Rural Roots Rising

This month’s episode, Taking Risks highlights the voices of Suzanne Pharr, a renowned community organizer and movement elder, and Zachary Stocks, whose passion to make museums dynamic spaces accessible to everyone brought him into community organizing. 

Find out when your local radio station is playing Fighting for Rural and download this episode’s transcript at www.ruralrootsrising.org

More on what you heard in this episode: We begin this episode with Suzanne Pharr, a community organizer and movement leader whose decades-long career includes co-founding the Arkansas Women’s Project, and writing the books Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism and In the Time of the Right. Suzanne shares the importance of the Combahee River Collective, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and the Kitchen Table Press in her political coming of are in the 1970s. Follow these links to learn more about the work of these Black feminist visionaries. In this episode, Suzanne shares about how the Women’s Project launched the Women’s Watchcare Network, a network of people across Arkansas who documented hate and bias crimes, Ku Klux Klan activity, and the murders of women. The Women’s Watchcare Network released reports of this collectively documented information to push the envelope and raise consciousness about the crisis of domestic violence in Arkansas and nationally. Suzanne’s work with the Women’s Project brought her to Oregon to work on the No on 9 campaign to defeat Ballot Measure 9, which would have rewritten Oregon’s Constitution to legalize discrimination against LGBTQ+ people. While the No on 9 campaign focused on defeating the measure in cities, Suzanne, Marcy Westerling, Scot Nakagawa, and Pat McGuire traveled across rural Oregon to meet people and see what organizing was possible, and the Rural Organizing Project was born.

This episode also features Zachary Stocks sharing being a part of the first Rural Organizing Fellowship where he created Oregon HORSE, which is short for Heritage Organizations for Rural Social Equity. Zachary traveled the state working with museums and heritage organizations to become spaces for communities to discuss the issues that matter most to the people who live there. Zachary is now the Executive Director of Oregon Black Pioneers whose mission is to research, recognize, and commemorate the culture and heritage of African Americans in the State of Oregon.

If you are interested in connecting with rural Oregonians to start your own group, check out Rural Organizing Project, or reach out to us at

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Fighting for Rural features Kim Schmith, Kelsey Olivera, and Kelly Huang of the Madras Key Club sharing a story of multigenerational small-town organizing for equity! Madras Key Club is working inside the schools to build a more inclusive Jefferson County. You’ll learn about their work celebrating their family’s traditions in a local park, distributing Christmas gifts to families who can’t afford them, ensuring high school students can succeed in small towns, and creative problem-solving in the age COVID-19. 

Find out when your local radio station is playing Fighting for Rural at ruralrootsrising.org!

Download this episode’s transcript at ruralrootsrising.org

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Madras Key Club hosted three cultural events over the summer of 2019 focused on Mexico, El Salvador, and Peru, the three main Latino cultures represented by people in Madras, and Key Clubbers themselves. Kim also wrote for the local Madras paper about their Mexican Cultural Day and Peruvian Cultural Day.

If you are interested in connecting with rural Oregonians to start your own group, check out Rural Organizing Project’s resources here, or reach out to us at [email protected] for direct support. To learn more about Rural Organizing Project (ROP) and how you can get involved, check out www.rop.org.

Did you like the music in this episode? Listen to more Oregon-made music by The Road Sodas, and Diana Wild and support these local artists!

Rural Roots Rising is a production of the Rural Organizing Project. Thank you for listening!

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Welcome to a Rural Roots Rising podcast extra! 

As protests of police violence against black Americans continue across the country, we have witnessed large scale police and National Guard deployment, many outfitted with intimidating and sophisticated warfighting gear. Countless videos have shown police officers and the National Guard using batons, tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets on protesters, bystanders and journalists, often without warning or seemingly unprovoked. 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the Kent State attacks, reminding us that militarized violence is nothing new and has shaped our country, just as there have always been those who refuse to be silenced. 

Today we are sharing a special episode of Rural Roots Rising, Remembering Kent State, featuring the story of Joe Lewis, one of nine peaceful student activists who was wounded in the National Guard’s attack on nonviolent protesters of the Vietnam War at Kent State University on May 4th, 1970. Four students were also killed that day: Allison Beth Krause, Jeffrey Glenn Miller, Sandra Lee Scheuer, and William Knox Schroeder. 

