Moreau Center Social Justice Programs

Tyler

Resistance, Reclamation and Rest

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Day 13 called for caffeine. Our morning began with a walk around one of Chicago’s neighborhoods that’s rich with Latinx culture, Pilsen. We stopped at a local coffeeshop in the community and set off for a walking mural tour. Pilsen is adorned with murals that represent the various stories in the community from the journey of immigration, the stories from youth in Chicago, the influence of prominent Latinx figures, the tragic outcomes of police violence, and the complexity and simplicity of everyday life in Pilsen. We paired up with our journey partners and were able to reflect on the feelings and emotions invoked in the murals and how art was being used to tell the stories unique to this neighborhood.  

Throughout the immersion, we have viewed murals as a form of resistance and reclamation. As taking up physical space in a place, they can send a significant message that the power is still in the people who are from and live in that community. From Detroit to Chicago, art has been used as a method of sharing a story that might otherwise have been forgotten and sending a distinct and powerful message that “we are still here”.  

Following our mural tour, we went off to Montrose Beach to each lunch and refresh before heading off for the rest of the busy day. Throughout our immersion trip, we have learned that rest is resistance. Taking a quick break to refuel before engaging with content and community organizations has helped us stay intention throughout our trip.  At Montrose Beach we all ate sandwiches with the view of Lake Michigan, even explored the beach, read, and soaked in some sunshine knowing that us Portlanders only get that so often.  

As the day continued we headed off to Center on Halsted where we got a tour of their space and a better understanding of the services they offer. Center on Halsted is a community center dedicated to supporting the LGBTQ+ people of Chicago through programs and services that advance the well-being, health, and safety of LGBTQ+ folks. We learned about a variety of services from their free HIV testing center, volleyball open gym, a seven week culinary class and certificate program, therapy, youth programming, performances and more. 

After five days connecting with the Inner-City Muslim Action Network’s staff and community, we got to have a goodbye dinner with a few members of their staff that we’ve gotten to know during our time here – Ahmad from Community Organizing, Ariya from the Ceramics Studio and Saleem from the Communications team.  

-Taylor Sipila

A Nice First Day

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              E-MERSE! As co-coordinators we (Bella and Christopher) are here to write about the group’s first day of the Community Organizing and Resistance Immersion. Today we visited another college campus, Detroit Mercy. We met with their Titan Equity Nourish Network (TENN). TENN works with the neighborhood around the college to connect students to community members through food deliveries right to the door of neighbors. They are attempting to get rid of the barriers between the two communities and form one community in the neighborhood. As a group we experienced and reflected how community organizing can look on a college campus and the differences apparent between Detroit Mercy and UP and how we can bring those differences to UP. Today helped the group analyze how different food related programs are not simple because of the many different social and institutional structures that may either limit or enhance programs.

CORE Immersion participants with staff from the University of Detroit Mercy’s Titan Equity Nourish Network (TENN)

              We also visited a Museum! We went to the Detroit Historical Museum to get a glimpse of Detroit’s history. We started off by learning about how colonialization affected Indigenous peoples and moved into the development of Detroit’s industrial sectors through time. A big focus though was the Summer of 67 exhibit (focused on the Detroit Rebellion/1967 Detroit Riot), which was able to show how one perspective of a narrative can distort other’s perspectives based on who was sharing that narrative. This connects to the learning goals we came up with as co-coordinators and being able to recognize how history is told and how that influences today’s circumstances. We hope that the group can utilize the museum in how it shows different ways the history of Detroit is told and that they can connect that to their experiences on immersion.

