JUNE 21, 2020– Instead of the city’s yearly “Go Skate Day” gathering, creative minds in Portland listened to the word of the streets and made appropriate changes in both name and purpose. Go Skate Day was now No Hate Day, an opportunity for skaters and skate-adjacent to gather, skate, educate, appreciate and enter a raffle that raised funds for Black Lives Matter affiliated organizations. Before the event wrapped, Smart Collective reported that donations of $875 were made to Black Resilience Fund, Don’t Shoot PDX, The Okra Project and $900 to Equitable Giving Circle. The gathering at Da Vinci Middle School featured speakers, prizes and a jam, followed by a group skate that crossed the Hawthorne Bridge and commenced with a second gathering at City Hall.
Since early March, life has been weird. Realities of this pandemic have welcomed waves of terror. The hatred-fed bubble of pressure our country (and the world) was under finally popped, and now the putrid underbelly of racism is fully exposed. Hopefully we will come out the other side with an existence that is much better but in the meantime, fighting back depression & despair has been hard. The point is, gatherings like this are important in many ways. One of them, is that they remind us that we have a community of people that is strong, caring, and unwilling to put up with the absolute bullshit. Events like this bring light and hope. Old friend and laughs. We could all use some of that, so thanks! -Migz
