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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 20, 2003)
lune 20. 2003 P R IA o u t P E R S O N A L C O N C IE R G E Fina lly! A P ersonal C o n c ie rg e S e rv ic e a va ila b le in Portland! Y o u r tim e is v a lu a b le and w e aim to help you in c re a s e yo ur free tim e by doing th in g s you don't have the tim e to do! • P E R S O N A L A S S IS T A N T • C O M P U TER T U TO R • W E B /G R A P H IC D E S IG N • T R A V E L P L A N N IN G S e e all o u r s e r v i c e s a t: w w w .G o 4 U p d x .c o m Ip (503) 957-9792 OUR PLANTS ARE 6 ON THE KINSEY SCALE they must acknowledge that racism is their issue and take responsibility for their own feelings about it. The day you remove the word “homo To the E ditor : phobia" in your newspaper out of worry about ow dare you su re st wc need a kinder, how straight people will feel, 1 will not call you more gentle word than racist (“Communi- racist and instead call you biased. ty. Not Conformiry,” June 6J. You speak of wanting to foster a dialogue Maybe you should do some research, hut there are a lot of words out there: biased, preju about race. I have read many of your commen diced, intolerant, bigoted, narrow-minded, dis taries in my years in Portland, and you are never criminatory, inequitable and the list keeps inclusive in your language. As a queer woman of color, I have never seen going. Just go to your Microsoft thesaurus. You say the word racist provokes such a neg myself represented, supported or even acknowl ative reaction, the meaning becomes lost in fear edged in your words. Who exactly are you talk ing about when you say “we"? and denial. Whose responsibility it is to deal with these emotions? People of color have and You speak of creating community, and yet continue to fight to make the word racist pow you are so extremely exclusive in your language, prescribing how queers should represent our erful and a “had thing.” As a child of color growing up with a white selves at Pride, in the media, with the police chief, meeting the mayor and various other parent, I was never taught about racism. When opportunities for us to he heard. If I wanted to go other kids said my father worked in a gas station, made machine gun noises at me as I walked by or by your understanding of our community, then my eight-year relationship with the love of my said I didn’t have the right to live here because I’m Iranian, it would have been really gtxxl for an ; life will no longer he defined as queer. P.S.: People who knew Kendra James read adult to say to me: “Don't worry about it, because they are being racist. It’s their issue, not yours.” your paper. How is what you have done different from the right-wingers yelling at Matthew Shep Or, when l didn’t get the joke and wondered why everyone stared at me, it would he nice to ard’s funeral? Your comments were uneducated, have known that this was racism and that I was mean and, once again, exclusive. Who are you talking to, anyway? not deserving of this. Not until I was an adult was 1 empowered to put my reality into an oppression analysis. M itra R ahnema And now I read that my empowerment is i Portland hurtful and makes white people shut down. This is white guilt that you must deal with in order to tackle the issues of racism and work to make yourself the “best you can he.” To the E ditor : It is not OK for you to attempt to take that am sickened by the recent killing of Kendra empowerment away in order to make it easier. It James, which, like the murder of Jose Mejia is time to deal with some of your issues before Poot, is yet another injustice in a long list of subjecting others to your personal process. murders, civil rights abuses and crimes by the If white people want to engage in a dialogue, Portland police. This is a tragic result of training White guilt Men in blue C lST U S NURSERY 22711 N W GILLIHAN ROAD SAUVIE ISLAND WED-SUN10-5 f \ o y <5 Experienced Hair Care Services by Appointment hom e would make the youth a top priority! Youth groups give hope to those who normally wouldn’t have it. Even if they use it as a social engagement, it helps with their acceptance with themselves. 