Nkenge Harmon Johnson’s legal and political career has taken her from her Pacific Northwest home across the United States and back again.
A graduate of the Trinity University School of Business and the Howard University School of Law, Harmon Johnson has served as a deputy assistant trade representative under Barack Obama and has worked in communications for several politicians, most recently serving as the communications director and press secretary for former Gov. John Kitzhaber. A few months ago, Harmon Johnson accepted a new job as president and CEO of the Urban League of Portland, the civil rights organization whose headquarters are a few blocks from the North Portland middle school where she first learned about American civics.
Succeeding Michael Alexander, who served as the Urban League’s president since 2012, Harmon Johnson takes the reins of the organization amid the excitement surrounding the release of its much-anticipated State of Black Oregon 2015 report.
During our conversation about this critical new report, Harmon Johnson spoke to her own perspective on her new role in the state she loves and serves.
Ann-Derrick Gaillot: When people ask you what your job is, what do you tell them?
Nkenge Harmon Johnson: The Urban League is 70 years old this year. That makes us one of the oldest civil justice and civil rights organizations on the West Coast, and it’s right here in our little Portland. Most people wouldn’t expect that. So my job is to make sure the Urban League as an organization is around for another 70 years and that the work this organization has done in the community, not just in Portland but across the state, can continue and expand.
A.G.: So you grew up in Portland in the ’80s and ’90s.
N.H.J.: Portland and Salem.
A.G.: How do you think that experience informs your job?
N.H.J.: I am the first president of the Urban League who is from Oregon. I’m the 14th president of the Urban League. I’m the fourth woman, and I’m the first from Oregon. Part of the reason that I was motivated to accept this position is that Portland has changed a great deal since I was a kid, and not for the better, unfortunately. And that’s really difficult for me, especially given that we’re sitting on the corner of Williams and Russell and I went to middle school two blocks away. I know this neighborhood, and I know the city. Folks love it, and they have reasons to love it, but the things that I loved about it most aren’t here anymore. So I think what my childhood experience does is allows me to be a mythbuster when it comes to, “Oh, well, Portland is so great now; it’s so much better than it ever was before.” That’s not true for a lot of Portlanders.
I think the other thing that growing up here allows me to do is to help hold some people accountable when they talk about blighted neighborhoods or begin this litany of all the ways that gentrification and business development and urban renewal have improved our town, and they edit out the parts about how quality of life has not improved for black and brown people. I am in a position to hold them accountable for statements like that and for the work that’s necessary to make them feel like it should be for everyone in our communities.
A.G.: One thing that the League seeks to change is (low) civic engagement among black Portlanders, so I’m wondering what empowered you and inspired you to get into politics that maybe kids today don’t have in Portland.
N.H.J.: There’s something funny about that for me. Growing up here, my police chief was black; my superintendent of schools was black; the man who ran the parks was black; my state treasurer was black; I was represented in the State Legislature by a black woman. Folks who ran our city and our county, there were black folks in that mix. And even though there were far fewer African-Americans in Portland then than there are now, I’ve come home to find there are just a few of us and we are so glad to have those few. It’s very strange for me because of the experience that I grew up with. It was easy for me to be engaged because that was just a part of my life growing up. It was how it worked in our community. So that’s another reason why I was excited to accept the job at the Urban League, because I see our ability to participate in the city, black folks in this community, differently than some folks because I’ve seen it happen before. I know the richness that we have lost, and I’m not sure why that has happened, but I know that we can reach that point again. We can have levels of participation that are more than consummate with our percentage of the population here. And I think it’s important that that happen.
To me, this community felt more vibrant before, this community felt more integrated before, and that’s everything from the arts to politics. And when young people see that — and not just young people, quite frankly; adults see that — it’s encouraging. Success begets success, so to speak. If you see folks who are already there, who look like you, who are talking about something, it encourages you to become engaged yourself. And if you don’t see people who look like you, there’s this thing that happens that’s terrible really. You think, huh, that must not be for me. As you operate in your community, just in your day-to-day life, that sort of thing seeps in and gives you the sense that this isn’t for you. Portland is for somebody else. The county, state government, whatever it is is for somebody else but not for you. It’s sad. But there is a way to turn that tide because we’ve been there before.
A.G.: When you are done being CEO and president (of the Urban League), what is your vision for your time here?
N.H.J.: That we made the Urban League better for the people in this community and that we made it stronger for the folks who will occupy these positions after us. That’s important to me. We’re caretakers of the Urban League during this space, however long it is that we’re here, and I want part of my legacy at the League to be that I did a good job taking care of it.
You can download a copy of the complete State of Black Oregon 2015 report at the Urban League of Portland’s website, https://ulpdx.org/