Ibrahim Coulibaly

07/03/2026

06/27/2026

Please share if you’re able. If not, I completely understand. Many of us are navigating an election where friends are running against friends and there are several strong slates to consider. I appreciate your support, your friendship, and your respect, regardless of your decision.

06/26/2026

Oregon Territory Bans Free Black People
On June 26, 1844, the legislative committee of the territory then known as “Oregon Country” passed the first of a series of “Black exclusion” laws. The law dictated that free African Americans were prohibited from moving into Oregon Country and those who violated the ban could be whipped “not less than twenty nor more than thirty-nine stripes."
That December, the law was amended to substitute forced labor for whipping. It specified that African Americans who stayed within Oregon would be hired at public auction and that the “hirer” would be responsible for removing the “hiree” out of the territory after the prescribed period of forced service was rendered. This law was enforced even though slavery and involuntary servitude were illegal in Oregon Country.
The preamble to a later exclusion law, passed in 1849, explained legislators’ beliefs that “it would be highly dangerous to allow free Negroes and mulattoes to reside in the Territory, or to intermix with Indians, instilling...feelings of hostility toward the white race.”
The Oregon Constitution of 1857 included racial exclusion provisions against African Americans and Asian Americans. The document declared that African Americans outside of Oregon were not permitted to “come, reside, or be within” the state; prohibited African Americans from owning property or performing contracts; and prescribed punishment for those who employed, “harbor[ed],” or otherwise helped African Americans.
Between 1840 and 1860, in the midst of this exclusion and discrimination, African Americans never constituted more than 1% of the population in the American Pacific Northwest. Oregon, which joined the Union as a "free state" on February 14, 1859, stands as a clear illustration that racial discrimination and oppression against Black people was also widespread in jurisdictions where slavery was illegal. The 2020 U.S. Census reported that only 3.2% of Oregon residents were Black.
History Of Racial Injustice.

06/21/2026

On June 21, 1940, a 26-year-old Black man named Jesse Thornton referred to a passing police officer by his name: Doris Rhodes. When the officer, a white man, overheard Mr. Thornton and ordered him to clarify his statement, Mr. Thornton attempted to correct himself by referring to the officer as “Mr. Doris Rhodes.” Unsatisfied, the officer hurled a racial slur at Mr. Thornton while knocking him to the ground, then arrested him and took him into the city jail as a mob of white men formed just outside.

Mr. Thornton tried to escape and managed to flee a short distance while the mob quickly pursued, firing gunshots and pelting him with bricks, bats, and stones. When Mr. Thornton was wounded in the gunfire and eventually collapsed, the mob dumped him into a truck and drove to an isolated street where they dragged him into a nearby swamp and shot him again. A local fisherman found Mr. Thornton’s decomposing, vulture-ravaged body a week later in the Patsaliga River, near Tuskegee Institute.

Dr. Charles A.J. McPherson, a local leader in the Birmingham branch of the NAACP, wrote a detailed report on Mr. Thornton’s lynching. NAACP lawyer and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall provided the Department of Justice with the report and requested a federal investigation. The Department in turn instructed the FBI to determine whether law enforcement or other officials were complicit in the lynching, but there is no record that anyone was ever prosecuted for Mr. Thornton’s murder.

History Of Racial Injustice.

06/21/2026

As SEIU 503 begins preparing for our next round of bargaining, I want to share a little about what happens behind the scenes and why member engagement matters so much.

I had the honor of serving as Co-Chair of the Central Table Bargaining Team during the 2023-2025 contract campaign and as a member of the bargaining team during the 2025 bargaining cycle. What I learned is that bargaining is far more than showing up at the table and exchanging proposals.

The bargaining survey is where we begin. We carefully review thousands of responses from members across the state. We identify trends, rank priorities, and determine what matters most to the workers we represent. Pay, healthcare, workload, leave accruals, staffing, workplace protections, steps, equity issues, and countless other concerns all come from member feedback.

Then we brace ourselves for management’s proposals.

For months, bargaining team members spend countless hours strategizing, assessing, reprioritizing, researching, and preparing. We engage members through roadshows, worksite visits, informational meetings, and other actions. Every proposal is analyzed. Every counterproposal is debated. Every gain is fought for.

I had the privilege of witnessing our bargaining team hold the line and fight like hell for every single penny, every benefit, every leave accrual, every step increase, and every non-monetary proposal. Nothing was handed to us. Every improvement was the result of member solidarity and a bargaining team willing to stand firm.

Our 2023 bargaining team secured some of the strongest wage increases in decades, including a 6.5% COLA, a 6.55% COLA, protection of our healthcare benefits, preservation of our step system, and a $1,500 inflation relief payment. The 2025 bargaining team successfully protected affordable healthcare, maintained our step system, won a new 11th step for long-term employees, secured COLAs totaling more than 6.5%, strengthened discrimination protections, improved workload language, and expanded critical incident leave protections. These victories did not happen because management was generous. They happened because members stood together and bargaining teams fought relentlessly on their behalf.

A bargaining team can only win what its represented members are willing to fight for.

While I will not be serving on the upcoming bargaining team, I strongly encourage every member to support those who do. I know I will be. I will complete my bargaining survey. I will attend roadshows. I will participate in informational pickets. I will share my priorities. And if called upon, I will sign the strike pledge.

The strength of our contract is directly tied to the strength of our membership. What we take home from bargaining depends on how engaged, active, and supportive we are throughout the process.

Please support our next bargaining team. They will be carrying the hopes and expectations of more than 22,000 SEIU 503 state workers. Let’s make sure they know they are not carrying that burden alone.

In solidarity,

Ibrahim Coulibaly,

Former Co-Chair 2023-2025 Central Table Bargaining Team.

2025-2027 Central Table Team Member.

SEIU 503 Member

06/11/2026

What is going on with my plants? Help!

06/09/2026

¡Feliz Mes del Orgullo! Celebramos el amor, la diversidad, la inclusión y la igualdad para todas las personas.