Civil Rights Leaders March to Support Measure 114

Editor's note: This article was updated and new photos added after the event.

In the spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, clergy and other community leaders gathered at the Vancouver Avenue Baptist Church Fellowship Hall, where Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once gave a sermon back in 1961. They then marched to Dawson Park for a press conference to implore Oregon voters to address record-breaking gun violence by passing Measure 114.

Rabbi Michael Z. Cahana, Senior Rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel and a chief petitioner for Measure 114 speaks to the crowd assembled at Dawson Park. (Photo/Jerry Foster)
Reverend Dr. Matt Hennessee of the Interfaith Peace and Action Collaborative, Oregon State Senator Lew Frederick, Reverend Dr. LeRoy Haynes of the Albina Ministerial Alliance, and Antoinette Edwards, retired director of Portland's Office of Youth Violence Intervention, joined Measure 114's chief petitioners, Marilyn Kellar, Rabbi Cahana, and Reverend Mark Knutson for the march and press conference.

Discussion points included:

• Black and brown Oregonians are disproportionately killed by guns. 
• In Oregon, Black people are more than 11 times more likely to die by gun homicide than their white counterparts. (Johns Hopkins: Oregon Gun Deaths in 2020)
• Laws similar to Measure 114 are associated with fewer homicides by firearm, fewer police shootings, and fewer mass shootings.
• Gun homicides in Connecticut dropped by 28% and gun suicides dropped by 33% after Connecticut passed a permit to purchase law.
• Laws similar to Measure 114 have also helped prevent mass shootings. States with these laws have experienced 56% fewer fatal mass shootings.
• Measure 114 is supported by community leaders throughout the state.

Yes on Measure 114 coalition leaders include:

• Reverend Doctor Leroy Haynes, Albina Ministerial Alliance Chairperson
• Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform
• Unite Oregon
• Miles Pendleton, NAACP Eugene-Springfield President 
• Marcus LeGrand, Co-founder of the Fathers Group and Bend-La Pine School Board Member
• Oregon State Representative Tawna Sanchez
• Oregon State Senator Lew Frederick
•  Oregon State Representative Khanh Pham
• Oregon State Senator James Manning
• Oregon State Senator Kayse Jama, Chair of the Oregon Legislature’s BIPOC Caucus                               
• Antoinette Edwards, retired director of Portland’s Office of Youth Violence Intervention