Portland Region Mayors, Commissioners Issue Joint Statement Addressing Racism, Violence, Intolerance

BEAVERTON, OR — In response to the violence and hate seen in Charlottesville, Virginia, this past weekend, several mayors and commissioners from city and county governments throughout the Portland metro region released a joint statement rejecting racism and intolerance in their respective communities.

The letter, dated Aug. 16, follows a weekend of clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, where three people were killed — a 32-year-old woman protesting racism and two Virginia State Troopers — during a highly charged White Nationalist/alt-right rally opposing the removal of monuments honoring Confederate leaders from the U.S. Civil War. (During the rally, a large group of people opposing Fascism were mowed down when James Alex Fields Jr. allegedly drove his car into the crowd, killing Heather Heyer.)

Included in the letter are the signatures of commissioners from Multnomah and Clackamas counties as well as Metro, the Portland City Council, the mayors of Beaverton, Gresham, Forest Grove, Gladstone, Hillsboro, Milwaukie, West Linn and Wilsonville, and the Port of Portland's Executive Director Curtis Robinhold. (Sign up for free daily newsletters and Breaking News Alerts for Beaverton Patch)

Absent from the letter were the signatures of Lake Oswego Mayor Kent Studebaker, Oregon City Mayor Dan Holladay, Tualatin Mayor Lou Ogden, Tigard Mayor John Cook, and Washington County Commission Chair Andy Duyck.

LAKE OSWEGO — According to Lake Oswego City Recorder Anne-Marie Simpson, Mayor Studebaker missed the deadline to sign the letter, which made its rounds throughout the region Tuesday; he is, however, working on either adding his name or releasing an individual statement soon. At its meeting Nov. 15, 2016, Simpson noted, the Lake Oswego City Council released a joint statement of its own reiterating its stance as a welcoming community for all and rejecting hate in any form.

TUALATIN — The Tualatin City Council earlier this year also released a statement — two, in fact — naming the city an inclusive community for all. But following the events in Charlottesville, at the end of the council meeting Aug. 14, Tualatin Council President Joelle Davis offered this emotional statement (as she noted, without the consent or consult of her fellow councilors):

The events that happened over the weekend were very personally upsetting for me. It's a scary time right now … and I worry about the things that we saw over the weekend. I worry about the responses that we heard from our leadership in D.C.; I worry about the similar kinds of activities that we see close to us here in Oregon; and I urge all of you to please make sure, as you go about your day-to-day lives, that you not accept the kind of silent, under-the-surface racism that you see every single day — because it's going to take every single one of us to call that out and force people to see it, even when you don't wanna see it and you don't wanna get involved — because it's the only thing that's going to change things.

WASHINGTON COUNTY — Washington County's Duyck provided this comment in an email to Patch Thursday afternoon:

I understand that you want a statement from those who have chosen to express their rejection of racism in a way other than signing on to Metro's letter. Washington County unequivocally rejects racism and racist violence in all its forms, whether it comes from neo-nazis or Black lives matter.

TIGARD — Assistant City Manager Eric Zimmerman told Patch that Tigard Mayor Cook, like Mayor Studebaker, received the letter late and was unable to add his signature before the deadline. Cook, however, did add his signature to a similar letter created by the United States Conference of Mayors, which is scheduled to be released at 9 a.m. Aug. 18.

OREGON CITY — In a call to Patch, Mayor Holladay said not only was there too little time to sign the letter, but that he also would have included a few edits of his own.

"You have to take both sides into account," Holladay said, noting the violence seen in recent protests in Portland, specifically, have been driven by "crazies" on both the far right and the far left. "I reject crazies on both sides … (and) since (Metro Commission Chair Tom Hughes') letter was addressing only one side, I would have made edits addressing the other side."

In the "message from elected leaders in the Portland metropolitan area," the mayors and commissioners address the connection between last weekend's events in Virginia and those from late May in Portland, when Jeremy Christian allegedly stabbed three men on a TriMet train — killing 23-year-old Taelisin Myrddin Namkai-Meche of Southeast Portland and 53-year-old Ricky John Best of Happy Valley, and severely injuring 21-year-old Micah David Cole Fletcher of Southeast Portland — after the men interfered with Christian's attempts at harassing two young black women, one of whom was wearing a hijab.

In their letter, the leaders ask, "Why hate when you can love? Why divide when you can connect? Why break when you can strengthen?"

"Working together, we can and will, overcome this blight," the letter reads. "We can, and will, build communities that shun hate, offer equitable opportunity and see our differences as cause for celebration, not division … For every torch that burns with hate, we must shine a light of love and equality that is a thousand times brighter."

Click here to read the complete letter.

This post has been updated with information from Tigard Assistant City Manager Eric Zimmerman and comments from Oregon City Mayor Dan Holladay.

Top Image Caption: People gather for a rally Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, in Salt Lake City. Utah residents held a unity and anti-racism rally Monday night to denounce the messages of hate and violence of white supremacists at a weekend rally in Charlottesville, Va. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)