“In the neo-liberal America in which we live, seekers of beauty and truth who would throw off materialism and violence have chosen Portland, Oregon, as their destination, and this is not itself a bad thing — except for the overwhelming lack of diversity in the population which has the luxury of leaving home behind to seek the good life. Portland has declared itself a sanctuary city from the forces of Trump, and it is nice that Portlanders would like to protect the most vulnerable among them. Yet it is hard to ignore the absurdity of the whitest city in America declaring itself safe haven for brown people — just as it is hard to imagine Portland as offering us a model for how we should live in an America which is not white and mono-culturally liberal, but white and Trumpian: nationalist, militaristic, provincial, fascist, scapegoating of Latinos and Muslims, racist toward blacks, dismissive of Natives, willing to consider women only in terms of the attractiveness of their bodies, discriminatory toward people of varied genders and abilities.”
(posted from Facebook)
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