Page 6
October 5, 2016
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Voting is Vital, so is Protest and Dissent
Kaepernick,
Rapinoe and
the election
l eW C hurCh
As GOP nominee Donald
Trump makes inroads towards
occupying the Oval Office in this
fall’s campaign, those of us who
support Hillary and other women
candidates for office believe it is
vital to turn out to vote in Novem-
ber, but to also mobilize support
for dissenters like Colin Kaeper-
nick and Megan Rapinoe who
think our country is headed in the
wrong direction.
As Ron Daniels correctly as-
serts (Portland Observer, Sept.
21 issue) dissent is central in our
democracy to fight for civil rights
and for social justice.
A few years ago, as a senior
in high school in a conservative
southern California town, I chose
to “read the announcements” at
the beginning of our home room
class. Instead, I gave an impromp-
tu speech protesting our home
room teacher’s personal critique
of students at our school for not
turning out sufficiently for the
Marine Corps band, for not being
sufficiently patriotic, and not sup-
porting the Vietnam War.
Many of us felt that this was that
teacher’s First Amendment right
(even in our classroom at a public
school) but that we also had the
right to use the First Amendment.
by
In response to my five minute, an-
ti-war protest speech, our teacher
sent me to the school counseling
office. That councilor, a bit more
liberal than our teacher, agreed the
Vietnam War needed to be stopped
and suggested it was our teacher
who needed some counseling.
Today, Kaepernick has been
getting death threats for his pro-
testing the National Anthem at
sports games and for his support
of Black Lives Matter. Many of
us from Portland State Universi-
ty were happy to occupy Portland
City Hall last month and shout
“Black Lives Matter” outside the
office of mayor Charlie Hales.
Since Kaepernick began his
protest, other sports figures have
joined the campaign, includ-
ing former University of Port-
land women’s soccer star Megan
Rapinoe, now playing for Seattle.
Rapinoe stated that, as an out les-
bian and white person, she felt it
important to sit with him or take a
knee during the anthem in support
of Black Lives Matter.
Some older white gentlemen
who are low-income tenants that
we have been doing outreach to
at PSU (and who both support
Donald Trump for president in
November) have said that they
oppose Black Lives Matter -- that
“all lives matter.” But language
is a way to fight oppression, in-
cluding the murder by police of
unarmed African-Americans in
cities around the country (and Mr.
Zimmerman of Trayvon Martin).
Taking a knee or sitting during
the anthem is a form of speech,
protected by the First Amend-
ment. Donald Trump’s response
to Kaepernick’s protest, of course,
was to say he might “be more
comfortable in a different country
that is more to his liking.”
This is a classic and racist
dodge. But oppression, as Rapinoe
pointed out, targets many people.
Trump himself in fact has been
castigating journalists, Mexicans,
judges, black folks, immigrants,
Muslims, Hillary, and a host of
other people.
At Portland State, we were
saddened at the same time to see
that the pro-gun, pro-NRA lobby
burned in effigy our Democrat-
ic governor Kate Brown (who is
openly bisexual) because of her
excellent support of better gun
safety laws. Women, like other
minorities, are often targeted by
racist individuals; those Hillary
calls “the despicables.”
Here in Portland, a progressive,
activist woman and small business
owner, Chloe Eudaly, is now in a
November runoff in the election
against incumbent Steve Novick
for a seat on the Portland City
Council. So far, the opposition
to Eudaly’s insurgent, grassroots
campaign has been polite, but
is still showing signs of “the old
boys’ network.”
While former mayor Tom Potter
has endorsed Eudaly’s campaign,
which focuses on affordable hous-
ing for all and rent control now,
many current (white, male) pol-
iticians have endorsed Novick’s
reelection bid. The three Anglo
gentlemen also on City Council
(Charlie Hales, Dan Saltzman
and Nick Fish) have all endorsed
Novick. Notably, Amanda Fritz,
the only woman on city council,
has yet to endorse either candi-
date. If Eudaly wins that seat,
she will be the second woman on
our City Council and only the 8th
woman in 150 years to be elected
to the office.
Ben Franklin once said the
U.S. is “a democracy, if you can
keep it.” At the national level,
while it may be easy for some
to vote for Trump, or cast votes
that help Trump (the Greens, the
Libertarians) or to not vote at all
-- in our PSU activist coalition,
we believe that Hillary is the one
candidate this election who will
represent human rights and so-
cial justice, at home and abroad.
Trump, he has made clear, will
represent Trump.
Voting is vital, but as Colin
Kaepernick and Megan Rapinoe
are representing, so is dissent,
protesting and organizing against
inroads by those who seek to con-
trol, to exploit, to marginalize and
to demonize most of the people
who live on our small planet.
Lew Church is coordinator
of the PSU Progressive Student
Union and founding publisher/
editor of the PSU Rearguard and
PSU Agitator, activist papers on
the left.