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July 31 Call to Action Against Racism and Fascism: Portland report
On the afternoon of Saturday, July 31st about 65 people converged in downtown Portland to participate in the Call to Action Against Racism and Fascism, a coordinated effort by anti-racists in North America and beyond. In Portland, anti-racists from Portland Anti-Racist Action, Sisters of the Road, Rose City Copwatch, and Bring the Ruckus along with others from the community came together to oppose bigotry and white supremacist organizing in their city. The crowd was addressed by speakers from Rose City Copwatch and the Center for New Community who spoke to the need to confront racism and bridge struggles against white supremacist violence. The crowd then energetically marched through the Old Town neighborhood chanting "No Nazis, No KKK, No Fascist USA!" The anti-racists marched to the home of Jeffrey Jay Thomas at the Sally McCracken Building. Thomas (AKA Skinhead J) is affiliated with Blood and Honour American Division--a neo-Nazi group--and has also been involved with National Socialist Movement. As a participant in these fascist groups, Thomas is organizing intimidation against people of color, Jewish people, sexual minorities, and others. The anti-racist demonstrators chanted outside his apartment, and handed flyers about him to folks in the neighborhood. After doing educational outreach and making their opposition to Nazi activity clear, the demonstrators dispersed.
The flyer distributed by the demonstrators is available at:
media.portland.indymedia.org/media/2010/07/400782.pdf
The Call to Action Action Against Racism and Fascism was circulated by a coalition of North American anti-racist organizations in response to a recent upsurge of fascist and white supremacist activity. In response to the election of Barack Obama fueling a sense of white displacement, the economic crisis, and other social disruption, bigots have stepped up their activity, scapegoating people of color, Jews, LGBTQ people, and immigrants for the suffering in our society. This activity recently resulted in an assassination attempt in Portland against a long time anti-racist activist by local neo-Nazis. The Call to Action was a result of outrage at racist intimidation and violence, and determination to struggle for a better world.
The action in Portland is part of an effort to prevent the re-emergence of a powerful and violent neo-Nazi/fascist movement. In the late 1980s and early 1990s Portland was a center of racist skinhead and other bigoted organizing. While groups like the Oregon Citizens Alliance worked through the legislature to strip LGBTQ people of their human rights, groups like Preservation of the White American Race and East Side White Pride were attacking queers and people of color in the streets. The violence culminated in the murder of Ethiopian immigrant Mulugeta Seraw by neo-Nazi skinheads. While the fascists and bigots had a strong presence in Portland, they were driven out by a powerful, grassroots anti-racist movement. As these forces once again try to move into the heart of the city, once again engaging in violence, anti-racists are organizing to stop them.
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What's this about an assassination attempt?
Shortly after midnight on Saturday, March 27, a man was brutally attacked in the heart of downtown Portland. His attacker shot him and left him lying in the street. He is currently fighting to overcome extensive injuries.
It is no secret that this man, Luke Querner, is a long-time anti-fascist activist. He has devoted over a decade of his life to opposing the most vicious elements of our city's white supremacist movement. Rose City Antifascists, the Portland chapter of the Anti-Racist Action Network, believe that the local neo-Nazis whom Luke has opposed for years attempted to murder him on Saturday morning.
Luke is proud to be an anti-racist skinhead. The true skinhead movement has always been anti-racist, tracing its origins to the cultural intersection of Jamaican immigrants and working class whites in England during the 1960s. After racists and the far-Right attempted to hijack the skinhead movement in the late 1970s and '80s, a movement known as SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP) emerged in 1987 to reaffirm the anti-racist roots of the subculture. As with many other anti-racist skins, Luke is deeply committed to racial equality and social justice. This commitment has caused Luke to be targeted in the past.
More here: http://antiracistaction.org/node/1578
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The victim of the attack- the anti-fascist organizer- is paralyzed from the waist down. Not sure if it's true- can't remember where I heard it.
"whatever they might make would never be the same as that world of dark streets and bright dreams"
http://youtu.be/g-PwIDYbDqI
