Street roots
O c t 24, 2014
3
iiC V .'À *
Vendor M arlon C rum p delivers a speech in fro n t o f more than 200 Street Roots supporters a t the Street Roots Family Breakfast after receiving the 2014 Vendor o f the Year award.
BY SARAH HANSELL
“ * '' y . ’ " <STAFF WRITER
When Marlon Crump is standing on his
turf in front of the Standard Insurance
building on SW 4th and Salmon with a stack
of Street Roots in his hands, even on a week
in between new papers,it seems like
everyone know^ who h e is.
Maybe it’s his contagious enthusiasm.
When I tell him his story is going in next
week, he bursts into excited laughter and
gives me a hug. Maybe it’s his pride in what
he does. He never wants to stop working for
Street Roots, Maybe his suit and he — which
he’s never missing —help. Whatever it is, on
: his turf, he’s a
community figure.
The staff in
Eistein Bros, where
he stops for a cup s.
of water before
starting, know his
name. His regulars, whom he prefers to call
supporters rather than customers, wave or
stop to shake his hand as they pass by. A
jogger shouts that he’ll be out of town for a
few weeks, just to let Marlon know.
This week is different than other
weeks. Marlon just won the Street Roots
Vendor of the Year Award, the highest
honor Street Roots bestows upon their
vendors. Marlon delivered a speech at the
breakfast, in front of more than 200 people,
that was more than inspiring.
After the award ceremony, Marlon hands ,
copies of the award to several of the
supporters who greet him at his turf, the
people who stood by his side all along.
Nancy Hales, wife of Mayor Charlie Hales, -•
comes by to congratulate him and buy a
paper. So do the Gefcohs, the parents of the
late Street Roots vendor Nicholas Gefroh, to
whom Marlon dedicated his poem, “Repping
with the ‘Roots.’”
Marlon has been with Street Roots .
since August 2011. He came from San
Francisco, where he did activism work and
community-based journalism. He has a
natural gift for writing, and learned from his
own experiences of privilege and power,
especially the police brutality incident he
survived 10 years ago.
Marlon came to Portland planning on
joining Street Roots, a publication he says,
“flips the script” of mainstream media, as a
Marlon Crump
; ,
vendor. He’s been with the paper ever
since, now living indoors after spending
several months on the streets.
S.H.: What do you think about your
approach to being a vendor has gotten you
such positive reactions from people?
Sarah Hansell: W hat’s the biggest way
Street Roots has impacted your life?
M.C.: Street Roots has so many readers
and so many supporters. That’s one of the
reasons they have a consistent community,
M a r lo n C r u m p :S o m a n y w o r d s to
because we’re always th e re w ith th e la te st
describe. I would just say in a’very
magnificent and monumental way.
S.H.: W hat specifically do you think that it’s
changed since coming to Portland, working at
Street Roots?
M.C.: Well to me, Street Roots put me in
touch with so many community members.
It’s not just for me making a living, but just
for the fact that I’m able to meet and greet .
so many people. I’ve been with Street Roots
the past three years. I’ve built very solid
community relationship with people, unlike
I’d ever anticipated.
S.H.: Wheri you were standing in front o f
the .crowd a t the Street Roots annual breakfast
about to give your Vendor o f the Year award
speech, what was going through your mind?
M.C.: Being acknowledged for being a
very important member of our community
is amazing. The turnout was far more than I
expected. I expected a lot of people to
come, but the turnout was like, wow. It went
beyond words.
S.H.: In your speech you talked about your
customers a little bit. How do your customers
inspire you?
M.C.: Well, ,1 want to say for the record, I
prefer to call them supporters. They inspire
me. They pretty much keep me going. They
basically have completed me as a person.
From-the time I started at Street Roots, the
acceptance level was just more than I
expected. To be accepted, and to have
people turn around and tell me I inspire
them somehow is special. There were
people there at the Street Roots Family
Breakfast that I have a very close
relationship with, kind of like almost on a
personal level, that I ’m really like family to
them now.
P H O TO S BY DI E G O
D IA Z
news. I feel lt’sonly fair if customers areT~'
buying a paper and contributing; they
should know the news. They have just been
so wonderful and loving. I try to devote as
much time as possible when I’m out there,
because they can really feel my energy and I
can feel theirs. They have really allowed me .
to have a significant positive impact in their,
lives for toe-better.
S.H.: W hat Would you say that Street Roots
means to you?
M.C.: It means toe world to me. The
breakfast itself, it was a moment where my
whole spiritual being
was totally I
completed. You could
jùst feel toe awesome "The moment X got on that
energy in the room. I
podium I felt the thunderous
mean, people
ovation. X mean just, like,
clapping. The
moment I got on the wow. I don't think anything
podium I felt that
could be a substitute lor that
thunderous ovation. I
very
moment/'
mean just, like, wow.
I don’t think anything
I
could be a substitute
for that very moment.
Being up bn that stage, on that podium
speaking, to get that positive reaction, it was
almost like you’re flying. It’s been the
greatest moment of my life, and I’ll always
hold that close in my heart.
; S.H.: When you found out you were going to
be Vendor o f the Year, what was your reaction?
M.C.: (laughter) Well, if I knew anything
about acrobatics, I’d probably be doing all
kinds of somersaults and backflips. When
Cole called me I wanted to scream at toe
top of my lungs, but I did not want to
disturb my neighbors.
See VENDOR OF THE YEAR, page 6
Thank you for giving a hand up in Portland and supporting your neighborhood vendor!