Street roots., February 03, 2017, Page 12, Image 12

oireei Moots •
Heb. 3-9, 2017
LOST WEEKEND, fro m page 12
nothing was easy to estimate. It was quite
obvious from Marc’s face that he was in
disbelief and utter shock of what became
of our supposedly fun weekend in Canada.
I texted my friends in Seattle who were
refugees from Iran currently with green
cards and we asked them if we could stay
with them for a night. Of course they
welcomed us with food and we were
comparing Trump with Ahmadinejad, the
former president of Iran who brought an
economical crisis upon the nation of Iran
due to his abrupt, ill advised and last-
minute decisions.
Ahmadinejad was well known for his
interest in having his word taken at
authority, and his Hollywood-like,
deranged hallucinations were a laughing
stock for us because we did not have the
grittiness to topple his towers after a huge
failure of the Green Movement during
which we lost many lives. We were
wondering if Americans as a nation in
solidarity were going to get deployed and
divide up into two or more parties.
We did not let any of the sad news
bother us. We watched a man on Fox
News crying because he drove all the way
to the LAX airport to pick up his brother
who had just gotten deported back to Iran.
We went out. We saw a wall covered with
chewing gum. Later, I received a message
on Facebook from my friend who was
granted a visa because of his extraordinary
abilities but he was denied entry. We drove
Commenta rv
to the Pike Place Market to see fishermen
play catch with dead fish. They had no
idea.
We fed the leftovers of our food that we
did not eat to the seagulls. Then I read
about my friend Mania who realized that
her sister did not get the chance of getting
on a plane and she was forced to go back
home. We went to see the water, and we
had an encounter with an old dog who was
welcome to sit at the bar in a very small
sports bar near Seattle’s Safeco Field.
All of it happened because President
Trump woke up on Friday and felt like he
needed to ban mé from coming back to
America. I am still the same person. I am
still the human that I was before leaving
Canada, the person who owes a student
loan to the government; the very person
who paid the art tax in Southwest Portland
to keep it nice and gorgeous.
But you are a new person, Mr.
President You were not the person that
you are now two weeks ago. The rest of
the world is still the same. So thank you
for granting us such an amazing weekend!
I put Marc on a cute little white bus
going back to Vancouver and I started
driving back to Portland. I was thinking if
the border control officer had asked me,
“Why are you wanting to go back to your
apartment in Portland?” I probably would
have said, “Sir, I have food in the fridge
and tiie laundry basket is full of dirty
laundry.”
ROGERS, fro m page 7
immigrant and refugees whose families
might be impacted. We aré working with an
incredible team of volunteer attorneys from
around the state, and our legal director,
Mat dos Santos, is tireless and deeply
committed.
We are only two weeks into this new
administration. It is. impossible to project
what we will be doing in the months to
come with any level of specificity. We are
ready to fight and we are coordinating with
allies on the ground to identify the most
important priorities and places where we
can have a high impact. We don’t have the
capacity to respond to every need, though.
This will be a marathon not a sprint We
will need to celebrate the victories along
the way and also practice high degrees of
self-care. Trump isn’t going away soon.
I also want to remind everyone that we
can’t get stuck entirely in a defensive
posture. In Oregon, there are areas where
we can actually advance civil rights and *
liberties and pass important reforms. Our
2017 legislative session just started. There
areujpportunities to pass important tenant
protections, advance housing stabilization,
and push back on tiie criminalization of
homelessness. We can advance smart
justice and pass a landmark bill to address
law enforcement profiling. There is so much
more to say about proactive work here in
Oregon. Perhaps that is a future
conversation we can have soon.
Page 13
unprecedented donations. Will any o f that
money donated to the National AC LU trickle
down to state chapters? Does the Oregon
chapter have enough attorneys given the
demand being placed on your office a t this
time?
D.R.: We have had an overwhelming and
humbling response from people around the
country. ACLU nationally has received a
tremendous amount of contributions since
the election. Although the numbers can
sometimes seem staggering, it actually
doesn’t go as far as you might think when
trying to build an effective 50-state strategy
over the next four years. We need more
capacity. We will continue to see a complex
deluge of attacks on civil rights and liberties
from Trump and likely from Congress.
Some of the national ACLU money will
undoubtedly move to state affiliates,
although there isn’t a full plan in place yet.
It is important to note that if you want to
support both national strategies and our
work here in Oregon, please contribute
through the ACLU of Oregon’s website.
That guarantees resources are invested
both locally and nationally.
As for volunteer attorneys and non-
attorneys, we have had an out-pouring of
new people reach out to volunteer. It is I '
absolutely heart-warming. It will take a little
bit of time before we have the capacity to
plug people in constructively. I hope
everyone will stay patient. I am encouraged
that we will be able to expand our case load
and reach.
E.G.: The National ACLU is reporting
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