Opinion | A Street Roots legend retires

To everyone who supported me and Street Roots over the years, making it a social capital engine, I love you very much. This is why the following is the most difficult article I’ve ever written, as I embark on a new direction in my life starting June 30. I’m retiring June 29 from selling Street Roots.

“Marlon, you are the face of Street Roots,” Nichelle, a customer from Oregon Department of Human Services, said. “You have a smile. You are willing to talk or help anyone. You are amazing, and Street Roots wouldn’t be what they are without you!”

Being a Street Roots vendor takes a lot more than just selling newspapers for a living.

Social interactions with strangers you’ve never met before, being subjected to weather conditions — especially for those who are homeless and are accustomed to it — and being vulnerable to all energies outside in public … good or bad.

Selling newspapers, whether standing still holding a paper or from a newsstand, has been a long-standing tradition throughout history.

The average person looks forward to the news like they look forward to drinking a cup of coffee on their way to work in the morning.

“I remember the days when you would always be on the corner as I walked back from the courthouse,” longtime supporter and private practice attorney David Sugarman said. “Sometimes, justice was rough and bad, and sometimes it was sweet and right. And either way, you would be on the corner, kindly smiling at everyone. And it would always make my day to stop and visit and get the latest edition of Street Roots from you.

“It was a small thing. But it was big, too. Because you brought and spread love in our dark world. It mattered.”

To me, Street Roots is much more than a community news publication covering vital social and economic issues. To me, they are F-A-M-I-L-Y! As is everyone who supported me over the years as an active vendor.

I came to Portland from San Francisco in August 2011 with the clothes on my back and a few bucks to rent a motel for the night. Moving to a new city is a challenge for anyone with very little to fall back on.

Before I arrived, a friend at the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness — the San Francisco equivalent to Street Roots, which publishes Street Sheet — put me in touch with Street Roots.

I spent my years in San Francisco as a reporter/journalist, legal advocate and community advocate at the service of many. I felt that I needed a new direction in my life.

Nearly as soon as I arrived in Portland and became a Street Roots vendor, community members embraced my struggles.

Despite sleeping on sidewalks and in shelters before finally finding affordable housing, the Street Roots community accepted me. I was often known as the “most well-dressed and professional Street Roots Vendor.”

A few years later, in 2014, by vote of the Portland community, I received the highest honor of 2014 Street Roots Vendor of the Year.

At the ceremony after receiving my award, I gave a speech expressing my gratitude to Street Roots and community members who support our work.

In recent years the world changed for everyone and not necessarily for the better. The pandemic and police brutality protests placed people in isolation, not much different than a private prison.

Painstakingly, people progressed — particularly here in Portland.

Surviving many things in my life — childhood trauma, police brutality, personal attacks, homelessness, and last year, a lung surgery — puts things into perspective as to what lies ahead for me as age creeps up on me like a tarantula.

A week after my hospital discharge, I went to the Street Roots office and received a get-well card signed by fellow vendors and staff members.

“It would be an honor to publish your farewell retrospective,” K. Rambo, Street Roots editor in chief, said.

To be honest, I’ve spent most of my life servicing the community and not taking care of myself as I should. Every day out in public, I feel the rush of positive and negative energies bypass me.

Throughout my tenure as a Street Roots team member, I’ve interacted with the community and public on a very professional and respectful level. The ones who love and care — I call them supporters, not customers — greatly appreciate a vital community service.

I’ve ignored even some who were somewhat rude towards me just to ignite their own ignorance, egos and superiority complexes. From day one, I knew people would test my presence regarding professionalism.

I turned that tragedy into triumph, and that is still my way of life.

When you feel you’ve climbed that rocky mountain high enough and reached the top, it’s best to rest on a smoother hill. I’m not sure what lies on the hill, but I’m optimistic it’s an assured surface to walk on.

I used to say this back in the day as a form of sarcasm in some of my past articles. I’ll say it one more time, with a loving emotional farewell … MAD MAN MARLON OUT.

Much MAD LOVE!

Street Roots is an award-winning weekly investigative publication covering economic, environmental and social inequity. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.

This article appears in May 29, 2024.