Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
MARISSA WILLIAMS
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MARCY ROSENBERG
Circulation Manager
JANNA HEIMGARTNER
Business Office Manager
MIKE JENSEN
Production Manager
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OUR VIEW
Pick your protest,
make it count
Never let anyone tell you protests
And yes, there are insurgents
don’t matter.
who try to capitalize on the illegal
From the French Revolution
aspect of protest, who try to twist
to Selma, and from the Malheur
the mob mentality. Protests require
Wildlife Refuge to Standing Rock,
extreme vigilance and dedication to
otherwise powerless people gain
stay on message, to keep everyone
influence when they join together to on the same page and to disavow
defy the government, corporations,
violence at every turn. How well
or the law of the land.
organizers and protesters can do that
Often this
often portends how
kind of statement
successful their
The anti-Trump
requires some
protest will be.
law-breaking.
Success is not
protests
in
Portland
It was the case
assured. In fact,
were mocked,
in the Boston
it’s often unlikely.
Tea Party, it was
The anti-Trump
infiltrated by a
the case in the
protests in Portland
violent element,
Nat Turner’s
were mocked,
Rebellion and
by a
and ultimately did infiltrated
in more recent
violent element,
cases, too.
no good except to and ultimately did
Protesters must
good except to
reiterate that many no
ask themselves if
reiterate that many
they are willing
people don’t like people don’t want
to break the
Donald Trump
Donald Trump.
law in order
to be the next
to stand up for
president.
their beliefs.
The thousands of
They must ask themselves if the
people at Standing Rock got at least
law in question is immoral or
a temporary win, and brought their
unconstitutional, or better yet both.
concerns to a much wider audience
They must ask themselves if they
who found their plight sympathetic
are willing to go to jail, willing to be and honorable.
kicked and punched and humiliated.
The people who occupied Wall
There is a line of thinking that
Street were unable to reach the
protesters are sitting on their rumps, politicians who had the power,
collecting welfare and waiting
despite months of media coverage.
for any micro-aggression to get
Nat Turner was hanged for his
bent out of shape about while the
violent rebellion 30 years before
rest of us working stiffs earn our
the Emancipation Proclamation was
paychecks. But living through the
signed.
blizzard in North Dakota right now
The Boston Tea Party spurred the
is anything but easy, as anyone who
creation of the most powerful nation
went outside their front door for
on Earth.
Maybe because this country was
more than a few minutes during this
week’s snow storm know. Likewise, conceived in protest, the Founding
Fathers made sure to protect the
there is nothing easy about heading
right to assembly and speech. It’s
toward John Day and seeing police
something we shouldn’t take for
lights in your rear view mirror.
granted, and we should always be
Black Lives Matter protesters
wary when peaceful protests are
have blocked streets and even
banned preemptively or shut down
highways, and similar tactics were
violently.
used by protesters against Donald
But it’s also not a right we should
Trump in Portland last month.
misuse. Potential protesters must go
Negatively affecting people’s lives
forth understanding the risks, their
is no way to engender support, but
organizers believe the problems they rights and what they are trying to
accomplish.
create bring light to their concerns.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of publisher
Kathryn Brown, managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, and opinion page editor Tim Trainor.
Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
YOUR VIEWS
Getting the lead out
Apparently the Pendleton Convention
Center has more than its share of lead
left behind by the Oregon National
Guard when the building was sold to
the city. With traces of lead found in our
older schools, perhaps it’s time to check
city hall, itself being a former junior
high school. During a recent visit to city
hall, I noticed a bottled water distributer
making a delivery. Evidently the water
there is unfit to drink.
Maybe it’s time to get the lead out
of city hall. Perhaps that would reverse
some of those cloudy decisions, such
as the planning commission requiring
a property owner to install an 18-foot
sidewalk out on Westgate in conjunction
with a property improvement project,
making it the only commercial property
in the area with a sidewalk. Is this an
example of that new “business friendly”
approach the city is striving for?
A friend recently approached the
planning office wishing to combine
two adjoining lots to construct an
additional shop/garage, which would
raise the assessed value of the vacant
lot. Though all survey pins are visible
from a previous survey, the planning
commission would require a resurvey
and hearing, roughly $4,000, before a
building permit could be purchased. The
property owner has decided not to build.
Is this how city leaders expect to raise
tax bases? Is it lead in the water eroding
all common sense?
Then there is speaking out.
Apparently that 30 minutes allowed by
the city council to citizens for speaking
out at meetings on issues has become
just too much for the council president
to handle, an inconvenience lengthening
meetings, and has become intolerable.
The simple solution is to ban the public
from the meetings altogether. After all, it
worked for Fidel.
How about that planning
commission! After months and months
of study, city hall can still not figure
out the difference between a stick built,
a manufactured, and a modular home.
The city manager says he can’t tell the
difference. Could be time for a trip to the
eye doctor.
Rick Rohde
Pendleton
LETTERS POLICY
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public
issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website.
