With prayers, readings and song, about 100 people gathered in the Riverside Community Church sanctuary Monday to commemorate the birth of civil rights hero Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Monday was a federal holiday, with schools, government offices and many businesses closed.
The assemblage at Riverside faced the church’s new banner reading “I Dream The Beloved Community” and bearing the visage of Dr. King, who was assassinated in April 1968.
The celebration was titled, “A Great Nation, A Compassionate Nation,” and hosted by Gorge Ecumenical Ministries (GEM) in what has become an annual tradition at Riverside. A potluck with food provided by local restaurants followed in the Riverview Room at the church.
“A torch has been passed on to us to work for a world where compassion is wedded to power and justice might prevail,” Rev. Judy Zimmerman told the audience. She is pastor of the Mid Columbia Universalist-Unitarian Fellowship, part of GEM.
The venerable theme of Dr. King and his dream of a just and colorblind society continued throughout the event, which began with two bilingual workshops, “Know Your Rights,” led by immigration lawyer MariRuth Prinzing, and “Immigrant Stories,” with testaments by documented and undocumented people who came to Hood River from Mexico.
“We came to the United States because we had a dream,” said one speaker. “I struggle to show people I am someone of this community. There are many broken dreams around us, the news we read speaks for itself; as you know we are living in these times,” she said, referring to federal policies and actions including deportations and detentions, ICE incarcerations, imprisonment of children and separation of families, along with President Trump’s rescinding of the Dreamers Act and the government shutdown over Trump’s demand for funding for a wall on the Mexico border.
“What is it we want to leave to our future generations, to the future immigrants of other countries? A legacy of hate, which is what we see now, of racism, of division, or a legacy of love, respect and unity?”
Graciela Gomez posed these questions during a workshop on “Immigrant Stories” during Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at Riverside Community Church. About 30 people attended, with Lorena Sprager providing Spanish translation.
Another workshop, in Spanish, titled “Know Your Rights,” drew about 40 people, led by MariRuth Prinzing of Immigration Services.
During the evening celebration in the church sanctuary, Hood River sisters Adriana and Andrea, college students who emigrated from Mexico, expressed an often confusing and painful search for cultural identity and sense of home, given they have family in both countries.
In a bilingual verbal essay blending their perspectives, they spoke passionately about identity and the quest for social justice. (They asked to be identified by first names only.)
“Our consciousness, our personality, our way of being, ourselves, and our true colors seem two feet more in the U.S.A. than into our homeland. A broken and hallowed me was clinging to belong in Mexico.
“We were so happy and excited to be back. With our people, mi mama, mi abuelita, our colors, los deliciosos tacos, mariachi, tortas, y los Mejores chilaquiles del mundo.”
But in the face of poverty and abuse in Mexico, Hood River drew them back.
“We were immensely thirsty. For a better future. A better life. A better ‘me.’”
A workshop speaker, identified as Maya, said, “It’s complicated, but when you have a dream and support of your family, it is amazing how many people work and work for a better future.
“I consider myself Mexican,” but as a Dreamer, she worked hard to learn English and gain an education, working multiple jobs and earning scholarships, she said, referring to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), commonly known as the DREAM Act.
Odell resident Mark Reynolds, who has assisted in outreach to immigrants held in detention at NORCOR jail in The Dalles, provided a list of resources on how locals can get involved to help residents. These include donating, volunteering, participating in protests, calling on local and state leaders, protecting sanctuary cities and education on immigrant rights.
(Hood River News will publish highlights in the Jan. 26 edition, along with further MLK Day coverage.)
The workshops and the celebration formed a call for understanding and unity of all people, including those born outside the U.S. and striving to come here or to remain with their families.
Rev. Vicki Stifter, who, along with other clergy, goes to NORCOR weekly to meet with detainees, said one Mexican man, Raul, told her, “I want to work and be treated fairly. I am just asking for an opportunity. One opportunity.”
The reality, Stifter said, is that “there is much despair” among the detainees.
“Many are choosing deportation because they can at least breath fresh air and feel alive.”
Her husband, Rev. John Boonstra, informed the group that “the rest of the country is closely watching” a pending court case in Wasco County where citizens have filed suit over NORCOR’s use of local tax dollars for incarceration of detainees, claiming it violates the Constitution.
Gomez said she and her friends have been victims in Hood River of racist comments such as, “Go back to your country, wetbacks.”
In a milder form of what she and Maya said feels like prejudice, she and friends and family have seen many cases of people declining to speak Spanish to her, or insisting they speak English.
“Language shouldn’t be a barrier,” Maya said. “In Mexico, people try to speak English to Americans. They never say, ‘Don’t speak English.’”
One workshop attendee, Ray Klebba of White Salmon, urged political advocacy by everyone, whether they are eligible to vote or not.
“You can still speak out. It takes everyone to get things going,” Klebba said.
“Those who can, please make your voice heard. Be the voice of the most vulnerable,” Gomez said.
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