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t 23, Anisah Miley has been cre
ating change ever since she can
remember. Serving as one of four
co-chairs for the upcoming Cre
ating Change conference, as well
as working at the African American Health
Coalition in North Portland, she definitely has
a full plate.
The young woman from Brooklyn, N.Y., re
located to Portland just after graduating from
DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. Consid
ering her degree is in conflict studies, it seems
appropriate that she was selected to make sure this
years conference offers something for everyone.
In its 15-year run, Creating Change never
has had a theme, hut this year organizers decid
ed it was time. The focus will he “Building an
Anti-Racist Movement: Working for Social and
Economic Justice and Freedom.”
Miley is thrilled about the topic, which the
conference hasn’t directly addressed in the past.
“The community of queers of color is so small,”
she says, “it’s interesting to me that Portland was
picked as the place to introduce this theme.”
Sponsored by the National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force, Creating Change is the largest
annual gathering for the sexual minorities com
munity. Miley has attended past conferences in
Atlanta and Milwaukee. “1 just remember tons
of conversations in the hallways at the wee
hours of the night,” she recalls.
With the conference date approaching, this
will give Miley a chance to create change on the
national level. But her efforts also are known
locally.
While working for AmeriCorps, Miley vol
unteered at the African American Health Coali
tion before being hired there as an HIV educator.
The agency serves as a resource center to teach
C onference C all
—
Anisah Miley joins the team of leaders who
are creating Creating Change
— ,----
Anisah Miley speaks with volunteers during a Creating Change 2002 Host Committee meeting
by N ic o le H o o p er
can woman on campus. This experience was often
isolating but empowering for her. Miley says it
made her seek out people who maybe didn’t look
like her but thought like her. This strengthened
her feelings against racism.
“We get so caught up on how we look,”
Miley says, “we can’t get behind that door. It
becomes a barrier, and anti-racism can’t be
done. That’s what this conference is about.”
She hopes participants at Creating Change
will take the information they receive in Port
land and put it to good use as they go back into
their communities to be advocates for anti
racism work.
The four-day event will start Nov. 6 at the Dou-
bleTree Jantzen Beach. This is the first time the
conference will be held in the Pacific Northwest.
Organizers are expecting more than 2,000
people with more than 150 workshops planned.
Most attendees typically are younger than 24,
but all are welcome. j n
information about the CREATING
CHANGE conference, e-mail creatmgchange02@
yahoo.com. To submit a workshop proposal, visit the
Internet site www.creaangchange.org. The next host
committee meeting will be held from 7 to 8 p.m.
. Aug. 21 in the first floor conference room at
123 N .E. Third Ave. Newcomers should arrive
1 5 minutes early to catch up on what’s been
happening so far. Organizers are still m need of
people to help out with community housing,
programming, hospitality and communications.
F o r m ore
underrepresented communities about various
issues that help ensure their quality of life.
The coalition’s staff members promote harm
reduction by employing creative methods that
are appropriate to the people they are serving.
For example, they recently sponsored two
events, one for youth and the other for adults,
showcasing nationally renowned comedian
Norman Mitchell and Darcy Padgett of the Bee
Busy Foundation to educate on HIV prevention
using humor. The gatherings not only provided
laughs and information but also on-site testing.
M
iley’s coming-out experience was an uncom
mon one. She was 19 when she decided to
identify openly as queer. Her family was very sup
portive, not surprising since she was raised in a
two-mother household and has a gay brother.
Nonetheless, Miley feels it wasn’t easy for
her to come out. “I still had personal stuff to deal
with like gender presentation, the multiplicity
of my identity, being out on a rural college cam
pus and first crushes,” she asserts.
As a queer youth organizer at DePauw, Miley
says she was the only openly gay African Ameri
NlCOLE H o o p e r is a Portland free-lance writer.