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JULY 20. 2007
northwest
Immigrant Rights,
Not Special Rights
Basic Rights Oregon draws a connection
to queer rights with a workshop
by West Duncan
gender minorities, it continues to bond the two
or years the queer community has heard,
“Equal rights are not special rights.” The
communities in the same struggle.
expression, sometimes in the form of a ral
“Each group can be attacked to gain a certain
ly cry, has been thrown around at Gay
platform, and now we can see how the far right is
Pride parades, national rallies for legalized
pitting us against each other. We’re vulnerable
same-sex marriage and adoption agencies.
because we’re kept in the margins,” Lee notes.
But haven’t you heard it somewhere else before?
“These attacks are nothing new politically.”
Basic Rights Oregon and Jessica Lee, the agency’s
BRO will use the interactive workshop to talk
youth field organizer, are bringing the old adage back
about the historical markers, current events and
with a new meaning. BRO hasn’t
let the familiar argument of equal
rights pass it by, especially as crucial
election deadlines approach. BRO
is hosting an interactive workshop
to educate attendees about the
symbiotic relationship that exists
between the sexual and gender
minorities community and immi
grants. The groups are united by
the discrimination they both face.
“Immigrant rights are at a high
point in the media lately, both
locally and nationally,” says Lee.
“This is a controversial issue that
creates conversation...we have
a lot of the same things in our
community.”
Gay rights supporters and Latino activists gathered April 10,
As seen in the Del Monte
2006, in Terry Schrunk Plaza for a rally protesting a strict
Fresh Produce food processing
immigration proposal passed by the U.S. House.
plant raid July 12 in North
Portland by U.S. Immigration and Customs
personal experiences that compose this complex
Enforcement, racial equality is raising some famil
issue. In an effort to spark a far-reaching discussion
iar questions about a threatened community’s place
about the fusion of black/white and gay/straight
in the city. The raid resulted in a roundup of 160
mentalities and their similar origins, BRO plans to
undocumented immigrant workers.
take this workshop statewide. Volunteers for the
These questions don’t come as much of a sur organization hope to continue pushing for change
prise. Up until the late 1940s, Stumptown earned
among the already progressive trends.
its reputation as “the most prejudiced [cityj in the
BRO acknowledges that this course doesn’t
country,” according to documents obtained by the
happen alone or overnight. Community members
Oregon Historical Society. In the 1920s, black
and groups such as Oregon’s Immigrants Rights
Oregonians were not allowed within the city lim- ; Coalition and Northwest Treeplanters and
its of Portland as one official form of segregation,
Farmworkers United have worked to take on
despite the fact that the population of African
immigration reform, bringing the issue of equal
Americans hovered at 20,000. The Ku Klux Klan
rights to the forefront. Gay rights groups such as
also called the Pittock Building in downtown
the Human Rights Campaign and Parents,
Portland home and operated rampantly within the
Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays echo
state. The group had little problems finding
this argument, making the inequities these two
members, as 90 percent of the state was white.
groups face hard to ignore.
The city has made progress.
BRO aims to continue championing for equal
Out of the 1.7 million folks in Multnomah
rights in Oregon by being proactive in calls to
County, whites top the scales at 75.5 percent, the
action and education workshops that will recall
black population exceeds the state average at 6.6 per earlier struggles for equality, whether they be slav
cent, Hispanics are at 6.8 percent, American Indians
ery or Stonewall. Lee says, “This is core in sharing
at 2.3 percent, Vietnamese at 2.0 percent, Chinese at
basic values."
Maybe equal rights really are special rights. ©
1.4 percent, Filipinos at 0.5 percent and Japanese at
F
0.5 percent. Out of these statistics, same-sex house- 1
holds are 0.8 percent lesbian and 0.6 percent gay. I The I mmigrant R ights W orkshop starts
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, these numbers
7 p.m. July 26 at Augustana Lutheran Church,
show an 8.9 percent population change since 2000.
2710 N.E. 14th Ave. To attend, contact
Once spread throughout Portland, minorities julieatbasicrights@gmail. com.
have been largely relegated to the Albina neigh
borhood since the '60s. With this area also being
Portland freelance writer WEST D uncan can be
the most densely populated area of sexual and
reached at westofaminorQyahoo.com.