Not long ago, before the coronavirus epidemic took hold, Gary Barker was working the games at the Stanford Stadium, selling hot dogs. When Oregon fans were in the stands, he noticed their joy. Game after game, their happiness made him feel happy, too. So he made his way up to Portland.
“This was back in the day when Oregon was Oregon,” Gary said. “Can you remember what it was like back in 2005, 2006?” Oregon was a model of people helping people. Homeless were being helped by the entire community.”
After a stint in Arizona, and with that “old Portland in mind,” Gary rushed back to Portland in 2014.
“But it was a changed Portland, disappointing, upsetting, a place of sadness and violence and crime. To see Portland lost like that was shocking,” he said.
Having traveled around this country and the world, Gary believes that at its best, Portland was different from any other city. Diverse. Lovable. Accepting of differences. Now what he sees is racism.
“Racism started jumping out of the woodwork,” he said.
To be called the n-word “is a total insult to Portland because it didn’t used to be that way, people judging me by the color of my skin,” he said. “This racism stands out. It’s like going back to the ’60s.”
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Born and raised in Wichita, Kan., Gary remembers the racism of the 1960s from a Kansas perspective, a time of church burnings and riots.
“I had to fight to get my education,” he said.
He left Kansas at 16 to attend college in California, where he was enrolled at both the University of California-Berkeley and Laney Community College in Oakland, where he studied mass communications. He was into theater and dance, acting and singing in a black repertory theater in Berkeley. He also got training in banking at East Bay Skills Center, and after graduating, he worked for Bank of America as a reconciler.
He married his high school sweetheart, and the two moved back to Wichita, where Gary worked for Boeing as a tooling pattern maker. All told, throughout his career, he has worked in the aerospace industry for 25 years.
The tragedy that turned his life around occurred Aug. 27, 1997, when he was robbed and hit in the head with a steel pipe.
“My cheek bone was shattered,” he said, showing the 23-year-old scar.
He said he couldn’t continue to do the work because of brain damage.
“It took me 10 years to recoup,” he said. “I stutter. I have memory loss. I’ve forgotten my math skills. My writing skills have gotten better, but they were damaged.”
“My mother died that same year,” he said. “And then I lost my job at Raytheon.” So, he wandered off. He left everything behind in Wichita, “and I haven’t been back since.”
What happened during those intervening years, between 1997 and 2005, between Wichita and Portland is “like a dream,” he said. “I don’t have any recollection of any of the cities I passed through. I worked at carnivals and amusement parks as a ride jock. I worked as a field supervisor and helped pool rides.”
Back in Portland, Gary began to “feel life again.” He fell in love.
“It was love at first sight,” he said. “We looked at each other and we looked at each other. And we couldn’t look away. We haven’t separated since. We’re still madly in love.”
While he can’t shake the racism he encounters, Gary said his work with Street Roots makes him feel good. He appreciates his customers, people he calls his “advocates.”
“They sponsored my recent trip to Seattle, where I got to visit my cousin a week before she died,” he said. “My patrons take care of me.”
“For those who are hopeless and without dreams and desires,” he said, “give Street Roots a try because they can help you. It’s an Academy Award winning staff. They’re mellow and genuine, and really into you. They’re there to help, offering opportunities. You get to help yourself. And if you don’t know yourself, you’ll find yourself at Street Roots.”
Street Roots has suspended print publication of the newspaper for the health and welfare of our vendors and readers. But you can remain connected to Gary and other vendors on our website, on social media, and with our weekly Digital Edition email.
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