1 am from Phoenix, Ariz., and was in and assisted for about 12 years with a group called VOIT, and it helped me understand homopho- bia, anger, sexual awareness and the pros and cons of coming out and not coming out. It is so important to have those issues shared. The young LG B T and questioning need people there to show them that it is all right, whatever they identify with. I am not familiar with the city enough to know where to put this center, hut I am willing to help in any way possible in getting it together. • • • T believe the ultimate Portland queer commu- L n ity center would focus its purpose on pro- viding a central point in which queer people of all ages can find nonprofit agencies and support groups that center around their personal needs and desires. Its second focus should he to gath- er the community to a central point and assist in legislation of equal rights for queer people, In general, it really should bring the queer community together and distribute helpful information. Downtown Portland is a beautiful place to have a queer community center. Why not just take over Stark Street? J J ae COURSEY im m y Y ohe Portland Portland • • • • • • DELIVERED Organic Produce l i i 1 8 i If Sopportlnf the community Supporting the earth (503)236-6496 O rgenK stoY ou.org ' Locally owned & operated Organics to You H O M F ^ n r i IvrR Y o r ORGANIC GOODS J ennifer L averdure Radical Women If you could create the ultim ate Portland queer community center, w hat would be its top priorities? Where would it be located? I (at Escapade in Hollywood) officers to he trigger happy and then unleashing them onto Portland’s streets. I disagree that James’ death was caused hy “had cops.” Officers demonstrate a pattern of . blatant disregard for the lives and rights of work ing people. When is the last time we heard about police “accidentally" strangling a West Hills resident or pepper-spraying one of Port land’s well-to-do? The fact is, the job of the men in blue is to bully and intimidate the have-nots while pro tecting large property owners and big business. The real corporate criminals, like Enron execu tives who stole retirement funds and created an energy crisis to Ixxist utility costs, or President Bush and crew, who slashed our social services and Constitution in the cause of war, get away with their lawless behavior and laugh all the way to the hank. Kendra James’ life was stolen, like so many before her, while the perpetrators are freed by a grand jury and the gtxxJ ole hoy system. Mayor Vera Katz and Chief Mark Knx.‘ker are not held" accountable for the policies that led to her shexiting. How is this justice? The officers involved, the chief and the mayor should all he indicted hy a grand jury. The only way we can begin to curb police abuse of power is to have public oversight of their actions. We, the taxpayers, should oversee police behavior through an elected civilian review hoard, independent of City Hall and the police bureau. The hoard should have the authority to discipline and fire officers. If the public has no control over the police, we should not fund them. Give their budgeted allotment to Portland Public Schcxdsand let the police hold hake sales and walkathons. S I events for others to get to know each other in a safe hut fun setting, venues to become active in our community, perhaps fun things like a hosted barbecue from a favorite gay-operated business and a place where everyone can have bin— i.e., mixed crowds so that it is not just for specific gender groups within our community. It is important for everyone to have a nice place to come to so we can start creating a circle of friends within our community. ALISON B enn Tigard t would he on the east side of the river away from the bars. It could he a pleasant improve- ment to the community there. It would have access to downtown yet he a major part in revi- talization of the PDX area. This would allow inexpensive bousing to help with rents and vol- unteenng. Thus would also allow cheaper park- ing for same. Congratulations, Portland. It’s about time. I might even move hack here and help if this area was selected. I have traveled the United States for three years in my RV, and I stop at many GBLT com munity centers. I also have volunteered at many and put in thousands of hours at those that offered free parking. Make this place a parking- friendly place near downtown and watch it flourish. If not, it will surely fail. Keep some dis tance from the bars. D a n ie l l e C la rke Hillsboro • • • he Portland queer community center should represent the values and culture of our G LB T community. That may seem like an obvious and simplistic statement, but we will see many hidden agendas as this idea moves for ward, and we always need to ask ourselves this basic question. The top priorities can he a moving target. It seems like a gallery that represents the current issues and historical perspective of our commu nity along with display space for our regional tal ent would he valuable. Northeast Broadway seems like a good loca tion for two reasons. First, Broadway has a uni versal identity to the G L B T community thnmghout this country, and it is nice to be linked to a greater consciousness. Second, there is a significant number of G LB T businesses and residences in both the Northeast and Southeast sections of town. Further evaluation o f affordable site options weighed with the qualities of the neighborhood is necessary. For instance, the east bank is moving toward a new industrial design center and might be a great location for our center. T D eb F rance Portland