-Bella Metcalf and Christopher Karo

Hope and Change Through Action

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3/9/23

We started our last full day in Tucson by heading to Southside Presbyterian Church to listen to a presentation about sanctuary movements in the United States. We were given some history of the sanctuary movement in the 1980s, which was started after many people from El Salvador and Guatemala fled their country due to their repressive government. Many churches like ones in Nogales, Mexico & Arizona, and others near the southwest border provided support for those at risk for deportation just like Southside Presbyterian Church. These churches networked and united by lending hands to those in need by providing shelter, food, legal assistance, and other support they needed. We learned about how the U.S. enacted a law that allowed people fleeing to qualify for asylum status, but they failed to comply to their own law and deported many back to their country. Many churches that offered sanctuary were threatened, which pushed some churches to go public by inviting the media, so the victims at risk of deportation could tell their story. These sanctuary churches were safe havens for many needing assistance, in which the US failed to do. Today, there are over 100 places of worship in the U.S. declared as public or private sanctuaries dedicated to help those at risk of deportation. Not to mention, there was universities, states, and cities dedicated as sanctuaries too. This presentation showed us how people can come together in the face of adversity. 

The outside of Southside Presbyterian Church

We headed back to BorderLinks after the Sanctuary Coalition. The next two things in the itinerary were the Solidarity Workshop and Action Planning. We discussed with Josue how to stand in solidarity with people who have different struggles than we do. We also talked how this immersion can be more than just the week we spent in Arizona. This past week, we have been overwhelmed by a wide array of emotions, and it may be easy to feel hopeless against a system that deprives the lives of people that it so depends on. It is through consistent action and having conversations that challenge the status quo that we can hope to change how things are. We spent the last week immersing ourselves in the Tucson community by listening and having conversations with people whose life experiences were different than ours. I am grateful to have been part of this immersion, it has allowed me to experience the Tucson community with the people who call it home. Being the last full day, Josue had one more thing to show us.  

Near the end of the day on Thursday, we all got in the van and our delegation leader, Josue, drove us to one of his favorite spots in Tucson called Gates Pass. We drove up a winding road that brought us into the hills above the city. The hills were covered in Saguaro Cacti. We got out in a small parking lot that looked out over the desert in front of us . Josue told us that his favorite viewpoint was on a hilltop to the left of the parking lot. We followed him up a steep trail until we reached to the top. The view from there was incredible. You could see in all 360 degrees across the desert and back to Tucson below us. We spent quite a while at the top, taking pictures and joking around. Eventually, the sun started to set and the hills turned orange around us. It was a perfect way to wrap up the immersion together and enjoy the natural beauty of Arizona. 

-Yongxin Lin, Eduardo Gonon, and Benjamin Spillman 

Have Compassion

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3/8/23

As part of our activities today we had a DACAmented voices in health care presentation, where we discussed the additional barriers presented to non-U.S. citizens in the U.S. There were several things that stuck out to me. One of them was the pressure many feel to push aside any health concerns, often for the sake of work and or to make sure there is enough money for their children instead. To me, this spoke to the great lengths many will go to ensure a quality of life for their children whenever possible.  

Under our current healthcare system, it feels as though you are not deserving of care until you have the money for it. The basis for care is this not the inherit dignity and humanity of another person, but rather how many funds you have to offer.  

I find this reflective of the current immigration system and narratives of immigration. If we were to shift our focus and realize the humanity of those who are seeking aid, then suddenly you aren’t dealing with a scary and mysterious figure, you are approaching a person worthy of empathy and care.  

I have found it frustrating to think of all the different narratives and legislations that function because others have diminished the humanity and the struggles of migrants. On a more hopeful note, it was also inspiring to see art created by DACA recipients to add to and change the current narrative. Taking the time to reflect on various poems and artwork, we get a glimpse into someone else’s lives experience. While we may not share these experiences and thus not fully understand them, there is something powerful in connecting with someone through their vulnerability as they share their story.  

The last thing this brings me to is compassion. To paraphrase, Alok Vaid-Menon, a non-binary activist, has stated that people should focus more on compassion than comprehension. While this was said in a conversation about supporting trans and non-binary people, we reflected on the words as it could relate to the topic of immigration. Though my parents are immigrants, and thus I am a little familiar with the immigration process, this does not mean I have a full comprehension of what it is like to cross the border or live in the U.S. without documentation. However, I don’t need that comprehension to have compassion.  

