Whatever verdict is rendered for the accused killers of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, Lakayana Drury of Portland, Ore., will likely be in a position to benefit.
The Kyle Rittenhouse verdict in Wisconsin gave Drury a chance to rehearse his indignation:
“I wasn’t prepared for that outcome, and I wasn’t prepared for the emotional reaction that it drew out of me,” Drury told OPB’s April Ehrlich. “It was immediately exhausting.”
Why would a black “social justice organizer” in Portland have such a visceral reaction to a white teenager in Wisconsin being cleared of charges for shooting three white men in self-defense?
It’s what Drury does for a living. A few years ago, while still teaching social studies at Rosemary Anderson High School, he founded a nonprofit organization called Word is Bond. Ostensibly, it is to improve relationships between young black men and law enforcement.
But Drury reveals himself on Twitter:
“I hold every single white person in this country responsible for today’s verdict. This is YOUR system. It serves you and only YOU. If you are truly disgusted then dismantle it. Now.”
This is how he improves relationships between young black men and law enforcement? Blame whitey? (When Drury was a teacher, did he grade on a racial curve?)
Social justice organizers like Drury are calculating how to use the Rittenhouse verdict to advantage. They are likely laying tracks for an even bigger event: a not-guilty verdict or a mistrial on the three white men accused of killing Arbery after they suspected he was a burglar.
Anything less than guilty in the Arbery case could kick fund-raising into high gear for _________ (fill in the blank of any black organization). A guilty verdict might actually hurt fundraising if it appears “the system” is working.
The George Floyd Gravy Train is running out of steam, and social justice organizers like Drury (including their cheerleaders in Antifa and the media) need a fresh cause.
They wrenched themselves trying to draw comparisons between Rittenhouse, a teenager who defended himself while under attack by three men, and Floyd – a Fentanyl addict with a violent criminal history, who refused to return cigarettes he bought with a counterfeit $20 bill, then refused to cooperate with police. Although Floyd died, his family ended up $27 million richer.
Social justice is becoming a thriving market.
In 2020, the Oregon legislature gave $62 million to black organizations and businesses in the state to help them offset the effects of COVID. Word is Bond immediately got in line.
When it was announced last week that the state’s revenue forecasters were predicting an extra $725 million, Gov. Kate Brown quickly said she would call on her Racial Justice Council for ideas on how to spend it.
Who sits on the Racial Justice Council? Not Drury, but kindred spirits like Sharon Gary-Smith, president of the Portland NAACP. She shared a byline on a recent commentary in The Oregonian that attacks a group called People for Portland:
“People for Portland’s nostalgic billboard campaign – ‘Remember when we were famous for food carts and the airport carpet?’ ‘Remember when all your friends were jealous you lived here?’ – is a coded call to those with plenty, ignoring countless Portlanders living paycheck to paycheck. It pretends the last 18 months since George Floyd’s murder never happened.”
People for Portland is pushing for more police and more shelters to clear the streets of drug addicts, vagrants and tent campers. It wants to save what’s left of downtown Portland before the cancer spreads. Why shouldn’t People for Portland have a right to exercise their free speech?
It’s that “dark money” that rankles Gary-Smith and the other two names on the commentary – Angela Uherbelau, founder of Oregon Kids Read, and state Rep. Andrea Valderrama. They want that money. They have a right to it. Why? Because they are “women of color” with “lived experiences.”
Here’s what Valderrama’s lived experience has apparently taught her:
“White supremacist vigilante is acquitted of murder by a racist criminal justice system. NO JUSTICE NO PEACE”
That was Valderrama’s tweeted reaction to the Rittenhouse verdict.
Fortunately, 100-plus replies mostly denounced her, including one respondent who zeroed in: “You are the Chair of DDSD (David Douglas School District) and our kids deserve better. Good leaders don’t do this. When it comes to a murder charge, Facts matter more (than) your feelings.”
Perhaps Valderrama and her co-authors might want to turn their attention to Word is Bond’s financials. It also seems to be prospering.
But what does Word is Bond have to show for its efforts at improving relationships between law enforcement and young black men? Check the stats on gun violence in Portland in the past year. Note the number of homicide victims who were black – and were not killed by police.
