Story Photos
 Greg Ebersole / The Daily News
Tracey Moore, left, and Ron Padmore, center, are up front of as the Diversity Celebration March make its way down 15th Avenue in Longview on Sunday afternoon.
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Hundreds hit the streets
Monday, December 10, 2007 5:27 AM PST
By Leslie Slape
Printable version
E-mail this articleIn what was likely among one of the biggest demonstrations in city history, 400 to 500 people chanted slogans, sang peace songs and marched for a mile through Longview on Sunday in support of the ideal of cultural unity within the community.
"People united will never be defeated!" they shouted. "Hey hey, ho ho, prejudice is about to go!"
June Vaughn, Cindy Hardegger and Ruth Zimmerman of Kelso broke into a spontaneous chorus of The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love."
Sunday's march and a cultural diversity picnic at Victoria Freeman Park afterward were organized by local politicians, churches and activists in response to a recruiting meeting Sunday night for the Church of Jesus Christ--Christian, which is affiliated with the white supremacist group Aryan Nations.
The size of the turnout was all the more remarkable given the snowy weather. The temperature never climbed out of the mid-30s.
"To me, diversity is the acceptance of many different points of view," said Mike Cheney of Longview, one of the marchers. "I don't support Aryan Nations. I do support their right to express what they feel. I'm here because I support the opposite view --- and I'm expressing my right."
The marchers were broad mix of races and ages. Many waved flags or carried placards proclaiming "Diversity: Don't hate it, celebrate it," "God Loves All Colors" or "No Child is a Mongrel." Some wore red ribbons to signify that all blood is red.
The "mongrel" reference is to the Church of Jesus Christ--Christian's term for multiracial people.
Diversity means "a melting pot," said Kheng Lee of Longview, who marched alongside his wife, Kea Lee. "All multiple nationalities are together -- that's what diversity is for. Not diversity in split, diversity in unity."
"Diversity is all races coming together," said Olivia Hernandez of Longview. "We don't want other races to judge us for our skin color."
Elaine Helvie said Longview didn't celebrate diversity when her family moved here in 1945. Her father, Elmer Schaefer, bought a piece of property on Ocean Beach Highway (near the current Triangle Center). Her family is white, but they were shocked to find the deed included a condition that no black people could live on that street.
Still offended by that bigotry, she came out to march Sunday.
Janice Bradley of Longview brought 11 members of her family, including her grandchildren, to the march. Bradley, the wife of the pastor of the House of Prayer for All Nations, said she would like diversity to mean peace.
"I'm not sure about others, but for me I look at it as a big challenge, and peace is part of that challenge," she said. Her church, which is near Victoria Freeman Park, has been tagged with racist graffiti several times.
Longview children's librarian Jan Hanson said, "Diversity is like a library where all the books can be together. But we don't have to stand up in alphabetical order."
The march began at the Civic Center, went south on 15th Avenue, turned left on Delaware Street and ended at Victoria Freeman Park. Although organizers initially planned to have the marchers stick to the sidewalks, the sheer volume of the turnout made that impossible. The marchers filled both southbound lanes of 15th (which the city blocked off in advance) and stretched from Broadway to Hudson Street. When the march turned down Delaware, it extended for three blocks.
Mark Bergeson of Longview, one of the organizers, said the community response was phenomenal.
"We planned to pull the community together to show who we are," he said. "I think we succeeded."
He estimated 500 people participated. Longview police Capt. Don Barnd, one of many officers who kept watch to make sure everything remained peaceful, said there were definitely more than 400. Marchers included county commissioners and members of the Longview City Council.
"The question of, 'Now what?' needs to be addressed," Bergeson said. "We need to think of what do we do on a regular, ongoing basis? We need to keep diversity in the front of our minds, as a community."
Across the street from the park a small knot of young people, many with shaved heads, stood watching with disgust. Several police officers stood quietly nearby.
"They're stupid," said Kelsey Sudar, 16, of Longview, referring the marchers.
"We don't like them," said Victor Bliss, 15, of Longview. "I think this march is pretty much a waste of time."
Jesse Lester, 15, of Longview said, "If it ain't white, it ain't right."
At the celebration picnic, Cynthia Washington of Longview, granddaughter of local black civil rights pioneer Victoria Freeman, got on a bullhorn and called upon the assemblage to continue what they started.
"I am so overwhelmed," she said. "This is a long time coming. ... This cannot stop today."
With mounting fervor, she said, "Diversity is not just race. It is the handicapped. It is the elderly. It is the veterans. It is the rich, the poor, whatever. It's all of us.
"We don't need the Aryan Nations, but we will embrace and love them -- somewhere else."
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