Political party Democratic Party Democratic Party Role Politician | Name Lew Frederick Website lewfrederick.org | |
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Lew frederick blames baltimore riots on economic oppression
Lew Frederick (born December 1951) is an American Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Oregon, currently representing District 43 in the Oregon House of Representatives. Born in Pullman, Washington, Frederick was raised in Baton Rouge and Atlanta, and moved to Portland in 1974. According to the Portland Tribune, he is Oregon's "highest-ranking black leader and the only black man serving in the Oregon Legislature" as of 2010. Commissioner Amanda Fritz and The Skanner endorsed Frederick during his campaign for District 43. Frederick, formerly a member of the House Joint Committee on Legislative Audits, Information Management and Technology, has moved into the leadership ranks through his new Committee assignments. Frederick's 2013 Regular Session assignments are as Vice-Chair, Land Use Committee; and both the Ways and Means Committee, per se, as well as the Ways and Means Subcommittee On Education.
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Currently, Frederick is one of three African-Americans serving in the Oregon senate, along with fellow Democrat James Manning Jr. and Republican Jackie Winters.
Career
Born in Pullman, Washington, Frederick grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Atlanta, Georgia. Lew (Lewis Reed Frederick) is the son of botanist Dr. Lafayette Frederick, Professor Emeritus Howard University, and his wife Antoinette Reed Frederick, of Rhode Island. Frederick has lived in northeast Portland since 1974. Throughout his career, he was a teacher at the Metropolitan Learning Center for two years, a radio and television reporter with KGW for seventeen years, Director of Public Information at Portland Public Schools for thirteen years, Assistant to the President at Portland Community College, and held a position on the State Board of Education. In October 2013, Frederick was awarded the Outstanding Alumni Award at Earlham College.
Frederick, who grew up in the South and was mentored by Martin Luther King, Jr., has worked to improve race relations. He was sworn into the Oregon House of Representatives in October 2009 and began serving on the House Interim Human Services Committee and House Interim Sustainability & Economic Development Committee.
Lew Frederick maintains a research and strategy affiliation with the California and Washington, DC-based company, The Rand Reed Group, an applied anthropological consultancy run by Kathleen Rand Reed. Reed is an Associate Professional Consultant with CUSAG, (Cultural Systems Analysis Group) at the University of Maryland, College Park.