Black Lives Matter

Black lives matter.

1000 Friends of Oregon stands for racial justice. We pledge to do our part to right the injustices faced by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities today due to centuries of structural racism, and to guarantee the livability of Oregon for all of its people.

Land ownership and land use policies and processes have historically propagated and exacerbated inequalities around the nation, and in Oregon. Land ownership has been racially restricted; land use entitlements have favored those with access to decision-makers; and communities of color, low- income communities, and women, among others, have been excluded from or under-engaged in decision-making around land and natural resources. 

1000 Friends is committed to reversing these practices and their impacts on people. We recognize the enormous potential of Oregon’s land use planning system to enhance the quality of life for our full community, while broadening access to power and resources. 

We believe that the land use system in Oregon thrives when: 

  1. Participation and decision-making reflects the full diversity of our community, 
  2. The interests and welfare of marginalized communities are prioritized, and 
  3. Disparities in environmental and social impacts are accounted for, eliminated, and redressed.

While there is still much work to do to live up to this promise, these ideas were present even at the inception of our land use planning program. In his 1973 address to the Oregon Legislature, the same assembly that would go on to pass Senate Bill 100 and create our land use planning program, Governor Tom McCall proclaimed:

"Quality of life is the sum total of the fairness of our tax structure; the caliber of our homes; the cleanliness of our air and water; and the provision of affirmative assistance to those who cannot assist themselves. True quality is absent if we allow social suffering to abide in an otherwise pristine environment."

The text of SB 100 itself asserts that its purpose is "to assure the highest possible level of livability in Oregon,” and, indeed, the mission of 1000 Friends of Oregon is to “work with Oregonians to enhance our quality of life.” 

But such livability, such enhanced quality of life, is impossible so long as there are Oregonians whose lives are endangered every day by the ongoing reality of virulent racism and police brutality. 

Again, there is no other way to say it: Black lives matter. 

1000 Friends of Oregon will not remain silent on this or any other issue that so profoundly threatens the people, and the future, of Oregon. We refuse to be complicit in the suffering of our fellow Oregonians. We commit to doing the work to dismantle white supremacy, and to continuing this conversation, however difficult or uncomfortable it may be.