Years after Kent State, Joe moved to Oregon where he became a leader with Columbia County Coalition for Human Dignity and now sits on the ROP Board of Directors. At a recent Rural Organizing Project Board of Directors retreat, Joe sat down with us to share his story. To read more about this history, Joe recommends the books Kent State; Death and Dissent in the Long Sixties by Tom Grace and Truth About Kent State: A Challenge to the American Conscience by Peter Davies. For movies, he recommends Fire in the Heartland and The Day the War Came Home. Kent State is hosting a fiftieth anniversary virtual commemoration online, including a teach-in in partnership with the Kent State Truth Tribunal. 

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We are in the midst of a global movement, with Black Lives Matter protests erupting all around the nation and beyond. Rural Organizing Project’s multiracial network of human dignity groups is answering the call. Here in Oregon, rural and small-town communities have hosted over 75 community events in every corner of the state. People are gathering on street corners, in churches and parks, and in socially-distanced car caravans to protest and hold vigil for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and the many other Black and brown people killed by police. Almost all of these protests were organized by young people braving a pandemic. In this month’s episode, Black Lives Matter: Voices of Rural Oregon, we’ll hear from protest organizers including Adriana Aquarius in Deschutes County and Gianna Espinoza in Wallowa County about why their communities are showing up in defense of Black lives.

Local organizers have also been taking the energy of this moment and directing it towards organizing for racial justice on the local level. Groups in the ROP network and new groups called to action by the current uprising are digging into police and sheriffs’ budgets, calling and emailing local elected officials, and talking to their neighbors about racism and white supremacy. Following the leadership of the Movement for Black Lives, rural Oregonians are working to end systemic racism in their counties, defunding the police, and investing our resources into the things that create true safety and help our communities thrive. Get involved by emailing [email protected]!

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You can learn more about the vision and demands of the Movement for Black Lives here and current opportunities for action here! Referenced in the episode, you can find the Pew Survey which found a majority of people in the US support Black Lives Matter here.

ROP is holding multiple statewide calls to strategize together about how to continue our organizing in the face of intimidation and threats from white supremacist counter-protesters and to share strategies for translating the Movement for Black Lives’ demands into each county's specific context. Head to rop.org/blacklivesmatter to join us!

Check out rop.org/blacklivesmatter for a list of previous and upcoming actions happening across Oregon! If you are interested in connecting with an existing group or want to start something in your town, we’d love to support you! Reach out to us at [email protected].

Did you like the music in this episode? Listen to more Oregon-made music by The Road Sodas and Trouvaille. 

Rural Roots Rising is a production of the Rural Organizing Project. Thank you for listening!

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Community-based radio and other local media help us weather the storms we face, both literally and figuratively. When radio works for the good of all our neighbors, this free, accessible service, fosters the sense of belonging, resilience & connection necessary for survival. And the importance of local media has never been more clear than during this global pandemic. In Community Radio: Tune in, Speak out, we got to (virtually) talk with 4 local media creators about how public radio can be a life-saving source of information that keeps communities connected and taking action together. Join us to hear from Ana Elisa Wilson of Oregon Rural Action, Arturo Sarmiento of Radio Poder, Carol Newman of Coast Community Radio, and Connie Saldaña of KSKQ Community Radio! 

Interested in connecting with rural Oregonians to work on community media, or community response to emergencies in this pandemic moment and beyond? Head to www.rop.org to learn more & get involved in the Rural Organizing Project.

Download this episode’s transcription at ruralrootsrising.org

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Carol Newman helped found Coast Community Radio, KMUN, which has been on the air for 37 years! Carol hosts two music and local arts shows, and shares about KMUN's central role in navigating disaster response when a storm hit the community, knocking out power and all other forms of communication. 

Ana Elisa Wilson, an organizer with Oregon Rural Action, has been instrumental in getting out public service announcements over the radio to the immigrant community in Northeastern Oregon. 

Arturo Sarmiento is the manager of Radio Poder, KTUP, the high power station created by Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), Oregon’s tree planter and farmworker union. Many of the voices featured on KTUP are voices never heard on commercial Spanish-language radio or by a mass audience, including young people, workers, community organizers, and Indigenous people speaking in their own languages. 

Connie Saldaña is a long-time activist in Jackson County, where she helps keep KSKQ Community Radio running strong. She also hosts the show: Age of Adventure: The Positive Side to Growing Old, a topic that is close to her heart and her work with elders and people with disabilities. She talks about radio as an essential public good. 

ROP has held five online rural strategy sessions since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to strategize with people across the ROP network about responding to this crisis moment and organizing for the long-term changes we need. For recordings of these strategy sessions click here.

Did you like the music in this episode? Listen to more Oregon-made music by The Road Sodas, and Trouvaille. 

