Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (May 27, 2016)
Street Roots • May 27-June 2, 2016 Page 13 Commentary Roy Pascoe: “If I wasn’t fighting for my life, I’d be fighting for the river” BY ERIN GOODLING Roy: We lived on the river for quite a while. It had its many challenges: the river goes up and down with the weather. We had oy Pascoe was born on July 31,1962, the rain to battle with, the snow; the police, and grew up mainly in Bremerton, the parks; our stuff being stolen. And then Wash. He fished, swam, sailed, and we found out a year or so ago that the river worked on the docks in Puget Sound. He is completely contaminated. There’s a lot of also worked in food service on naval ships pesticides, lead, mercury. I’ve fished out of and ssubmarines. In 1995, he moved to the these rivers, I’ve eaten out of these rivers. I St. Johns neighborhood, in Portland. Over just recently beat cancer; I don’t know that the years, Roy worked various jobs along it (getting cancer) wasn’t because of t h a t ... the Columbia and Willamette Rivers, There are a lot of cancer-causing agents that including his favorite job: operating a forklift are in these rivers. Once we found out that at Georgia Pacific, just north of downtown. the river was contaminated, we found it In 2010, he got laid off. When he could no more complicated. We had to move further longer afford his rent, he moved outside, away. And it made it harder because I knew down near the Hawthorne Bridge. I couldn’t fish and we couldn’t really eat out In 2014, Roy moved to Right 2 Dream Too. A few weeks later, he learned about the of the river. What I’d like to see is for eventually the Portland Harbor Community Coalition river to get cleaned up. And for people who, (PHCC) at a Right 2 Survive (R2S) meeting. in the past and in the present (polluted the Roy was a committed member of R2S and PHCC until he passed away on May 15, after river), to be held responsible for the contaminants. There are many companies, a year and a half-long fight with cancer. Roy manufacturers and corporations that I still is survived by his partner, Loretta Pascoe; don’t think are doing their part. (We need to his mother; and many beloved friends and hold them responsible) so that one day we’ll relatives. have a clean, safe place to call home along Roy spoke at length about his life and the Willamette River. activism in a film that PHCC produced in Excerpt from an interview with Roy, July 2, spring 2015, as well as in an interview with 2015: me, a fellow PHCC member, in summer Roy: Talking to other people, listening, 2015. Excerpts from both are below. going to the events has made a big Excerpt from “A People’s View of the difference in being able to learn and Portland Harbor” (www.ourfutureriver.org): C O N T R IB U T IN G W R ITER R P H O T O CO U R TES Y OF ERIN G O O D IN G By spring 2016, Roy’s illness forced him. to slow down. A month before he passed away, Roy said, “I f I wasn’t fighting for my life, I ’d be fighting for the river. ” understand just what the cleanup is about and who is involved. That surprised me how many different organizations are involved. We are all working together for the same thing. It reminded me a lot of home. I know just how polluted it is back in the Puget Sound area. We used to do fishing, boating, swimming - everything everybody does right here. ... [I was] homeless [after getting laid off], and I am [now] part of Right to Survive and Right 2 Dream Too. I lived out on the streets. There have been times in my life when people helped me, and I’m just giving back what I used to get. So many people that live along the river, they need help also. A lot of those people don’t even know what they are living in. There is just not enough communication and openness to educate everybody about what is going on. I’ve gone down to the river with other PHCC and R2S members to actually talk to people, do interviews with them, hand out pamphlets and stuff to help them understand the dangers of the river, the fish and the banks they are living on. People are living in contaminated soil, [and there’s] contamination in the fish they are eating. I’ve been up and down the river for miles. I know there are people living on boats, living in houses, everything they grow - it soaks up the river, children play there. Not only are houseless people (impacted), there’s also housed people. There are people that swim, there are people of all different cultures that fish that don’t know what they are eating. I like helping people. B S « S'S PLANET. LAUGHINGPLANET.COM >
