In a blistering letter Monday, the president of the Portland chapter of the NAACP accused Portland Mayor Keith Wilson of setting a “dangerous precedent” with his recent executive order to change the city’s equity language to comply with the Trump administration.
“(The order) suggests that Portland is willing to yield to federal pressure, thereby normalizing political coercion as a valid means of dismantling equity-centered initiatives,” wrote James Posey, president of the Portland NAACP. “True leadership requires courage in the face of adversity, not capitulation.”
Wilson issued an executive order last week directing the city to comply “with federal anti-discrimination laws, as defined by the federal judiciary.”
President Donald Trump has issued a series of executive orders that threaten to pull federal funding or contracts from local governments that promote diversity and inclusion programs and policies.
The aim of the order, according to city spokesperson Cody Bowman, is to adjust the wording in the city’s programs and policies so it can certify grant applications as needed to hold on to as much money as possible as the Trump administration changes the rules around qualifying for federal grant funding.
As of July 31, the city was managing about $349 million in federal grant money, according to Bowman, with the expectation of signing agreements for $31 million more in the coming weeks.
In a letter to organizations that receive federal funding through the city, Wilson wrote that complying with federal anti-discrimination laws as they will be interpreted under President Donald Trump “means that city programs and services cannot give preference to groups with ‘protected-class status’ based on characteristics such as race or gender,” in most cases.
Wilson made a point of repeating the words “diversity, equity and inclusion” in his letter and wrote that he would not back down from what he called “our values.”
“Let’s be clear,” Wilson wrote. “In Portland, we believe in diversity, we believe in equity, and we believe in inclusion. We say those words proudly.”
That assurance was not enough for Posey, who wrote that the mayor’s directive was a choice for “short-term political compliance over long-standing community values.” Posey said that such decisions fit into a historical pattern of Portland mayors verbally condemning racism while failing to follow through with actions that actually reduce harm for the city’s “Black and Brown communities.” Portland has never had a Black mayor.
“This rollback further disenfranchises those who are already most marginalized,” Posey wrote. “If the city is truly committed to fairness, it must ask those who have historically benefited the most to contribute more, especially in times of financial strain.”
Wilson did not respond to a request for comment through his spokesperson Wednesday.
The mayor’s executive order has not yet faced widespread pushback, but City Councilor Loretta Smith, who is Black, said in a statement Friday that the order did “little to advance Portland’s commitment to the Civil Rights Act,” which Wilson cited in his directive.
“Mayor Wilson must adopt stronger language and clarify existing code to oppose the Trump administration,” Smith wrote. “Merely emphasizing self monitoring and disparity studies will not prevent the Trump administration from slashing our federal funds.”
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