‘Hope in action’: Students and community leaders hear Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and tour a Portland neighborhood’s redevelopment

Visit to Justice Jackson event and Portland district sparks ideas for local housing efforts

By Sydney Seymour, Ashland.news

Community leaders from Ashland brought a group of Southern Oregon students and residents to Portland on March 12 to hear — and for some, meet — Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in its 233 years. The next day, the group visited Albina Vision Trust (AVT), a community-led nonprofit redeveloping Portland’s Albina district, a historically Black neighborhood demolished by urban planning and gentrification.

The group included members from the Black Southern Oregon Alliance (BSOA), a network of teachers, parents, business leaders and residents focused on Black community concerns in Southern Oregon. D.L. Richardson of BSOA and Hillary Larson of All.Together.Now and Ashland Together organized the trip.

All.Together.Now is an initiative starting in Ashland that brings different groups together to address issues like housing shortages, economic stress and racism through public events, discussions and connections with nonprofits. Launched in the fall, as previously reported by Ashland.news, the project involves over a dozen local partners including the city of Ashland, Southern Oregon University, Ashland School District and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Ashland City Councilor Gina DuQuenne joined the trip and plans to take inspiration from Jackson and the redevelopment in Albina back to Ashland and its City Council.

“We experienced an icon that gave me hope. And then we saw hope in action and in building,” she said to Ashland.news about the meeting with Justice Jackson. “If we’re not the hope bringers, it’s easy for people to get sucked down into the minutia, the scary part. We have to be loud.”

Part of the group from Southern Oregon awaits Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s arrival at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland the evening of March 12. D.L. Richardson photo

Larson told Ashland.news she’s bringing possibility and imagination back to Ashland. She continued: “Justice Jackson’s story is about what it means to shoot for the stars. And the same with Albina Vision Trust is the ground of harm and how these people are creating the impossible.”

Then Larson asked, “What’s our version of that?”

AVT staff will visit Ashland at the end of May for the second event of All.Together.Now’s “Choosing Belonging” series, which comes after an April 8 panel featuring three local civil rights veterans, as previously reported by Ashland.news. DuQuenne said she anticipates the Ashland mayor will attend the conversation in May so they can later jointly share AVT’s efforts with council. “And so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” she said.

Day 1: Southern Oregon students meet Justice Jackson

The group attended Multnomah County Library’s Everybody Reads event, where Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson spoke at Portland’s Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall about her memoir, “Lovely One.” Jackson walked on stage in a bright red suit around 8 p.m., waving to a roaring crowd of almost 3,000 Oregonians, including 600 students. She talked about struggles as a Black woman, life mentors, motherhood and her path from Harvard University to the highest court in a conversation with Portland author Renee Jackson.

A group of Southern Oregon students and community leaders traveled to Portland to hear Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson (left), the first Black woman to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, speak about her life story and memoir, “Lovely One,” with Portland author Renee Jackson (right) at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on March 12. Ashland.news photo by Sydney Seymour

Jackson shared how grateful and privileged she felt to serve the American people in this time. “It’s a very challenging time; the work is difficult,” she said. “I’m doing my best. I have a seat at the table now, and I’m ready to work.”

Named Ketanji Onyika, which means “Lovely One,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the 116th justice, writes about her family’s heritage and her path to the highest court in her memoir. Multnomah County Library’s 2026 Everybody Reads, a community-wide project that promotes shared reading and discussion around a single book, hosted an evening in Portland with Justice Jackson to talk about her book. Literary Arts image

She encourages people to continue to move forward. “Even though it is really hard, even though there are going to be times when you feel like this is too much, you might feel disrespected, you might feel like: Is this worth it? It’s worth it.” She continued, “We have come so far in this country.”

A few students met Jackson at the after-party of the event. Lealani Reese, a junior at Crater High School in Central Point, said the room was completely packed as she struggled to part the crowd on her way to Jackson.

Reese, an aspiring criminal defense attorney, just as Jackson once was, talked to her for about 30 seconds, she said. “I told Justice Jackson that she was the literal embodiment of everything I want to be when I grow up and being able to see someone who looks like me in a courtroom gives me so much encouragement,” she said to Ashland.news.

Jackson was kind and genuine when she responded, Reese said: “She told me that she believes in me and that I can do that, and she wants me to work hard to get there.” Her conversation with Jackson showed her, she said, that her dreams are within reach. Reese said she plans to ask herself in mock trials and eventually real cases, “How would Justice Jackson do this?”

While Southern Oregon is a small, rural and overwhelmingly white community, Reese said the Black community is a lot stronger than she originally thought. “There’s these Black people that want me to succeed. Through these Black communities, you can find so many opportunities like this one that I would have never known about,” she said, crediting Richardson for getting her a ticket to the after-party after learning about Reese’s interest in law during last year’s Black Youth Leadership Summit at SOU.

