Jo Ann Hardesty
Hardesty is a Portland city commissioner.
On the first night of protests in Portland, I stayed up all night and personally went downtown to observe the unrest that took place. It was the first of several nights of mass demonstrations, and Portland, I’m tired. The black community is tired.
The systemic racism constantly targeting, criminalizing and killing black people is not just exhausting, it is frustrating, it is terrifying, it is enraging, it is painful, and it is deadly. Add to the mix a global pandemic where black and brown people are getting sick and dying at astronomical rates compared to white people; we can no longer continue acting stunned or shocked at the unrest.
We are in a moment that can determine the way our society responds to the years, decades, centuries of pain and violence inflicted on African Americans. We need to focus our attention on the source of that pain, rather than obsess over the narrative of destruction when people protest. This is not about one murder or one incident. It’s about the entire history and system that we’ve been living in, and that’s what we need to come to terms with and tackle head on.
We need to dismantle the conditions and systems that led to these responses in the first place. Our communities are asking for justice – not just for this one murder, but for all the acts of violence that have occurred. Beyond justice we absolutely need to build a system that creates a future safe for everyone, and that means fighting for changing the system that’s been inflicting this pain for so long.
Since I entered office in 2019, I have remained steadfast in my priorities around policing, including but not limited to: fighting for a fair Portland Police contract, defunding the bureau’s Gun Violence Reduction Team, school resource officers and transit police, and calling for local and state legislation for police and criminal justice reform.
In the short span of one week since the protests began, we are already seeing traction on actions I have proposed to my colleagues and constituents. Last Thursday, both Mayor Ted Wheeler and Portland Public Schools Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero announced the termination of school resource officers in our schools. June 10 is the final city budget vote for fiscal year 2020-21 and I will be re-introducing a series of amendments to not only disband the three aforementioned Portland police specialty units, but to move that money out of the Portland police budget and into policing alternatives such as Portland Street Response. This is only the beginning. Our communities have long been telling government officials what needs to be done, and now we have the opportunity to put our words into action.
People keep asking me what needs to be done to move this agenda forward, and what I need is two votes to back mine. So, I want to call on my colleagues and other elected officials to join me in supporting these issues and declaring it publicly. This is not the first time I’ve presented these solutions, but for the first time I’m confident that if we really listen to our community’s voices, we can get it done. Now is the time.
Our communities deserve to be heard, they deserve to be respected, they deserve justice and they deserve to heal. There are undoubtedly multiple ways to enact change, and for me as an elected official, I see my role working for systemic change through policy and legislation at all levels of government. My promise remains to you, Portland, I will continue to work as hard as possible to push for changes that set the path toward justice and healing.
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"Opinion" - Google News
June 07, 2020 at 08:36PM
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Opinion: The black community deserves justice. Now is the time. - OregonLive
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