My name is Robin Ye.
I’m running for District 3 in the new Portland City Council.
I’m running to represent my neighbors in the Inner SE side, Montavilla, Roseway, and Rocky Butte – the geographic core of the city of Portland.
Today I live in Montavilla with my incredible wife Jill, and our two tuxedo cats Benny and Martin. I grew up in Beaverton, Oregon, the son of mainland Chinese immigrants who had the courage to pack up their lives to move to a faraway place with a completely different culture, embracing the unknown and people the likes of which they had never seen before. In my family, on both sides, I am the only American-born person.
Growing up in an immigrant family, my parents would seek comfort and reminders of home. Nearly every other weekend, we would pile into the car and drive out from Beaverton to SE 82nd Avenue and Powell Boulevard to spend our days in search of familiar sounds, scenes, spice, and seafood– something we could now acquire from the newly opened Fubonn, the largest Chinese market in town. Years later I would return to this area to organize and serve the communities along 82nd Avenue.
Although I appreciated my parents’ boldness in coming to the US, I didn’t always want this skin I was born into. My experiences growing up taught me that being Chinese was less than desirable. Being told that your home smells funny, that your eyes are too small and slanty, that your English is pretty good for a foreigner, that your family should “go back to where they came from,” that you’re too different to be equal – those things hurt. Racism and xenophobia hurt. I internalized so many of those words, the shame of growing up different in Portland – I learned to accept that many parts of this culture were not designed with someone who was different in mind. Worst of all, I begin to accept that who you are and where you come from could be a flaw, not a feature, something you shouldn’t widely broadcast or ever fully embrace if you want to fit in.
I studied at the University of Chicago, intending to become a journalist but I was captivated by politics, public policy, and advocacy. I returned to Oregon in 2016 to work on a statewide ballot measure campaign to fund healthcare and education. The election of Donald Trump changed everything. I was terrified that people of color, immigrants, and the children of immigrants would grow up in America thinking they were unimportant, unworthy, lesser – that they didn’t belong. I didn’t want that idea to further take root in my home state, and I wanted to get involved in the fight for an inclusive and welcoming politics that I know Portlanders embrace.
I jumped at the opportunity to work as a political organizer at APANO (Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon), organizing with marginalized communities to tear down barriers and build political power. From there I served as Campaign Manager and Chief of Staff for progressive Oregon State Representative Khanh Pham – the first Vietnamese American elected to state government.
Through my 3 years in the state legislature I’ve worked on the issues affecting people in SE and NE Portland, bringing resources to Portland, like funding for 82nd Avenue safety improvements and local control, and tackling the big problems– from housing production to behavioral health investments, clean air and oil tank hazards, substance abuse interventions, and our response to hate crimes.
Since 2021, I’ve been working for more than two years to build and defend this new government reform because I believe this system is the best for Portland. I'm proud of the work we did on the charter commission, and the people did too with their 58% support in the 2022 election. As a Portland Charter Review Commissioner I worked collaboratively with a diverse group of folks, welcomed extensive community input, and put forward reforms that will improve our city. At the heart of charter reform is the idea that the government is better when more of us have a say, when more people vote, and when our government is more reflective of the political viewpoints and experiences this beautiful city represents.
I wish, when I was growing up, I had known someone or seen leaders who had once felt some of my insecurities about existing in this society not set up for people like me, who could have mentored and guided me. Portland has never elected an Asian American to its city council in its 170-year history. Let’s change that! I think it's important that our city council reflects its community, and I'm proud to run to help represent a vibrant, vulnerable, but growing Asian community integral to our city’s past, present, and future. All Portlanders worry about their families ’ futures, about the city’s future. They want to know that their leaders are working with their best interest in mind, that their hopes and dreams, their fears and their concerns are being heard and considered in the decisions that affect us all.
