Street roots., December 11, 2015, Page 6, Image 6

Street
Vendors
Page 6
VENDOR PROFILE
Candlelight vigil
for sex workers
Brent B. Lusted
t 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 17 on
BY LEONORA KO
the south side of the Park Blocks in
STAFF W R ITE R
downtown Portland, a candlelight
ome of Brent B. Lusted’s most
vigil will be held to remember those who
cherished memories come from when
died from violence while working in the
he was 12 years old and living in
sex trade.
England.
The annual vigil, hosted by Sex
“I was born and raised in Salem,” Brent
Workers Outreach Coalition (SWOC) and
said. “(My dad) was a doctor, and he moved
Sex Workers Outreach Project Portland, is
our whole family to England for a year. We
one of more than 40 events worldwide
saw all these castles, old cathedrals and the
commemorating International Day td End
coast.”
Violence Against Sex Workers.
The family also skied in nearby Austria.
Sex workers face more violence in the
“I was raised skiing Mount Hood and
United States than anywhere else in the
Hoodoo,” Brent said. “We’d wake up in this
world. This year, 41 sex workers have
tiny town called Kitzbiihel, and the bells of
been murdered nationally - 17 were black
the church would start ringing. We’d pack
and 12 were trans women, according to
up and go up on the tram, and the view
data compiled by Sex Workers Outreach
from up there, it was magic.”
Project, USA.
The family continued to move throughout
Much of this violence is the result of
the United States, and Brent played several
sex trade criminalization, said Katlyn
school sports. In 12th grade was editor of
Tracy, an advocate at SWOC.
his high school newspaper.
The vigil is open to allies and to those
“Shortly after I graduated from high
wishing to remember a sex worker who
school in 1978,1 discovered cocaine,” Brent
has passed.
said, his voice faltering. “That controlled me
Hot chocolate, candles and hand
for thè next 20 years. That, drinking and I
warmers will be provided, and
had a little stint with heroin. So I went
participants are welcome to bring a
the wrong way,”
photograph and will be given the
Even so, Brent went tp college for
opportunity to share their memories.
a few years and assembled solar
“This day is about people we’ve lost,
water heaters for a living.
but it’s also about celebrating the lives of
He drove to Oregon but found no
sex workers while they’re still here,” Said
jobs and ended up homeless in Los
. Tracy.
Angeles.
The vigil will be followed by a
Brent eventually landed in court but
celebration of life at 6 p.m. at 209 SW
spoke
up for himself. He said he told
Fourth Ave., where attendees can enjoy
the judge: “I’m not a bad person. I
food and drink while getting raucous and
don’t go around thieying. 1 don’t hurt
planning a future free of violence and
anybody. I make my money to support
stigma.
my habit. Your honor, I just have
drug problem.” .
Answers to puzzles on page 15
The judge sent him to a
residential rehab program near Acton,
Calif.
, .
“It was a really good program, and I
a
S
never did illegal drugs after that,” Brent
said. “But I started drinking again six
months later. And I went into a another
decade of mess. It’s been a long road.
Along the way, Brent was sent to prison
for skipping parole.
“I ended up being the editor of the prison
newsletter,” he said. “I was in the library
every day, learning word processing on the
computer and putting together a biweekly
six-page, newsletter. I got’good at i t It was a
pretty neat job.”
The prison released Brent on Skid Row in
Los Angeles.
“I did better in that jail than after I got
out,” he said.
little changed until he
had a major heart attack in
front of a 7-Eleven. A
hospital put two stents
and a defibrillator in
Brent’s h eart He got
counseling and three
weeks’ housing to
recuperate, and he
reconnected with
family in Oregon.
Unfortunately, he is
homeless again.
“Drinking
has been my
major
o,
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downfall,” he said.
Brent said he tried to enter rehab
treatment in Portland but was refused
because of his heart condition.
He met an ally at Legacy Emanuel
Hospital, who worked with the CareOregon
Community Care Teams program. The
program seeks people who have higher
levels of hospital use that might be reduced
with a little help.
“I have a wonderful, wonderful social
worker named Becky Wilkinson, and she’s
on my side,” Brent said. “I’ve been to
almost every hospital in Portland. She’s
trying to line me up with some housing,
trying to get me off the street. She just has
a heart of gold.”
Brent enjoys selling Street Roots and
says it has inspired him to build on his
writing experience and to think about
a journalism degree.
“Street Roots keeps me busy, and
that keeps me out of trouble,” Brent
said. “Plus, having someplace to
come to, So I can clean up a little
bit, feel like part of a family, and
have some coffee. Yeah, I love
you guys.”