• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
WRAP

WRAP

Western Regional Advocacy Project

  • Donate Now
  • Get Email Updates
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • About
    • 40 Years of Fighting
    • History
    • Mission
    • Strategy
    • Members
    • Board / Staff
  • Campaigns
    • Business Improvement Districts
    • House Keys Not Sweeps
    • Legal Defense Clinics Project
    • Homeless Bill of Rights
    • Oregon Right To Rest
    • Without Housing
    • Street Outreach
  • Organizing Tools
    • Without Housing Organizing Toolkit
    • Homeless Bill of Rights Campaign Manual
    • WRAP Organizers Manual
    • WRAP Artwork
  • Resources
    • Pipe Dreams and Picket Fences Report
    • Art in Action Power Point Slide Show
    • Hobos to Street People
    • House Keys Book
    • Political Education
    • Legal Research
  • Media
    • Newsletters
    • Blog
    • Hobos to Street People Art Show
    • Street Newspapers
    • Sweeps Gallery Videos
    • Videos
  • Support Us
    • Donate
    • Become a Monthly Sustainer
    • Volunteer
    • Support WRAP
    • WRAP Newsletters & Updates Sign Up

Oregon’s racist past, is new again

October 11, 2016 by Jonathan Leave a Comment

On September 27, 2016, the City of Prineville unanimously passed an ordinance “Excluding Certain Persons from Public Property.” This ordinance (#1225) authorizes public service employees to ban anyone from public property who is violating a city, state or federal law, or rule of a public park. Since breaking the law will already get you arrested this law is really about arbitrary rules and regulations.

In order to ban someone, the employee must give only one verbal warning to stop the behavior before being empowered to ban the alleged perpetrator. In effect, a city employee could have someone banned from all public Prineville spaces for having a dog that disturbs any person by frequent or prolonged noise (aka barking).

During the hearing in which this ordinance was approved (public comment was not required by law), the Chief of Police, Dale Cummins, said part of the purpose of the ordinance is to be an educational tool, part of it is to be a warning tool. It is unclear what educational value is being added to public spaces. This is another enforcement tool for unjust laws already in existence.

During the hearing, Cummins addressed concerns that this ordinance was to target houseless people living outside by saying: “If I wanted to target the homeless, I could do it with laws that are on the books right now.”

Cummins further stated that the ordinance was not intended to be punitive or “a stick,” but later rationalized the ordinance by saying that “If someone uses heroin in a park, I can certainly arrest them for that, but they could be back in the park 30 minutes later.”

We know that people use heroin in private places, and those with the privilege of an indoor setting to use drugs are not subject to this exclusion from public space. If you don’t have a private space and aren’t allowed in Prineville’s public spaces, then the effect is punitive, even if the stated intent is not.

The exclusion ordinance falls in line with a long history of classism and racism in Oregon—denying people of color and poor people the right to exist in public spaces.

Our society at-large’s historic amnesia means that too many have forgotten that when Oregon was granted statehood in 1859, it was the only state in the Union with a Constitution that forbade black people from living, working, or owning property here.

Oregon’s racial exclusion laws made it illegal for black people to move to the state as late as 1926. And the Fourteenth Amendment, which gives everyone equal protection under the law and was written intending to give former slaves equal citizenship status, was not ratified in Oregon until 1973.

These laws echo Sundown Laws, Jim Crow Laws, Ugly Laws, Anti-Okie Laws, and other laws which disproportionately affect people who are least valued by capitalism. These laws all deny people the right to exist in or use public spaces based on their identities.

The effect of these laws is seen still today in Oregon, one of the top 10 states disproportionately imprisoning Black people. People of color are disproportionately unhoused and poor, so to naively assume that a law impacting public space use would not impact unhoused and therefore black/brown people disproportionately would be a willful denial of reality.

Prineville has now cemented itself as a part of Oregon’s continued legacy of violating the human rights of poor, black, and brown people. Kudos, Prineville.

prinevilleorhp2

Filed Under: #right2rest, Actions, Advocacy, Civil & Human Rights, Criminalization, HBR, Homeless Bill of Rights, Homelessness, Legal Defense, Legislation, Local Government, News, Rural Homelessness

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Footer

Instagram Feed

Does the litany of laws forbidding camping, loiter Does the litany of laws forbidding camping, loitering, trespassing, blocking the sidewalk and panhandling make society safer? https://conta.cc/3ZrNvk5
https://conta.cc/48wWLr8
Welcome to the WRAP-UP! Boise, ID. Video Shows Fam Welcome to the WRAP-UP!	Boise, ID. Video Shows Family Violently Arrested and Severely Injured for Living in Park, and more news from our members.  https://conta.cc/3R8Efzl
https://conta.cc/3r3rHhU
Washington D.C. PRESS RELEASE: Congresswoman Bush Washington D.C. PRESS RELEASE: Congresswoman Bush Re-Introduces Unhoused Bill of Rights https://wraphome.org/
After nearly 30 years of continuous publication, w After nearly 30 years of continuous publication, we have lost our funding. Street Spirit ceased publication on July 1, but we will not give up! Our newspaper is an invaluable source of East Bay news, and a vital resource for the people who sell it. Come party with us to support our effort to relaunch. https://conta.cc/3rifOod
WRAP is Hiring - Member Organizer WRAP was founde WRAP is Hiring - Member Organizer 
WRAP was founded in 2005 by local social justice organizations across the West to bring about real systemic change. We are building a multi-issue, multi-racial and social justice-based coalition which brings organizations together across the local–national divide, thus giving us the strength and experience to make ending poverty and homelessness a national priority. https://conta.cc/3XD5QK9
Celebrating Resistance Relationships June 30, 202 Celebrating Resistance Relationships 
June 30, 2023 * 6:00 - 8:00 pm 
320 West 37th Street, New York, NY 10018
State of the “Sweeps” The politics of encampme State of the “Sweeps”
The politics of encampments and displacement in the “post” pandemic order
Public panel discussion, June 14, 4-5:30pm Communications 120
University of Washington, Seattle
Undercommons Archives Art Show Thursday June 15th Undercommons Archives Art Show
Thursday June 15th 7-10pm 
Adobe Books 3130 24th St. SF
Instagram post 17863401230948820 Instagram post 17863401230948820
San Francisco, CA. Mayor’s Plan to Expand Shelte San Francisco, CA. Mayor’s Plan to Expand Shelter GUTS HOUSING FOR HOMELESS FAMILIES AND YOUTH 
https://wraphome.org/2023/05/31/mayors-plan-to-expand-shelter-guts-housing-for-homeless-families-and-youth/
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Facebook Icon

Facebook Feed

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons
Link thumbnail

Sacramento prosecutor sues California’s capital city over failure to clean up homeless encampments

clbn.us

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento’s top prosecutor is suing the city’s leaders over failure to cleanup homeless encampments, escalating ...
1 day ago
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • Likes: 0
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Twitter Icon

Twitter Feed

Twitter feed is not available at the moment.

YouTube icon

Youtube Code

Our Channel

Copyright © 2023 Western Regional Advocacy Project WRAP · Log in