This sense of compassion is what I leave with after today. If there is one thing I could offer to anyone who wishes to increase their knowledge and understanding of issues affecting migrants, I would say to focus on that compassion. I truly believe by doing so we can think of and act for solutions to build a brighter and united future rather than building literal and metaphorical walls between one another.  

Cindy Garibay

Desert Walk and Casa Mariposa

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3/07/2023

Our day began with a walk in the desert. When I first pictured it in my head, I thought we would be walking around an area with nothing else other than sand and occasional cacti. I could not have been more wrong with this assumption. 

We took the walk through the desert area surrounding Arivaca Lake. With the terrain, this walk turned more into a hike. There was dry grass everywhere, hills, dry plants that would scratch you as you walk by, and different types of cacti. We started earlier in the day but as we went on our trek grew hotter and hotter. I grew more thirsty as we went on, even though I had a full water bottle with me. By the time we were done with the hike, I had already run out of water. 

At the end of our journey, we came across a drop-off point with many jugs full of water, as well as a bucket filled with easy-to-open canned foods. Seeing this in person was such a surreal moment that could not be explained with words. We were told by our BorderLinks leader that this site was one of the most (if not the most) used in the area, hence the amount of food and water present.

This experience made me realize the importance of humanitarian aid. Later on in the day (which will be discussed in detail later in this post), we watched videos showing how border patrol directly fuels the missing person crisis regarding immigrants. We were shown footage of these people dumping out water from jugs left for immigrants by samaritans and/or organizations like No More Deaths. I had no words after seeing this. How can someone do something so cruel, so inhumane? How can they throw away the food left for migrants to eat? 

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After coming back from Arivaca Lake and the desert walk, we visited Casa Mariposa where we were greeted by Kat and Rocío. We introduced ourselves to them and they began to tell the story of Rocío. As we were listening to her story, we gained a better understanding of what life was like for someone in a detention center. More often than not, people who are sent to detention centers are usually held there a lot longer than they are told, and they are held on high bonds that are usually impossible for the people being held there to pay. In addition to not knowing how long they will stay there, the living conditions are often such that we would consider them unbearable. These detention centers are often referred to as “hieleras” which translates to coolers because of how cold these places can be. 

Thanks to the help of Casa Mariposa, however, they have given people the opportunity to create relationships with people outside the detention center and in some cases even receive donations to help pay bonds. It is hard to imagine just how much of an impact organizations like Casa Mariposa can have on people who feel like their situation is completely hopeless. We learned that even the smallest actions can make all the difference in the world to someone trapped inside one of these detention centers. 

At the end of the presentation by Casa Mariposa, they offered us the opportunity to write letters to people who are currently in detention centers so that we could participate in the effort to give support to those people. We were also offered the option to leave our home address on the letter so that if they want to they can send a letter back to us and keep in touch. 

After having dinner, we had our workshop where we watched videos discussing border patrol and how they are fueling the missing persons crisis. From purposely sabotaging humanitarian aid for people crossing the desert to chasing migrants into the desert with harsh conditions such as dangerous terrain during nightfall. Helicopters have even been used before to try to chase migrants in remote or dangerous areas of the desert. Overall, these migrant-border patrol encounters often end in some sort of conflict that becomes detrimental to migrants. 

After having our reflection that night, we concluded that although immigration issues seem hopeless to fix, we can see that small actions can have a huge impact. For example, we have seen that humanitarian aid is widely used across the desert and small efforts through organizations like Casa Mariposa can completely change someone’s life. This gave us some hope for a future where change is possible and justice exists.

-Kaylee Gunderson

The Border

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During our Monday morning, we visited the Nogales, Arizona border, and we had a first hand experience to be able to stand next to the wall.  

