Issue Position: Economic and Social Justice

Issue Position

Khanh brings 20 years of organizing and policymaking experience deeply rooted in community. She will be a powerful advocate for economic and social justice, including healthcare, housing, education, small business, immigrant rights, gun control, transportation and reproductive justice.

1). Healthcare
Healthcare is a human right. Every Oregonian should have access to universal healthcare, regardless of their health, age, income, race, immigration status, or gender identity. Upstream investments in mental health, public health and access to basic holistic preventative care are key to making Oregonians healthier, safer, and able to thrive. Khanh understands that on a deeper level, addressing health inequities and the social determinants of health is as important as improving access to health care for all.

2). Education
We need to fundamentally rethink our education system. Our current curriculum is rooted in the distant past, with goals that don't make sense for the world we face today and definitely not the world that our children are facing in the coming decade.

In addition to modernizing the curriculum so that it is more reflective of the world we face, we should consider crediting students for participating in internships and life experiences. Khanh supports expanding opportunities that allow for earlier high school graduation, together with increased investment in free community college and higher education. We should be investing far more in career pathways that train students to protect and restore our natural and human systems--whether it's regenerative agriculture, teaching, nursing, or homecare.

We need to make higher education affordable so students can graduate without overwhelming debt, allowing them to choose meaningful careers that align with their values and help us as a society adapt to the rapidly changing world.

3). Housing
Housing is a human right. Oregon must take bold action to ensure there is sufficient affordable housing for our growing population. Houselessness is the most visible symptom of our housing crisis. It is unconscionable that large global private equity firms are allowed to buy up and demolish affordable housing and replace it with luxury housing, while increasingly members of our community are forced to sleep out on the streets. This type of rampant housing speculation, along with gentrification and unprecedented income inequality, has also displaced and forcibly uprooted low- and medium-income families and communities of color from their homes and lives, driving them to the outskirts- away from jobs, good schools, trees, parks and accessible public transit. Everyone deserves safe and stable housing and thriving livable neighborhoods and Khanh will fight for the kind of systemic changes that we need to address this growing crisis.

4). Reproductive Justice
Khanh firmly believes that all people should have access to the full range of reproductive health services, regardless of status, gender, race, or income. She successfully fought for the 2017 Oregon Reproductive Health Equity Act with an incredible coalition of groups and will fight to defend it. In this political moment when reproductive rights are under attack nationally, Khanh will continue to work on protecting and expand reproductive health care access for all Oregonians.

5). Immigrant and Racial Justice:
Khanh comes from a family of refugees. She knows that immigrants are an important part of the United States continuing as a thriving, diverse, and globally aware society. She believes that everyone deserves the rights, resources, and recognition they need to thrive, regardless of status. Drivers licenses is a big first step to allowing people to be able to access jobs and opportunities. Khanh and the Portland Clean Energy Fund coalition collaborated with the No on Measure 105 coalition in their fight to successfully protect Oregon's sanctuary law from the racist measure that sought to repeal it. Khanh believes this is the kind of powerful intersectional collaboration that can unite us and help us win transformational action across all the core issues facing our communities. Khanh vows to continue to be a champion for human and civil rights and criminal justice reform, in particular for the black and brown communities, immigrants and non-citizens who are most impacted and suffer the gravest consequences of our unjust system.

6). Supporting Small Business and Building our Local Economy:
Small and medium-sized businesses create by far most of our local jobs, strengthen our local economy, bring entrepreneurial innovation and make our communities a better place to work, play and live. Yet the current economic system unfairly favors giant national and multi-national corporations that are contributing to record inequities, a plunging quality of life for most workers and the decimation of our communities and the environment. Khanh believes in rebuilding our local economy by shifting our economic system from one that is unfair, exploitative and creates artificial scarcity to one that shifts economic activity in a way that allows small locally-owned businesses to thrive, treats workers well and creates community abundance, self-reliance, and resilience.

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