December 19th, 2017
Dear ROPnet,
As the year draws to a close, we are reflecting on all of the ways we have come together this year to survive, resist and build! On Saturday, December 2nd, 35 people from Benton, Columbia, Coos, Deschutes, Lane, Linn, Multnomah, Polk, Josephine, Union, Wasco, Washington, and Yamhill met at SEIU 49 to for the first ever rural People’s Movement Assembly (PMA)! Folks from around the state put our heads together and shared about the rapid response strategies we are using in our organizing to respond to increased attacks on our neighbors, including harassment and hate crimes, vigilante and state violence, and white nationalist and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity. While our needs vary across counties (and the rapid response work looks different across communities as a result), we began to map out and generate a shared understanding of what our statewide, multi-issue, rural rapid response 
infrastructure looks like as a whole.
Not only was the PMA a room full of people from different parts of the state, but sitting around the circle were also teenagers and elders, queer and trans folks and both newcomers and longtimers in rural Oregon, all sharing unique insights and problem solving together on things like how to utilize the Signal app to mobilize your rapid response network to the courthouse to observe when ICE shows up, how to begin building partnerships with faith communities as a local resource, and how to establish roles and organize effective meetings to accomplish the work your group has committed to doing together. Throughout the day we moved between large and small group conversations to create space for deep thinking about what is working locally, what isn’t, and what we need to create to be successful. We hatched plans for building new networks and infrastructure across the state for groups integrating rapid response strategies, including:
After the PMA, many more joined us for ROP’s 25th Anniversary Celebration: Resistance and Resilience! Organizers and community leaders from urban and rural areas kicked up our heels, swapped stories and pies, and spent the evening celebrating two and a half decades of building rural movement infrastructure across the state!
After the PMA, many more joined us for ROP’s 25th Anniversary Celebration: Resistance and Resilience! Organizers and community leaders from urban and rural areas kicked up our heels, swapped stories and pies, and spent the evening celebrating two and a half decades of building rural movement infrastructure across the state!
One of our newest ROP board members, Rosie Schneider, spoke about Gorge ICE Resistance, and how they formed to support people detained in NORCOR who went on hunger strike in May to protest inhumane conditions. She shared how the work has continued to evolve, with daily rallies outside the jail every day for the past seven months, raising public consciousness about the ICE contract at NORCOR and advocating at NORCOR board meetings to end it, continued attorney and clergy visits to immigrant detainees, and bringing ongoing media attention to the ICE contract and inhumane conditions inside the jail. Bruce Morris, ROP Board Chair, shared about what ROP has meant to so many communities over the years before kicking off the hilarious pie auction, where people bid on delicious homemade pies in an effort to come out the proud owner of a lemon meringue or chocolate pecan. We are grateful to the many volunteers that baked pies and other delicious treats and filled many other roles throughout the evening to raise funds that help advance human dignity and democracy in rural Oregon! We also had music provided by the Road Sodas, whose upbeat music had many of us tapping our toes, especially the kids who spent most of the night showing off their moves on the dance floor! We couldn’t have asked for a more supportive and fun celebration to honor the 25th anniversary of ROP!
When we create opportunities like the PMA to share our stories about the work, we can build the strategies we need, find ways of working together that reflect what we envision and hold up a mirror to reflect back the powerful organizing happening despite dark times. These opportunities of reflecting, working and celebrating together illuminate our path forward. We are grateful to be on the path toward justice with each of you!
Warmly,
Keyla, Hannah and the ROP Team