Other Group

Reimagine Oregon

Website:

reimagineoregon.org

Location:

Portland, OR

Founded:

2020

Director:

Justice Rajee

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Reimagine Oregon (also known as the Reimagine Oregon Project) is a left-of-center activist group that pushes for preferential treatment of Black people. The group cites a broad range of actual and perceived disparities of outcome between Black people and other ethnic groups in the United States, claiming that these demonstrate systemic discrimination. These disparities include higher rates of arrest and imprisonment, higher poverty rates which appear to persist regardless of educational credentials, and allegedly insufficient numbers of Black people in the education system and other institutions. The group also claims that Black students are “taught an incorrect version of history” and that Black people face “rampant discrimination” in the job market. 1

History and Activities

Reimagine Oregon cites the anti-law enforcement demonstrations during the summer of 2020 as the catalyst for its founding. The organization is the result of collaboration among Black activist groups across the state. When Reimagine Oregon launched in June 2020, it immediately released a list of demands to municipal and state officials. These included defunding all transit police, removing penalties for fare evasion on public transportation, diverting taxpayer funds to schools and health care facilities catering specifically to Black people, and handing out $2.5 million to Black activists for their own law-enforcement policy proposals. 2

In March 2022, the board of Clackamas County, Oregon voted to end its partnership with Reimagine Oregon over the group’s push for defunding law enforcement, as well as the group apparently misrepresenting its relationship with the county on its website. In response, the group’s director Justice Rajee issued a statement attacking the board and claiming that the county “had nothing to offer to improve the lives of their constituents.” 3 The following November, county commissioner candidate Ben West campaigned in part on cutting ties with Reimagine Oregon and blocking efforts to defund the police. West went on to defeat incumbent Sonya Fischer, who had praised the group and accepted its endorsement. 4 5

In April 2023, the Washington Free Beacon reported that the city of Portland had allocated nearly $5 million in taxpayer funds to Reimagine Oregon since the group’s creation in the summer of 2020 despite the fact that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had yet to formally approve its tax-exempt status. The Washington Free Beacon also found that the group had only one employee, had demonstrated next to no activity on its website since its launch, and had not submitted any proposals or plans to spend its taxpayer dollars. Earlier that month, Portland mayor Ted Wheeler (D) had blocked an attempt by Black city commissioner Mingus Mapps (D) to stop setting funding aside for the group and to direct the money towards other initiatives. 6

Mapps previously defended a city commissioner who was the final vote to keep $18 million in the Portland police department’s budget. Protestors had gone to the commissioner’s house in November 2020, and Mapps said “mob” action had no place in the political process. Mapps said he knew the harm of mobs coming to people’s homes because it was the Black experience in America. 7

Partners and Backers

Reimagine Oregon was launched with support from the Portland chapter of the National Urban League and the Portland-based Coalition of Communities of Color. 8

Reimagine Oregon secured the participation or endorsement of several high-level public officials at its launch event at which it issued its demands to defund law enforcement and divert millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to organizations catering to Black people. These officials included Oregon Governor Kate Brown (D), U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Portland metropolitan council president Lynn Peterson. Kali Ladd, the executive director of Kairos PDX (the Portland chapter of nationwide left-wing, nominally Christian Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice) was also present. 9

Leadership

Justice Rajee is the sole employee and the apparent director of Reimagine Oregon. 10 In 2023, he was also a candidate for the Beaverton, Oregon school board. Rajee has received endorsements from the Democratic Party of Washington County, Oregon and the state political action committee associated with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, as well as the local affiliate of the United Food and Commercial Workers labor union. 11

Funding

Reimagine Oregon has received roughly $1.9 million per year from the city of Portland since 2020, though it reportedly has not spent the funds. 12 In 2022, the group also received a $25,000 from the Yarg Foundation, a local philanthropy. 13

References

  1. “About The Reimagine Oregon Project.” Reimagine Oregon. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://www.reimagineoregon.org/
  2. “For Immediate Release.” Reimagine Oregon. July 28, 20020. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://www.reimagineoregon.org/launch
  3. “Clackamas County cuts ties with Reimagine Oregon.” Portland Tribune. April 2, 2022. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://www.portlandtribune.com/news/clackamas-county-cuts-ties-with-reimagine-oregon/article_80120210-1a81-5686-96a9-d1c89356c0b7.html
  4. “Defend the Police, Don’t Defund Them.” Ben West For Clackamas County Commissioner. November 1, 2022. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://benwest22.com/defend-the-police-dont-defund-them/
  5. “Commissioner Ben West.” Clackamas County. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://www.clackamas.us/bcc/west
  6. Susannah Luthi. “Portland Has Given Millions to a Sketchy ‘Anti-Racist’ Group That Won’t Say What It Plans To Do With The Money.” The Washington Free Beacon. April 25, 2023. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://freebeacon.com/democrats/portland-has-given-millions-to-a-sketchy-anti-racist-group-that-wont-say-what-it-plans-to-do-with-the-money/
  7. Eileen AJ Connelly, “Protesters target Portland commissioner’s home after vote against defunding police,” New York Post. November 7, 2020. Accessed May 8, 2023. https://nypost.com/2020/11/07/protesters-target-portland-commissioners-home-over-police-funding/
  8. [1]Susannah Luthi. “Portland Has Given Millions to a Sketchy ‘Anti-Racist’ Group That Won’t Say What It Plans To Do With The Money.” The Washington Free Beacon. April 25, 2023. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://freebeacon.com/democrats/portland-has-given-millions-to-a-sketchy-anti-racist-group-that-wont-say-what-it-plans-to-do-with-the-money/
  9. “For Immediate Release.” Reimagine Oregon. July 28, 20020. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://www.reimagineoregon.org/launch
  10. Susannah Luthi. “Portland Has Given Millions to a Sketchy ‘Anti-Racist’ Group That Won’t Say What It Plans To Do With The Money.” The Washington Free Beacon. April 25, 2023. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://freebeacon.com/democrats/portland-has-given-millions-to-a-sketchy-anti-racist-group-that-wont-say-what-it-plans-to-do-with-the-money/
  11. “Vote For Justice Rajee: Beaverton School Board.” Accessed May 7, 2023. https://www.justicerajee.net/
  12. Susannah Luthi. “Portland Has Given Millions to a Sketchy ‘Anti-Racist’ Group That Won’t Say What It Plans To Do With The Money.” The Washington Free Beacon. April 25, 2023. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://freebeacon.com/democrats/portland-has-given-millions-to-a-sketchy-anti-racist-group-that-wont-say-what-it-plans-to-do-with-the-money/
  13. “Grantees.” Yarg Foundation. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://www.yargfoundation.org/grantees
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Reimagine Oregon


Portland, OR