Rural Roots Rising is a production of the Rural Organizing Project. Thank you for listening!

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The spread of COVID-19 and the insufficient response to it, has made it much more difficult to access safe and healthy food, especially for those most vulnerable among us. Feeding Our Communities features Harry MacCormack from Sunbow Farm in Benton County, Oregon and Martina LeForce with Berea Kids Eat in Madison County, Kentucky. Both Harry and Martina have worked to fill gaps in access to food whether it be through making free meals for children or supporting organic food producers through a host of different methods. If you are interested in connecting with rural Oregonians to work on organizing for food access in this pandemic moment and beyond, head to www.rop.org to learn more about Rural Organizing Project (ROP) and how you can get involved.

Download this episode’s transcription at ruralrootsrising.org Transcripciónes en Español también sera disponible pronto.

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Harry has played a key role in creating collectives and organizations vital to local food access, including Ten Rivers Food Web, First Alternative Natural Foods Co-Op, Corvallis-Albany Farmers Market, and Oregon Tilth! He has shown a decades-long commitment to growing and distributing food in rural communities across the Willamette Valley and beyond. 

As part of Grow Appalachia, Martina heads Berea Kids Eat in Berea, Kentucky, which provides free meals and snacks to anyone in the community under the age of eighteen. As the Coronavirus pandemic shut down schools and workplaces across the country, Berea Kids Eat adapted quickly and creatively to continue providing food to children who needed it most.  All across the country, programs like Berea Kids Eat have accessed federal funding through the USDA Summer Food Service Program to provide free meals to low-income young people.

ROP has held four online rural strategy sessions since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to strategize with people across the ROP network about responding to this crisis moment and organizing for the long-term changes we need. Watch the recording of the strategy session focused on food access, Feeding Our Communities Through Pandemic here. For recordings of other strategy sessions click here.

Did you like the music in this episode? Listen to more Oregon-made music by The Road Sodas, and Kentucky-based artists Sam Gleaves and Deborah Payne. 

Rural Roots Rising is a production of the Rural Organizing Project. Thank you for listening!

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Building an Ever Wider Circle features Gwen Trice from the Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center in Wallowa County. Gwen is creating accessible ways for people to grapple with racism in Oregon through learning about the experiences of multicultural loggers who have called Wallowa County home for generations. If you are interested in connecting with rural Oregonians who are grappling with racism in your area, head to www.rop.org to learn more about Rural Organizing Project (ROP) and how you can get involved.

Download this episode’s transcription www.RuralRootsRising.org.

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To learn more about Gwen’s work, check out the Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center and watch the OPB documentary: The Loggers Daughter. The Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center website also has more information about ongoing programs including ones that can bring Maxville to your home town such as the Timber Culture Traveling Exhibit.  

To learn more about the founding of Oregon as a white utopia, we encourage everyone to watch author and educator Walidah Imarisha’s 2016 presentation “Why Aren’t There More Black People in Oregon?” The presentation leads viewers through a timeline of Black history in Oregon and discusses how this history continues to shape our social and political landscape. You can also check out this article by Walidah, which includes a timeline of Black history in addition to her reflections on the presentations she has done around the state.

Are you part of a rural museum or heritage organization that is interested in rural social equity? H.O.R.S.E (Heritage Organizations for Rural Social Equity) has resources that can help! Check out the website to learn more.

Did you like the music in this episode? Listen to more Oregon-made music by The Road Sodas, Gene Burnett and Plz Responder.

Rural Roots Rising is a production of the Rural Organizing Project. Thank you for listening!

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It Takes All of Us shares a story about the power of interfaith organizing and the successes that are possible when hundreds of volunteers join together in a moment of crisis. This month, we follow the story of Navneet Kaur, who took action in support of asylum seekers in rural Yamhill County with her Sikh community, Innovation Law Lab and ICE Out of Sheridan. Navneet speaks about the community mobilization that successfully pressured ICE to release people from detention. 

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When she found out that people seeking asylum from across the world had been separated from their children at the US-Mexico border and sent by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to Federal Correctional Institute (FCI) Sheridan Navneet drove directly to the prison. While showing up alone didn't work so well, she quickly began doing interfaith organizing with her temple, Dasmesh Darbar Sikh Temple and coordinating with lawyers from Innovation Law Lab to support people in winning their right to asylum, and forcing ICE to release everyone within six months.

