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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 2016)
NEWS BY MEERAH POWELL A HISTORY OF ACTIVISM CALC to unveil social justice mural during Whiteaker Art Walk I n the Whiteaker neighborhood, threads of the Black Panther Party, Central American farm workers, LGBTQ+ community and the Black Lives Matter movement are taking shape in a mural that will be unveiled during the Friday, Aug. 26, White- aker Art Walk. “The mural’s theme is 50 years of social justice struggles,” says Jessilyn Brinkerhoff, the muralist leading a group of multiracial teens in designing and creating the artwork. The Community Alliance of Lane County came together in 1966 to take a stand against the Vietnam War. Today, CALC still stands for racial and social justice and is celebrating its 50th an- niversary by creating the new mural in the Whiteaker. “I gave us a layout and the structure of the design to work with,” Brinkerhoff says, and then she says the youth chose the content of the social justice themes and painted it together with Brinkerhoff. Not only does the mural engage young people in the community in art, the mural project also aims to teach a history of activism that’s not in school textbooks, says Marion Malcolm, the coordina- tor for the project. Malcolm is a consultant for CALC and has been working with the group since 1974. “They know who Martin Luther King Jr. is,” says Malcolm, but when asked to name other social justice leaders, the group of teens didn’t offer many other examples. Throughout the process of brainstorming and designing the mural, various community activists are leading workshops and giving presen- tations about social justice to the young students. For example, Brinkerhoff gave a presentation on the history of mu- ral painting, especially as it pertains to social justice and political art. The teens themselves come from different backgrounds. “We have around a dozen kids,” Malcolm says. The “majority are Latino and the others are white.” CALC worked to reach out to MEChA, a Latino, Hispanic and Chicano student organization, as well as other organizations to bring in teens. “They brought a lot of Latino students in from as far as Thurston to other parts of Lane County and made sure that they had a way to get here every day,” Brinkerhoff says. “We brought in a very mixed group and very intelligent, young leaders.” CALC unveils the mural at an open house during the Whiteaker Art Walk 5:30 to 7:30 pm Friday, Aug. 26, at CALC’s Peace and Justice Center, 458 Blair Blvd.; free to the public with speakers, live music and refreshments. • Native American activists have temporarily shut down the construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline. The North Dakota protest centers on a pipeline that would carry about half a million barrels of Bakken crude per day to Illinois where it would link with other pipelines to transport the oil to Gulf Coast refineries and terminals. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe says the 1,172 mile pipeline route threatens the tribe’s drinking water and would disturb sacred and cultural sites. Native peoples from across the country have traveled to the Midwest to join the ongoing protest. Lane County’s Sandra Shotridge, better known to many as Tlingit Ladie and seen around Eugene volunteering for political causes, is raising money to help fund travel for Shotridge and her son to help stand against the pipeline. Her GoFundMe is at gofundme.com/2k4qbzpw. read us online at eugeneweekly.com ROLE MODELS WANTED Looking for a fun job this school year? Come work and play with the Y! We are NOW HIRING for our After School Enrichment Programs, located at 12 sites throughout the Eugene 4J School District. Are you a GOOD fit for our TEAM? Full job descriptions and applications can be found online at www.eugeneymca.org/youth Eugene Family YMCA 541-686-9622 eugeneweekly.com • A ugust 25, 2016 9
