letters
TO THE EDITOR
trying to ruin his reputation but they won’t
succeed; he has far too many people who
are behind him.
Over the years Sorenson has fought
hard to keep Eugene one of the most
progressive and green cities and this is the
thanks he gets. No wonder people are not
willing to serve on boards as they risk a
few misguided people going after them in
some trumped-up charges. I only hope that
Sorenson knows that there are people out
here that support him and would not want
him to step down, and that we will continue
to vote for him in upcoming elections.
Diane DeVillers
Eugene
TARGETING STRENGTHS
Pete Sorenson and Rob Handy hold
many open public hearings without
misusing public comment. They are open,
progressive environmentalists. It was
these qualities that were used in “an attack
on their strengths.” This technique is one
right-winger’s mean lie.
Because of their openness, legal action
against our Lane County commissioners
was an attack falsely claiming that they
operated a closed quorum.
R-G articles implied the funding for
the lawsuit came from timber corporate
interests. Perhaps they were the same
corporate interests who ignored the broad
community rejection of their polluting
biomass industry, and won an approval
that a true public hearing should have
denied. It appears that the closed quorum
suit was an attack paid for by corporate
polluters.
It was decided that the charge of a
closed quorum was not true. Strangely, the
court ruled against Handy and Sorenson
based on an unprecedented notion.
This “activist” judgment charged
the legal expenses not on the corporate
interests who allegedly fi nanced the suit
but on our two good commissioners. This
is an apparent win for people who hide
from the public against openness. Lane
County should appeal on behalf of good
government.
Jerry Smith
Eugene
COMMON VISION
I would like to think that the most active
citizens in this community have a similar
vision for Eugene, Lane County and all of
notes from the riverside
SANCTUARY STATE
CAUSA wants state legislators to
“know the story” (News Briefs, 2/10).
Here’s part of “the story” CAUSA does
NOT want them to know:
1) More than 200,000 Oregonians are
out of work but as many as 100,000 illegal
aliens are working in the state (per the
Pew Hispanic Center).
2) More than 75 percent of the meth and
other street drugs are brought into Oregon
by illegal aliens.
I will give CAUSA credit for scaring the
folks in Salem. Along with certain business
interests, unions and other open borders
supporters they’ve been able to quash all
meaningful efforts to address Oregon’s
status as a sanctuary state with the
exception of the Secure Driver’s License
Bill (SB 1080). The latter was passed only
because the Legislature had a Homeland
Security gun to its head.
Our legislators were elected to
represent Oregonians. Illegal aliens are
not Oregonians. If they want to become
Oregonians there is a way to do that legally,
after which they would be welcomed.
Jerry Ritter
Springfi eld
BY MARK HARRIS
Who’s Got
Your Back?
I am armed without weapons
T
Oregon as those elected leaders who are
supposed to be the most educated minds
in our state. However, on a weekly basis
that common vision doesn’t seem apparent
based on the shortsighted decisions of
these elected leaders.
Case in point is when elected leaders
receive recognition for accomplishments
that no one can readily distinguish from
business as usual.
I have not seen any great strides in
our metro area to clean our air, to lessen
our ecological footprint by voting against
new freeways, athlete temples, dirty
energy incinerators, and urban sprawl. I
do not know of any new truly ecologically
sustainable jobs created by increasing our
local food and energy security as well as
cleaning up our rivers and air.
Our elected leaders seem to be able
to ignore the few voices advocating for
ecological sanity and crisis preparedness.
The only way this will change is if the
average citizen speaks and stands boldly
behind their visions for the future of
Eugene, Lane County and Oregon.
Shannon Wilson
Eugene
he question of who “has your back” has
occupied me of late. You should of course
have your own back, if people around you are
incapable of doing so. When you keep your friends
close, and your adversaries closer, your opponents
instruct you about your vulnerabilities, optimally
allowing you to strengthen them in advance of an
encounter. The “what goes around comes around”
lessons of history are always useful as training. What
they did to my folks because of race, they’re doing to
ya’ll folks for the money.
Don’t count on the solidarity of the Pledge of
Allegiance — the loyalty isn’t to country, but to money.
Sometimes it’s clear the cavalry ain’t comin’ because
even if you pay their paycheck, they ain’t comin’
to rescue you, but the settlers. The We, in We The
People, and not You People. The Ju$t U$ in
Justice for All. While Natives include All
My Relations, the indigenous may not
possess the technology to shelter or
protect you,
Sensei says “We train, so we
don’t have to fi ght.” In martial arts
and social interaction the skill of
haragei allows you to nonverbally
perceive the truth of a situation,
and look behind what a person says,
to what they actually mean, without
revealing what your true feelings,
intentions, and skills are. Inner “Morpheus
— Afro-Samurai” advises me Death rides on my
left shoulder, advising that there are no ordinary
moments. Cultivate appreciation of the fragile
transitory blossom of the sunlight of a baby’s smile.
No home but spine’s base; no sword but MuShin
(empty mind).
In the wake of recent LCC events I created a
Facebook page most specifi cally for work at Lane.
I used a classic slave picture as my profi le picture.
His shirt is off, his back is to the camera, there is a
collage of bullwhip scars on his back, whether from
one beating or many no one can say. When asked
why I had such a “horrifi c” profi le picture, I
replied, “He’s saying the person who did
this is dead, without my lifting a fi nger. I
am armed without weapons. I’m still here,
and no one sees these scars who cannot
already see my pain.” If you have my
back you know what’s there without me
metaphorically taking the shirt off. You try
not to add to the scars. For example, if an
agency has “my” back, you already should
know what’s offensive about a white therapist
(from an ethnicity who’ve been traditional civil
rights allies) calling a black client a tar baby. You
should know Emmett Till actually happened and
I’m not making it up. A historically racist pickaninny
image with a bone in its hair and a watermelon on its
shoulder is not a “huggie,” and cannot be displayed in
my workplace without an artist’s context statement
as the law requires, however beloved your childhood
memories are of it. Such is life in Eugene; common
knowledge for some is common ignorance for others.
Who’s got your back? Train them.
Mark Harris is an instructor and substance abuse prevention coordinator at
LCC.
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EUGENE WEEKLY FEBRUARY 17, 2011 7