Their work did not end with the release of those detained in FCI Sheridan though. Navneet helped form the Respite Network with ICE Out of Sheridan and communities of faith across the Willamette Valley and organized over 60 volunteers into the Welcome Team. Together they picked people up when they were released from detention and drove them to temples and churches to stay for the night and supported folks as they continued on their journeys and reunited with family and friends across the United States.

Do you want to form a group in your community? Check out our resources for Fostering Strong and Healthy Groups, or email [email protected] for support.

Did you like the music in this episode? Listen to more music by The Road Sodas, and the music platform Epidemic Sound!

Rural Roots Rising is a production of the Rural Organizing Project. Thank you for listening!

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Building Community Power features Miriam Vargas Corona with Unidos Bridging Community in Yamhill County and Bruce Morris with KPOV, High Desert Community Radio in Deschutes County. They both won victories for human dignity by bringing people together from different segments of their communities. If you are interested in connecting with other rural Oregonians who are building power in your area, head to www.rop.org to learn more about Rural Organizing Project (ROP) and how you can get involved.

Download this episode’s transcription at RuralRootsRising.org.

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In response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detaining community members at the Yamhill County Courthouse, Unidos Bridging Community built a volunteer-run system to document constitutional rights violations by ICE through in-person video recording. Miriam Vargas Corona shares how Unidos Bridging Community worked with the community to record these violations and build towards a powerful victory of a statewide Courthouse rule banning ICE from making warrantless arrests inside and in the immediate vicinity of courthouses. Find more information about the November 14th, 2019 Oregon Supreme Court Justice ruling that Unidos helped pass here! Want to stop ICE detention and deportation from your community? Contact ROP at [email protected].

In the early 2000s, Human Dignity Coalition brought together many different community members and human rights groups in response to an attack at a queer dance night in Bend. Bruce Morris shares how they started by hosting a screening and discussion around the 1995 documentary Not In Our Town which highlights the story of everyday people in Billings, Montana organizing to build a stronger community out of attacks on Black, Native, and Jewish communities and congregations. Let us know if you want a copy to screen in your town by emailing [email protected] and we can send you the DVD! The Not In Our Town website also has additional films and discussion guides available. 

Bruce and the Human Dignity Coalition focused the energy they built from the screening on passing an Equal Rights Ordinance protecting against discrimination based on sexual orientation or sexual identity. He also shares about how this story connects to other work he has participated in in Deschutes County including creating the Social Justice Center and maintaining the strength of KPOV, Central Oregon’s community radio station. As we mentioned in this episode, ROP is taking many lessons from the Social Justice Center and other places like it as we create our new Community Organizing Center in downtown Cottage Grove.

Did you like the music in this episode? Listen to more music by The Road Sodas, The Wild Wood, and Wilhelmina Frankzerda and support these local artists!

Rural Roots Rising is a production of the Rural Organizing Project. Thank you for listening!

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Rural Community Building features Martha Verduzco with Hood River Latino Network in the Columbia River Gorge and Katie Cook with Rural Voices based in Gilliam County. This episode emphasizes a core truth about rural community organizing: breaking isolation by building connections, relationships, and community through organizing is a skill that many of us learn through necessity. If you are interested in connecting with other rural Oregonians who are building community, head to www.rop.org to learn more about Rural Organizing Project (ROP) and how you can get involved.

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In 2016, when the anti-immigrant scapegoating had Columbia River Gorge families feeling scared for their safety, Martha got together with other Latinx community leaders in Hood River County and started the Hood River Latino Network. Since then, they have held annual Hood River Latino Festivals in the park that, in 2019, brought together over 700 people to share music, food, and resources. The incredible organizing referenced in this episode to get ICE out of NORCOR (Northern Oregon Regional Correctional Facility) might leave you wondering if your community profits off of immigrant detention and deportation. Check out this national map of ICE contracts, or contact [email protected] to find out more about local government contracts and how your group can get involved in the fight for migrant justice.

When Katie Cook's first child was born, it became clear how vastly different access to child care was for the haves and the have-nots in Gilliam County. Katie got together with a friend to make a plan to do something about it, and together they organized the first public child care option in town, Condon Child Care, which is still going strong almost 20 years later! If you live in Gilliam, Morrow or Wheeler County and would like to connect with others like Katie in your area, check out the Rural Voices Facebook group. Do you want to form a group in your community? Check out our resources for Fostering Strong and Healthy Groups, or email [email protected] for support.

Did you like the music in this episode? Listen to more music by The Road Sodas, Low Tide Drifters, and Diana Wild and support these local artists!

Rural Roots Rising is a production of the Rural Organizing Project. Thank you for listening!

Support the show