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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2014)
12 Street roots Nov. 21, 2014 Don’t be helpless. Exercise your free speech and give BY A N D Y KO struggle. While we have one of the m ost scientifically advanced m edical system s in utum n has always affected m e th e th e world, we still have millions of sam e way. T his tim e of year and its A m ericans w ith no health care coverage. fading light draw m e into a reflective While business g enerates enorm ous wealth m ood — let’s say an even m ore reflective for som e, we p erm it corporations to break mood. I think quite a lot about my family, faith w ith retired em ployees whom they . my friends, w hat has b e en good in th e year prom ised to su p p o rt in old age. T here are and w hat I could have w ished d iffere n t I m any o th er exam ples, bu t they always seem don’t becom e m orose, quite th e opposite. to be traceable back to th e gap betw een T his is a tim e of anticipation and hope for who has control of th e money. m e. I think about th e holidays, followed by a M ost people are aware, on som e level, fresh new year, projects, to begin both at th a t this is a problem . B ut people re a c t in hom e and a t w o r k ... fishing th e w inter different ways. Som e of us w rap ourselves steelhead run. But, m y thinking does in our; w ealth like a security blanket (it inevitably settle on th e contradictions in doesn’t take m uch) and go to sleep. O thers life. I’ll give you an example'. of us build a fortress out of o u r prosperity, O ur country endures as th e w ealthiest investing in political m ovem ents and and m ost powerful nation in th e world. And ideologies th a t fu rth e r prom ote thie idea of Am ericans, for all o ur m istakes, are personal w ealth as a virtue: th e outcom e of fundam entally honest, caring, generous o ur hard work and good judgm ent, o r the people. I truly believe that. But, w hat a hard w ork of o ur parents, grandparents or contradiction.we have great-grandparents. Both of th e se reactions, created! While m o st of I imagine, m ake it easie r to accept (o r us have m ore (at least support) attacks on poor undocum ented m aterially) than o ur w orkers, elim ination of safety n e t program s ancestors, an alarm ing . for underem ployed A m ericans, or num ber o f A m erican crim inalization of m any of th e things th a t m en, w om en and p oor people have always done, to survive. children te e te r on th e M aybe it also m akes it easier to accept th a t brink o f hom elessness, m onum ent to A m erican inequality; th e m alnourishm ent, system that, on any given day, holds roughly violence, a rre s t and im prisonm ent, health 2.2 million of u s in prisons and jails. crisis, addiction, family disintegration and We all know som ething is wrong, but political disenfranchisem ent. O thers of us th e re are precious few ideas w hat to do have m ore than we could need in 10 about i t I don’t have a lot of suggestions lifetimes. We have created a society th a t myself, b u t I do have one. How about tolerates, and often celebrates, th e accepting, ju st for a m o m e n t th a t m oney is enorm ous gap in th e way rich people and o ur power? No one, who I have heard, h a s poor people live ~ and for no good reason. said th a t m oney is love o r th a t billionaires T his contradiction of lasting (and possibly should get extra votes on E lection Day — not growing) poverty w ithin o ur w ealthy nation is a t th e cen ter of Am erica’s internal y e t B ut th e Suprem e C ourt of t h e U n ite d C O N TR IB UTIN G C O LU M N IS T » Andy Ko is the executive director at Partnership fo r Safety an d Justice. PSJ is a statewide, nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to m aking Oregon’s approach to crime a nd public safety more effective an d just. ac flu flu SAFETY and ■JUSTICE S tates has said th a t m oney sp e n t to express o ur individual will is constitutionally p rotected speech. S ta rt by “talking small. T h ere are an endless n um ber of ways to use your m oney — ju st a little of it — to help build th e community, state, nation — w orld th a t you w a n t And th e re are easy ways to do i t If you live in th e Portland m etropolitan a re a (and even if you don’t), you could get on th e In te rn e t to m ake a contribution to o n e of th e nonprofits in th e W illam ette W eek GiyelGuide. www.giveguide.org [Full disclosure: My organization, P artn ersh ip for Safety and Justice, is in th e re this year - b u t th e re are 135 o th e r organizations doing im portant work, so give to one o r m ore of them !] Or, if you’re a little m ore am bitious and w ant to expand your search outside of Oregon, you could get on a philanthropy w ebsite, like Philanthropedia, www. m yphilanthropedia.org. You also could go th e direct ro u te and ju st p u t a $10 bill into th e hand of som eone w ho seem s to need it. T here are a lot of g re at nonprofit groups doing im portant work, b u t you don’t n eed to m ake it complicated. Som e people reading this m ight think, “W hose life is $10 going to change?” I have an answ er for that, too. I t is going to change yours. T he sim ple act of moving th e w ealth th a t som e of us have been blessed w ith — by God, luck, h a rd work, w hatever you believe in — to th e “have nots” is proof th a t we are n o t helpless. S ta rt small, b u t m ake sure it is meaningful to you. Breaking down th e contradiction betw een w hat w e feel is im portant and o u r seem ing inability to affect change is th e first step toward finding answ ers to o ur problem s as a nation. I believe that. And, even if I’m wrong, it’s o n ly 10 b u c k s . A hike through time by Allison Strange Kristina Wright | Real Estate Agent Bellmoore Realty 503/4795764 Kristina^Portla ndHomeGal.com like a on Facebook @ Portland Home Gal • * . * e akncAMedge^ernsuketer with a designer's eye a professional photographer ard a response agent H Ai! wrapped into one I s ta rte d m y hike 29 years ago Oh, w hat a long hike it’s been I ’ve m et som e wonderful people ©n th e road of life Have been shown som e exciting m iracles I sit h e re on a break in m y hike of life And I think of all th e people I have m et I know som e have h u rt m e B ut both kind have helped m e along m y hike I se e kindness in strangers, R udeness in som e th a t are close to m e, And som e th a t take m e by surprise, B ut they all push m e along on m y path I know th a t som eday w hen m y hike is over, I’ll be rew arded By seeing th e ones again th a t have com pleted th e ir hike before m e. "BRIAN LINDSTROM’S AUEN BOY PACKS A HORRIFYING PUNCH: RITM ATE, TERRIBLE, & TRUE." -SHAW N LE V Y , THE OREGONIAN “AUEN BOY IS A TRIUMPH - AND AN EMOTIONAL BULLDOZER.“ - JOHN CHANDLER, PORTLAND MONTHLY GetConnected. Get Answers.
