October 11, 2017 The Skanner Page 3
News
KairosPDX
cont’d from pg 1
Academy – a K-8 school
for exceptionally gift-
ed (and predominately
White) children – would
move to KairosPDX’s
current location, the
former building of Hum-
boldt Elementary School.
In the reshuffling, Kai-
rosPDX would be left
without a home.
Opened with the inten-
tion of helping to close
KairosPDX as a pipeline
through which to feed
students into Tubman
Middle School, thereby
allowing students of col-
or to continue their edu-
cation in their own com-
munity.
Hernandez also makes
clear his unwavering
commitment to racial eq-
uity. “We have no toler-
ance for decisions made
the racial achievement
gap, the K-5 charter
school serves 126 stu-
dents — 75 percent of
which are youth of col-
or — and incorporates
Black history and an Af-
ro-centric approach to its
curriculum.
According to recent
data released by the Ore-
gon Department of Edu-
cation, only 30 percent of
Black children in grades
three through eight can
read at a third-grade lev-
el.
Citing this statistic in
a letter to the PPS board,
dated Oct. 2, Rep. Diego
Hernandez (D-Portland)
urged members to allow
KairosPDX to negotiate
a longer-term lease at the
Humboldt site.
“PPS has a tragic and
unfortunate history of
displacing Black stu-
dents and their families,
and of excluding Black
communities from the
decision-making
pro-
cess,” wrote Hernan-
dez, who also sits on the
board of the Reynolds
School District. “As is
known but often for-
gotten, the founding of
Portland Public Schools
was itself based on Black
segregation and institu-
tional racism.”
In his letter — signed
by nine other board
members of color from
neighboring
districts
— Hernandez portrays
Oregon History Makers Awarded
‘for others,’” he wrote.
“Our identities as mem-
bers of marginalized
communities
require
that we make ourselves
accountable to directly
impacted communities.
We hold you to the same
standard.”
Mayor Ted Wheeler
and House Speak Tina
Kotek have also voiced
their support of allowing
KairosPDX to keep its
building.
PPS Board Chair Julia
Brim-Edwards, too, is ve-
hemently opposed to dis-
placing the charter.
“Since last spring, I
shared with district staff
that displacing Kairos
students from Humboldt
as part of the middle
school openings plan
was not something that
I would support, and
given Portland Public
Schools history in Albi-
na would not likely be
supported by the com-
munity,” she said in an
emailed statement to The
Skanner.
Brim-Edwards noted
that the board is to re-
ceive a final staff plan
later in the week. “If
Kairos is still scheduled
to be displaced,” she con-
tinued, “I will offer or
support an amendment
to the plan so that Kairos
can remain in Humboldt
and negotiate a reason-
able lease extension with
the school district.”
The Oregon Historical Society hosted its annual dinner at the historic Montgomery Park building in Portland Oct. 8, during which
recipients were presented with the 2017 Oregon History Makers Medal. First awarded in 2009, the History Makers Medal is presented
annually by OHS to individuals and organizations that are positively shaping the history, culture, and landscape of Oregon. Proceeds
from the History Makers Dinner support every aspect of the Oregon Historical Society’s important work to collect, preserve, and
interpret Oregon’s past. Pictured here are OHS board president Carl Christoferson (left); recipients Mark and Pat Reser (owners, Reser’s
Fine Foods, family-run manufacturer and distributor of fresh and frozen prepared foods); recipient Bill Schonley (sports broadcaster
who was the play-by-play announcer for the Portland Trail Blazers for almost three decades), recipient Nathalie Johnson (practicing
surgical oncologist and medical director of the Legacy Cancer Institute and the Legacy Breast Health centers), recipient Nicholas
Kristof (columnist for The New York Times since 2001, a two-time Pultizer Prize-winner who writes op-ed columns that appear twice a
week), and OHS executive director Kerry Tymchuck.
Sticker
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land neighborhoods, including
Alameda, where Wells lives.
