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East Oregonian
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
King: Hermiston march honors legacy with call to get active
Continued from Page A1
Whitfield shared King’s
six principles of nonvio-
lence. Nonviolence is built
on love instead of hate, he
said, and “seeks to defeat
evil, not people.” It is also
built on the belief that the
universe is on the side of
justice.
“Nonviolence is not for
cowardly people,” he said.
“You have to be able to
know how to take it.”
He said King may be
commonly associated with
fighting for civil rights for
black Americans in partic-
ular, but what King was
really against was injustice
of all kinds.
Whitfield noted the
large number of chil-
dren and teens in the audi-
ence, and said he was glad
to see the next generation
coming out to honor King’s
legacy. John Witherspoon,
a Tri-Cities area performer,
also addressed the young
people in the audience
before performing two orig-
inal raps.
“Step out of your shell,”
he said, encouraging them
to stand up for what is right.
“Step out of that thing. Who
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A procession of marchers stops on the steps in front of city hall to sing the National Anthem on Monday for Martin Luther
King Jr. Day in Hermiston.
cares if someone makes fun
of you or calls you stupid?”
He told them that
things like video games or
scrolling endlessly through
Facebook were distractions
from “who you’re supposed
to be.”
Younger children in the
audience were also encour-
aged to do what is right,
as they listened to Jackie
Linton of Hermiston read
the children’s book “Let
the Children March” by
Monica
Clark-Robinson.
The book details the 1963
Birmingham
Children’s
Crusade, explaining how
young people stepped up
to march against segrega-
tion despite being met with
fire hoses, police dogs and
arrests.
The Martin Luther King
Jr. event, hosted by the
Hermiston Cultural Aware-
ness Club, began with a
short march through Herm-
iston’s downtown, including
a stop at city hall. There,
city manager Byron Smith
thanked participants for
doing their part to carry on
King’s legacy in Hermiston.
“Our community is rich
and vibrant because of you,
the people who are here,
the people who are trying
to make it a better place to
live,” he said.
He quoted from King’s
famous
letter
from
Birmingham Jail:
“Human progress never
rolls in on wheels of inev-
itability; it comes through
the tireless efforts of men
willing to be co workers
with God.”
Service: Day honors MLK’s
vision of a ‘beloved community’
Continued from Page A1
volunteers
upon
their
arrival, designating group
leaders and pointing to a
table heaping with paint,
drop cloths, rags, cleaning
fluid, buckets, rubber gloves
and other supplies. Most had
been donated by Zimmer-
man’s Hardware.
Like a football team in
a huddle, they broke and
beelined to their assign-
ments. Some headed to
the gallery to break down
shelving, repair nail holes
and put away Christmas
lights. Others wiped down
baseboards in the theater.
Sisters Jeanne Chris-
tensen and Donna Collins
worked in the ceramics
studio, named after their
mother, Alice Fossatti.
Fossatti, an artist, died in
2016 at age 102. Her daugh-
ters have helped clean the
studio for the past several
years on the day of service
as a tribute to her.
In 1994, Congress passed
the King Holiday and
Service Act, designating
the Martin Luther King Jr.
federal holiday as a national
day of service. Karen King,
who worked in the gallery
on Monday, appreciated the
chance to support the arts
center.
“It’s part of our commu-
nity,” she said. “A really
important part of our
community.”
Kay Bottorf, stacking
pedestals on a cart in the
East Oregonian Gallery,
said the day of service fits
well with MLK’s overall
message of unity and
helping one another.
“MLK was all about
service and supporting our
communities,” Bottorf said.
It isn’t difficult to find
MLK’s own words to back
up Bottorf’s statement.
“Life’s most persistent
and urgent question is,
‘What are you doing for
others?’” he once said.
Not everybody can be
famous,” he said on another
occasion,
“but
every-
body can be great, because
greatness is determined by
service.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0810.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Paegen Kang and Caitlin Pratuch clean paint brushes and other items in the Pendleton Center
for the Arts pottery studio during Monday’s National Day of Service. In the background, Ruth
Hall washes windows.
