Julianne Jackson has been a leader in Oregon’s Black Lives Matter movement and a hard-working advocate for people of color. She has spoken at protests, organized events, engaged in discussions with police and elected officials and more. Jackson founded a group called the Black Joy Tour and has been actively working to remove School Resource Officers [SROs] from Salem-Keizer Public Schools.
“I show up for what’s important to me,” Jackson said. “My personal message has just been solidarity and understanding the ties between economic oppression and racial oppression.”
Not only has Jackson attended Black Lives Matter events in Salem, she has also made the trip up to Portland to work with other organizers there. She believes that it is important to create connections with other people of color across the state so that they can work together to support each other’s demands.
“There’s so few people of color in this state that when we start making demands of our government, if we’re not in line, we all fall short. I was also really curious to see if it really was people of color who were damaging things because we are getting the blame for it,” Jackson said about why she went up to Portland.
Like many others, Jackson has expressed her disappointment in how local law enforcement and federal law enforcement have handled the situation. Jackson believes that their response to the protests has caused more conflict, not less.
“I would like to say that I’m shocked but I’m not. I think they’ve been very aggressive, violent and antagonistic and I think [the protests] would have died out had they not come out as hot as they did… Now we can’t back out and let them win, so I think they’ve created their own situation,” Jackson said.
Jackson says that she struggles to understand why law enforcement agencies believed that their response to the protests would quell the movement. She believes that the community’s response should have been expected.
Jackson has also expressed disappointment in how police have responded to alt-right protesters. She was frustrated that Oregon State Police [OSP] remained in the building when two violent conflicts occurred between protesters from Black Lives Matter and Reopen Oregon groups on Aug. 15, including the alleged assault of several Black demonstrators. Jackson’s neck and back were injured in the event. She told the Clypian previously that the altercation was traumatizing and took a toll on her mental health.
Captain Tim Fox of OSP told the Clypian previously that they did not respond that day because the crowd was policing themselves and they decided it was safer to remain inside. Jackson said that she believes that incident demonstrates that OSP handles protests differently when it is a Black Lives Matter demonstration versus other events.
OSP began investigating the alleged assaults from that day, including Jackson’s, in the days following the protest. The investigation has not been resolved, as of Oct. 22. Jackson has stated that she is frustrated by the slow pace of the investigation.
Julianne has also been part of the effort to remove SROs from schools in the Salem-Keizer School District. Statistics show that students of color are disciplined at a higher rate in the school system, prompting the call for an end to police officers in schools.
Jackson said that as an adult she would feel “extremely anxious” if an officer pulled up to her. She understands why police officers in schools would make students, especially students of color, nervous.
“So, imagine being a child in a school setting, where you’re supposed to be learning and your mind is supposed to be operating at its full capacity, and instead of that you’re focused on the police officer with a gun in your school. I think the reasons for removal are obvious,” Jackson said.
Jackson’s advocacy is not only confined to the Willamette Valley. The Black Joy Tour, which Jackson founded, travels to different cities throughout Oregon. Their goal is to create a presence for the Black community in places that might not usually have a big one.
They host positive and approachable events where they share things about their culture and start conversations about race. Although the events are focused on joy and welcoming, sometimes the response to them is the opposite.
“We’re seeing that, in almost all the cities we go to, we’ve never broken anything, we’ve never left any garbage. We smile and wave and there’s no negativity you could possibly pull out of it, yet in every single city we’ve gone to, someone says ‘get the f*** out of our city’ and we’ve gotten disrespect… You can stand up for yourself in the most positive way and you’re still gonna get that response,” Jackson said.
Although they have gotten some negative responses, they have also gotten a lot of positive ones. She started the tour because she wanted to particularly reach out to the students who are one of the only children of color at their schools, like she was when she was younger. She also wants to create a positive memory of the Black community in every town.
They have travelled to places across the state. They have hosted events in Redmond, Sisters, Sandy, Gresham, Boring, Hood River, Pendleton, Depoe Bay and more.
“I got really sick of this narrative that Black people want to come into your town and ransack and pillage and that we are these violent creatures. Nothing could be further from that and when we look at Portland and other cities where destruction has happened a majority of those folks do not share my pigment,” Jackson said.
When Jackson is not working as an advocate against racial injustice, she also has a job in mental health administration.
