Nazis Not Welcome Rally / Unite Against Racism!Portland, OregonOctober 6th, 2007In response to a three day gathering of white supremacists in the Portland area, community members and anti-racists gathered at Lents Park in S.E. Portland, Oregon to voice their opposition to racism and fascism.This event, attended by about 150 people, was moderated by Peter Little of the Ad Hoc, Committee Against Racism and Fascism, which called the Rally in opposition to the âHammerfest,â a three day event to be taking place at a hotel in Sherwood, Oregon.Founded this September, the Ad-Hoc Committee is dedicated to monitoring and opposing white supremacist groupings in Portland and beyond. As large neo-Nazi rallies have often been preceded by attacks on Jewish people and people of color, sexual minorities, as well as activists, the Ad-Hoc Committee wishes to work with community groups and people of good conscience who want to respond to fascist mobilization. âIf we come together, the bigots donât stand a chance,â says one committee member, âThis rally is only a beginning.âPeter spoke about Portland's racist past and the peopleâs struggle to protect themselves from racism. He states that racism takes many faces, is not only the obvious skinheads and neo nazi types, but also, among others, anti-immigration organizations.This is an ongoing theme throughout the Demonstration- that racism is insidious and is hidden all around us.Peter introduced speakers with experience from many different fronts of the ongoing threats from and struggle against racism.First to speak was Walidah Imarisha, a spoken word war-rior woman who fights the power with protest poetry. She speaks eloquently about how these groups have co-opted the language of the left, often sounding like environmentalists and other progressive groups. Walidah finishes by reciting one of her poems.www.poetryoffthepage.comNext to speak was Claire Oliveros, of the Portland Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, followed by Pablo, who spoke in Spanish with a translator about the Latin American economic conditions leading to immigration to the U.S.Pablo was followed by Amy Dudley, of the Rural Organizing Project, who spoke at length about the various racist and anti-immigrant organizations. She gives much information about these groups, how they are organized and how they easily slip beneath the radar. www.rop.orgMic Crenshaw, from the rap group Hungry Mobwww.myspace.com/miccrenshawLast to speak was Chris Francisco, an Indigenous speaker from the Native Youth Movement.
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