The BulleTin • Friday, June 18, 2021 A5
EDITORIALS & OPINIONS
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Heidi Wright
Gerry O’Brien
Richard Coe
Publisher
Editor
Editorial Page Editor
Lack of housing
limits success of
housing vouchers
O
regon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced a
few days ago that the Central Oregon Regional Housing
Authority will receive more than $1.2 million in housing
vouchers to ensure more families have a home they can afford.
It’s coming at a great time and will
help meet a great need. The vouch-
ers can be used to help people who
are homeless, about to be homeless,
fleeing domestic violence and more.
It should mean 96 vouchers for indi-
viduals and families.
You don’t need a study to tell you
such vouchers can make a real dif-
ference in a person’s life. A voucher
can end homelessness. It can help lift
people out of poverty. It can alter the
arc of a child’s life. Across the coun-
try more than 5 million people in
2.3 million low-income families use
such vouchers.
The challenge in Central Oregon,
though, is finding housing so peo-
ple can even use the voucher. Some
meet the income requirements for
a voucher but can’t find housing to
use it. We don’t know how success-
ful Housing Works, the regional
housing authority, will be in find-
ing housing for every voucher. Da-
vid Brandt, the executive director of
Housing Works, told us his agency
faces the same struggle with finding
housing as almost anyone does in
Central Oregon. The vacancy rate is
so low, even for apartments.
A couple weeks ago, Bulletin re-
porter Brenna Visser wrote about
Dawn Kane. Kane was 49 and had
lived in a tent along Emerson Street
in Bend for the past nine months.
She said she has been unable to work
A voucher can end homelessness.
It can help lift people out of
poverty. It can alter the arc of a
child’s life. Across the country
more than 5 million people in
2.3 million low-income families
use such vouchers. The challenge
in Central Oregon, though, is
finding housing so people can
even use the voucher.
after suffering a brain injury. She is
nearly blind. Kane said she quali-
fied for a housing voucher. Housing
could not be found.
People do have to qualify for
housing vouchers. Then the search
is on. In some communities, peo-
ple have 60 days to find housing.
Brandt said here it is 120 days. And
if they do find suitable housing, the
voucher holder does have to pay
about 30% of their income toward
rent. Once they have that home, they
may stay indefinitely. They may lose
it if their income goes up too much.
Even more housing vouchers for
Central Oregon would be better. But
the lack of available housing is the
critical problem limiting how suc-
cessful the voucher program will be.
What should Oregon’s
graduation requirements be?
F
or the next three school years,
the Legislature is aiming to re-
move some high school grad-
uation requirements. Students won’t
be required to demonstrate profi-
ciency in math and writing skills at
grade level.
Should Oregon have such require-
ments? What should they be?
The vote on Senate Bill 744 di-
vided Democrats and Republicans.
For instance, two local Republicans,
state Sen. Tim Knopp of Bend and
state Rep. Jack Zika of Redmond
voted against it. State Rep. Jason
Kropf of Bend, a Democrat, voted
for it.
The bill was apparently born
out of a desire to revisit graduation
requirements to ensure they are
equitable. A study will be under-
taken to look at requirements and
“recommend changes in legislation
or administrative rules that will re-
duce disparities and ensure that ev-
ery student will be on track to earn
one of the high school diplomas of-
fered in this state.”
If education professionals agree
on anything, we hear them say stu-
dents need more than a high school
diploma to succeed. So if there are
found to be ways to make high
school diplomas more equitable and
inclusive, Oregon should do so. It is
also worth analyzing how effective
Oregon’s standards have been.
But we believe when you raise ex-
pectations and reach out to ensure
students are engaged, you get better
outcomes. Lower expectations and
we may get worse.
Editorials reflect the views of The Bulletin’s editorial board, Publisher Heidi Wright, Editor
Gerry O’Brien and Editorial Page Editor Richard Coe. They are written by Richard Coe.