Word is Bond is currently looking for a program manager ($50,000 to $55,000 with full benefits), and has hired an administrative manager.
According to Guidestar, in 2019 (back when Drury called himself a “community servant”) Word is Bond was located at 8015 N. Denver Ave. Apt. 10. Now that he is a social justice organizer, it has offices in the Pearl District at 522 NW 23rd Ave. Suite J. Too bad Drury didn’t take advantage of all the downtown vacancies and locate there to help lift up the downtrodden. (Alas, most of them are white. Never mind.)
Among the private donations to Word is Bond are a grant from Nike, $50,000; The Collins Foundation, $35,000; The Trailblazers Foundation $15,000; The MRG Foundation $10,000 and The Peck Family Foundation $5,500.
But public money is where the real wealth resides. In April City Commissioner Carmen Rubio gave Drury a shout-out when she released a proposal to invest $3.5 million “in various organizations that work with communities impacted by gun violence, another $600,000 to build up small or emerging contractors like Word Is Bond.”
Drury also has put together a proposal on what he would like to do with the recently repossessed Lloyd Center. Not surprisingly, it includes deeply discounted office space for “up-and-coming nonprofits” and a museum dedicated to white guilt:
“If Oregon is going to build a racially equitable future, it must acknowledge its past. A State Museum on the History of Race in Oregon would be a strong statement in that direction. … The exhibits could tie into local school district curriculums including Portland Public Schools. The museum would also include a hall of heroes to highlight leaders of color who contributed greatly to the history of Oregon including women, men, and gender nonbinary individuals.” (Don’t forget black street gangs who have left their own contributions.)
Drury has strung together a resume that makes him a media favorite when Portland journalists need a quote to represent what they think the black perspective should be.
He recently wrapped up as co-chair of the Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing (PCCEP). The 80 percent of voters who approved City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s new police oversight board probably have never heard of PCCEP and have no idea how many police oversight groups Portland already has. (That’s OK. Neither does The Oregonian.)
Drury used his co-chair position on PCCEP to help build credibility and equity for Word is Bond. PCCEP intersected nicely with his other activism: Co-Founder, Black Millenial Movement; Steering Committee Member, Black Male Achievement; Committee Member, Coalition of Black Men; Committee Member, Transforming Justice Steering Committee.
His previous appointments include: Justice Oregon for Black Lives Advisory Committee, Meyer Memorial Trust; Public Safety Advisory Committee, TriMet and Focused Intervention Team Community Oversight Group (FIT-COG) with the Portland Police Bureau (Earlier this month I attempted to Zoom in on a meeting of FIT-COG after hearing about it at a PCCEP meeting. I was kicked out. I guess some members of the community are welcome, and some aren’t.)
In fairness, Drury is not the only one in the nonprofit black community waiting for the next white supremacist windfall. Marcus Mundy recently co-authored a commentary in the Portland Tribune issuing a call to action. (Keep in mind that “investments” is just another word for money.)
“Community-based organizations need increased local, county, regional, state and federal investments to hire more community workers to work with youth and families to create alternatives to violence and help youth and families find jobs, secure housing and build wealth. These investments need to be sustainable and multi-year to create consistency and sustainability rather than one-off investments or year-to-year uncertainty. …
“Lastly, we need a multi-jurisdictional approach as violence does not respect boundaries. We propose a Joint Office of Violence Prevention with community and jurisdictional leadership.”
In other words, we need more bureaucracy.
I single out Mundy’s authorship on this commentary because he has trod this ground for years. He knows how it can be personally lucrative.
In 2011, Mundy was president and CEO of the Urban League of Portland, when he resigned among accusations that he improperly used the nonprofit's credit card. At the time, he was making $91,000 a year in the post.
According to news reports at the time, Multnomah County auditors had questioned Mundy's spending for years. When $44,000 worth of credit card expenditures didn't have a clear business purpose, officials warned that county funding for the league could be cut if their concerns weren’t addressed.
Mundy is now executive director of the Coalition of Communities of Color.
So the verdict out of Georgia could be very important to Portland. There’s money to be made on injustice, if you know how to invest it.
What we need. The unvarnished truth about how PC culture is destroying a once great city