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M artin L uther K ing J r .
2017 special edition
January 11, 2017
St. Andrew Hosts MLK Service Alarmed by Trump
St. Andrew Parish in northeast
Portland invites the public to join
them for their annual Martin Lu-
ther King Jr. Mass and service
awards which will be celebrated
on Sunday, Jan. 15 from 9:30 a.m.
to 11.am.
Awards will be presented to
Catherine Bax and Ann Turner
of the Virginia Garcia Memori-
al Health Center, honoring their
work to provide health care to
underserved communities. The
awards honor leadership embody- King Jr.
Peace which uses non-violent
ing the racial and economic activ-
A community service award means to achieve its goals and
ism of the late Dr. Martin Luther will be presented to Veterans for advance world peace.
c onTinued froM P age 3
Civil Rights crusaders were sub-
jected to decades ago.
“I don’t want to sugarcoat
things. I do think that there is a
lot of reason for concern,” Jack-
son says, alluding to conversa-
tions with international friends
who believe that the United
States is sending alarming mes-
sages through its recent electoral
cycle.
She said the mass surveillance
by government in today’s environ-
ment to fight terrorism and other
criminal activities has the po-
tential to suppress protest move-
ments.
“Many of the activists who are
doing the work that they think
is necessary at this point in time
should be prepared for possible,
serious backlash,” Jackson says.
“During Dr. King’s time, there
certainly was a lot of surveillance
that was going on… Those indi-
viduals understood the ways that
surveillance could occur, and the
way in which those people who
were involved in that surveillance
might infiltrate those organiza-
tions.”
Activists must remain vigi-
lant for the possibility of infil-
tration within their ranks, she
warns, while also lamenting that
a changed attitude by the public
towards surveillance may rob the
public of understanding its gravi-
ty.
Though communities of color
are entering a period of uncertain-
ty under the incoming Trump ad-
ministration, Jackson believes that
collaboration between communi-
ty organizations can help galva-
nize and protect disenfranchised
groups. In addition, keeping a
positive public perception of or-
ganizations and communities can
be instrumental to their ability to
enact change, she says.
Jackson says that many in Port-
land’s protest community have
clearly communicated their goals
and kept their public image posi-
tive. She cites Portland as an ex-
ample of a city in which, “There
are groups that understand the im-
portance of collaborative efforts. I
think that that will become more
and more important.”
She says while, “Dr. King cer-
tainly had ideas about the promise
of the future… That we would
be judged by the content of our
character, and not the color of our
skin,” the 2016 election cycle
showed this is not yet the case.
“We’re not really a society
where people are being seen as
equals, and that becomes extreme-
ly problematic to solve,” she says.
Jackson, who earned her Ph.D.
in sociology from the University
of California, says PSU’s Black
Studies Department was founded
out of what had formerly been the
college’s Center for Black Studies
in 1969, and has grown to an inter-
disciplinary school with appeal to
a diverse array of students.
“I think we have the same pur-
pose that we had when we initially
started. And that is to educate and
to serve the community,” Jackson
says.