f L t
January 16, 2013
M a rtin L u th er K ing J r .
Page 35
2013 sp e c i a l eu i l ion
Prophet of the City’s Streets
c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 33
P o rtlan d , M u b arak becam e
m otivated to act. “ We need
help,” he recalls thinking, “We
need to help the hom eless.”
He began fighting for the
basic rights that all hum ans are
entitled to, w hether they can
afford to live in a house or not.
“These are hum ans here,” he
said. “W e w ant to be treated
like everybody else.”
M ubarak began to speak out
and educate. He started using
and fo o d . O nce they have
those, th ere’s no excuse not to
be productive.” W ith lim ited
reso u rce s, the o rg an iz atio n
helps people find w ork and
housing.
At least 30 people have found
housing in the last year, said
M ubarak, who has lived in
doors for two years now, but
spends many o f his days help
ing run the Right 2 Dream Too
cam p.
his life upside down. He fell
into isolation and drugs. He
lost touch with his fam ily, his
wife, his hom e, and his jo b
w orking as an A erosm ith tech
nician. “N obody could help
m e,” he said.
With no purpose or direction,
M ubarak says he threw darts at
cities pinned on a dartboard to
choose his next destination. In
each city he visited, he’d flood
businesses with his resume to
find work. His housing could not
be sustained, leaving him to pack
his few belongings and move to
the streets.
M ubarak trained him self to
depend on no one but him self.
H e sa v e d m o n e y u n til he
skipped on to the next city.
- Ibrahim Murbarak, a founder of Portland’s Right 2 Dream Too
E ventually, M ubarak landed
here and found a reason to the w ord houseless instead o f
“I see new people walking
stay.
hom eless.
on the stree ts d a ily ,” said
In Portland, a city M ubarak
“Saying we are w ithout a M ubarak, “They are afraid.”
calls “a hub for trav elers;” the hom e is like saying we are
People without housing and
street-savvy nom ad began lis w ithout a heart,” he said.
sq uatters are alw ays at the
tening to the problem s o f people
M ub arak started R ight 2 bottom , said M ubarak. “We
living on the streets.
Survive, an advocacy group to m ust carry a lot on our shoul
The hom eless were strug teach people w ithout housing ders. People look as the hom e
gling to get by w ith high rents, that they have constitutional less as failures. If y o u ’re not
overcrow ded shelters, and no and civil rights. From that, providing to the capitalistic
w here to legally sleep or camp. rose R ight 2 D ream Too, a system y o u ’re called a waste,
There were few , if any public perm anent cam p for the tem ste re o ty p e d as ra p ists, n o
toilets, or shelters that allow ed porarily houseless to live.
goods, and drug addicts.”
children.
U sing a vacant lot on the
“T h at’s not true,” he said,
“It costs $700 a m onth for co rn er o f N orthw est Fourth
M ubarak hopes to change
an apartm ent in Portland. W hat A venue and Burnside Street, the m inds of the houseless and
if you w ork at M cD onalds?” M ubarak and Right 2 Dream
said M ubarak. “Isn ’t it a hu Too volunteers provide food,
man right to relieve yourself?” and a warm , sheltered place to
he continued. “W here are you rest for up to 90 people a day.
going to go? You get caught In a year and 2 m onth span
F uneral
going outside three tim es and since its opening, m ore than
H ome
y o u ’re a reg istered sex o f 2 ,0 0 0 p e o p le h a v e b e e n
fen d er.”
served.
As w itness to the m istreat
“ P e o p le n ee d tw o b asic
m ent o f hom eless people in needs,” said M ubarak, “Sleep
those who have a hom e. The
A m erican D ream d o esn ’t pan
out for everyone; he said, but
e v e ry o n e h as th e rig h t to
dream .
“If you reach for the stars
and land on the m oon, y o u ’re
not a failure,” he said. “Just
because y o u ’re not in a house,
y o u ’re not a failure. Failure is
not seeing, low aim is.”
M ubarak is a resource for
the people w alking in the vi
cious circle o f the city. He
offers them a way out.
“H om elessness m ay not be
the place for you,” he says, “I
can show you a different way,
but you have to help you rself,”
he says. “Be better than your-
self. Do it for yourself.”
Albina Ministerial Allumée
C ity-Y\ ide Martin Luther King, Jr. Worship Service
People look as the homeless as
failures. I f you’re not providing to the
capitalistic system you ’re called a
waste, stereotyped as rapists, no
goods, and drug addicts.
Them e:
Remember! Celebrate! Act!
King’s Dream for Our World
Speaker: Dr. Yvette Alex Assensoh
I ice Presi(lent fo r Office o f Equity' and Inclusion, University o f Oregon
A CELEBRATION IN SONG. POETRY. DANCE AND WORD
When: Sunday, January 20,2013,5:30pm
Where: Maranatha Church
4222 N.E. 12th Ave
Portland, O r97211
(503)288-7241
Sponsor by: TbeA .M A ., the oldest mut largest M inisterial Alliance in North
and Northeast Portland.
T erry F amily
In Loving Memory
Helen Marie Lawson-Tanner
A memorial service for Helen Marie
Lawson-Tanner will be held Saturday,
Jan. 19 at 3 p.m. at Philadelphia Mission
ary Baptist Church, 238 N.E. Mason St.
She was bom May 29, 1924. Sunset
was Jan. 8,2013.
Survivors include her son, George W.
Brown; grandchildren, Lori Brown,
Yulonda Chapman, Cesario Chapman and
M arcel Roshto; great grandchildren,
Kiara Sanders and Christopher Hunt;
sister.Jean Blocker; brother, George W.
Lawson; and a host of nieces, nephews,
cousins, other relatives and friends.
You’re gone but never forgotten. We
miss and love you dearly!
2337 N. Williams Ave.
Portland, Or 97227
503-249-1788
We make the service personal,
You make the tribute personal.
Every tim e w e a r r a n g e a p e rso n a liz e d fu n e ra l service, w e take special p rid e g o in g
th e e x tra m ile. W ith o u r o n lin e M em o rial O b itu ary , n o w w e c a n d o even m ore.
F riends a n d fam ily c a n find o u t service in fo rm atio n , view photos, re a d o b itu a ry ,
o r d e r flo w ers a n d leave p e rso n a l m essages o f co n d o len ce s from an y w h e re , an y tim e.
Simply go to our website.
www.terryfamilyfuneralhome.com
“Dedicated to providing excellent service
and superior care o f your loved one ”
D w ight A. T erry
Oregon License CO-3644
A m y S. T erry
Oregon License FS-0395