For decades, Jo Ann Hardesty pressed for police reform in Portland and Oregon. This is Hardesty’s moment
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Jo Ann Hardesty, then a candidate for the Portland City Council, speaks at a Disarm PSU rally in fall 2018. For decades, she was a vocal advocate to end the over-policing of people of color. Last week, amid a national uprising against police violence, she notched what had been an unthinkable victory. (Photo by Dave Killen / The Oregonian|OregonLive)Dave Killen
When she ran for Portland City Council in 2018, longtime community organizer and former state lawmaker Jo Ann Hardesty pledged to reform the city’s police force. Once victorious, she knew she’d need time to generate buy-in and expected it might take her eight years over two terms to see a fraction of her ideas come to fruition.
As recently as last month, she could not convince any of her colleagues the city should disband the police units that patrol schools and public transit and investigate gun violence.
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