One day, we hope these marches will no longer be necessary. Until then, we will continue to bring attention and action to the needless suffering and death brought about by government sanctioned gun violence.
On Saturday, May 13, 2023, the Portland Raging Grannies held a March of Mourning for Victims of Gun Violence. We marched from the Portland Art Museum, through the South Park Blocks, and into the Portland Farmers Market at PSU.
The group carried a mock coffin at the head of the march, symbolizing the lives lost due to gun violence. Behind the coffin, members held headstone signs displaying the dates, locations, and numbers of victims from mass shootings that have occurred this year. The march aimed to raise awareness about the impact of gun violence and advocate for sensible gun control measures.
The Portland Raging Grannies, dressed in black and carrying a coffin, will lead a Silent March of Sorrow from the Federal Court House to Pioneer Courthouse Square.
Any and all who wish to respectfully honor the thousands of Americans who have died at the hands of government-sanctioned gun violence are welcome to join.
Date: Monday, May 30, 2022 (Memorial Day)
Time: 1 P.M. PDT
Location: Lownsdale Square, SW 4th Avenue and Main Street, Portland, OR 97205
The Portland Raging Grannies sang and danced at a march for reproductive rights in solidarity with the nation-wide event occurring on Saturday, October 2nd. We’ll keep fighting until all womxn have legal control to make their own choices! Thank you to pdxforreproductiverights for organizing.
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https://youtu.be/el16rSEEzLQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrNjdmnz69ohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k24KKcaRges
The Raging Grannies participated gladly in the July 24, 2021 Medicare for All rally. We started with dancing for the marchers as they passed us at Pioneer Courthouse Square. We then joined the march to Shemanski Park. Before the speakers commenced, we led a long community dance/flash mob set. The rally speakers were awesome, inspiring, articulate and got the crowd fired up. Midway through the program, we sang on stage – a rousing M4A PRG song. Check out pictures and video below!
On November 10th, the Supreme Court will decide whether to strip health insurance from millions of Americans in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic – the same pandemic that has already claimed approximately a quarter of a million American lives, and left millions with long-term health effects. It’s clear that the American healthcare system is at a tipping point.
At this moment of change, we must fight to defend protections for pre-existing conditions and the Medicaid expansion. However, we must also seize this moment to demand a system that leaves no one behind. We can’t go back. We must move forward to Medicare for All.
Join us at this socially distanced rally and press conference in support of Medicare for All. Bring a mask, bring a sign (if you have one), and bring a friend. Together, we can win this fight.
This event is co-sponsored by Health Care for All Oregon – Action, Portland Democratic Socialists of America & Portland Jobs with Justice.
No one should be disenfranchised because of where they live, the color of their skin or their income. But we have witnessed a strategic and sustained effort by the President and his political allies to suppress the vote and undermine our electoral process – all with the intention of illegally maintaining power and subverting the will of the people. But we won’t let him divide us. Already we are joining together across our differences to vote in record numbers, and, if necessary, we are prepared to take to the streets to defend our democracy.
This action was organized the the Defend Democracy Coalition. We are joining together across our differences to vote in record numbers, and, if necessary, we are prepared to take to the streets to defend our democracy.
The Portland Raging Grannies attended to support the marches through dance.
Verizon wants to bring a drone testing facility to North Portland, near Cathedral Park. They don’t think there is any problem with testing drones up and down the Willamette because, as they told neighbors, “no one uses the river anyway.”
After a summer when racial justice protesters were surveilled by military drones, a coalition of community groups has come together to resist this plan—which would include testing of technology that could be used by the Department of Defense in their surveillance drone program. We showed up to tell Verizon, the Port of Portland, and Verizon’s lobbyists at Strategies360 that this misuse of land, threat to wildlife, and impact on North Portland neighborhoods is absolutely unacceptable. The potential for this drone technology to negatively impact human rights both at home and internationally is another major reason to oppose this facility.
On Sunday, November 1 at 12 pm we gathered for a rally and kayak flotilla at the Cathedral Park Boat Launch to show that we use the river, and Verizon’s creepy drones aren’t welcome in Portland!
The Portland Raging Grannies attended this Unite Oregon march as support for the Black participants. We provided a few signs for marchers and went along, on the sidelines, to be a shield for them.
We support Black Lives Matter and are willing to help the movement the best way we can.
The Portland Raging Grannies, in mourning black and carrying a mock coffin, marched from Lownsdale Park to Pioneer Courthouse Square at 2:00 P.M. on Sunday, September 27, 2020 to encourage voting by all.
Democracy means the people have the authority to choose their governing legislation. Who people are, and how authority is shared among them, are core issues for democratic theory, development and constitution. Cornerstones include freedom of assembly and speech, inclusiveness and equality, membership, consent, voting, right to life and minority rights.
The Raging Grannies are deeply concerned that the right to vote and access to voting this year especially is threatened. Democracy is in danger as is our constitution. It is crucial that all who are able register their vote this November.
Gathering in Lownsdale Square.Media interview with River Montijo.Marching to Pioneer Square.Marching to Pioneer Square.In Pioneer Square.In Pioneer Square.In Pioneer Square.A toast to a common fight.
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REMARKS
Good Sunday Afternoon, Everybody & Thank you all for joining us, The Portland Raging Grannies, as we conclude our “Don’t Let Democracy Die” March here in “Portland’s Living Room”, the place designed to welcome us all regardless of who we are or where we came from; the place where we all belong regardless of our age, our abilities, the color of our skin, or whom we love. This is OUR Pioneer Courthouse Square, a place where we come to celebrate, to protest, to sing and dance and listen to music and make speeches; a place where, even during these strange times of uncertainty and social distancing, we come to be together in community. Take just a moment to look around and let our eyes smile at each other over our masks.
We are here today to remind ourselves what that great experiment called Democracy looks like .…. to remember the words Government Of the People, By the People, and For the People; essentially a system in which it is We The People who have absolute rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, who are meant to have both equal opportunity and equal protection under the Law, and who have the authority to not only choose our leaders but to remove those leaders should they fail in their sworn commitment to uphold the Constitution.
Today we are at a crisis point and we are concerned, not just for ourselves, but for our children and our children’s children. We live in the eye of a Pandemic, with our planet’s clock ticking away the hours to irreversible climate change. We are in the midst of a year of enormous challenges …. from a virus that has already caused the deaths of more than 200,000 Americans to Police Brutality and wanton indifference to Black Lives; from devastating hurricanes to Climate Wildfires burning out of control…
And from an out-of-control Would-Be Dictator, a White Supremist worshiper of nothing but personal and corporate greed, who talks openly about “getting rid of the ballots”, who with his handpicked posse has been quietly setting the stage not for a peaceful transfer of power, but for a coup.
On the 100-year anniversary of finally acquiring the vote, WE THE WOMEN PEOPLE especially cannot let that happen. WE THE PEOPLE, ALL THE PEOPLE must not let our democracy die. WE THE PEOPLE must Show Up, Step up and Stand up NOW. RIGHT NOW! At the very least, WE MUST VOTE! The deadline for Voter Registration in Oregon is October 13th. If you’ve never voted before, NOW is the time to start. THIS YEAR, WE MUST VOTE AS IF OUR VERY LIVES, OUR VERY DEMOCRACY, AND OUR VERY PLANET depend on it. Because they do.
Can we close our time together this afternoon by speaking in one voice: DON’T LET DEMOCRACY DIE. VOTE!
Thank You. Sulima Malzin for the Portland Raging Grannies
