Street roots., June 09, 2017, Page 7, Image 7

Street Roots • June 9-15, 2017
BROOKS, from page 5
to see major pushback around the time that
Obama was elected during the first term,
and then the second term. So you find that
some whites are feeling marginalized or
feeling like they’re being disenfranchised or
dispossessed of the country. So you find a
lot of working class or disenfranchised
white folks who think the country is being
taken over. So he’s probably picked up on a
lot of that rhetoric.
J.P.: So to ask about Trump, have his
positions actually helped to change m inds in a
horrible way an d create hate, or are they
sim ply emboldening the groups that are
already out there?
L.B.: We find that his rhetoric is
emboldening people and making it OK for
people to verbalize and act out what they
think. Then, of course, when you have the
president of the United States saying
“America first,” and “We’re going to build a
wall,” and “We’re going to have a Muslim
ban,” it kind of provides people with cover
to be able to say those same things
themselves.
J.P.: H ow would you describe the president’s
response to what happened here in Portland?
L.B.: Oh, it was awful. I think I read that
it took three days, four days. That was such
an awful tragedy; it should have been spoken
to right away. In fact, with the increase of
hate and bias incidents, we’ve long called on
him to speak out strongly against such acts
and call them what they are: un-American.
But he doesn’t seem to be able to do so.
There’s also criticism, which I would agree
with, that it seems that his staffers posted
that tweet on his POTUS account and not
his personal account. He has far more
followers on that personal account, so it
would have been a more important message
for him to denounce that hateful act from
that account, but he didn’t.
News
administration just let it go forward. We saw
the same thing happen at Berkeley. So, yeah,
it adds fuel to the fire, and it feeds their
mistaken notion that their free speech rights
are being impinged upon. We just have to
find a way to hold these events and depend
on law enforcement to keep them safe.
J.P.: W hat’s the adoption been like o f
Southern Poverty Law Center’s education
curriculum Teaching Tolerance here in the
Pacific Northwest? A n d could we do more to
teach it in schools?
L.B.: The Teaching Tolerance project
began in 1991 as a way to kind of inoculate
students against messages of hate. What
we’re wanting to do is provide educators
across the country with free resources so
that they can work with the students to
develop an appreciation for diversity before
they can become subjected to messages of
hate. We have an excellent following in the
Pacific Northwest and teachers across the
Pacific Northwest use our resources. We, of
course, want to see them in every single
school. After the election, we sent
resources to every school in the country.
We also sent our magazine to every school
in the country with the hope that they’ll
adopt and use our free resources.
J.P.: Are there any new strategies that
S P L C is considering, given this environment
that we’re in right now. New programs that
are being pondered?
L.B.: Well, we’re working on some
programming within Teaching Tolerance
that will help teachers be better at analyzing
digital messages and with developing some
fluency around digital literacy. We’re also
looking to educate them more about hate
groups and extremist views so that they’re
able to recognize any signs they see in their
students early on and intervene. So our
program strategy is the same, we’re just
developing different resources and
materials to meet the present needs.
J.P.: A fter this incident, our mayor in
Portland called on the federal government to
cancel a couple o f rallies that were going to be
held downtown on federal property. One was a
“M arch A gainst S h a ria ” an d the other was an
“alt-right,” free-speech rally. The General
Services Adm inistration declined not to revoke
those perm its. One o f the organizers canceled
the event anyway, the M arch A gainst Sharia.
The Am erican C iv il Liberties Union criticized
the mayor. What would S P L C ’s thoughts be on
J.P.: When you mentioned digital literacy,
it made me wonder i f fake news is a big part
o f how these groups spread.
moves like that?
J.P.: Since you guys have been tracking
these incidents fo r years around the country -
violent incidents - do you have any advice,
generally speaking, fo r Portlanders who are
grieving an d trying to figure out how to
respond to something like what ju st
happened?
L.B.: Well, the Southern Poverty Law
Center certainly supports free speech laws.
And no, it should not have been canceled. I
think the organizers of that anti-Shariah
event did the right thing by postponing it.
But, you know, we have to deal with hate by
finding a way to counter-protest these
gatherings. But to cancel it is not the
answer.
J.P.: Attem pting to block - or even
succeeding in blocking these rallies - what
does it do to the psychology o f extremists? Does
it embolden them? Does it dishearten them?
