United Through Activism

Activism can take many forms. Three Eugene changemakers speak on what activism means to them and what its future may look like.

written by REINA HARWOOD, CLAUDIA LEE, ISABEL LEMUS KRISTENSEN, JULIA PAGE & NICO RODRIGUEZ

Oregon activists and educators don’t shy away from addressing systemic racism and social injustice. For generations, survivors and fighters have withstood white supremacy, discrimination and hate crimes: each a symptom of an American society paralyzing BIPOC and LQBTQ communities nationwide.

Flux had the chance to speak with three community leaders on what activism looks like to them. The interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

Nikolaj Byrdman, 31, is the founder and organizer of Lane East Asian Network, a group that aids the Eugene community through protests against Asian hate and provides a safe place for East Asians to speak on social media.

Beck Banks is a doctoral candidate at the UO working in researching in transgender media, particularly television representation, and trans rurality. Banks also makes short films and has been working on a documentary about transgender healthcare in Central Appalachia.

Tyshawn Ford is a leader at Black Unity, a Eugene- and Portland-based activist group working on educating people on forms of institutionalized racism and giving back to the community. Through efforts such as clothing giveaways, organizing events for certain holidays and house feeds, Black Unity prioritizes events that focus on promoting the needs of the BIPOC community.

NIKOLAJ BYRDMAN

Lane East Asian Network (LEAN)

Since you started getting involved with activism, have you seen any changes in your lifetime since you’ve been involved with LEAN?

The main thing I’m seeing in our community, and even specific to myself, is that all of these people of color groups are finally realizing that we can unite and support each other. I think in Eugene that’s really hard to find because not only is it difficult to find other East Asian people but just people of color in general. And now that Black Unity has kind of pioneered that direct action in Eugene, a lot of us are waking up and realizing we can unite and get a lot of stuff done together. I think that’s the biggest thing — not only class consciousness, but also a “people of color consciousness.” An awareness of each other’s existence and how we go through a lot of the same issues.

Do you think that the Eugene community has supported your movement/the movement in general?

I believe we have actually had a lot of support from the Eugene community. My only hope is that the people supporting our movement — to stop Asian hate — also support Black Lives Matter. I mentioned that at our last march because the Black community in Eugene has also gone out of their way to support our movement. But even if they didn’t, people should be digging a little deeper into why they support us and not Black Lives Matter if that is the case.

What message would you want to put out there for the Eugene community to know and acknowledge?

It’s incredibly, incredibly important that people come out and show up to these direct action events, but sometimes even more important than that is to make sure you see the humanity in the people of color in your life. Something that I’ve found to be a common thread is that other people of color that aren’t East Asian have had the same experience as me, where they would be sitting in a room full of white people without a single person making eye contact with them, without including them in conversations and without asking them about their lives. And so I want the Eugene community to know: We are not accessories; we are humans and we must be heard. Because to not truly listen is to not respect and appreciate our humanity.

BECK BANKS

PHD Candidate, University of Oregon

What does activism look like to you — especially as someone who works in higher education?

It can take on so many different forms. Some people see writing as activism — whether it be journalism or just creating a place for trans people in the canon of academia for there to be research in the future. Within the academy, there are always going to be these moments of tension of how to move forward. We need to move forward in terms of how people address gender, because I think that there are certain ways that we could have classrooms be more trans-conducive.

There’s a place for a lot of growth that can happen within higher education, and I think there could be even more going forward. It’s not enough just to sit around and study these things. You have to go out into the world and act. And what will you do once you have this knowledge? We always need to be asking what you can do now that you know this.

How have you seen activism evolve or change in your lifetime?

Where I'm from — I grew up in east Tennessee — the word activism had some really bad connotations. That was something that was rocking the boat. So, it took me a long time to understand activism for myself. I don’t think I really grasped it until after my undergrad. I took a media activism class where we all had to have our own projects that we were doing, and then that kind of set off some things for me where I was just like, ‘Of course I’m an activist. I am active in the world. I want to make an impact. I want to make this place better.’

I think a lot more people have understood activism is a way of having agency or having a way to give to the world or helping shape it onto a better path. I think now it is incredibly common. I would be shocked if I know somebody who hasn’t been to a protest. It is what you do if you’re a good citizen now. And I think that has been a radical change, at least from where I came from where it was like, ‘If you do this, you’re a bad person.’ I think it is also a matter of understanding what you can do as an individual and what you can do as a group. You can do a lot as an individual. Never downplay that, and as a group, you can do just phenomenal things.

What do you think activism will look like for younger generations?

I hope it’s just a given. I hope that it’s just like: Of course you’re going to be an activist; this is just going to be a part of who you are; this is going to be your work that you do in the world. I hope that is the track that it takes. That it is something that people learn more about in K through 12. That it’s something you just naturally do on the weekends or in the evenings or maybe we have more projects in school that work toward change. So, I hope that’s what the future will be.

TYSHAWN FORD

Black Unity

How did Black Unity start and get to where it is today?

I started organizing with recipe justice in Portland, came back to Eugene and just taught members of the activist community everything that I knew about organizing. So before Black Unity, we were BLM Eugene. I changed it to Black Unity, added more people. And that’s how we came about for the most part: I came to a protest in Eugene, and kind of got handed the keys to the truck by Midas and then it was just kind of up from there.

What is your biggest advice to the incoming generations of activists in terms of how to radicalize your mind, and how to be able to like, acknowledge what's happening?

I’d say live the life of activists. Be out there in the streets when you can. Also, just make sure that you are taking the

time to deeply educate yourself on the system that you’re trying to dismantle. Because the most important thing I feel like with activism is not changing the minds of those who speak like us; it’s changing the minds of those who, you know, don’t think like this. The people who disagree with us. Those are the people’s minds we need to change because we already have people on our side. We need to get more people on our side and more people to understand. Education is elevation; it’s the most important part of what being an activist is — knowing about the system to try and dismantle, and being known to have a conversation with people about why we’re doing the things that we’re doing. Because we hear abolish and stuff like that. Those can be scary terms. But when it’s broken down to you, it makes total sense. Absolutely.

How have you seen activism change from a previous generation, from like the late 1900s to like now? How has it grown and developed?

Social media has played a big part. Imagine if there was like a Malcolm X now. They would just be way more huge because their message would actually reach people throughout the whole entire world in seconds. So, there’s way more people that are gonna listen just. When it’s on everyone’s platform, and it’s right there in your face, there’s really nothing that you can do to combat that. So the movement back then was just a little bit different because I feel there wasn’t as much co-opting. From what I could tell, it just seems like a different time for activists, but I guess it was a lot more radical back then because they were doing a lot more radical stuff.