Dear Providence Park,
We will be together soon. You’ll feel the energy. We’ll bring the passion and the noise. We love the Portland Thorns with our whole selves. We’ll always support the players, that's our commitment. We love our community.
However, our community is being brutalized and attacked and destroyed.
What we’ve witnessed over the last few months, what’s happening here in Portland, in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, in Chicago, in DC, in LA has changed us. The world is different, even from just a few months ago.
We are not going to just stick to soccer. We are not going to be the same. We are different.
We want to make sure that you know it’s intentional because anybody who has a platform needs to be speaking out, needs to condemn what has been happening. And we have a platform.
Protest is a spectrum and just a part of a movement for change. Some people are good at writing letters. Some people are good at showing up and marching, some people are good at standing in between conflict and being a peaceful bystander. We’re not gonna ask everyone to do one thing, the same thing, but we are going to ask that if you have a platform you either speak up or you amplify it.
To the club: This is our community. How are we keeping our community safe? How are we providing resources and education and acknowledging the atrocities that are happening, we cannot just stick to sports. This is happening.
To the players: Have the conversations, do the work in the locker rooms, and when you’re ready to say something, to put your words out there… When you’ve found that footing, you have the Riveters behind you. We know that you cannot agree with what is happening to everyday American citizens and refugees and immigrants who came to this country seeking a better life, but we know that you need to process it and sort it. We’re gonna give you examples of what you can say or how you can help. You can’t ignore this. It is happening.
We all have platforms. We need to come together as one community and show the world how we feel.
To our fellow supporters in the North End: Rest up, hydrate, get ready. We’re gonna be loud. We’re gonna bring the passion. We have to speak up and take action. Throughout the season, we will not only share ways to get involved with our organization, but we will also be doing our best to highlight how you can support other organizations in our community that are doing the work.
Because, if we’re going to stand up and say "this type of violence should not be happening - not here in Portland, not anywhere in this country, not anywhere in the world" and if we’re going to have an impact and be about the community, we need to start walking the walk.
If this makes you uncomfortable let’s have a conversation about it. Just know, though, we are not going to have a conversation about staying silent or just sticking to sports. That's a luxury that we can’t afford right now. No one can.
This is about love for our community, our friends, our family, and our neighbors. This is happening and we won’t ignore it.
