This week at Bike Happy Hour, we’ll sit down with activists working on the front lines of the fight to keep immigrants safe. Everyone is welcome at what should be a night of listening, learning, and productive conversations.
After anti-ICE activists shouted down my interview with Mayor Keith Wilson earlier this month, I reached out to them. As I alluded to in my recap of that night, I was disappointed we didn’t get a chance to have a conversation with the mayor and wish the night would have ended differently; but I understand the frustration of the activists who showed up and believe we’re stronger when we hear each other, build a bigger tent, and keep the conversation going. And they agreed.
Folks who do advocacy with Revoke the ICE Permit PDX, a project of Portland Contra las Deportaciones, want to connect and collaborate with road safety and transportation activists. At Bike Happy Hour on Wednesday night (10/1), they’ll join us for a teach-in. Our goal is to learn from each other, find out how our issues intersect, and how bicycling and transportation activists can leverage our tools and knowledge for the cause of keeping immigrants and streets safe from a rise from federal military aggression in our city — and vice versa.
Whether it’s transportation justice during the old Critical Mass days, protests against Big Oil, the fight for economic justice during Occupy Portland, or the fight for racial justice during the George Floyd protests, — our city has a long and proud legacy of bicycle riders who step up in moments of need. The fight to keep vulnerable people safe against the illegal incursion of federal forces in Portland should be no different.
Leaving the confines of transportation advocacy and injecting myself into the immigration rights issue with activists who I’ve never worked with and have mixed feelings about is a bit scary and uncomfortable. But we are in times where discomfort is required and I didn’t create BikePortland and Bike Happy Hour for it to be an oasis from reality.
I hope you’ll join us from 3:00 to 6:00 this Wednesday in the Rainbow Road Plaza (with raincoats on maybe!) on SE Ankeny for this event. It’s a regular Bike Happy Hour, but starting at 5:30 we’ll open the mics for conversations around ICE and immigrant safety. There will be opportunities for you to speak as well, so come ready to share your voice.
Let’s keep an open mind about how we can learn from each other, and who knows, maybe all the advocacy we do will be stronger as a result!
If you have any questions or comments about this, leave a comment below or reach to me directly at maus.jonathan@gmail.com. Thanks for your attention and support.
Thanks for reading.
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I attended the meeting on September 3rd and was so disgusted with the lack of respect for the Mayor and the nearly hundred cyclists who had come in expectation of reasoned discussion of issues surrounding transportation that I did not comprehend what the *** name-calling, deleted **** and her posse were blasting with their bullhorns.
Weeks later they tried the same thing in City Council, minus bullhorns, which probably had been confiscated before they were allowed in Council Chamber.
Why give them another opportunity? They have demonstrated more than once they do not deserve to be heard on ICE or any other important topic.
Marshall McLuhan was right: THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE. Those needing BULLHORNS are full of only themselves.
Jonathan, you’re a bigger man than I am. I’ll be showing them the same level of respect they showed me at your last happy hour by skipping any event that platforms this organization.
Hi Dan. Totally understand that. I think this even will be very different, but of course you have every right to feel that way.
I very much hope you’re right JM but it seems like these folks don’t care that we’re all in this together whether we join them or not.
And what they do can affect all of us whether we like it or not.
Proceed with caution grasshoppa.
Oh how BikePortland has fallen. Jonathan pretends to support open dialog but is an apologist for the mob that wants to shut it down at every opportunity.
Matt P.,
This event is literally about keeping an open dialog. Your criticism of me is very hard to take seriously. And you say I’m an “apologist” for these groups. I don’t see it that way. I’m just extending an olive branch so to speak to see if we can take a situation that wasn’t great and make it a bit better, and maybe we all learn more in the end. How about give me some grace and space to do my work and maybe give me some benefit of the doubt?
Pretending to support open dialog by having open dialog. Really so sneaky, it’s devious.
Excited to hear how we can make a difference with ICE locally.
Hope there can be another opportunity to interview the mayor about cycling issues as well!
And keep up the good work.
Anti-American politics have no place in our bike community. Do better Jonathan
Thanks. Can you explain to me what is anti-American about any of this?
Agreed. Fascism has got to go. They will make sure that any federal funding for infrastructure that will be used for bikes or public transit gets cut. That hurts our bike community and we need to get together and find ways to work together to keep the fascist dictatorship from growing.
Oh, that isnt what you meant…
Oh – I thought you meant that the extremism of activists would ensure voters continue to elect right-wing politicians to lead our gov’t. Because that’s exactly what has happened and will continue to happen.
Maybe you can notify the national guard so they can join this event? That would be a very American thing to do?
A ‘teach in’? Oh great, i’ve always wanted to learn how to be loud, intrusive and disrespectful! Personally I’ve led too quiet a life.
Thanks, Jonathan! This is exactly how we build community, by inviting folks for conversation, not by walling ourselves off from everyone.
You can shut down BP programming and then be invited back to lead the event? Are you not rewarding bad behavior here?
I know I certainly won’t be showing up to reward bad behavior.