• What to say about the debacle around the celebrations of Martin Luther
King Jr.’s birthday? On the one hand, same-sex marriages are indeed a civil
rights issue, and the invited speaker, the Rev. Walter Fauntroy, pursues active
discrimination against gays and lesbians of all ethnicities when he joins his
voice to the anti-same-sex marriage Alliance for Marriage group. We wonder
what Fauntroy says about Bayard Rustin, the civil rights leader, gay man and
close associate of King’s who helped bring the principles of Gandhian nonvio-
lence to King’s attention. But just as importantly, African-American voices have
nowhere near the media attention or participation in the structures of power in
Eugene that white lesbian and gay activists do. The first vote of the city’s
Human Rights Commission, taken without discussion with the committee that
invited Fauntroy (or, apparently, anyone who identifies as African American),
showed a bizarre and troubling lack of attention to input from members of the
black community. We’re glad that committee chair Carmen Urbina revisited the
issue with far more attention to race relations. But the entire discussion is
painful, which doesn’t make it less necessary. Race, class, gender, sexuality, his-
torical oppression and the active attempts of Karl Rove and his gang to divide
(and conquer) civil rights leaders — those are large issues, ones which we should
all work on understanding. Working to end all oppression: Now that’s a goal we
can support. But we’ll admit that we don’t know everything about these issues,
and we’d truly like to hear from a variety of community voices. In the meantime,
on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, we’ll listen to Fauntroy but remember the
contributions of LGBT people of color like Rustin, Pat Parker, Langston Hughes,
Audre Lorde and James Baldwin.
• Kitty Piercy’s State of the City address last week was a very upbeat affair,
and we give it an A for thoroughness (Kitty covered a broad range of issues), an
A for entertainment (those city staffers can really sing) and maybe a C for can-
dor (we’re nowhere close to being the greenest city in America). Good people,
good speeches, good food, good way to start the year.
• Suggestions for a nickname for the new courthouse have petered out. We’ve
pondered all the imaginative names and while some of them are clever as hell
(see this column last week and 12/21), most would not likely stick and become
commonly used. Our favorite name, “Starship Hogan,” has sticky qualities, and
in fact is already being used by some attorneys and courthouse staffers. Thanks
to Ralph Wombat for bringing it to our attention, and thanks to all who submit-
ted the great names that kept us giggling over the holidays.
• It makes sense that artists can catch the essence of a moment in history bet-
ter than the rest of us. Lawson Fusao Inada did that Monday in Salem at the
inauguration of Oregon’s 36th governor, Theodore R. Kulongoski. Inada is
Oregon’s poet laureate, a resident of Medford and a professor at Southern
Oregon University in Ashland. Here’s what he wrote for the splendid event
(especially splendid for the Democrats!). He called it “An Oregon Chorus”:
Hope, as we all know,
Is at home in our hearts.
We were born with hope,
And it was nurtured in us,
Lawson Fusao Inada
Opportunity, as we all know,
Must present itself to us.
Opportunity can offer
A chance for advancement.
Today, our hope is evident.
Today, opportunity beckons.
Let us proceed as partners
For the betterment of Oregon.
• Everybody who cares about what’s going on in Iraq needs to speak up now
as Bush prepares to escalate our military commitment and spend billions more
on a long-shot gamble. Get on the record with your representatives in Congress.
Hold their feet to the fire. Write a letter, send an email, make a call. Clearly state
your objections. The Democrats now “in control” of Congress are still vulnerable
to allowing the inertia of this idiotic campaign to plow through countless more
Iraqi and American lives. Only a massive public outcry will assure a quick with-
drawal from Iraq. And don’t let mainstream media fool you with the use of the
word “surge.” It’s an outrageous escalation.
• We heard from a credible source that the VA in Roseburg has been talking to
PeaceHealth about buying one or more of its older buildings at the Sacred
Heart campus on Hilyard. Turns out it was just a rumor, according to Brian
Terrett at PeaceHealth. “We don’t have an agreement with the VA, and actually
they haven’t talked to us about space at Hilyard,” he says. “At this point almost
all of the space at Hilyard is already spoken for, so it would be hard for us to
accommodate the VA if they wanted to be at Hilyard.”
SLANT includes short opinion pieces, observations and rumor-chasing notes compiled by the EW staff. Heard
any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor at 484-0519, editor@eugeneweekly.com
8 JANUARY 11, 2007
news
consciences’ about racial discrimination and
poverty in the United States and human rights
abuses in South Africa,” reads a statement
from Betty Snowden, one of the event’s organ-
izers.
Fauntroy was King’s personal envoy to
Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and also
chaired the board of the Martin Luther King Jr.
Center for Social Change. Today he is presi-
dent of the National Black Leadership
Roundtable, co-chair of the Sudan Campaign,
and head of the Millennium Villages Project, a
U.S.-based private sector effort to eliminate
extreme poverty in Africa by 2025.
But Fauntroy became controversial in re-
cent years when he signed on for a leading role
in support of a constitutional amendment to
Martin Luther King Jr. Day will be observed
ban gay marriage. The Alliance For Marriage
as a holiday in Lane County Monday, Jan. 15,
(AFM) included Fauntroy’s name and his link
and the event this year has taken on political and
to King on all its press releases in support of
social baggage due to the choice of the keynote
the constitutional amendment and amend-
speaker for the county’s celebration.
ments to state constitutions in Oregon and 10
Human rights activist Walter E. Fauntroy,
other states. Some gay rights activists
pastor of the New Bethel Baptist church in
accused Fauntroy of using King’s
Washington, D.C., will address the
legacy to shield those support-
theme “The Dream: How Far
ing discrimination against
Have We Come?” But the
gays from charges of bigotry.
preacher’s political activism
The anti-gay initiatives in
against gay marriage led some
swing states served to help
local gay rights activists to
re-elect Bush and other
call for a cancellation of
Republicans in 2004, politi-
Fauntroy’s appearance.
cal pundits said.
The issue came before the
Fauntroy will speak at the
Eugene
Human
Rights
celebration which begins at 6
Commission in December, which
pm Monday, Jan. 15 in the Morse
led to a vote to not support
Fauntroy’s appearance. The com- Walter E. Fauntroy Events Center at Northwest
Christian College, at the corner of
mission reversed itself Jan. 4 after
11th and Alder.
hearing from black community leaders sup-
The UO is co-sponsoring the Fauntroy talk
porting Fauntroy’s long history of fighting for
along with campus events continuing all
racial equality. The commission did go on
month. A unity celebration and candlelight
record expressing concern about the speaker’s
vigil are planned from 6 to 8 pm Tuesday, Jan.
stand on gay rights.
16 at Gerlinger Hall.
Councilor Bonny Bettman called for the
A documentary film about Hurricane
City Council to cancel the city’s financial sup-
Katrina will be shown from 6 to 8 pm
port and sponsorship of the Fauntroy speech,
Thursday, Jan. 18 at the Walnut Room, Erb
which she said contradicts the city’s anti-dis-
Memorial Union, followed by a discussion.
crimination code, but her Jan. 8 motion died
A free public talk by Angela Y. Davis, co-
for lack of a second.
founder of the National Alliance Against
Fauntroy was a personal friend of King’s
Racism and Political Oppression, will be from
and served 10 congressional terms represent-
1 to 3 pm Saturday, Jan. 20, Room 150,
ing Washington, D.C. He has “devoted his life
Columbia Hall. Davis will speak on “Radical
to applying the principles of nonviolent civil
Frameworks for Social Justice.”
disobedience to ‘raise consciousness and prick
briefs
DISPUTES
MARK MLK
HOLIDAY