Humboldt Neighborhood Association to Hold Community Meeting on Renaming Jefferson High School

The Humboldt Neighborhood Association will hold a community discussion from 5:30 to 7:45 p.m. at the North Portland Library (512 N. Killingsworth Street) Jan. 29 to discuss existing memorials in the community that perpetuate systemic racism and exclusion.

The most recent Humboldt Neighborhood Association (HNA) meeting led to a discussion surrounding movement to renew the neighborhood policy stating:

“This board is opposed, as a matter of policy, to retaining names of schools and other public institution names for former slave owners or others who did not respect equal opportunity for all," according to Clifford Walker, Humboldt resident and HNA Historian

The previous HNA discussion was focused on Thomas Jefferson and the local high school named after him. Jefferson is revered as a founding father, the author of the Declaration of Independence and a successful president; he was also a slave holder (and documented perpetrator ofabuse, including sexual abuse, toward those he enslaved) and his writings suggest he favored eugenics and White supremacy.

"These conversations are being held all around the nation and world. From San Francisco to Oklahoma City, India to Paraguay. There is no reason Portland and the Humboldt neighborhood should not be having the same conversations. The Humboldt neighborhood, and Portland as a whole, have both led the charge in forward thinking," said a press release from the neighborhood association, reproduced on a Facebook page for the event. 

Hors d'oeuvres and refreshments from Coffee House 5 will be offered.