A view of the US-Mexico Border

Andrea Gonon: “We got to meet Don Manuel, and he gave me us a better inside on how families are separate on the border. What really touched me was how families would celebrate birthdays from both sides of the wall. It’s clear to me that the wall doesn’t take away the love that families have for each other.” 

Jorge:  “Media make this huge deal about the border being this huge infrastructure that needs to be protected all the time. That border towns are places where constant fighting needs to be done to protect the “American dream and values” One needs to experience the border first-hand to understand the toxic myths media has inculcated to our perception of it. Being able to have the privilege to see and feel the wall up close made me realize that this wall is not here to secure our country, it is here to create a physical and metaphorical barrier blocking the migration of people, animals, and nature overall that have existed before the birth of the U.S. The U.S. antagonizes migration and calls it a “crisis” which is ironic because our current “migration crisis” has been caused by the negative interference of the U.S. government in many Latin American countries when it comes to their socio-political climates. If you have the resources to do so, visit border towns. Learn about their history and impact of the physical border, learn about the original people of the land. Do not fall into this ciclical mentality of the “migration crisis” created as a scare tactic from the government. Make your own opinions about the border.  

Migration is part of our daily lives. Migration is natural. Migration is beautiful.” 

-Andrea Gonon, Jorge Salazar

Tucson Art and Culture

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Sunday, March 5th, 2023

Throughout day one, we really enjoyed our exploration of the connection between the
history and art of the area. We started the day with orientation, had lunch as a group, and then
went to the Tucson Art Museum. There was an artisan market outside with lots of vendors that
showcased different types of art in Arizona. Along with the variety of cultures that surround the
area and art from those cultures, something that stood out to us was that everything was written
in both English and Spanish, whether that be informational descriptions of the art or signs
around the city as well. It was really nice to see that inclusiveness in language to accommodate
everyone since they are both prominent languages in Tucson.


Inside the museum there was an exhibition of ancient Latin American art next to an
exhibition of colonial art. It was interesting to see how the art highlighted different aspects of
early Latin American culture, and how colonialism made an impact on them. This serves as a
reminder that art has always served as a form of expression which in hindsight can show us the
values of a culture or group during a specific time. Even though the post-colonial art was
reflective of European styles, it also maintained certain aspects of early Latin American culture.
The artists made their own art, and this reminded us of how different cultures can influence each
other to create something new that celebrates both.

Coyota Koshares art piece from the Tucson Art Museum


My favorite piece of art at the Tucson Art Museum was in their permanent indigenous art
exhibition. A mixed media lithograph titled “Coyote Koshares (four figures with watermelon)” by
Harry Fonseca, a Hawaiian, Portuguese, and Nisenan artist stood out to me. This particular
piece is a serigraph layered with glitter and bursting with bright, joyous colors. The work utilized
vibrant colors and featured four cartoonish, whimsical coyotes in jeans and high top sneakers
each eating their own rind of watermelon. Their backdrop was equally as beautiful, featuring
flowers and a pastel rainbow. Apart from its visual appeal, the piece is a representation of
indigenous storytelling through the eyes of the artist. The coyote was featured, as is in many of
his works, as a homage to this animal which has a tremendous cultural significance within the
Nisenan tribe. They most often portray trickery and have a great importance in the culture,
particularly throughout traditions and stories. To portray them in this playful manner was
Fonseca’s way of highlighting the magic, drama, and beauty of Nisenan story telling.
Another interpretation of the image came by making a connection between the coyotes
in the painting and the traffickers that bring immigrants illegally into the United States. People
also refer to them as coyotes since these animals operate in groups, using the cover of the
night. An immigrant may trust a coyote for help in navigating the desert, but there is a risk. Many
immigrants have been abandoned in the desert by their coyotes, or fallen victim to human
trafficking or different types of abuse from them. Coyotes have been known to charge
immigrants high tariffs from $4,500 – $10,000 dollars, which many migrants pay in the hopes of
a new life. The painting shows these coyotes enjoying a slice of watermelon within a jovial
background, but they are still coyotes and their expressions may or may not come across as
devious.

