All Meyer staff and trustees were invited to participate in Meyer’s 2016 Columbia Gorge Region Learning Tour. The invitation described the tour as an opportunity for us to collectively question and understand what a “flourishing and equitable Oregon” means for the Columbia River Gorge region.
These tours have taken place on a roughly biennial schedule, with a visit in 2012 to Umatilla County and in 2014 to Coos and Curry counties. Each provided an opportunity to get a flavor of a community's unique history and culture and to understand better how both have shaped and defined the region. As a Momentum Fellow, my personal interest in participating this past year was also to understand Meyer’s role in supporting gorge communities in their efforts to ensure a place where all citizens can thrive.
Life is about perspective. I see the world through a lens that is different from how a majority of folks would describe it. My eyeglasses are watermarked: One lens is institutional racism; the other lens is oppression.
Going on this tour reinforced my beliefs and broadened my perspective. I was so touched by what I heard and saw that I felt a need to share how I came to appreciate even more the work done by Meyer. Every stop offered me a glimpse into why Meyer’s mission around equity is crucial to the vision of a “flourishing and equitable Oregon.”
Although I focus primarily on what I learned about farmworker and Native American tribal housing issues, the other stories I heard were equally impactful.
Looking Anew
Looking through the viewfinder of my Nikon, I captured the majestic beauty of the Columbia River Gorge. I also saw something disturbing and complex in each image. Beyond the windsurfing, wineries and tourist attractions lives the gorge’s checkered past. If you dare look closely, you can see it.
I saw it, and heard it too, from those whose history tells a story not often heard. I listened to stories of Native American tribes, Japanese settlers, and the Mexican bracero program.
I listened to Randy Kiyokawa, owner of Kiyokawa Orchards and of Japanese descent, and to Paul Lumley, tribal member of the Yakama Nation and past executive director for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fishing Commission (CRITFC). Their stories, and what I saw, made me look anew on the institutional racism and oppression that many of the people who call the gorge home have faced, how it has impacted their life in the past and today, and where we're headed.
Day One: Kiyokawa Orchards and the Challenges of Farming in the Gorge
On the first day, Randy Kiyokawa greeted us, and as we moved through his store I could see that Kiyokawa Orchards had done well over the years and contributed to the local economy. Randy shared his family’s story about how his father and mother were sent to Japanese internment camps during World War II, depicting a clear portrayal of the institutional racism experienced by Japanese Americans. Next, he invited us to pick apples off the trees. But my mind wasn’t on apples. I was thinking about the plight of farmworkers walking past our group, and I wondered if anything about housing would come up. I didn’t have to wait long.
Today, conversations on housing issues are ubiquitous and unavoidable. The challenge for farmers like Randy is figuring out how to provide affordable housing for their workers (predominantly Mexican migrants) that won’t break the farmer’s bank, nor leave workers paying exorbitant rent that breaks their banks. As Randy can attest, lack of affordable housing is one of the region's biggest barriers to retaining employees. This is exacerbated by rapid growth and land use laws that protect farm and forest lands, while creating myriad challenges for those who want to develop housing in the region. Many Hood River orchards build housing on their farms and offer it free to their workers, but building it is prohibitively costly. Still, a farmer who can’t afford to build housing might not be in business for long. The alternative for farmworkers is to find housing in Hood River or a surrounding city, which comes with its own set of challenges.
Housing in Hood River is EXPENSIVE! The median home price in Hood River is around $400,000, compared with the statewide median of $319,000. For those who aren’t interested in homeownership, finding a home or apartment to rent is also problematic. Lack of affordable housing in the gorge has escalated to a wicked problem that requires a collective approach toward a solution. Randy is looking forward to community leaders collaborating with each other and with funders like Meyer to address and seek solutions.
