Overcoming the Politics of Hate
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Portland State University PDXScholar Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Winter 2009 A Journey to Tolerance: Overcoming the Politics of Hate Leanne Claire Serbulo Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/metropolitianstudies Part of the Urban Studies and Planning Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Citation Details Serbulo, Leanne, "Journey to tolerance : overcoming the politics of hate" (2009 Metroscape, Institute for Portland Metropolitan Studies, Portland State University) This Article is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. A Journey to Tolerance: Overcoming the Politics of Hate by Leanne Serbulo istory was made on Election Day 2008 lesbians. This was the first electoral victory for in the northern Willamette Valley. The the Oregon Citizen’s Alliance (OCA), a conserva- Hsmall town of Silverton catapulted into tive group that would sponsor a number of state national attention with its election of the first and local initiatives including many high-profile transgendered mayor. This January, Portland City anti-gay ballot measures. One month after the Commissioner Sam Adams will become the first passage of Measure 8, a record number of anti- openly gay mayor to lead a large city. Aside from abortion protesters were arrested for blockading the groundbreaking nature of these electoral vic- two Portland women’s health clinics. Although tories, what made these two races truly remark- the metroscape remained politically liberal during able was the lack of attention that each candidate’s the 1980s, it appeared as if extremism was begin- gender identity or sexual orientation received ning to gain ground. throughout the campaigns. No protests or angry words of condemnation plagued Stu Rasmus- Far-Right Extremists v. Conservatives sen until the national press picked up the story of the Silverton mayoral election. A few weeks During the 1980s, a significant number of ex- later, when four protesters assembled downtown, tremist organizations were launched in the state they were not local residents, but members of a of Oregon and throughout the Pacific Northwest. Kansas-based fundamentalist church who travel Far-right extremist politics differ greatly from around the country staging anti-gay rallies. Judg- mainstream conservatism, which believes in lim- ing by the results of these two elections, the ited government and individual rights. Extrem- metroscape’s reputation for tolerance is well de- ist groups want to create a complete political and served. social revolution in the United States. Although Twenty years ago, Portland made headlines for some of these groups work through the system, a different type of politics, the politics of hate. others prefer to use extra-legal tactics to advance In 1988, Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian immigrant their goals. and former Portland State University student, was While the extremist groups that were active in beaten to death by three neo-Nazi skinheads in Portland differed in the revolutionary visions they Southeast Portland. Repeated acts of skinhead vi- espoused, they shared similar values. Members olence would shake the city during the late 1980s of the extreme wing of the anti-abortion move- and early 1990s. Just a few weeks before the mur- ment and the leaders of the Oregon Citizens’ Al- der of Mulugeta Seraw, Oregonians passed Mea- liance both wanted to turn the United States into sure 8, a ballot initiative that made it illegal to pass a Christian theocratic state. On the other hand, state laws protecting the civil rights of gay and Neo-Nazi skinheads followed a hodgepodge of Page 6 Metroscape racist and religious doctrines; some were Chris- jobs that disappeared were not going to return. tians, while others believed in a Germanic pagan- Oregon had to economically transform itself. The ism. Their goal was to turn the Pacific Northwest environmental movement played an active role in (Washington, Oregon, and Idaho) into a white that transformation, as groups pushed for protec- homeland. Religious extremists and the racist tion of the state’s remaining old growth forests. right had different visions, but they both shared An economic gulf opened up between the lagging a common goal: reversing the civil rights gains of timber industry in the rural parts of the state and the 1960s and 1970s that were won by people of the recovering urban areas that soon translated Despite its color, women, and gays and lesbians. into a cultural divide, pitting loggers against pro- Portland, a city known for its progressive pol- tectionists. liberal veneer, itics, may not seem like the ideal haven for far- Portland was also influenced by the national or- Portland has right extremist organizations. However, despite ganizing drives of the religious right. Like many a long history its liberal veneer, Portland has a long history of other