ta-
ble and come and meet
with other people, net-
work with other people.
It was a three-day event
with workshops and mu-
sic and lots of awesome
stuf. The idea was to re-
mind people that visibili-
ty is deined by media
and deined by percep-
tion. If you consider the
narrative of the invisibil-
ity of people of color,
then people start to be-
lieve that even though
that’s not quite true.
TSN: You said last
year’s event had a more
speciic focus. What are
Voting
land is a speciic example
of class issues intersect-
ing with race issues, spe-
ciically with homeless-
ness. That event is free
and open to everybody
so the idea is that it’s ac-
cessible to houseless
folks as well. I think oten
they get marginalized
and excluded from pub-
lic events. It’s making it
geographically diferent
and more central — two
days in downtown and
two days in southeast,
southeast being a very
speciically and predom-
inantly White kind of
culture.
We opened [the festi-
val] to more local cre-
ative groups who wanted
to be involved, so tradi-
tionally art forms that
were popular with per-
sons of color, like spoken
word, standup comedy
and modern dance. We
have events around that,
and we have a two-day
art exhibition, which we
didn’t have last year as
well. So it’s just a wider
scope of cultural activity.
TSN: Who’s been in-
volved in putting this to-
gether?
AV: Just a collection of
individuals that said they
would be interested in
doing this, and organiza-
tions.
Read the full story at
TheSkanner.com
Jambalaya Festival
Portland hip-hop funk band Speaker Minds performed at the Summer in September Jambalaya Festival Sept. 10. The event, a fundraiser
for Meals on Wheels People Martin Luther King, Jr. Center that started in 2006, was held at Dawson Park and featured Creole Jambalaya,
BBQ ribs, sides and dessert.Other performers included BlowFrogz, Heatwave (Jeferson HS Jazz Band), Elite and DJ Doc Rock. Summer in
September has raised more than $250,000 over the years to provide hot meals to homebound seniors in Northeast Portland.
Campaigns
cont’d from pg 1
cluding a $15,000 payment to her
daughter. Still reeling from the
recession in 2010, Portland voters
decided not to ratify the program.
The new proposal is based on
the New York City Campaign Fi-
nance program that matched the
irst $175 donation at a six-to-one
ratio. It was established in 1988
and radically changed the face of
campaign inancing over the last
28 years.
City council politicians who
elected to use publicly funded
campaigns visited more than 90
percent of the census blocks in
the city. State senators who do not
beneit from the donation match
visit 30 percent of these blocks
— concentrating on wealthier dis-
tricts.
Disenfranchised voters were
more likely to donate in races
that matched funds. A study by
the New York University School
of Law found that voters in poor
and predominately Black Bed-
ford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in
Brooklyn gave 24 times more do-
nations to city council elections
than to state Senate campaigns.
The program shited campaign
money from special interests to
individual donors. In 2013, only 6
percent of New York City council
campaign donations came from
corporations, PACs, or other spe-
cial interests. For New York state
senate races, 69 percent came
from these groups — only 31 per-
cent of donations came from indi-
vidual donors.
“
$570,000.
Kayse Jama, the executive direc-
tor of Unite Oregon, asked how
many people in the crowd could
raise $600,000 to $1 million to run
in the city council or mayoral rac-
We see the empowerment of small do-
nors, average individuals. Because
small donors now know that they can
trust that the candidate who partici-
pates in this program -- they are held ac-
countable to many small donors
Cristina Nieves, Fritz’s pol-
icy advisor, said the public-
ly-matched funds in New York
City increased participation
among small donors.
“We see the empowerment of
small donors, average individu-
als,” Nieves said. “Because small
donors now know that they can
trust that the candidate who par-
ticipates in this program — they
are held accountable to many
small donors.”
According to Nieves, it takes
about $1 million to run for May-
or of Portland. She said in the last
election 600 large donors gave
a total of $1.7 million and anoth-
er 6,000 smaller donors raised
es. One two people out of room of
100 said they could.
Jama said the average Portland-
er wants to be more involved in
civics and taking big money out
of the system would improve vot-
er participation. Jama challenged
the city to make good on its pro-
gressive reputation.
“We are known to be a city that
is really innovative and we have
progressive cutting-edge policies
to put forward,” Jama said. “We
need to do that in order to live up
to our expectations of our com-
munity.”
Read the full story at
TheSkanner.com
cont’d from pg 1
identiication card.
Residents who are new to Oregon,
have not had recent contact with the
DMV or for other reasons are not
sure they are currently registered to
vote can check their status online at
“
PHOTO BY JERRY FOSTER
Anna Vo, will be travel-
ing to Portland on Grey-
hound buses ater taking
time of from their day
jobs for the event.
For more information,
including a complete
schedule, visit www.
facebook.com /events/
1065608520142475.
Vo spoke with The
Skanner about the up-
coming event. This inter-
cont’d from pg 1
The deadline to reg-
ister to vote in Ore-
gon is Oct. 18
https://secure.sos.state.or.us/orestar/
vr/showVoterSearch.do?lang=eng&-
source=SOS – or call their county elec-
tions oicial to check on their current
status. (In Multnomah County, the
number is 503-988-3720; in Clackamas,
it’s 503-655-8510; and in Washington,
503-846-5800).
The deadline to register to vote in
Oregon is Oct. 18. Those who still need
to register to vote can do so online at
https://secure.sos.state.or.us/orestar/
vr/register.do?lang=eng&source=SOS
or in person at the county elections of-
ice.
In addition, The Links Inc. will be
hosting a number of voter registration
events in the coming weeks:
• Sept. 21 – 6 to 8 p.m. Jeferson High
School
• Sept. 27 – 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Jefer-
son High School
• Sept. 30 – 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jayah Rose
Salon and Spa
• Oct. 1 – 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Cully Albert-
sons
• Oct. 4 – 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. PCC Cascade
Free Speech Area
• Oct. 11 – 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. PCC Cascade
Free Speech Area
• Oct. 12 – 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. – Jefer-
son High School
• Oct. 13 – 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. – Holgate
House
• Oct. 15 – 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. JP Frames
Washington state residents must reg-
ister (or update their registration) by
Oct. 10 if they register online, or by Oct.
31 if they register in person. Washing-
ton residents who aren’t sure whether
or not they’re registered to vote can
visit
https://weiapplets.sos.wa.gov/
MyVote/#/login.
Washington ballots must be post-
marked by election day – or can be
dropped at a dropbox by 8 p.m. on elec-
tion day. To register to vote in Wash-
ington, visit http://www.sos.wa.gov/
elections/myvote/olvr.html. To get in-
formation about registering by mail
or in person, call 1-800-448-4881 or
elections@sos.wa.gov.