Day Two: Skamania County and Tribal Housing
The next day, we crossed the Columbia River into Skamania County. As a child I spent significant time on Native American reservations in Montana, Wyoming and Canada. Thus, I was eager to visit the tribal fishing villages mentioned on the tour agenda. Looking through the big bus windows, I saw Underwood. Instead of a tribal village with permanent homes and community structures, it looked liked a haphazard, dilapidated trailer park. Debris littered the site, including weathered indoor furniture and a menagerie of fishing nets, boats, rusty tire rims and boat trailers. The image contradicted everything I had experienced as a child.
Paul, a Yakama Nation tribal member who was our tour guide, explained that CRITFC’s mission was “to ensure a unified voice in the overall management of the fishery resources and, as managers, to protect reserved treaty rights through the exercise of the inherent sovereign powers of the tribes.” The fishing villages fell under their purview.
As we pulled off the road at the base of the Bonneville Dam, I stared into the distance, thinking about what I had just heard and saw. I thought about how oppression and privilege played out in this scenario. Paul informed us that the entire town of North Bonneville (with a white resident population of nearly 500 people) was completely relocated through congressional intervention so that Bonneville Dam could be expanded in the late 1970’s. On the other hand, I could see that the Native American residents, a fraction of the white residents, were left to their own devices to recreate and cobble together a community. I looked eastward at the spectacular view of the dam, pausing to absorb its awesomeness. The irony wasn’t lost. Minutes away from the engineering masterpiece that has generated incredible wealth for the region is an encampment, land given to tribes as a replacement for the homes and villages wiped out in order to build the dam. This land embodies a history of oppression and is a reminder of an irredeemable loss for many tribal members of the Yakama Nation, Warm Springs, Nez Perce and Umatilla tribes.
Paul addressed this matter from a place of honesty and personal insight and with a keen perspective of the past and present, particularly around treaty rights and housing. He said families living on the sites didn’t live in homes and are not allowed to build permanent housing on the sites. In addition, sites had no access to city services such as garbage or electricity, creating myriad problems for these families. The last stop was what he described as CRITFC's biggest challenge: Lone Pine. What initially disturbed me about Lone Pine was the street signs at the intersection of Bret Clodfelter Way and Indian Road. It was the use of a pejorative term in naming a street leading to the Native American encampment that was unsettling. It gave me perspective on how institutional racism can be subtle, and in this case cloaked as a street sign. Then I saw Lone Pine.
Lone Pine, is one of the sites that have been approved for families to live on and have no electricity or running water, except to the public restroom. Paul shared that the restroom facility had four shower and four toilet stalls without doors. Because there is no other source of running water on the site, residents also wash their dishes and laundry in the unsanitary restroom, which raises CRITFC’s concern around public health issues. “This is a health hazard for the residents” states Paul as we stop directly in front of the restroom. There’s also no permanent housing. The entire experience left me bewildered and sad and thinking about how oppression played into this scenario. I left wondering about tribal members living in each of the 31 fishing villages and their housing crisis. Today, only 15 permanent homes have been built as part of the Army Corps of Engineers’ effort to make good on their promise to replace the homes and infrastructure. A recent concerted effort of tribes, CRITFC, Congress and the Army Corps is looking to address the still ever present tribal housing needs.
Day Three: Talking About the Future
On the last day, a panel of local housing providers shared their insights on the housing issues gorge communities face. Each panel member expressed the difficulty of providing affordable housing. Joel Madsen, executive director of both Columbia Cascade Housing Corporation and Mid-Columbia Housing Authority, and Paul Blackburn, mayor of Hood River, discussed the challenge community leaders have in sustaining a commitment to the long vision. For over a decade, Hood River city councilors and county commissioners have been stalwarts in working to make affordable housing a reality. Starting with a strategy and fighting battles beyond what they envisioned and longer than they wished, they have stayed on task.
A United Effort
What I learned shook me to my core, and I’m thankful it did! I want to acknowledge that many of the people, organizations and communities we visited are thriving and doing unbelievable work. I saw tremendous strength and resilience in people I met and was inspired by the many working together to present a united effort in tackling problems each faced. I think I speak for Meyer when I say we continue to see value in the work each of you are doing.