BY CARL SEGERSTROM
SETTING THE TERMS
AFTER CHARLOTTESVILLE
T H E ‘ H AT E I S N O T W E LC O M E
I N L A N E C O U N T Y’ M A R C H
K I C K E D O F F AT T H E
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
Eugene minority leaders rally and
send forceful message to community
P H O T O S BY M E E R A H P O W E L L
“T
his is a call to action to show that we will do
what’s necessary to protect our people,” said
Charlie Landeros, an organizer of Monday’s
“Hate Is Not Welcome in Lane County” rally.
Unlike events like the Women’s March and
rallies against President Trump’s Muslim ban, the march
and rally focused less on unity and more on standing apart
from white supremacy and in solidarity with marginalized
people.
“We’re setting the terms for what it means to be an
ally,” Landeros said of the Aug. 14 rally. He told EW there
is a pervasive and persistent “polite racism” that continues
in the community that must be called out.
“You can’t just claim to be an ally,” Landeros added.
“That’s on the terms of the people you claim to support.”
“This isn’t about what is comfortable,” said local la-
bor leader Phil Carrasco, another of the event’s organizers.
“White fragility isn’t going to save or change anybody.”
The rally and march were in response to the events at
Charlottesville last weekend where violent clashes broke
out between white supremacists and counter-protesters. At
the event a car that appears to have intentionally targeted
the protestors killed Heather Heyer and injured 19 oth-
ers. When she died her Facebook page bore the quote: “If
you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.”
While the Eugene event was peaceful — only one man
disrupted the marchers, waving a Trump-Pence campaign
sign — the tone of the event was not kumbaya.
Speakers challenged event-goers to move beyond ral-
lies and hashtags and to engage with members of their
community on an everyday basis. And the persistent and
often overlooked racism in Eugene was repeatedly called
out.
At the start of the march, organizers made a point to
direct alter-abled participants and families with children to
the front to set the pace. Participants ran the full spectrum
of age, gender identity, race, religion and ethnicity.
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A ugust 17, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com
Speaking to at least 500 people gathered at the Park
Blocks, Naomi Strawser, an Alaskan Tlingit Native, said
most people don’t know Eugene and Lane County’s racist
history. “The memories and practices of excluding people
of color remain,” she said. “The last sign that read no nig-
gers and no dogs in Lane County came down in the ’90s.”
Total participation in the rally and march has been esti-
mated to be as high as 1,500. The march extended through
at least four city blocks as it moved from the University of
Oregon’s EMU amphitheater to the Park Blocks.
“People of color know how dangerous this town is,”
Strawser said. “Known neo-Nazis live comfortably within
our boundaries, free to openly recruit, hate and target us.”
“Silence is consent,” she said.
Alex Aguilar is a senior at Gateways High School
and media coordinator for Citywide MEChA, a primarily
Latinx group educating youth leaders. He said that the rally
was about protecting people in Lane County and sending
a larger message nationwide. “After what we saw in Char-
lottesville, Virginia, it’s important that we step up in these
situations and not let it be normalized in a community here
in Oregon.”
Aguilar said that lately he’s been the object of racist
comments he hadn’t experienced before the rise of Trump.
“A lot of white supremacists are feeling more open about
it,” he said, “I feel like they think, ‘Well, since Trump is
my president I feel more protected.’”
“As a black man in Eugene, it’s very important I stand
up for my people,” said Nathan Jones, a native of Eugene
who was attending his first demonstration. “I’ve seen
things change in the past year or so.”
He said, “No matter your race, color or creed we need
to stand up together and stop this. We need to stand up to
fascism in this country.”
“This is a country built on immigration and we need to
keep it that way,” Jones said.
Speaking in front of the gathered demonstrators, Kris
Ray called on the crowd to engage in difficult conversa-
tions in the community and at home. “Take it back to the
dinner table, take it to the coffee shop, take it to the family
function, make everybody uncomfortable,” she said.
Joann Hoffman, who attended the event with her daugh-
ter and two of her daughter’s friends, said she tries to con-
tribute beyond rallies by making calls to lawmakers and
supporting causes like the ACLU and Anti-Defamation
League. “I feel like we’ve been doing it for years and
just when it feels like we’re moving forward in evolution
something like this happens,” Hoffman said.
According to organizers, the Lane County Defense Net-
work and Redneck Revolt provided security for the event
because some of the attendees and speakers weren’t com-
fortable with the idea of a police presence. Eugene police
did clear roads ahead of the march and kept watch from a
distance.
The Eugene Chapter of Democratic Socialists, the Grad-
uate Teaching Fellows Federation, Indivisible Eugene, 350
Eugene and CityWide MEChA were all represented at the
event. No local politicians or University of Oregon leaders
spoke or made public appearances at the rallies. ■