cities across the nation, Portland was home to racism and intolerance. The Ku Klux Klan was a an active pro-life protest movement. While many of racism and major force in Oregon politics during the 1920s. pro-lifers used peaceful tactics such as prayer vigils intolerance. Klan initiation ceremonies were held on Mt. Scott; and petitions, the national movement was begin- burning crosses could be seen for miles. It was no ning to rely more heavily on direct action, some- surprise that the Klan got such a strong foothold times violent direct action: preventing prospective in the state. The Oregon constitutional clause patients from obtaining abortions through clinic barring African-Americans from owning property blockades, sidewalk “counseling,” and even bomb was not overturned until 1926. Public accom- threats and arson. By the late 1980s, Portland was modations, such as restaurants, hotels, and movie home to one of the most radical anti-abortion theaters, were segregated in Portland up until the groups in the nation. Portland’s Advocates for 1950s. When the City Council passed a ban on Life, founded in 1986, had the dubious distinction segregation in public accommodations, Portland- of being the only pro-life organization to endorse ers responded by sponsoring and passing a local the murder of abortion doctors. initiative to repeal the ban. The state legislature Advocates for Life was the primary organizer eventually took up the issue and banned segrega- of most of the anti-abortion protests in Portland. tion in public accommodations in 1957. In 1990, eight of their members sat in jail for months for refusing to abide by a judge’s injunc- ulugeta Seraw’s murder took tion against clinic blockades. The “Lovejoy Eight” most of the city by surprise. catalyzed Portland’s pro-life movement. While MHowever, the national politi- they were imprisoned, clinic blockades grew in cal climate combined with regional eco- number, frequency, and intensity. Bomb threats, nomic turmoil created the ideal context death threats, and arson attempts became com- for the rise of extremism in Portland. monplace at Portland area women’s health clinics, Nationally, the right wing was lead- although these crimes were never attributed to Mulugeta Seraw ing a backlash against the civil rights Advocates for Life. When an abortion doctor was gains won during the 1960s. Affirma- murdered in Pensacola, Florida, Advocates for tive action policies were under fierce attack. On Life issued a pamphlet called "A Time to Kill," the grassroots level, the Christian conservative which attempted to justify the act. A Grants Pass movement was rapidly growing, attracting fol- resident, Shelly Shannon, who had participated lowers with their “family values” platform. The in Advocates for Life actions, was arrested in the anti-abortion group, Operation Rescue, launched mid 1990s for trying to shoot a doctor in Kansas a national campaign of civil disobedience aimed at and for setting fire to six women’s health clinics. shutting down health clinics that offered abortion Advocates for Life drew national headlines when services. During this time, the Pacific Northwest they created and distributed wanted posters with was experiencing additional turmoil both cultural- the pictures and home addresses of Portland doc- ly and economically. In the early 1980s, the timber tors who performed abortions. industry collapsed. The leading timber produc- The anti-abortion movement wasn’t the only ex- ing state at that time, Oregon experienced double tremist group using violence to advance its goals. digit unemployment. The demise of the timber During the 1980s, white supremacist groups called industry was due in part to over-harvesting and for the establishment of an all-white “homeland” automation. This meant that many of the timber in the Pacific Northwest. Richard Butler, the Metroscape Page 7 founder of the neo-Nazi Christian Identity move- Measure 8, the anti-gay and lesbian rights initia- ment, set-up a compound for his followers in his tive, was the first and would be the final statewide hometown of Hayden Lake, Idaho during the victory for the OCA. The OCA went on to push 1970s. The Hayden Lake compound served as a for more restrictive anti-gay legislation in Measure training ground for white supremacists organizers. 9, which voters rejected in 1992. The OCA had Butler’s Aryan Nation gatherings drew Ku Klux hoped to build upon their earlier Measure 8 vic- Klan members, neo-Nazi skinheads, and activists tory and their recent passage of a local anti-gay with Christian Patriot organizations. These as- measure in the city of Springfield. The Spring- sorted extremists were united by their racist ideol- field measure would eventually be declared un- ogies and their willingness to use violence and ter- constitutional. rorism to advance their goals. In the early 1980s, Anti-gay ballot measures soon became com- the Pacific Northwest was the site of a series of monplace across the nation.