That’s what she said — a look back on some notable quotables from Street Roots interviews in 2010
What’s more important — losing the lawsuit, or saving someone’s life down the road? And their reaction, historically, is always the same: Let’s worry about the lawsuit and not worry about public safety. Not only is it short-sighted, it’s just wrong. That’s not what the community wants. This is what the Police Bureau wants, the lawyers, the politicians. And it’s so short term, the gain, to try to avoid a bad result in a lawsuit. They didn’t avoid, from their point of view, a bad result in the Chasse lawsuit by keeping the truth away from the public and by not disciplining the officers. That’s not what public safety should be about.”
— Tom Steenson, Attorney for the Chasse family, “Chasse’s champion,” November 12.
“Revolution doesn’t usually work: It’s just that it’s the only game in town. It’s like chemo: No one has chemo for fun. You do it because it’s a last ditch effort. It may make things worse before it makes things better. You do it when you’re desperate. I think that’s our situation now. I mean, the economy’s dying. Forget about the economy: The environment alone should be reason for revolution.”
— Ted Rall, author and cartoonist, “The unmitigated gall of cartoonist Ted Rall,” Nov. 5.
“The war on drugs has caused more harm than good. If we had legalization and education about what drugs do to people and the consequences of using them, we would be far more effective.
— Oregon Rep. Peter Buckley (D-Ashland), “Oregon’s Budding Future,” Oct. 15.
“Bicycling can be perceived as a privileged activity. In reality, when you look at who is actually biking, you see a much different picture. You see people who have no access to a car or money for a bus, cycling to work or to find work. They are not as blatantly out there. They don’t have the bike tattoo or the fixed-gear bike. Some might be riding on the sidewalk because they feel safer. They might not be as visually stunning because they’re everyday people. But they are there and riding bikes. And as you are aware, a bicycle and trailer for many people have become a home.”
— Rob Sadowsky, Bicycle Transportation Alliance, “Rolling forward,” Oct. 1.
“I make a calendar every year that people put in their kitchens, and it’s part of the dialog in the “kitchen community.” The kitchen is where life happens — the meals and the nurturing in the family — and the art is part of that. It’s a quieter way to communicate, but it’s a part of daily life. A poster or calendar on the wall is welcomed into the home — not like a performance.”
— Nikki McClure, Artist, “The cuts and complexities of Nikki McClure,” Aug. 6.
“I think the labor movement has been really negligent in the way they’ve dealt with the immigration issue. Sensible organizing among labor unions would take into account that they are dealing with transnational companies that have no respect for borders. Whereas transnational companies have been leapfrogging, going abroad as if borders were imaginary, labor unions have been stuck in a very old-fashioned sense of nationality.”
—Jeffrey Kaye, Human rights activist and author of “Moving Millions: How Coyote Capitalism Fuels Global Immigration.” From “Where we are going wrong in the immigration debate,” June 25.
“We hold ourselves up to these standards — especially women: good mother, good looking, good in bed, good person. And they’re impossible standards. So, really, it’s about holding yourself accountable to only yourself and just trying to be better all the time. Be good and do good, and you know the difference.”
— Storm Large, Musician, activist, “Writ Large,” May 13.
“There are people, particularly around food boxes, who have said “I organized the food drive at my kids school last year. I don’t want to go get a food box.” Part of it is that moment of listening and letting people work through it, just to be able to talk about it.”
— Liesl Wendt, Executive Director, 211 Info, “You got questions. 211 has answers” April 28.
“The tragedy of dying alone on the streets, separated from family and friends, has always been something that is hard for any one citizen to turn your heart away from. It has been a very important way to keep people aware of how deadly homelessness can be.”
— Jim O’Connell, Doctor, homeless activist, “Health and homelessness,” March 17.
“My problem is that with the training right now is that once a weapon has been seen or reported by a police officer, it’s likely at that point that someone is going to get hurt. That means the officer is trained to take action prior to the weapon being actually produced. It’s alarming because in many cases it’s a preemptive strike. Aaron Cambell was distraught because his brother had died, and was very emotional. The army that showed up for this call was ready for a bank robber. They acted as if Aaron Cambell was a bank robber, not an emotionally distraught post adolescent.”
— Jason Renaud, Mental Health Association of Portland, “Matters of life and death,” Feb. 19.
“City hall has always been a circus. The question for the New Year is whether a ringmaster will emerge who can corral the animals into a coherent performance.”
— Matt Davis, journalist, “Ringside at the Circus,” Jan. 8.
Compiled by Israel Bayer
