Street Roots • Feb. 23-March 1,2018
Finding our moral power
here is a woman in Old Town who
Labor Committee awarded Street Roots the
stores her mound of suitcases under
2018 Lucinda Tate Award “for faithful
a tarp and stays near it, almost as
reporting on moral issues affecting the
though she were sitting in a room and the people of Portland.” A labor organizer and a
walls themselves fell away. On warmer days,
community activist, Lucinda Tate was a
she paints bright
remarkable Portlander committed to equity
pages in her
and justice, and we are very proud to be
notebook - bold
honored by an award in her name. The
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strokes of blues and
journalists at Street Roots produce a weekly
D E S K
yellows and reds.
newspaper of the independence, integrity
When it snowed and
and courage under the leadership of
By Kaia Sand
she needed
Executive Editor Joanne Zuhl, who has sent
protection from the
at least 700 editions to the printer over the
cold in a shelter, she
past 15 years.
could not leave her
The Lucinda Tate Award - and the
possessions. Moving them was not easy, but
coalition of faith and labor leaders that
she was finally helped by a kind taxi driver
awarded it - makes me appreciate the
who lamented Portland’s expensive housing
Portland faith communities that wrap
and talked about how we need to help each
around Street Roots’ vendors. Right now we
other, all while she loaded suitcases and
have vendors at First Congregational United
bundles into the trunk.
Church of Christ Portland,
Others wandered around
First Unitarian Portland,
Old Town on those wintery
Grace Memorial Episcopal,
days - thick snowflakes
Having a vendor Rose City Park Presbyterian,
landing on duffel bags and
Saint David of Wales
at such a
backpacks, while they bided
community creates Episcopal, Westminster
time for severe weather
Presbyterian, Portland
shelters to open later in the
a regular
Mennonite, Waverly Heights
evening. A sound of winter
opportunity for
United Church of Christ,
weather in Old Town is the
people to buy
Bridgeport United Church of
sound of roller suitcases
Street
Roots,
but
it
Christ, First Congregational
dragging over ice ruts. Many
Hillsboro, Multnomah Friends
also means that
people have to work all day to
T
K a ia Sa n d is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach her at
kaia@streetroots. org.
Follow her on
Twitter @ m kaiasand
s e c u r e th e ir s le e p fo r th e
Page 3
O p in io n
m e a n in g fu l
Q u a k e r C o m m u n ity , C h r i s t
Church Portland and First
night, and if a person hangs
relationships
Church.
onto more than a suitcase of
develop, and that Christian
Having a vendor at such a
possessions in this world,
vendors are folded community creates a regular
mobility to get into a shelter is
into a supportive opportunity for people to buy
that much harder.
community.
Street Roots, but it also
Everything about being poor
means that meaningful
makes it harder; problems
relationships develop, and
compound upon problems. A
that vendors are folded into a
Street Roots vendor recently
supportive community.
began to talk to me about his
If you are part of a faith
health struggles, only to talk
community that might want to build such a
about fearing eviction, only to talk about
relationship, please reach out to our Vendor
weighing one bill against another, only to
Program Director, Cole Merkel, at cole@
talk about how that stress makes him
streetroots.org.
sicker.
People all over our city are ensnared in a
Organizers nationally - and locally - are
tangle of stress over housing insecurity,
taking up this idea of moral power by
isolated by numerous barriers and the
reigniting a Poor People’s Campaign, which
exhaustion of trying to overcome them.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. worked
Street Roots is about connection, about
on during the last months of his life. This
striving to be stronger through our support
movement shines light on the systemic
of each other, about fending off that
racism entwined with economic oppression,
isolation.
declaring that “people should not live in or
This is why I am inspired by the theme
die from poverty in the richest nation ever
that Portland Jobs with Justice promoted for
to exist. Blaming the poor and claiming that
its Faith Labor Justice breakfast at St.
the United States does not have an
Andrew’s Church last week: moral power.
abundance of resources to overcome
It’s an idea that I’ll be mulling over for
poverty are false narratives used to
some time, but one that seems
perpetuate economic exploitation, exclusion
extraordinarily important when we think
and deep inequality.” I look forward to the
about homelessness and poverty.
direction the revived Poor People’s
How do we overturn a sentiment that
Campaign takes.
money gives us worth? Most people know
After all, we cannot give up until we find
intuitively that this is wrong, but it is
the collective moral power to demand that
undeniable that this logic runs through
poor people are at the center - and not the
society in terms of the opportunities one
margins - of our conversations, our policies
does or does not have. For the poorest
and our sense of who we are as a
people, life’s edges are brutal.
community.
The Portland Jobs with Justice Faith
Write in
tn our pages,
Ike to get involved as a
503-228-5657; joanne@streetroots.org.
H submis
*
if available
Street Reets
2Ï1 NW Davis S t
Portland, OR 97209
503-228-5657
Fax:503-227-3117
www.news.streetroots.org
Hours: 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 7:30
a.m.-2 p.m. S a t and 7:30-1 p.m. Sun.
interested in advertising in Street Roots? Email
Staff
E xecu tive D ir e c to r Kaia Sand
E x ecu tive E d ito r Joanne Zuhl
joanne@streetroots.org
Vendor P ro g ra m D ire c to r Cole Merkel
cole@streetroots.org
Development Director And r& w Hogan
andrew@streetroots.org
S e n io r S t a f f R e p o r te r Em ily Green
O p e ra tio n s D ir e c to r Sarah Beecroft
P ro g ra m A s s is ta n t Caelin M iItko , Jesuit
V o lu n te e r
V e n d o r A s s is ta n t Scott Jackson, Alex
Gillow-Wiles
D e velo p m e n t A s s is ta n t Rosemary Wilson
E d ito ria l P ro d u c e r Monica Kwasnik
R e p o rte rs Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Emilly
Prado, Jared Paben, Amanda Waldroupe,
Thacher Schmid, DeVon Pouncey, Helen Hili
P h o to g ra p h e rs Diego Diaz, Arkady Brown,
Celeste Noche
C a n v a s s e r Desmond Hardison
Board of Directors
C h a irm a n Brad Taylor
V ic e -C h a irm a n Rachel Langford
T re a s u re r Heather Stadick
S e c re ta ry Dan Jones
D ire c to rs Michael Anderson, Sandra Hahn,
John Brown, Nels Johnson and Alison Hallett
Volunteers
Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Anjali Rathore,
Dennis Hogan, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas Buell Jr.,
Jason Cohen, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Jon
Raymond, Diana Richardson, Paul and Madeline
Gefroh, Mary Anne Joyce, Brooke Anderson, Gillian
Floren, Mark Oldani, Bianca Butler, Camber Hansen-
Karr, Miranda Woods, Henry Brannan, Helen Hill,
Mary Emerson, Brooke Anderson, Kathleen McFall,
Robb Hengerer, Maile Yeats-Rowe, Erin Parsons, Faye
Powell, Jon Raymond and Megan Pickerel-Winer. If
you're interested in volunteering with Street Roots,
please submit a volunteer application at streetroots.
org/volunteer. Or you can call for more information