My Nickel’s Worth
Lift the state restrictions
It is time to let the state-mandated
restrictions go! We appreciate health
information provided by the state. Put
your trust in the people of Oregon,
who have walked this pandemic along
with you, to make good decisions. It is
reported that there needs to be 65,000
more vaccinations before state restric-
tions are lifted. Count the more than
200,000 people who have had COVID
in Oregon and now carry the immu-
nity to assure you we have more than
met the mark. Let people get back to
work, let students catch up, let busi-
nesses thrive, let life move on. LET IT
GO, KATE!
—Debbie Baker, Sunriver
Help the fight against
Alzheimer’s
Worldwide, 50 million people are
living with Alzheimer’s and other de-
mentias. Join the Alzheimer’s Asso-
ciation in going purple and raising
awareness this June during Alzhei-
mer’s & Brain Awareness Month. The
more people know about Alzheimer’s,
the more action we inspire.
According to the Alzheimer’s As-
sociation 2021 Alzheimer’s Disease
Facts and Figures report, more than
6 million Americans are living with
Alzheimer’s, and 11 million-plus
family members and friends provide
care. In Oregon, there are more than
69,000 people living with Alzheimer’s
disease and more than 155,000 family
members and friends providing care.
Working in health care alongside
those living with Alzheimer’s and
other dementias, I have seen first-
hand the intense support and re-
source needs that are so critical for
caring for our community living with
dementia. Important research is nec-
essary to find a cure or a way to slow
the progression of these difficult dis-
eases. The financial implications for
many families caring for those living
with Alzheimer’s can be devastating.
Many caregivers find themselves hav-
ing their own health crises due to the
needs of their loved ones are often a
24/7 endeavor.
In recent years Congress has made
funding Alzheimer’s research a prior-
ity and it must continue. It is my hope
that Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff
Merkley and Rep. Cliff Bentz will con-
tinue to support an increase in Alzhei-
mer’s research funding at the National
Institutes of Health.
To learn more about the Alzhei-
mer’s Association, available resources
and how you can get involved, visit
alz.org/abam.
— Lisa Hurley, Bend
Bend council makes a decision
with inadequate input
I must absolutely agree with the
guest column by Allan Bruckner,
“Bad decision about hotel for home-
less” (June 11). We were appalled to
learn that the hotel on N. Division
Street had been selected, despite the
obvious advantages of both the facility
and location of the Rainbow Inn and
zero contact with homeowners in the
neighborhood.
The reason one member of the City
Council gave for the decision was be-
cause the developers of the Urban
Renewal District objected to the selec-
tion of the Rainbow Inn.
It seems, one again, it’s the devel-
opers over the city’s residents. So, in
addition to Shepherd’s House, nearby
Bethlehem Inn (both doing wonder-
ful jobs), and two large marijuana
shops, a soon-to-be-opened studio
apartment complex with 80 units, and
a short-term transient motel, N. Di-
vision and its quiet neighborhoods
are to be home to another large con-
tingent of homeless in a “low barrier”
facility. A decision made without ab-
solutely any discussion with home-
owners less than a football field’s dis-
tance from the Value Inn.
Such a decision, made with no
community input is not the mark of
good governance. We will decidedly
review our support to politicians who
have been involved in this decision to
make the N. Division area less than
what we had hoped it would become,
a family-oriented location with appro-
priate amenities.
— William Carwile, Bend
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Think Juneteenth is only a symbolic win? Celebrate anyway.
BY CHRISTINE EMBA
The Washington Post
“W
hat, to the American
slave, is your 4th of
July?” Frederick Doug-
lass asked in 1852.
Not much, was his conclusion.
White Americans celebrated their in-
dependence from an oppressive re-
gime. But enslaved Black people re-
mained very much unfree.
