Street Roots • Nov. 18-24, 2016
E d it o r ia l
Page 3
Solidarity in the midst of uncertainty
he November election brought big wins
dismantling of funding to support affordable
for housing across the country. There
housing as a public infrastructure. There is
were 34 ballot measures for affordable
talk about the dismantling of things like
housing nationwide. Twenty-seven of them Medicaid, public housing and other programs
passed, including measures in both Portland
like food stamps. It’s a nightmare.
and Vancouver, Wash. Collectively, tens of
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Talk of
thousands of people will mass deportations, registering Muslims,
be housed as a result of abandoning climate change strategies and the
these measures.
deregulation of the banks. We haven’t even
O 1 » M W 11 B
Thank you t0 a11 of
mentioned education or foreign policy.
DESX C
the Portlanders who
Obviously, we are in uncharted waters when
supported Yes for
it comes to the future of our nation. Everyone
is grieving this election in different ways. For
By Israel Bayer
Affordable Homes. Your
v°te will help give
some, it’s protesting. For others, it’s
thousands of
withdrawing. Still for others, it’s organizing to
Portlanders a safe place
prepare for what’s to come.
to call home. More than 20 people at Street
Does anyone really know what’s to come?
Roots, including 10 vendors, put in countless
Not yet, but the simple fact that I’m having
hours of work to help pass the measure. We
conversations about what it would take to
also provided leadership and editorial content
actually create an underground network large
as well. Street Roots readers
enough in scale to protect
should be proud.
immigrants from mass
"O or com m nitlty
Saying that, all of us at the
deportation, especially in rural
and
country
are
in
Yes for Affordable Homes
America, makes me sick to my
need of courageous stomach. Some might say it’s
campaign feel like the player
who scored 50 points in Game
leaders, especially outlandish to think that we are
7, the biggest game of our lives,
at the local level. I t on the verge of such a reality. I
but failed to win the series. It
happen to think it’s outlandish
feels like a small victory against won't be easy."
that we must have the
the backdrop of a new
conversation in the first place.
administration that will no
National commentator and
doubt tear down everything we worked for on
political insider Van Jones said it best, “Hope
the affordable-housing front
for the best, prepare for the worst.”
In the context of the larger political climate
Our community and country are in need of
that we find ourselves in, all I can say is that
courageous leaders, especially at the local
we must continue to fight, dissent and work
level. It won’t be easy. If the choice is between
losing federal funding and standing up to
against hateful people and policies. I ’m less
injustices, we expect our elected leaders,
interested in unity at this point and more
nonprofits, churches, schools and others to do
interested in working toward justice. The
the right thing. To stand with the people,
tension in the world is thick.
regardless of what hardships it may bring.
In many ways, that tension feels a lot like
Street Roots fully understands the role we
9/11. We all felt the ground move beneath our
play locally in providing readers with quality
feet that day. We didn’t know what was to
journalism and the voices of the people. In
come, but we all knew it wouldn’t be good.
many ways, our coverage won’t change; it just
That’s the same feeling that many of us have
becomes that much more urgent We’ve
had for more than a week.
already worked to prioritize the voices of
The collective anxiety that our country is
immigrants and refugees, the poor, critical
sharing is real. Hundreds of hate crimes have
thinkers, policymakers and truth-tellers. We
been committed in the past week, influenced
will continue to do so.
by the election.
Lastly, to all of our friends who continue to
The new administration appears to be
live in fear because of the color of their skin
developing one of the scariest policy agendas
or where they were born or their gender or
our country has ever experienced. It’s
the person they choose to love, Street Roots
important to not normalize these realities. It’s
commits to standing up beside you no matter
not normal to have fringe, right-wing, racist
what comes in the days and years ahead. We
policy makers in the White House. We
are all in this together and we will use the
shouldn’t treat is as such.
power of the media to the best of our abilities
A reporter recently asked me what the new
to defend the rights of people, the press and
administration would mean for housing and
overall humanity. If they come for you, they
homeless services. My response was a
will have to come for us. In solidarity.
continuation of the past 40 years of
disinvestment in safety net programs and the
T
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him at
isruel@streetroots. org
o r follow him on
Twitter @israelbayer.
Time to split up the monopoly on judicial selection
I
that controls the judicial elections in our
state. If there were two State Bar
Associations and each had to present a
candidate for the different judgeships, the
people would have a choice. Splitting up the
present State Bar Association monopoly
would give our citizens a choice.
Presently members of the State Bar
Association are reluctant to sue a fellow
(f you would like
tc have
» m e th in g
that you've
\
written published
in our pages, or wouk
S ic to net involved as a
member of our repoding staff,
contact Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl at
■ 3-228-5657.joanne@streetroots.org.
We ask that all submissions include the
author's name and contact information.
if available.
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Swift
Volunteers
LETTERS
read the excellent article on the judicial
system problems in your Nov. 4-10 issue.
Whenever I get my ballot and look at the
positions for the different judges, I always
feel like I am looking (at) a ballot from the
Soviet Union. There is only one person to
vote for in 95 percent of the positions.
I feel the problem is that there is only
one State Bar Association; an old boys club
■ B in
Write
In
member even when he is incompetent
Having only one person to vote for isn’t an
election, it is an anointment
J. F. Macdonald
Oak Grove, Oregon
Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Anjali
Rafhore, Zoe Klingmann, Haven Herrin, Dan
Jones, Dennis Hogan, Tom Wright, Judy Taylor,
Karen Allen, Monica McKune, Susan Wolfe,
Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas Buell Jr., Jeanie
Lunsford, Yasmin Amirsoleymani, Jason Cohen,
Tom Ray, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Jon
Raymond, Hilary Smith, Diana Richardson,
Cherie Manning, Paul and Madeline Gefroh,
Mary Anne Joyce and Faye Powell.
If you're Interested in volunteering with Street
Roots, please submit a volunteer application at
streetroots.org/volunteer. Or you can call our
volunteer coordinator for more information at
503-228-5657.