OJMCHE’s current exhibition Vedem Underground is currently featured here in an article in Artslandia. Many thanks to Artslandia and writer Nim Wunnan who through his nuanced writing presents compelling evidence on the importance of independent publishing and the connections to be made in social/political struggles through history.
“Given how prominent independent publishing and progressive politics are in Portland’s present identity, this exhibit shouldn’t struggle for relevance here. Just as the museum encourages connections between the history of Jews in Oregon and the present issues facing all marginalized populations and voices, this is an excellent opportunity to consider the deeply political roots of independent publishing in Portland, beyond the contemporary “zinester” culture. For example, influential anarchist newspaper, the Firebrand, was published out of Sellwood in the 1890s before being shut down for “obscene materials,” which included a Walt Whitman poem. Then there’s Oshu Nippo, a Japanese-language daily that became essential to the large Japanese community in Portland in the first half of the 20th century. Oshu Nippo was seized by federal agents the day that Pearl Harbor was bombed, and its printing press was later used by the U.S. government to print anti-Japanese propaganda while its founder, Iwao Oyama, was held in an internment camp in New Mexico. It’s worth noting that The Oregon Jewish Museum now stands just a few blocks from the waterfront Japanese American Historical Plaza, which commemorates the executive order that destroyed Portland’s Japantown by sending its residents, including Oyama, to internment camps. Likewise, the exhibits documenting the forced demolition of Jewish neighborhoods in Southwest Portland in the 1950s make the obvious connections to the destruction of Black communities after the Vanport flood, using the same language that we currently use to discuss the economic displacement of gentrification.
It’s very clear from the museum’s current programming, updated collection, and these upcoming exhibits that, though the stories the Oregon Jewish Museum tells are from a Jewish perspective, they with all of us, one way or another, regardless of our beliefs or backgrounds.”
– Nim Wunnan, Artslandia