Pacific Northwest Tour - Salem, OR

On Thursday we departed Washington and drove south for several hours, all the way to Willamette University in Salem, OR. Despite the fact that this particular event was put together fairly quickly, there was a great turnout, and student organizer Alejandro Jimenez from Alianza did a fantastic job! We passed sheets asking the governor to pass state-wide sweatfree ordinances, thus moving student to concrete action, and union representative spoke about the Ford-hall Delta Drywall situation in Salem.

It was particularly moving to engage with high school students from the Willamette Academy who were in attendance. One student asked why we would even care to put so much time into this -if this was not our personal struggle, why care? It's funny, it's such a basic and important question. We each told the story of the making of the film, and our own personal reasons for doing it, and the great importance of resisting and calling out injustice and suffering whenever you become aware of it, whether or not it touches you personally. Heavy stuff. But she seemed moved...

This event was sponsored by: Alianza, the Lilly Project, Women and Gender Studies, and American Ethnic Studies.