Legislative
Public Action
Legalization
Pesticides
Get Involved
Calendar
Donations
PCUN Merchandise
Union Label Products
Volunteers
Internships
Job Openings
Resources
About PCUN
For Students
Sister Organizations
Newsletters
Photographs
Links
Archives
Contact Us
Information
Email List Sign-Up
Home
Site Map
"A Bridge Named Risberg Hall" (Issue #16, January 1994)
"Why name a farmworker union hall in Oregon for two Jewish immigrants who never set foot in the state and who died before PCUN was even founded?" We expect--and hope--to be asked this question many times, now and for years to come. Each time, we will have another opportunity to explain two of our guiding principles. First, that ours is a working peoples' struggle which requires, values, and recognizes broad participation and the building of bridges, especially with other communities who have suffered oppression and discrimination. Second, that we must honor and preserve our own history--the history we ourselves are making and the history made by those who came before us in what we regard as the continuum of struggle. No one else will do it for us.
This bridge helps put us in touch with some of the history which the powers-that-be have worked hard to discourage us from knowing or understanding. The Risbergs fled civil strife and poverty, suffered the hardships of deportation, sought the mutual support of fellow workers, and stood up to injustice and exploitation, experiences which today's Mexican or Salvadoran immigrants would recognize instantly. As Jews in Russia, they faced unrelenting hostility and lived in fear of abusive authorities, conditions all too familiar to the Mixteco and Pu'repecha, indigenous peoples of Oaxaca and Michoacan, who comprise a substantial portion of PCUN's membership. These and other parallels demonstrate that working people everywhere--especially immigrants-have much more in common than in conflict.
The $15,000 that Annette Kleinman donated in 1988 embodied a lifetime of struggle, sacrifices, and achievements. It is fitting, therefore, that the Risbergs' life savings made possible a permanent home for an organization which depends on sacrifice and carries on in the same tradition. It's an investment they would have been proud of.