Walk: About 50 people ignored rainy skies to participate
Continued from Page A1
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Willa Wallace organized the
Solidarity Walk to focus on
unity.
them as they walked along
Main Street carrying signs.
Many used umbrellas to
ward off the rain. When
they hit Frazer Avenue, the
group crossed the street and
returned to the park. It was
a short, simple statement of
unity.
The walk took place a day
after women’s marches were
held around the country. The
Women’s March has recently
been mired in controversy
for lack of diversity and
accusations of anti-semitism.
Wallace said the Soli-
darity Walk was a sepa-
rate entity, focused on
finding common ground and
equality.
In the days leading up to
the walk, she described the
goal on Facebook.
“We may not agree on
everything, but I believe
there is an underlying hope
for the future which connects
us all, that is sacred,” she
wrote. “I would like the
message we send out through
this gesture to be a reflection
of a solid core community
foundation; a deep respect
Unions: Look to take advantage of Oregon
Democrat leadership, strong economy in 2019
Continued from Page A1
Local 555 gave Sen. Rob
Wagner, chair of the Senate
Education
Committee,
$5,000 in 2018, as did the
Oregon School Employees
Association.
With the Legislature
convening, union lobby-
ists will be a significant
presence.
Unger said her union
supports higher taxes for
businesses and wealthy indi-
viduals and legislation to
improve the cost of housing
and to help education.
Her primary focus during
the session, though, will
be the 30,000 caregivers
SEIU represents. She said
their work, often underpaid,
underappreciated and done
by women, can be vital to
rural economies.
“How do we create
systems to really lift up this
work?” she said. “It’s often
low-wage work, but it is at the
core of how families succeed,
and something we should
really value as a society.”
The union wants a
smoother regulatory way
for home workers to move
to jobs in other places, such
as a nursing home. She also
wants a central background
check system. Unger said
under the current system,
she has seen website adver-
tisements for jobs such as
coming into a home to bathe
an adult. That’s unregu-
lated, she said, and isn’t
safe for workers or clients.
The union also wants
to help renters, supporting
limits on rent increases.
Unger was pleased with the
election of Fagan and her
appointment to chair the
Senate housing committee.
“There needs to be a bold
action plan,” Unger said.
“How do we ensure people
do not lose their homes?”
SEIU is also pushing
for increased funding for
education, something at the
top of Oregon Education
Association’s agenda.
Over the past 30 years,
Oregon has cut programs
like career education,
art and physical educa-
tion while class sizes
ballooned and graduation
rates fell, according to an
emailed statement from
John Larson, president
of the Oregon Education
Association.
The union represents
45,000 workers, many of
whom have felt the impacts
of decades of education
spending cuts.
“Students deserve better,
and significantly increasing
school funding from pre-K
to higher education will
make a huge difference,” he
said.
Larson also rejected the
idea of cutting into retire-
ment funds as a way of
fixing the state’s public
pension deficit.
“Current
employees
are not the cause of the
state’s financial woes, and
further reductions to their
benefits will not solve the
problem,” Larson said. “We
must ensure all educators
have access to healthcare
benefits.”
for all life, gratitude for all
lessons, and healing, soli-
darity and balance. Repre-
senting
nothing
more
complicated than that, we
walk. Together.”
As the group trekked
through town, some passing
motorists honked in support.
Participants had varied
reasons for coming out
on this cold, wet Sunday
morning.
Jill Johnson, who walked
with her dog, Rascal, carried
a sign that said “No hate. No
fear. Everyone is welcome
here.”
“There’s a lot of really
good work to be done and it
helps to stand together to do
it,” Johnson said.
Josh Walker said he
simply had a need to do
something.
“If you are paying atten-
tion to what’s going on in
this country and are not
participating in democracy
in some way, then you are
not awake enough to be part
of the change that needs to
happen,” Walker said.
The march, he said, was
“about unity and coming
together.”
Colleen Sanders talked
about the tendency for polit-
ical action to be driven by
white, middle class values.
That doesn’t sit well with
Sanders.
“Solidarity is making sure
that the things we are doing
benefit everybody, not just
some subsection of people
who are able to be there,”
Sanders said. “We’re here to
make sure that the tide raises
all boats.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0810.
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