Dominic Flucas, a sophomore at Ashland High School also attended the after-party and went on the trip with his 6th-grade brother. “Justice Jackson is still a normal person too. She came from a background that a lot of people come from as well. You don’t have to be covered in money to be very successful,” he said to Ashland.news. “It makes me feel like I can do something and my brother can do something; it’s just a matter of the work you put into it.”

Before heading into Albina One, Albina Vision Trust’s first housing development seen here, the group walked to see the legacy structures still standing after the neighborhood’s demolition. Ashland.news photo by Sydney Seymour

Day 2: Creating the impossible in Albina

On the second day of the trip, the group met with Albina Vision Trust (AVT) and toured some of the Albina district in Portland. AVT has invested $850 million into the district over the last four years for a 94-acre, multi-decade redevelopment project — the largest restorative redevelopment effort in the country, according to the nonprofit.

JT Flowers, Director of Government Affairs and Communications, explained the history of the district to the group, pointing to before-and-after images that illustrated “a neighborhood that looks like it had a bomb drop on it,” he said.

In the late 1940s and 1950s, Albina was home to 80% of Portland’s Black population — an epicenter with bustling jazz clubs, Black-owned businesses and grocery stores. In 1962, the neighborhood was demolished, Flowers said, including his family home and hundreds of others, to build Interstate 5 (I-5), Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Portland Public Schools headquarters and what is now the Moda Center. AVT estimates over $1 billion in wealth was effectively stolen from Black community members.

The nonprofit not only buys land and builds homes to reroot those who were displaced, but is reconstructing an entire ecosystem, Flowers said, naming energy infrastructure, access to the waterfront, efficient transit, commercial retail spaces, recreation areas, affordable healthcare and education opportunities.

JT Flowers, Director of Government Affairs and Communications at Albina Vision Trust, explained the history of Albina to the group, pointing to before-and-after images. Lance Gallo photo

AVT centers the people of Albina and those displaced in what gets built, how it gets built and who benefits, Flowers continued. Before owning any land, the nonprofit gathered over 50,000 community responses imagining how to redesign the neighborhood — feedback that became the foundation of Albina’s vision.

Albina One, AVT’s first housing development that opened last fall, is an energy-efficient building where the nonprofit covers tenant utility costs. AVT, which controls the majority of the housing units in the district, is also thinking about community-based wealth-building throughout development, Flowers said. Albina One was developed by Black-owned businesses and Black professionals, helping them land larger projects elsewhere, he continued. Flowers also added that the entire state of Oregon will benefit from the redevelopment of Albina.

Within the next year and a half, Flowers said AVT will be the largest property owner in the city. The nonprofit is soon to acquire and demolish the 10.5-acre Portland Public Schools headquarters to build a neighborhood with over a thousand homes. AVT also plans to cap part of I-5, reconnecting Upper and Lower Albina with a neighborhood on top of the eventual tunnel. “Hopefully in, like, a decade, you’ll be able to grab a bite to eat, go to a cultural center and walk around without getting hit by a semitruck on a freeway,” Flowers said to the group while walking across an overpass on I-5.

At an overpass on Interstate 5 (I-5) in the Albina district, passersby can read the words “Stolen Land.” Lance Gallo photo

The city of Portland told AVT it will need a new zip code to accommodate the more than 6,000 people expected to return over the next 15 to 20 years, Flowers said. A Black-led zip code, he continued, would make national history and become a marker for “generational success.” Flowers credited AVT’s momentum to community support, political and financial capital and partnerships with government agencies, grassroots organizations, larger institutions and the Portland Trail Blazers.

As Albina’s displacement mirrors neighborhoods nationwide, AVT aims to rebuild a climate-forward, innovative neighborhood other communities can replicate, Flowers said. He asked the group, “How does this apply at home?”

Flucas, a sophomore at Ashland High School, said it feels like the opposite is happening in Ashland. “The less affordable the housing,” he said, “the less people want to live there.” As families can’t afford to live in Ashland, Flucas added, schools face challenges: financial crisis, budget cuts and declining enrollment — all of which have been previously reported by Ashland.news.

Centering the people in Ashland

The All.Together.Now initiative hopes to answer, Larson said: “What would it take for every person of all ages and of every background to truly belong and have a chance to thrive in our area?” Larson asked herself: “What’s my responsibility, and what is the kind of world I want to live in?”

Before her time as city councilor, DuQuenne told Ashland.news, people assumed she worked for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and frequently got a discount. Without SOU or OSF, Ashland probably wouldn’t have any Black people, DuQuenne added. Larson said, “There’s still hardly any Black people walking through Ashland.”

For more diverse people to come to Ashland and feel comfortable, DuQuenne said, diversity needs to be the “norm.” “We have to see ourselves,” she continued, whether it’s a pride flag at a restaurant, Native American art in the Plaza or Black music playing from the park. “If I see myself there, I’m safe there. It’s not rocket science, but it’s acceptance.”

DuQuenne encourages the City Council and the community to “not be single minded or have special interests, but center the people who live here.” Another important factor, she continued, is “to recognize the world that we live in and not just think it’s this way.” Larson agreed that this work requires acknowledging historical harm but also the potential for systemic change.