Some of the Border Immersion participants in front of a mural in Tucson


Afterwards, we came back to Borderlinks to do a history activity on immigration and the
conversation that followed was really nice, as our group has people full of different backgrounds
related to the subject. We are really excited for the coming days and the value in experiences
that this immersion has to offer!

-Kylie Riggles, Andrés Dankel, Yeidi M. Ramos

The Importance of Preserving History

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          On the fourth day of our civil rights immersion experience we received a tour of Vanport, visited a black owned book shop called: Third Eye Books and had a potluck with some of the church members from The First AME Zion. where we were not only able to connect with the members, but were even lucky enough to hear about the experience of living in Vanport from one of the church’s members.

Pilar: Something that stood out to me throughout the day was the theme of history that kept coming up throughout the day. In Vanport, the place was rich with history of different groups that existed and used the land for different purposes. In Po’Shines a member from the restaurant spoke to us about the history of how the establishment got its name, its ties with social justice and community work, as well as how the establishment had lasted throughout hard times. In Third Eye Books, the owners shared the history of the place and the importance of a Black-owned business having literature that represented perspectives from Black people. The theme of history today taught me that the history and the stories we tell are important in shaping how people see these events.

Nyibol: I moved to America about 13 years ago and have not really made an effort to educate myself about the history of Oregon beyond the stuff they teach you at school. I have had a lot of “what? I did not know that this thing or place meant or did this.” Today Heather (our Vanport tour guide) shared a poem by Kaia Sand, from the book that said “how do I notice what I don’t notice” and that poem resonated with me because often times I tend not to notice my surroundings. I wrote a paper about Vanport and completely forgot about it but touring it and learning even more today made me realize just how little I knew about the place. Being in the land where many at the time called home and seeing where things used to be, I found it hard to picture this once being a home to thousands. Just putting the two and two together even was hard for me. I found it really interesting how all of the things that said “Vanport” did not put Oregon next to it making the fact that it was once a city known, but how it just said “Vanport” alone leaving it’s meaning to those who do not know what that is a mystery.

Going on the tour as well as talking with the members of the church/community made us realize the importance of preserving these stories and using storytelling as tool to stay connected and keeping history alive.

-Pilar Hernandez and Nyibol Duop

Be “Real”

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On Sunday, we started off the day attending the church service at the First AME Zion Church that is our home base for the week. This is the oldest Black church in Oregon, and I believe the oldest in the PNW if I remember correctly. I found myself deeply touched by the sermon and the community who welcomed us in as guests. I could feel the power and significance of this place in terms of belonging and mutual support, especially for elders, in the Portland Black community. I was surprised to see how small the congregation was (less than ten overall not including our group) and I was saddened to think of the loss of community over the years in a historic church like this that is such a crucial part of the Black community here as gentrification and various factors pushed Black Portlanders out of this area. I enjoyed our conversation with one of the congregation members after the church service. He had been away for a number of years but came back to this church to seek solace and support in the community after the passing of his daughter.

Being in religious spaces has usually been an uncomfortable experience for me as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and I find myself feeling deeply uneasy and guarded in predominantly white religious contexts. Somehow I knew going into Sunday that this would not be my experience here, and I was correct in this assumption. I anticipated I would be treated with kindness in this church, and that I would be invited into this space as a guest without expectations or judgement, which I found to be true. I think the students and I each were all able to resonate with the sermon in different ways. The message was to be “real” with God, yourself, and those around you. It gave me a lot to think about with how I interact with others and how to do so in an authentic way, and also how I can be more honest with myself too. As a choir kid since age four, I enjoyed getting to participate in the church service by singing along, even though I didn’t know the songs beforehand. I noticed in the comments and reflection afterwards that the students enjoyed the music as much as I did too. The service also discussed performativity, and doing things for the sake of tradition, or appearances and social recognition. This opened up a lot of good reflection for me about intentionality in how I show up in the world and not losing touch with the “why” behind things. This conversation was presented through the lens of lent, why or why not someone would fast, and challenging tradition for tradition’s sake without a purpose and driving factor behind it. I was able to resonate with the messages of the sermon even without a religious background or affiliation. I also think it was interesting attending a service led by a woman, and I heard good reflections from the students about how they experienced this positionality.