The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns
about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of
private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include
the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not
be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to managing
editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email
editor@eastoregonian.com.
OTHER VIEWS
Identity politics and
an Oklahoma father’s loss
T
his fall I sat down in Tulsa,
job appealing to ALL who have been
Oklahoma, with a black pastor
left behind — but identity still matters
whose unarmed son, Terence
profoundly. The Crutchers have lost
Crutcher, had been shot dead on the
four young people, each in a way that
street by a white police officer.
statistically suggests a racial element.
The Rev. Joey Crutcher told me that
How can we discuss a way forward
Terence’s killing was just the latest
without acknowledging that race is an
loss his family had suffered. He had
issue here?
also lost a child to crib death years
The blunt truth is that America’s
Nicholas
ago, and another to cancer. In addition,
Kristof most egregious failures have often
his grandson had been shot dead while
involved identity, from slavery to
Comment
driving home from church in a gang
anti-Catholic riots, from the Chinese
hit that was a case of mistaken identity.
Exclusion Act to the internment of
Such heartbreak: Three children and a
Japanese-Americans, from unequal pay to
grandchild dead, each for a different reason.
acquiescence in domestic violence and sex
I’ve been thinking of the Crutchers because
trafficking. Ditto for the threats by President-
of the debate raging in the Democratic Party
elect Donald Trump to deport 11 million
about its future. One faction argues that
immigrants or to register Muslims.
the left became too focused on “identity
Yet Lilla and Sanders are right that identity
politics” — fighting for
sometimes has distracted
the rights of Muslims,
from the distress in
gays, blacks and Latinos
working-class white
but neglecting themes
America. Life expectancy
of economic justice
for blacks, Latinos and
that would appeal to
other groups has been
everyone, working-class
increasing; for middle-
whites in particular.
aged whites, it has been
Mark Lilla of
dropping. Likewise, the
Columbia University
race gap in education
helped spark the civil war
used to be greater than
with a provocative essay
the “class gap”; now the
in The New York Times
class gap is greater.
warning that “American
It’s also true that
liberalism has slipped
broad efforts to create
into a kind of moral
opportunity would help
panic about racial, gender
not only working-class
and sexual identity that
whites, but also working-
has distorted liberalism’s
class blacks, Latinos and
message and prevented
others.
it from becoming a
I once asked Bryan
AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
unifying force.”
The Rev. Joey Crutcher, left, the father Stevenson, the civil
Speaking in Boston, of Terence Crutcher, and his daughter rights lawyer, how to
wait in a hallway in the Tulsa County think of the class gap
Sen. Bernie Sanders
courthouse in September.
partly endorsed Lilla’s
versus the race gap, and
principle: “One of the
he joked that for the
struggles that you’re going to be seeing in the
many people caught in the criminal justice
Democratic Party is whether we go beyond
system who are both poor and black, “it’s like
identity politics. I think it’s a step forward in
having two kinds of cancer at the same time.”
America if you have an African-American
So do we really need to choose between
CEO of some major corporation. But you
identity and justice? Can’t we treat both cancers?
know what, if that guy is going to be shipping
In moving beyond that dichotomy, maybe
jobs out of this country, and exploiting his
we can find some inspiration from the Rev.
workers, it doesn’t mean a whole hell of a lot
Crutcher, who is truly something of a saint: He
whether he’s black or white or Latino.”
told me that he forgives the white officer who
Lilla and Sanders have a legitimate
shot his son and prays for her.
point, and it’s clear in retrospect that the
“Every night, my wife and I cry because
Democrats should have talked more about
we see our son with his hands up,” he said.
jobs and fairness for all. But Lilla and
But he added, speaking of the officer who shot
Sanders’s argument also collides with the
him: “She’s got people around her who are
basic truth that it’s not possible to have a
hurting, too. My heart goes out to her.”
serious conversation about justice, jobs
Crutcher is modeling the broadest possible
and opportunity in America without talking
inclusiveness. Yes, there’s a tension between
frankly about race, gender and ethnicity.
focusing on bigotry and highlighting jobs. Yes,
Consider the Crutcher family: Each of the
Democrats should more clearly emphasize
children’s deaths wasn’t exactly about race,
economic justice for all, including struggling
yet each was linked to it. Young black men
whites. But I hope that Democrats won’t
are disproportionately likely to be stopped by
needlessly squabble over whether to prioritize
police officers, and shot dead by them. Crib
identity or justice.
death and cancer both are more lethal among
Like Crutcher, we can reach for both.
African-Americans, because of disparities
■
in incomes and health care. And crime in
Nicholas Kristof has been a columnist for The
America disproportionately involves blacks,
New York Times since 2001. He grew up on a farm
as both victims and arrested perpetrators.
in Yamhill, Oregon, graduated from Harvard,
So, sure, Democrats sometimes go
studied law at Oxford University as a Rhodes
overboard with identity and can do a far better Scholar, and then studied Arabic in Cairo.