Community leaders, students, educators and parents from Ashland, Central Point and Grants Pass pose at the end of their visit with two Albina Vision Trust staff. AVT, a community-led nonprofit redeveloping the Albina district in Portland which was destroyed by urban planning and gentrification, has invested $850 million into the 94-acre district over the last four years. Lance Gallo photo

“The sense of belonging is not necessarily black and white,” DuQuenne said. “It’s about money; it’s about the haves and the have-nots, or the not-have-so-much, and then the people in between just get lost.”

While parts of Ashland may look like a postcard, Larson and DuQuenne both pointed out that other areas don’t. “It depends on where you walk in Ashland,” DuQuenne said, referencing a past Ashland.news Council Corner column of hers about the city’s south side.

The city of Ashland can benefit from looking at how AVT banks land — acquires, holds and manages land for future development or use — to reclaim areas of Albina, DuQuenne said. To build affordable homes in perpetuity, she said the city needs to land bank and collaborate with groups like the Housing Authority of Jackson County and Habitat for Humanity. The city should also bring in more businesses and hire more people with living wage jobs that include health insurance to keep Ashland’s economy running, she said. While Ashland has the potential to expand its land bank, DuQuenne said the city would need to broaden its tax base. “When you land bank,” she said, “you don’t get the taxes from that.”

DuQuenne mentioned the proposed Croman Mill site development (what’s since become the Ashland Mill project), which is the largest development proposal in Ashland history, as reported earlier by Ashland.news. The city, she continued, needs to build a denser area of homes, annex more property and push out the urban growth boundary — a planning line used in Oregon that separates urban areas from its surroundings to preserve rural lands and promote dense development. “That takes time, but we need to start doing it now so that it’ll be there when my grandchildren want to live in Ashland,” she said. “I wanted to be on council because I saw missed opportunities, and I don’t want us to miss any more.”

A series of before-and-after images help Albina Vision Trust show the trench dug through the middle of the neighborhood in the 1960s to build Interstate 5 (I-5) as well as the developments such as Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the 10.5-acre Portland Public Schools headquarters and the Moda Center. Ashland.news photo by Sydney Seymour

DuQuenne quoted Justice Jackson: “Keep our eye on the purpose, be in our purpose. And know we can.”

Lessons of perseverance from Justice Jackson

After the applause and the audience’s two-minute window for photos ended, Justice Jackson began by reading an excerpt from her book describing her historic swearing-in ceremony. She swore her oath while resting her left palm on a pair of holy books that symbolized how far America has traveled, she said: her own ancient family bible and the Harlan Bible, donated to the court in 1906 by Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan, the sole dissenter in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case which constitutionalized racial segregation. Jackson said, “… only one generation after my mother and father had experienced the spirit-crushing effects of racial segregation in housing, schooling and transportation while growing up in Florida, their daughter was standing on the threshold of history, the embodiment of our ancestors’ dreams, ascending to a position that Justice Harlan and his colleagues likely never thought possible for someone like me.”

Before her appointment, one of her daughters, at 11 years old, wrote a letter to President Obama to endorse her mother for a position in the highest court, describing her as determined, honest and loyal, Jackson told the crowd. “I didn’t even know she knew what I did,” she said. “I wasn’t there all the time for my daughters.” Her oldest daughter is autistic, she shared with the audience and in the book: “By the time I wrote this, she was an adult, and she thought it was important that people understand you can have challenges in your family and with your children and still go on to fulfill your dreams.”

At a pool party when she was a young girl, Jackson said she floated on her back and drifted into the deep end. When she realized she was too far from the wall, she started flailing, sank and had to be rescued by her mother’s friend. “I knew how to swim. So what happened?” Jackson asked. That experience became a metaphor for “the deep end” of life, she said. “I vowed that if I were to ever find myself in that kind of situation again, I was going to swim,” she continued, explaining she now relies on the confidence and skills others helped her develop to stay afloat.

In her first year of college, Jackson said she was feeling down. While walking on campus, a Black woman she didn’t know leaned over and said, “Persevere.” Jackson continued: “It was like she had given me this little secret that I needed to take to heart.” She also recalled what she wrote in her application to Harvard: “You really need to admit me because it will fulfill my dream of being the first Black female Supreme Court Justice to appear on a Broadway stage.” She achieved her dream in 2024 during a one-night show of “& Juliet” on Broadway, crediting creativity, collaboration and the arts for helping her meet people she wouldn’t otherwise.

Jackson concluded by remembering Constance Baker Motley, the first African American woman to serve as a federal judge and the first to argue cases as a civil rights lawyer in the Supreme Court. She said, “She never had the opportunity to serve on the Supreme Court because of the times in which she lived. So I am so grateful to be born in 1970, 49 years to the day after her.”

Email Ashland.news reporter Sydney Seymour at [email protected]. D.L. Richardson and Hilary Larson are also Ashland.news board members. Board members do not have any control over editorial decisions.