4
Street ro o fslIB
Education * Dialogue * Independence
WEWSBB1EFS
Detroit workers, youths inarch in
protest of closings, layoffs
Detroit, Mich — Hundreds of poor and working ..
people gathered at the National People's Summit and
TentCityin downtown Detroit to put forward the
people's vision of a future'with guaranteed jobs and
income, universal health care, and housing and
utilities.-
More than 330 people registered for the four-day
event that started June 14, according to the report by
Workers World.
"They're goinq to regret the dosing of 14 plants;;
and the laying off of General Motors workers, .
because the workers are fighting back," said Frank
Hammer, a retired United Auto Workers International
representative and leader of the Autoworker.
Caravan, as he opened the rally after a militant,
demonstration outside the big-business summit.
More than 500 workers, includinq many from
around Michigan and Ohio,, marched in front of the
GM Renaissance Center, demanding jobs and human-
needs.
Marchers carried banners and signs demanding
jobs, health care, education, immigrant rights, jobs
for'youths, reproductive justice for women, an end to
foreclosures and evictions, and many other issues.
ACLU wants DoD to stop teaching
that protests are terrorism
If the government asked you to give an example
of low-level terrorism, would you answer "protests?"
| That's the correct answer on a test in anti-
terrorism training materials used by the Department-
of Defense.
• The American Civil Liberties Union wants the test
changed, calling it "an egregious insult to
constitutional values."
The ACLU has sent a letter to the department
asking that the materials be corrected immediately.
The Level 1 Antiterrorism Awareness training course
J^r^ n n u a U ra n in ^ e q u ire m e n U o ra lU D o b ^
^e^orTrieTTRanTTumflea^iRrougiT^TeS^aseS-
instruction.
"Teaching employees that dissent on issues of * 1
public concern is something to be feared, rather than
respected, is a dangerously counterproductive use of
scarce security resources, making us less safe and less
democratic,", said Michael German, ACLU National
Security Policy Counsel and former FBI special agent,
who cg-signed the letter with Brick.
CORRECTIONS
Street Roots strives for accuracy, but
we're human. So we also strive to correct
errors in our paper whenever possible.
Please report any errors to our managing
editor, Joanne Zuhl, at 503-228-5657, or
write in to joanne@streetroots.org.
Home away
from home
in Portland
BY ELIZABETH SCHWARTZ
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
T
ike a lot of us who have lived a while,
David Armitage wants to “go home.”
1 */He wants to go back to a time, place,
and relationships where life was easier.
Although he is from Portland originally,
David wants to return to his adopted village
in northern Greece. While he prepares to
return, he sells Street Roots newspapers
because, “it gives me something to do.”
David refuses to succumb to the kinds of
depression he sees in some other men who
just sit in their rooms and “do nothing.” He
reportedly only goes home at night to watch
a movie on televisipn and sleep. During the
day, he sells Street Roots at the back door
of Powell’s, then takes the streetcar to 23rd
and Lovejoy and spends most late
afternoons sitting in the shade of a tree
outside the Lovejoy Grocery store.' “I put
my newspaper on the table in front of me
where people can see them,” he told me.
“Then if someone says they want to buy a
paper, well, then they can.”
VENDOR PROFILE
David Armitage
David is a people watcher. He sees
students, working people who look stressed
Greek community together,” David says.
David wanted to talk to me about
panhandlers, but had to return to the
o u t, to u r ists, p o liticia n s, and traffic. L o ts o f
^ lb ie c t sev era l tim e s d uring o u r in te r v iew
"TraTficTSn3RroaiTragerTTe,w aS Iies^e*,™
<"
streetcar go by. He has learned to recognize
the streetchr drivers and the mechanics who
are called upon when something goes wrong
with the trolley. While he watches all this he
dreams of his friends and work in Greece
where he was the caretaker for a family that
owned an orchard outside of Thessalonica.
I commented to David that he seems to
have a slight accent when he talks. He said
that he’s been back in Portland for four and
a half years now, but he is stiU relearning
English,after 17 years speaking Greek. He
said it had been, and still is to a lesser .
extent, an extreme culture shock when he
came back. “I feel like a stranger in my
home town.” It helps to seek out community
with Greeks in Portland. He attends the
Greek Orthodox Church in LaurelhursL The
church does a good job of “keeping the
T he L eft C oast E isteimfod
d Welsh-American performing arts festival
21-22 August 2009
^ • 'S S Q
f i K
PHOTO BY ELIZABETH SCHWARTZ
S K
s.
because he found it difficult to express his
concerns about what is happening. Lots of
people tend to confuse Street Roots vendors
with panhandlers. But David draws a sharp
distinction between himself and the
panhandlers. “I have ID. I have a passport I
don’t do drugs. 1 don’t have a record.”
Selling Street Roots, says David, “keeps
me active and connected.” It even helped
him find housing.
’
‘
“I was camping for two and a half years. I
was selling Street Roots. A customer took
me to Central City Concern.” She put him
on a waiting list for housing. “Stop this
Camping,” she reportedly told him, “you’re
too old for i t ” He has had secure shelter
now for about two years. The current
economic situation may undermine that
security. David isconcerned that the money
that allows him to stay in his place might
dry up. He is 55 years old.
When he was much younger, David
bought a copy of the book “Europe on $5 a
Hay”-
It was a classic in the 1960s. I had a copy
of it myself when I traveled Europe during
my junior year in, college. He went to West
Berlin and worked in a factory with a lot Of
other “guest workers,” mostly Greeks and
Turks. He made good money, enough to
travel all over Western Europe between
work stints at the machine factory. The
wandering life got old and he settled down
in Greece at a time when the Greek
government had lenient policies regarding
immigrants.
The Berlin Wall fell in 1989. David said
that was the beginning of the end for him.
Economic refugees from Eastern Europe
flooded Greece and other parts of Europe.
With them came resentment against all
immigrants. Eventually he was deported
back to Portland. Selling Street Roots keeps
David’s mind occupied and off his troubles.
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STORY
WALES
Online Poetry, Short Story and Image
competitions, now till August 2009
Win $100 and International Acclaim - enter at
cimeflcyrnru,riing.corn
Winners announced at the live event at
the Crystal BallrooM 21 -22 August 2009
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