Portland’s mayoral race is heating up, as 3 of the 15 contenders recently took part in a “social justice” town hall forum. These were the 3 who had raised $5,000 or more. The event quickly turned into a white shaming contest, with each candidate trying to out-martyr the other, as well as a few statements about pandering to the homeless and junkies.
The candidates were Jules Bailey (current Multnomah County commissioner, and former state representative), Ted Wheeler (current state treasurer, and former Multnomah County commission chair), and Sarah Iannarone (small business owner).
Bailey would eventually say “I, as a white male will never really be able to understand the perspective of those 2 African American men. And the sense of shame that is inherent in that. Because not only do we have to talk about and acknowledge racism and bias, we also have to talk about privilege and white privilege. And the fact that even though I grew up in a working class family that sometimes struggled to make ends meet, I grew up in privilege. And as a mayor, you have to understand and surround yourself with people who represent the communities that you’re trying to serve. It’s especially incumbent upon me, as a white, straight male, to have a staff that can be part of the solution. To have bureau directors who part of the solution. Have appointees to commissions who part of the solution. Who reflect communities of color, who reflect under served communities. And who can be the people who are taking solutions into their own hands”
Ted Wheeler would say that all white police officers are racist, “White police officers have to understand that they have, in their minds, whether they think they do or they don’t, it’s [racial bias] there”
Sarah Iannarone said “I want us to have the first actively anti-racist police force in the United State Of America… Because not being racist is not enough.”
They all want “safe injection sites” for heroin junkies.
And they’re all three a-ok with homeless bums living on the sidewalk.
Which Ted Wheeler wants to subsidize via more tax increment financing on businesses.
Ted Wheeler also admits he’s often times clueless, and that the county mental health system deteriorated under his watch, and he apparently did nothing to remedy that.
Ted Wheeler’s manliness, or lack there of, was displayed when Sarah Iannarone totally alpha-ed him.
All in all, it was exactly the kind of loon-fest one would imagine would take place in Portland, when the theme of the event specifically deals with “social justice” issues.