We spent the afternoon walking around North Portland and seeing different locations relevant to Portland’s Black community and history. As we started off down the street near the church, we found ourselves (especially me, to be frank) excited by the different places we saw in the business district near the church – trendy coffee shops where we stopped to get (expensive) lattes, “hip” restaurants, patisseries (one of them is a favorite of mine, with pricey but delicious croissants), cutesy donut shops, yoga studios, and breweries. As our conversations progressed, and we visited the different stops on our route, it hit us more viscerally what had been right in front of us – very clear, palpable examples of gentrification. Some of us had been to the area before but hadn’t thought critically about this before, and many of us had different conflicted thoughts about this. We saw newly built apartments that I’m pretty certain I could not afford, even as a white person with generational wealth, a graduate degree and a “good job”, let alone the Black community that were homeowners here in past years. We saw the pieces of empty land that were cleared for Legacy Hospital to be built, displacing 300+ families, with the promise of affordable housing which never came. We had good conversations about how and where we choose to spend our money, who owns the businesses we frequent, and the impact we can have by being mindful as consumers and residents of a community. It was a rewarding day and I am grateful for the experiences and conversations we had.

-Holly Peterson

Facing Our Privileges

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              On the third day of our North Portland civil rights immersion experience, we met with community leader, poet, and activist Velynn Brown at One H.O.P.E. Fellowship. We listened to her and her family’s story of their experience as a Black family in Portland. As part of our time with Velynn we wrote about our personal Racial Autobiographies. This activity led us through questions that made us consider our own racial backgrounds and experiences. Some of these questions made us reflect on our experiences with racism, our privileges, and how to move forward while considering these issues.

Reid: As a Japanese person born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai’i, I would be considered a minority in much of the world. However, this is much less so the case in my hometown where Asian people make up a much larger part of the population there than in the rest of the continental United States where white people make up much more of the population. Since Asians are highly represented in Hawai’i, this activity made me consider the privilege I was granted, especially as a Japanese person, considering Japan’s history of imperialism. Though I am considered a person of color, in Hawai’i I have the privilege of not having to think about my skin color and background as well as not having to fear violence or discrimination against me or my family either. This activity also made me consider my own biases I had formed during my development, even as a minority, and how I ought to address them in the future.

Sheridan: As a white woman who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, this activity made me address my privileges and consider how I do not always think about my race. Growing up my parents never felt the need to have a discussion with me about race. This lack of conversation is a form of white privilege itself. When completing this activity, we tried to reflect on our first encounters of race and racism, and I realized that I did not have a particular moment growing up that race stood out to me. My hometown is a diverse area and I could not pinpoint what my first encounter with race was, until I visited my family in rural Missouri. I remember recognizing how different rural Missouri was compared to the Bay Area, and the lack of diversity in the area shocked me. It was on these family trips back to Missouri where I also had my first encounters of racism, from off hand racist comments from older family members who did not know many non-white people and thought nothing of their racist jokes. Through this writing activity I also thought about how I could have productive conversations with these family members and if there is a way for me to share what I have learned so far on this immersion with them. I really appreciated the difficult issues that this activity made me reflect on and I hope to continue to grapple with my privileges and biases throughout this immersion and the rest of my life.

              Speaking with Velynn Brown and completing this activity helped us create an action plan for moving forward and addressing our biases, as privileged members of our hometowns. We feel immense gratitude towards Velynn and the community members we are meeting on this immersion, as we hear their stories, learn about Portland, and strive to become more culturally aware of the spaces we occupy.

By: Reid Matsuda and Sheridan Todd