Transposed against an Ameri-
can flag-like background, they
read, “In our America, all people
are equal, love wins, Black lives
matter, immigrants & refugees
are welcome, disabilities are re-
spected, women are in charge of
their bodies, people & planet are
valued over profit, diversity is
celebrated.”
The sticker used a similar de-
sign and read, “In our America,
all ‘men’ are created equal, Trump
wins, all lives matter, legal immi-
grants are welcome to assimilate,
individual rights are respect-
ed under the law, reproductive
choices are a private matter, free
market capitalism determines
value, Western culture is cele-
brated.”
Wells told The Skanner she talk-
ed to her letter carrier, who en-
couraged her to file a complaint,
which she has not yet done, and
also to her neighbors, none of
whom received similar messages.
She is African American and her
wife is White; most of their imme-
diate neighbors are also White,
and have lived for 20 years in a
neighborhood Wells describes as
“pretty homogeneous” and has
been the entire time she’s lived
there.
“
I just wanted to
let people know
that this is hap-
pening and that
we must contin-
ue to be vigilant
in our resis-
tance to it
Wells thinks her household –
which bears signs with political
slogans including “Black Lives
Matter” and “Love Wins” — was
targeted specifically. The sticker
has appeared twice more in her
mailbox, she said. Last fall, before
the election, she said, someone
posted pro-Trump flyers to her
fence.
An early childhood educator,
Wells has also written columns
about bullying for the Concordia
News – and early this year helped
draft a statement about inclusion
on behalf of the neighborhood as-
sociation.
“I just wanted to let people
know that this is happening and
that we must continue to be vig-
ilant in our resistance to it,” she
told The Skanner.
Wells has lived in Portland for
40 years and when asked if she’s
encountered anything like this
before, she initially said no. Then
she said, “Let me back up.”
“Years ago, and by years ago I
mean the ‘80s, I was walking with
a friend near Shemanski Park,
near the Schnitzer. Something
flew past me and went splat,” she
said. It was an egg. She turned
around and saw a group of young
White men shouting racial slurs.
Part of what troubles her about
the flyers — and reminds her of
the downtown incident from so
many years ago, when the young
men quickly ran away — is the an-
onymity, the refusal to engage.
“It’s always in motion or under
cover of night or anonymously,”
she said. “If you’re going to do it,
then good gracious, stop and have
a conversation.”
Read more at TheSkanner.com
cont’d from pg 1
owned by women, people of color, and
especially African Americans — by
helping them promote an equitable lo-
cal economy.
“The business mix is also important,”
Wicks told The Skanner, which means
the agency is looking for “an active des-
tination business or something that’s
going to add a needed service to the
area.”
The program is in alignment with the
North/Northeast Community Devel-
opment Initiative Action Plan which,
through the guidance of communities
of color, uses tax increment funds to
create economic opportunities for
businesses, property owners and resi-
dents in the Interstate Corridor.
That’s why Alberta Commons, in the
heavily gentrified Northeast neighbor-
“
The agency is look-
ing for ‘an active
destination busi-
ness or something
that’s going to add
a needed service to
the area’
hood, is an ideal model for the program,
according to Prosper Portland.
“It was driven by the community,”
said Anne Mangan, senior communica-
tions coordinator at Prosper Portland.
“They wanted to have this kind of a
program in place for Alberta Commons
ahead of time, for disadvantaged busi-
nesses and business that could get a
foothold here that otherwise might not
be able to.”
In addition to the Alberta develop-
ment, the Affordable Commercial Ten-
anting Program is also available at two
sites in Lents Town Center in southeast
Portland.
For more information, visit http://
prosperportland.us. Prospective ten-
ants can submit an application online.
PHOTO BY COURTESY OF PROSPER PORTLAND
Alberta
PHOTO BY BERNIE FOSTER
“
As is known but often
forgotten, the founding of
Portland Public Schools
was itself based on
Black segregation and
institutional racism
Colas Construction, general contractor of Alberta
Commons.
