Statement

This billboard, paid for by Oregon Livability Pac, was erected on the west end of McMinnville a month or so ago, and it is spot on. Those of Latino heritage make up a large population in this part of Oregon, not only in agriculturally related work, but in business and commerce, education, food services, you name it. Recent estimates put the number of ICE arrests in Oregon at close to 300. Can you imagine the ripple effect of fear, paranoia, and sadness through the families, friends, and communities when hard working people are arrested without warrants by masked cowards? I read this line in a recent editorial: “The only difference between 1939 Germany and America today, the Brownshirts of Hitler’s day didn’t wear masks.” It’s unreal that this is where we are.

Not long after I took this shot on our way home, Lou Reed’s “Dirty Boulevard” came up on our playlist, and I was struck by these lines:

“Give me your hungry, your tired, your poor, I’ll piss on ‘em - that’s what the Statue of Bigotry says.

Your poor huddled masses, let’s club ‘em to death and get it over with, and just dump ‘em on the boulevard.”

F Trump and the MAGA horse he rode in on.