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