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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (June 26, 2009)
IH ■ C ££.£B H IIT 1K G A » £ £ £ & £ 13 street roots Education * Dialogue* Independence Murnane Wharf, Marvin Ricks remembered with honors Michael M unk is an ' author and. a form er professor o f political science. He is the author o f “The Portland Red Guide," a guide to Portland's radical past. Marvin Ricks BY MICHAEL MUNK C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T here is sad news and good news for Portland and its waterfront Sad is that Marvin Ricks, the last surviving . Portland veteran of the great 1934 west coast dock strike died at age 97, Without the struggles of labor heroes like the young Brother Ricks, there would be no International Longshore & Warehouse Union. (ILWU) and no official memorial to one of its local leaders now threatened by the relocation of the Saturday Market. But good is the chance that the Memorial plaque honoring Francis J. Murnane above the floating wharf named for him will be replaced by the Portland Development Commission with the cooperation of Portland Parks. Richard Engeman, a member of the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission reports his efforts to restore the memorial seem to be succeeding, although a public for destruction. The wharf is named after announcement has not former ILWU Local 8 President Murnane been made. Officially and is Oregon’s only public monument to a sited by vote of the . union worker. City Council at the Brother Murnane worked tirelessly to foot of SW Ankeney advance the cause of working families, end Street just south of poverty,, and restore many of Portland’s the Burnside Bridge, treasured historical monuments for future the Murnane Wharf generations. These monuments include was either forgotten or ignored in the Pittock mansion, the Benson fountains, recent relocation of, the Saturday Market. Skidmore Fountain, the Campbell ..... The bronze plaque had disappeared. firefighter’s memorial, and many more. Replacement of the Murnane memorial We have petitions in our union halls for plaque would honor not only Murnane members arid friends to sign. It says: himself, but all the militant longshoremen ; “We ask that the Murnane wharf be like Marvin Ricks who built their union into 1 restored with a plaque to replace the orie a model for America’s workers. that is missing. If the wharf cannot be Street Roots first called attention to the restored, we ask that an equivalent Murnane Wharf scandal in itsMarch 20 monument in Portland be named in honor of edition. After The Oregonian picked up the Francis J. Murnane. We ask that any story a month later, Saturday Market’s Sue monument to Brother Murnane be as large Kenny said she hoped to organize an event as his personality, as beautiful and visible as supporting its restoration.' the monuments he saved for Portland, and ILWU Local 8 President Jeff Smith sent that it carries a plaque that contains the out an appeal on behalf of several Portland exact language as the original plaque that ILWU locals: was dedicated by the City in 1979.” Members of ILWU Locals 8 (Longshore), Commissioner Engeman- learned from 40 (Supercargoes & Clerks) and 92 city planner Dave Skilton that Portland (Walking Bosses and Foremen) are Parks believes the plaque ,was stolen prior concerned that the Francis J. Murnane to the market construction. In 1989, the memorial wharf, which was dedicated in Portland Development Cortunission spent Portland by Harry Bridges in 1979, is slated $500 to replace the original plaque and the ■ Repairs, Renovations & Sacred Spaces Invest in the infrastructure of your home! ♦ Older homes * Weatherization ♦ Energy conversion* Pre-sell/purchase upgrades * Raised garden beds & cloches * Sacred spaces ♦ D2T consultation for your projects ♦ Kitchen, Living & Bai.. ♦ In-house Office ♦ Deck ♦ Custom Work ♦ Garden “T am a licensed & bonded general contractor offering a full range o f services from simple repairs to artful renovations” ~ Michael DAngelo, G C www.Repairs-Renovations.com 503.869.7505 PDC appears ready to restore it again. Mayor Potter had begun such efforts before, he left office, but it would seem clear that the city is obligated to maintain its own memorials sucn as the Murnane Wharf. In the midst o£ these developments the last Portland veteran of the 1934 “Big Strike” died June 10 at age 97. Ricks was a young longshoreman who joined the strikers’ “riot squads’’ which discouraged .scahs from crossing union picket lines and fought the shippers’ vigilantes. He was the last survivor of over 1,000 Portland dockworkers who won their, demands in the historic strike 75 years ago. His death came Shortly before members and their families of the ILWU’s Columbia River District, which also includes Local 5 at Powell’s books, will gather at Oaks Park July 5 to commemorate “Bloody Thursday,” the day in 1934 when police killed two strikers in San Francisco. Ricks had been an annual speaker at that event, reminding today’s union members of the struggle that won them one of the nation’s most progressive unions. He would also tell them that Portland had its own “Bloody Wednesday” on July 12,1934 when police wounded four strikers while trying to force a train through picket lines at Terminal 4. The Murnane Wharf perched off the west bank o f the Willamette River.
