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Dismantling Racism Resource Book

PCUN joined forces with several other groups and formed CAUSA to educate and organize on
immigrant rights. But, pro-immigrant forces had no experience in ballot initiative organizing, so
for strategic advice they turned to Oregon’s LGBT community, which had prevailed against the
odds over a series of homophobic ballot initiatives. “That’s why we became really interested in
working with them,” says Ramírez, “even at the risk of our coalition coming apart. Our
community is pretty homophobic because of the Church influence and macho attitudes. But we
took that risk and came up with a really successful strategy.”
CAUSA invited the predominantly white Rural Organizing Project (ROP), a veteran in the anti-
queer ballot fights, to join their coalition. “Our members had an understanding of the extreme
right and we had worked with members on understanding institutionalized racism with a focus
on how race plays out in rural communities,” recalls Kelley Weigel, former co-director of ROP.

As a member of the CAUSA directorate, the Rural Organizing Project gave PCUN access to its
own members. CAUSA gave workshops and speeches at ROP conventions and, with ROP’s
network, CAUSA was quickly able to establish an activist network that stretched beyond the
farm worker union’s base in the Willamette Valley to cover most of the state. Although the anti-
immigrant forces failed to qualify their ballot initiatives, this statewide network would prove
critical in defeating their attacks in the legislature and a later effort to reinstate the Bracero
program.

The program was co-sponsored Oregon’s Republican Senator, Gordon Smith – a grower with a
frozen food packaging business – and the state’s other Senator, liberal Democrat Ron Wyden.
“CAUSA wanted to make sure that wherever Ron Wyden went, someone asked the question of
why he was supporting that guest worker bill,” says Weigel. “By combining our networks, we
were able to confront Wyden at every appearance.” The pressure forced Wyden to back down
and, ultimately, the Oregon campaign helped to block Smith’s Bracero bill from becoming
federal law.

Successes like these helped to cement the PCUN-ROP relationship. “What made partnership
even stronger were all these attacks that kept coming down,” says Ramírez. “187 was defeated,
but it was introduced again and we had to fight it again. We defeated English-only, attacks on
affirmative action, rollbacks on farm worker minimum wage…CAUSA has been on a roll with
over 25 major victories.”

Both Ramírez and Weigel say the relationship has been strong and mostly smooth—in part
because of a shared commitment to anti-racist work and in part due to clear lines of
accountability. “It would have been inappropriate for ROP to continue working on the
guestworker issue if it did not have the leadership and guidance of CAUSA,” says Weigel.
Ramírez has seen his share of “predominantly white organizations that try to dictate what the
needs of our community are” and coalitions where the involvement of groups of color was “an
afterthought.” By contrast, he says that accountability in PCUN’s relationship with ROP has
been “a two-way street.”

Participation in CAUSA has solidified ROP’s commitment to racial justice, especially among
member groups in communities with a significant Latin@ presence. Still, Weigel is realistic
about the impact of the collaboration: “Some of our groups are indifferent and a few are even
hostile to our immigrant rights work. I know that there are people within ROP who would still

Dismantling Racism Project 88 Western States Center