Portland State Magazine Fall 2010

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • "le is hard for women co raise money, and doubly hard for people of color co raise money," Career, 74, says. "When I ran, it was a group of white people of goodwill who believed in me. They helped me raise money. They campaigned for me. And I don't see chat happening anymore." Career's career was slow co cake off. Career says she worked for years in the counseling department at Porcland Commu– nity College without being considered for an administrative position. All coo often, she says, talented people of color are overlooked for promotions and ocher opportunities chat could build their leadership skills and political connections. "Bue I have hope ... char white people of goodwill will gee cogecher, see who is not at che table, and do someching about it." Carter left the Oregon Senate in 2009. Her resignation co cake a job as a deputy director for the Oregon Department of Human Services drew some criticism, but not because of her race. le was parry affiliation and alleged favoritism that worried a few politicos-issues that those who wield power and influ– ence regularly face. Equalizing educat 1 on Judy BlueHorse Skelton '06, MA '08 returned to school in her 50s and assumed she'd fie right in. After all, she'd spent 15 years working in schools and on educacion issues in such positions as cultural student support specialist for Portland Public Schools, a member of che Oregon Indian Education Association board, and a co-teacher for a Portland State Capstone course. And yet, "I felt like an outsider in higher education. I was surprised chat it was like a foreign language co me," she says. A Nez Perce, Cherokee, and Chickasaw, BlueHorse Skelton says individuals at PSU offered her support, guidance, and encouragement. Her experience gave her greater empathy for young Native students and made her a better educator. The problem, she explains, is that Native students rarely see teachers or ocher adults at school who share cheir heritage. Textbooks reach little about Native contributions co American culture, or they offer cursory, cliched stories. "When you don't find yourself in an institution, when you don't hear che stories chat speak of you, you automatically disengage," she says. Now an instructor of PSU's Environmental Education Through Native American Lenses course, BlueHorse Skelton says she's dedicated to improving che system. "I compare it co a Nez Perce story, where coyote has to enter the belly of a monster to transform it," she says. "We have co go inside institutions, sometimes, to change chem." FALL 2010 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE 9