Douglass’ speech remains emblem-
atic of the racial inequality that persists
in the United States. “The blessings
in which you . . . rejoice, are not en-
joyed in common,” he said. “All your
religious parade and solemnity are …
mere bombast, fraud, deception, im-
piety and hypocrisy.” Our country cel-
ebrates its achievements now, as it did
then, with outsize self-regard — even
when those achievements are fully re-
alized only for some.
And so for more than150 years,
Black people have celebrated their
own Independence Day: June 19, or
Juneteenth, as it is more commonly
known. It marks the anniversary of the
day in 1865 when news of the Eman-
cipation Proclamation, and chattel
slavery’s official end, reached enslaved
Blacks in Galveston, Texas. This was
months after the Confederate Army
had surrendered to the Union, ending
the Civil War; six months after Con-
gress passed the 13th Amendment;
and more than two full years after
Abraham Lincoln had first issued the
proclamation. An oppressive regime
hoped to delay our liberation — but it
could not stop our progress.
Black Americans, starting in Texas
and spreading across the United States,
have celebrated on that day ever since.
But it was only last summer when the
holiday gained broader national and
cross-racial attention, as part of the
belated wave of recognition for Black
stories during and after the protests of
George Floyd’s murder. Major brands
— including Twitter, Nike and the
NFL — made Juneteenth an official
holiday within their corporations. Pol-
iticians honored the day in speeches.
And this week, a bill passed unani-
mously in the Senate to make June-
teenth the 11th official federal holiday.
A cynic — or simply a realist —
would remind us that symbolic
change is not the same as substantive
improvement. Anti-racist reading
lists haven’t stopped Black Americans
from being killed by the police. Cor-
porate diversity, equity and inclusion
workshops haven’t closed the racial
wealth gap.
The Senate may have voted in fa-
vor of recognizing Juneteenth, but the
George Floyd Justice in Policing Act
is still withering away waiting for the
Senate to act. The For the People Act
and its voting rights protections are all
but dead. And some of the same sena-
tors who voted in favor of a new Black
holiday are sponsoring legislation that
would ban the teaching of our coun-
try’s racist history.
A new holiday won’t fix the mate-
rial injustices that continue to fall most
heavily on Black America: poverty,
state violence, incarceration, environ-
mental hazards, poor access to health
care, a legacy of financial discrimina-
tion and limitations on political power.
In fact, symbolic wins more often
serve to let their champions off the
hook. “Your national greatness, swell-
ing vanity; . . . your shouts of liberty
and equality, hollow mockery,” Doug-
lass said.
But symbols accomplish some-
thing, too.
The debates over statues, the fury
over the New York Times’ 1619 Proj-
ect, the Republican horror at the
teaching of “critical race theory” in
public schools should be signs that
even the symbolic holds some value. If
these smaller declarations didn’t have
power, would they be seen as such a
threat?
Elevating Emancipation Day to the
stature of the Fourth of July may not
change everything. But it does mean
something. History is written by its
victors, after all. To have our story rep-
resented means that we are finally vic-
tors too. It means that Black memory
is respected. It means that as we come
to terms with the truth of our past, the
more difficult conversations — about
reconciliation, about reparation,
about the racism that still very much
exists — are given space to begin.
The acknowledgment of race in
America has always been less than
enough. Progress is a two-step Texas
style, moving forward, then back.
Juneteenth itself reflects this. It’s a
holiday of progress mixed with dis-
appointment. Black Americans were
told of their freedom, yes — but years
delayed. It’s a celebration of the end of
something that never should have ex-
isted to begin with. And yet, it is cele-
brated anyway.
A new holiday is inadequate. But as
Douglass concluded in his contempla-
tion on the Fourth, we can do more
than sit in resignation. “Notwith-
standing the dark picture I have this
day presented of the state of the na-
tion,” he said, “I do not despair of this
country. There are forces in operation,
which must inevitably work.”
Juneteenth can be a day of rest and a
renewal of the fight. We can take what
is owed — and, always, push for more.
e
Christine Emba is an opinion columnist and
editor for The Washington Post.