Street Roots • Dec. 22-28, 2017
FAITH & JUSTICE, from page 10
talking about people who are resisting
occupation, and the story is that you don’t
escape occupation. You actually are within
it, and finding hope within it.”
Shuck compares the Christmas story to
Trump’s recent decision to declare
Jerusalem the capital of Israel and, more
locally, to gentrification in the Portland
metro area.
“What is it that the Palestinians do?”
Shuck said. The resistance is staying on
the land. There’s an aspect of when all the
forces are working against you, sometimes
staying on the land is what you got. And
that, I think, is a crucial part of resisting
oppression and inequality, is sometimes just
standing where you can until a tipping point
is reached, where change can happen.”
This Christmas story is only the
beginning of a tradition of resistance in
Bible stories concerning Jesus.
“Jesus was executed by the Roman
Empire for sedition, and he was legally
executed. So what does that mean? The
Empire executes your founder. Where does
that put you, in terms of empires? And it’s
certainly true that the United States is an
empire.”
Shuck sees many parallels between the
Roman Empire of Jesus’ time and the
United States of today, with military bases
all over the world in order to “secure
natural resources and political advantage,”
Shuck said.
So what responsibility, in Shuck’s view
and the view of his church, do Christians
have, in terms of oppression and resistance?
“I think we have an illusion about th e U.S.
as some kind of moral light on th e hill, and
the fact is our history shows otherwise, and
we’re not really honest with that. It’s built
on slavery, it’s built on genocide. Telling
those hard truths is an important part of
what the church should do in order for it to
reach the next step of being able to address
them, and move beyond them, and heal from
them, and make restitution for them.”
Southminster has been involved in
multiple social justice causes. They led the
charge to get LGBTQ folks included in
Presbyterian marriage vows, which passed
in 2015 - a movement close to Shuck’s own
heart.
News
“That was an attractive part to me (of
Southminster), because I personally have
been involved in that a long time,” Shuck
said as he turned around and pointed to a
framed wedding picture hanging in his
office. That s my daughter and her wife up
there. Actually, that marriage was illegal
from the Presbyterian standpoint. At that
time, the Presbyterian church hadn’t
allowed ministers to do that.”
Besides its advocacy for LGBTQ justice,
Southminster has also been involved in
interfaith dialogue, houselessness advocacy
and awareness, and politics. They host
events in partnership with the Muslim
mosque across the street as well as the
Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice.
They have done a pulpit exchange with
Maranatha Church, a majority African-
American church, hoping to build bridges in
order to work together against racism. They
have hosted different seminars, panels and
film viewings to raise awareness and build
connections with other communities.
Southminster has hosted homeless
advocates to speak, a trans* awareness
panel, and seminars on the “Political Jesus,”
among others. They also supported Measure
97, which would have removed the cap on
the corporate gross sales tax.
Shuck acknowledges that many other
churches do not have the commitment to
social justice or accepting views that
Southminster does. However, he has
boundless hope for people to change their
minds when it comes to issues like LGBTQ
justice and justice for houseless folks,
issues that he believes Jesus, were he living
today, would be fighting for.
“W h en p e o p le believ e th in g s ab o u t
others, I never regard th a t as perm anent,”
Shuck said. “I regard that as an opportunity;
we can all expand our thinking. I think
people have an amazing ability to change,
and I’ve just seen so many people be able to
change, and I believe that. But that doesn’t
mean that I’m Pollyanna about it, because
there are some people who won’t. And in
those cases, you’ve got to stand your
ground for what you think is right.”
* Aw asterisk is sometimes added to the term
“trans” to include not only trans men and trans
women but a broad spectrum of transgender,
nonbinary and gender nonconforming identities.
Page 11
TRIBAL LIAISON, from page 7
guess every other ethnicity except
Native.
I spent 10 years in Montana, I went
there for graduate school, and was over
there working for a handful of years. And
I was really excited to go to Montana,
because I have tribal connection there,
through my mom’s side, but also because
there is a clear presence of Native
people when you go into that space. And
for the first time I was somewhere where
people knew exactly - they look at me
and say ‘you’re Native’. And I liked that.
It made me feel good. It made me feel
visible, which I didn’t have here in the
city.
However, with that visibility - you look
at Montana and their demographics,
Native people are essentially the only
minority, or the major minority there in
the state - and with that comes that
more direct racism. Which is very
different than what I experienced as
racism here, in the Portland area.
S.Q.: Our region has become known for
the fishing wars. Could cities like Portland
play a more positive role in supporting
fishing rights and fish runs?
L.J.; There’s always that opportunity.
Every municipality has an opportunity to
support tribal fishing rights, and access.
I think when it comes to Portland, and
the hope for some of the work that I’ll
do, is that Portland is engaging with the
tribes when they need to be engaged in
genuine and meaningful tribal
consultation ... and making sure th a t th e
rivers are healthy, and that the fish is
healthy to eat, that the city is engaging
with the tribes in consultation, and being
supportive of tribes being able to access
and exercise their treaty rights.
S.Q.: Do cities also have an obligation to
this?
L.J. It’s a good question, and what I
appreciate about Portland creating my
position, is that they want to know what
their obligation is. That’s part of the
work that I will do in this role, is to lay
that out in a way that’s clear and
establishes the expectation.
What gets a little tricky is when tribal
nations are being engaged, it needs to be
government-to-government. And so the
question of what does that mean -
typically that means between the state
and the tribes. As government-to-
government. So how the city fits it, how
the city fits into that, is a city engaging in
tribal consultation in a way that respects
tribal sovereignty and government-to-
government protocols? So does that
mean that the city should go through the
state to the tribes? Or is it making an
agreement with tribes that it’s okay to
engage city-to-tribe? And so those are the
types of questions that I’ll help provide
some insight for.
S.Q.; The rent crisis has been hard for
everybody in Portland, especially low-
income people. Has it had a particular
impact on the Native community?
L.J.: I can speak to that anecdotally,
and through my own observation in
hearing from friends and family in the
community. It’s absolutely affecting
Native people - it seems to me that
more and more from the Native
community are being pushed out.
S.Q.: What are some other issues you’re
looking forward to working on?
L.J.: I’m excited to w ork in th e
community. This is a com m unity th a t I
care about a lot. And I know th a t Native
people in th e city of Portland have felt
overlooked, under-represented, and not
included. I’m looking forward to changing
that. I’m looking forward to making sure
that Native people from the community
and from the tribes have a seat at the
table, and that they’re invited when the
meal is being planned, not after it’s been
planned and served and they’re on
dessert.
I’m looking forward to helping my
colleagues and other bureaus learn more
about Native people in the area, and how
they can be more inclusive of the Native
community in the work that they do.
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