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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 2019)
Page 10 M Artin l uther K ing J r . January 16, 2019 2019 special edition Arrested in the Fight for Civil Rights Rev. Michael Ellick (left), Rabbi Debra Kolodny, and Rev. Barbara Nixon were among the Oregon faith leaders who were willing to get arrested for a cause in a series of civil disobedi- ence actions against the federal Immigrant and Customs Enforcement office in Portland. C ontinueD froM p age 5 For your light bulbs & parts to repair or make fixtures Web: www.sunlanlighting.com E-mail: kay@sunlanlighting.com 3901 N. Mississippi Ave. Portland, OR 97227 503.281.0453 Fax 503.281.3408 er to be able to make that call.” Loose was a key organizer of the civil disobedience actions. Kolodny, along with Rev. Mi- chael Ellick and Rev. Barbara Nixon, would make up the first wave of faith leaders being arrest- ed, starting Aug. 6, in what the group called the August of Action. The demonstrators went up to the door of the ICE Office on South- west Macadam Avenue to deliver the letter, in person, to Godfrey. When there was no response, they linked arms with other demonstra- tors and blocked cars from being able to come or go. They then sat on the ground. Rev. Nixon, who serves First United Methodist Church in Cor- vallis, had put her body on the line with her colleagues, despite significant joint problems. “I was quietly hoping that if they were going to arrest us, that it would happen sooner rather than later because it’s pretty tough sitting on the ground that way,” she recalled. Within a matter of minutes, however, Homeland Security of- ficers asked the faith leaders to leave. They refused, three times, and made it clear that they knew their actions were illegal. The three were put in handcuffs by federal police officers. Reflecting on the use of such a public maneuver, Rev. Ellick, who previously lived in New York City for 18 years and was involved in the Occupy Wall Street protest in 2011, admits that getting arrested for a cause is not always effective. “Civil disobedience doesn’t al- ways make sense as a tactic. It’s a popular thing to do. It’s edgy. But we were really clear with our- selves this can’t be about cathar- sis,” he said. “In this instance, we felt helpless, frustrated, outraged and hurt by the country. And we narrowed in on a tactic.” Though Rev. Ellick, Rabbi Kolodny, and Rev. Nixon were de- tained for less than two hours, and not brought into a jail cell during that time, the attention it brought to the issue was a success. “It was symbolic pressure,” Rev. Ellick said. “And in our mind it, worked.” By the end of the month, 30 faith leaders associated with the movement had been arrested--one of them twice. After the first couple of weeks of arrests, ICE starting to release the asylum seekers, but by the trickle. By the end of Novem- ber, however, all 120 plus asylum seekers were out of the prison. Werner said it’s hard to predict what’s next for the faith leaders with today’s political climate. “We’re living in a time where a new policy could be handed down next month that’s even harsher or more inhumane, more unjust, than what we’re facing today. We’re finding great strength to keep pushing and to keep getting up and doing it even if next month might be harder,” he said. Sarah Loose credited the group’s achievements to many organizations coming together, in- cluding St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church in northeast Portland, which provides office space support, ACLU Oregon, In- novation Law Lab, and others. “We found our slice and went in there but the success of it as a whole was really because of that joint movement effort,” she said. If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward. --Martin Luther King, Jr.