L.B.: Oh, it emboldens them. We had such
an event at Auburn. Richard Spencer, the
white supremacist, was supposed to speak at
Auburn University, and the university
administrators canceled the event. And that
certainly emboldened him and his
supporters, and it ended up being a much
larger thing than it would have been had the
Page 7
L.B.: Of course, of course. I don’t know if
that’s how they spread, but it’s how the
rhetoric spreads, right? The disinformation,
the lies that are kind of floating around as
to the danger of Muslims, the danger of
immigrants, this kind of disinformation is
what feeds people on the extreme right.
L.B.: Well, I think what happened in
Portland is kind of a testament to true
America and how we stand up for one
another. The gentleman who died, his dying
message being, “Tell everyone on the train
that I love them,” is a beautiful message for
all of us. We certainly don’t want to
encourage people to get in harm’s way, but
we also do want people to stand up against
hate. And if we do it together, united, we
have a great chance of pushing back. We
have to push back. We cannot allow hateful
violence and rhetoric to become
normalized. We need to marginalize people
who are espousing these beliefs and not
give them any credence.
P H O T O B Y K E N H A W K IN S
L a ila H ajoo is the director o f Islam ic Social Services o f Oregon.
Safety concerns rise among
Muslims, transit operators
BY ELIZABETH BUELOW
one month later, he would step onto the
train to harass two young women, one of
whom was wearing a hijab.
n Portland, like the rest of the nation,
“It’s not only dangerous to be a Muslim;
displays of hatred against Muslims is
it’s dangerous to be in a public spaces
on the rise. According to the Southern
Poverty Law Center, the number of anti- with a Muslim,” Hajoo said.
With protests organized by the
Muslim hate groups in the United States
grassroots anti-Muslim group ACT for
tripled in 2016, from 34 to 101. And the
America planned in 22 cities across the
FBI reported a 67 percent surge in
nation, Hajoo is deeply concerned for
attacks on Muslims in 2015, the latest
public safety.
data available, demonstrating levels not
“Minority groups are in jeopardy here,”
seen since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Hajoo said. “The spark has been ignited.
The killings of
How do we control the flames?”
Rick Best and
Fear among Hajoo’s community
Taliesin Myrddin
M in o r ity
members has reached the point that
Namkai-Meche
f re a p s are In
they’re advising female members not to
on May 26 on a
go anywhere alone, especially if they are
Jeopardy here
Portland MAX
wearing a hijab.
T he s p a rk has
train are the
“Public places don’t feel safe anymore,”
most recent acts
been Ignited»
she said.
of horrific
H ow d o we
The battle over safety in public spaces
violence in a
c o n tro l th e
is not new, but with the heightened level
country that is
of vitriol in Portland, the issue is creating
fla m e s ? "
on the edge. In
more urgency. And people are starting to
LASLA HAJOO, the wake of the
D IR E C T O R O F IS L A M IC
step up, from local shop owners creating
attack, which
S O C IA L S E R V IC E S O F
“You are safe here” posters and hanging
O REG O N
also severely
them in their windows to the Portland
injured Micah
Police Bureau offering extra patrols for
David-Cole
Muslims during Ramadan, which lasts
Fletcher, the Muslim community, already
until June 25, and working with local
cautious of public spaces, is fearful of
youth programs that provide safe spaces
things to come.
for young immigrants.
Safety concerns on public transport are
Portlanders rallied in strength on June
nothing new - for riders or for operators.
4, with counter demonstrators far
A June 10 rally that was organized to
outnumbering the crowd at a pro-Trump
oppose Sharia Law was moved to Seattle,
rally in Terry Schrunk Plaza, which was
but Laila Hajoo, director of Islamic Social
organized by white nationalists outside of
Services of Oregon State, or ISOS,
Portland.
remains concerned about the fallout. ISOS
Even if the flashpoints can be written
is a nonprofit charitable organization that
off as the bad actions of a few, they are
serves people in need.
what Hajoo and others are fearful of,
“It’s a trickle effect,” she said. “Things
especially considering that when
like this will be seen and can trigger
bystanders stood up to intervene, they
violence at mosques, buses, schools,
were met with violence.
everywhere.” Indeed, stabbing suspect
“People want to feel safe, and now they
Jeremy Joseph Christian had attended a
are shirking out of fear,” Hajoo said. “Now,
free-speech rally in April, where video
when people see harassment, they will
footage shows him draped in an American
remember those two gentlemen, and they
flag, performing Nazi salutes, shouting
racial slurs, venting about “safe spaces,”
See SAFETY, page 11
and threatening police officers. Almost
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
I