Portland mayor draws praise, criticism

After the city of Portland, Ore., declined to participate in the questioning of 23 men of Middle Eastern origin in their community, Mayor Vera Katz was beseiged with email from supporters and detractors alike. Among the responses posted on the city’s website:

– "You are a Spineless Corp. Whore who has no idea. Get a clue, interigate the Sand Niggers and Rag Heads. We don’t want them here anyway. We can always find someone else to run the 7-11’s and the Arco gas stations."

– "I want to thank you and your police chief for your strong defense of civil liberties. This country can use many more with your integrity. In fact we need it desperately. Run for Congress!"

– "I lived in Portland for five years, until this August when I left to attend school in Pittsburgh, PA. ... I have never been more proud of my (former) home. ... I support and commend Portland’s decision to act thoughtfully and justly in an unsettled time. Being called ‘unpatriotic’ right now carries so much more than the usual cultural and political weight. I think it is brave of your administration to act in concert with your obligation to the community as a whole, and not be swayed by the fears of some."

– "I think it would be a great idea for Portland to invite the American ‘Talibum’ and others from Afgangsterstan for a ‘Talibum’ Pride Parade. You and the police chief could have a big celebration for all of your terrorist and Bolshevik comrades. Since you hate Bush so much and you care about helping the enemies of the U.S. it seems appropriate."

– "People should not be ashamed of Portland for not throwing up their hands and giving up on America like most everyone is doing in this country right now. No longer is debate, and checks and balances honored right now. Right now we need more Veras around to ensure that we as a people do not end up with a dictatorship. The three branches of government are melting into one, making me fear that we are losing what it is to be ‘American.’ Vera, you are a beacon of true patriotism."

– "You are doing my work Vera. I will see you soon in hell! Satan (your father)"

– "In these difficult times, with our nation the victim of a terrible attack, we must be more vigilant than ever about safeguarding the very civil liberties that make us the kind of nation that terrorists and extremists can’t abide. I salute your police department’s efforts, in the face of criticism, to resist the racial profiling and mass interrogations called for by Attorney General Ashcroft."

– "Don’t be so ridiculous as to speak of ‘civil rights.’ There is a war going on and civil rights should not be extended to anyone that could possibly be a detriment to this country’s peace and self-defense efforts. Why aren’t you concerned with the rights to safety and peace of American citizens. You have gone completely overboard this time. I used to be a strong supporter of our Mayor and Police Bureau. Today I am merely ashamed of both and fearful to live in an area that will become known to any terrorists that we will protect them and provide them with ‘civil rights’ that were intended for the true American citizens of this country."

In a Dec. 6 letter explaining her position, Katz wrote:

"Our decision and our city have been characterized by some as unpatriotic. Given the important battle against terrorism that our country is engaged in, I would like to share some facts and background information directly with you, whether you support or oppose the City’s position. We can aggressively fight terrorism and follow the law.

"It is important to know that U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft has said that the 23 men in question are not suspected of any crime. Nor is there any indication that they were in any way involved in the terrorist acts of September 11th. It is essential to understand this fact in order to understand the City Attorney’s interpretation of Oregon law in this case. ...

"Two state laws guide our response to the Ashcroft request.

"The first, ORS 181.575, enacted in 1981, makes it unlawful for our police to ‘collect or maintain information about the political, religious, or social views, associations, and activities of any individual ... unless such information directly relates to an investigation of criminal activities, and there are reasonable grounds to suspect the subject of the information is or may be involved in criminal conduct.’

"The second law, ORS 181.850, enacted in 1987, makes it unlawful for police to ‘use agency moneys, equipment or personnel for the purpose of detecting or apprehending persons whose only violation of law is that they are persons of foreign citizenship residing in the United States in violation of federal immigration law.’ ...

"We asked the U.S. Attorney if he would be willing to retool five of the 33 questions we had legal problems with. He declined and said that all the questions had to be asked as they were presented. Thus, we are unable to participate in the 23 local interviews. ... The interviews are being done by federal agents and are almost completed. ...

"Police chief Mark Kroeker and I are fully committed to continue working closely with all local, state, and federal officials in our country’s effort to prevent and combat terrorism. We are also committed to obeying the laws of our state. We can and will do both, because only in that way can we protect our nation, and preserve that which makes it worth protecting."

Just cause, unjust war

"I believe that the progressive supporters of the war have confused a ‘just cause’ with a ‘just war,’" Howard Zinn wrote in The Progressive (12/01). "There are unjust causes, such as the attempt of the United States to establish its power in Vietnam, or to dominate Panama or Grenada, or to subvert the government of Nicaragua. And a cause may be just – getting North Korea to withdraw from South Korea, getting Saddam Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait, or ending terrorism – but it does not follow that going to war on behalf of that cause, with the inevitable mayhem that follows, is just. ...

"Terrorism and war have something in common. They both involve the killing of innocent people to achieve what the killers believe is a good end. I can see an immediate objection to this equation: They (the terrorists) deliberately kill innocent people; we (the war makers) aim at ‘military targets,’ and civilians are killed by accident, as ‘collateral damage.’

"Is it really an accident when civilians die under our bombs? Even if you grant that the intention is not to kill civilians, if they nevertheless become victims, again and again and again, can that be called an accident? ...

"Let’s talk about ‘military targets.’ The phrase is so loose that President Truman, after the nuclear bomb obliterated the population of Hiroshima, could say: ‘The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians.’"

Peace: not just for folkies anymore

The newly established National Youth and Student Peace Coalition "will startle anyone who imagines that all peace activists are white folk-music fans," Liza Featherstone writes in The Nation (12/17/01). "It includes the youth division of the Black Radical Congress and the Muslim Student Association."

Student peace activism "builds on networks and habits of dissent established by the student anticorporate movement, which has focused largely on economic justice, whether for the garment workers sewing college sweatshirts overseas or the dining hall workers students see every day," Featherstone says. "Many of the organizations – most notably Students Transforming and Resisting Corporations (STARC) – prominent in those campaigns are equally visible in antiwar organizing.

"But whereas recent high-profile student campaigns (those against sweatshops, for example) have tended to attract students from elite private schools and large state schools, the peace movement has extended to less predictable quarters, including rural Southern schools (North Carolina’s Appalachian State University and the University of Southern Mississippi); historically black colleges like Morehouse; community colleges from Boston to Hawaii; urban public universities like CUNY and the University of Illinois, Chicago; and high schools and middle schools."