NAACP and Other local Community Leaders write letter of Support to the Oregonian

I’m deeply grateful to the NAACP and to the community leaders who have raised their voices, calling out the Oregonian’s decision to exclude me from their endorsement interview process. They’ve penned a powerful letter to the Oregonian’s editorial board, urging them to reconsider. I invite you to read the full letter and stand with us in demanding a fair process for all candidates in this critical election.

“Dear Ms. Bottomly,

I greet you in peace, but also with grave concerns. On my personal behalf, on behalf of the Portland’s NAACP 1120-B Branch, on behalf of the Chair of the NAACP Political Action Committee Chair, Rev. Dr. J.W. Matt Hennessee, and on behalf of a countless number of people in the Black and Brown communities of Portland we reach out to you regarding, in our estimation, unfair treatment of Commissioner Mingus Mapps.

It is very possible that had the Oregonian not published a very gratifying and soul-satisfying editorial, on October 24, 2022, where you stated, on behalf of your media organization, that you, “…unreservedly apologize to our readers and our community for the racism in this newspaper and the legacy it leaves.” You pledged to work much harder to get it “right” going forward and outlined steps that had been taken and that you would continue to take steps to ensure this pledge is honored in the years ahead.

We are in the midst of the most protracted amount of political and social strife that many of us have ever seen. It is a time where our national politics is especially toxic and our local politics is in the midst of the greatest transformation in our lifetime.

As you know in the City’s 150+ year history there have only been six people of color who have served on the Portland City Council and there has never been a person of color blessed to serve as Mayor.

We have three major candidates for Mayor this year: Commissioners Rubio, Gonzales, and Mapps. We respect the fact that you work hard to ensure the citizens of the region have as much information as possible regarding their electoral choices.

However, we are, frankly, deeply dismayed, and very disappointed that the result of your interview process did not include Dr. Mingus Mapps who has proven to be a very committed public servant and a person whose leadership has been a positive and impactful factor in the success of the Portland City Commission.

We have learned that your decision to not interview Commissioner Mapps was because his responses to questions had a “lack of depth” in his answers. We are not sure what the questions were, but we are clear that Commissioner Mapps is very intelligent and he is a serious thinker, and finding out about your unwillingness to interview him, based on your apology, we would assume that you would double down on fairness and benefit-of-the-doubt, as you have conversations like these.

We know Commissioner Mapps to be an articulate visionary leader who is passionate about the City of Portland and is as committed to the future as those you decided to interview. Our bottom line, based on your stances addressed in the October 2022 editorial, is that your decision to not interview him is very unfair.

With the new Ranked Choice Voting where we are permitted to vote for more than one candidate for Mayor and for City Councilors, we would think you would want to do the same—consider more than one or two candidates to share with your readers. Each of the three Portland City Commissioners have different skill sets and each brings different perspectives to the Office of Mayor. The people need to know and to make their choice.

We wish we could say that we can step back from the decision you’ve made and be satisfied, but we cannot. We have been thoughtful and introspective about this which is why this letter was not sent to you immediately after reading the article that let us know that he was not given the respect of an interview. We waited. And now we are speaking.

We have spoken with many people in the BIPOC community and other non-profit organizations and, to a person and to an organization, the message is the same, “this sounds very unfair.”

With this letter, we hope you have heard us. We are serious and we are very disappointed and we will not go away. Therefore, we also want to know what your response to our concerns will be and we hope you will reply soon.

While it should not matter, but to make sure, in the spirit of full disclosure, we have not been asked or urged by Commissioner Mapps to send this message to you, this is us and this is written on behalf of those in our community who are tired of great comments, but often “the walk is not consistent with the talk.”

Respectfully submitted,

James Posey

President Committee

J.W. Matt Hennessee

Chair, Political Action