Valencia Family Memoirs: March Against Monsanto Portland Style

The kids, Armando and I attended the worldwide gathering, protest and march against corporate giant Monsanto recently. We took to the streets of Portland, OR - the closest organized march to us. We were 4 people among several thousand others (Portland police estimated 6,000 of us while other organizations estimated up to 10,000).

Worldwide, we were among millions of people, spread out over 50 countries and over 400 cities all marching together on one designated day against Monsanto who is poisoning our food, our soil, our children, our plants, our animals, our planet. My family and I went to the protest to participate in and support the effort to bring global awareness to the destruction and control Monsanto has taken over our food supply. To fight against the greed and disloyalty our government has in choosing this corporations money and power over us - the people.

I also attended because I feel very personally affected by Monsanto in that they are responsible for my step dad George's health problems. Monsanto poisoned George and many others during the Vietnam war. George's healthy issues are directly linked to agent orange which was dumped on him and hundreds of thousands of other people. George is now slowly and painfully dying because of the exposure to agent orange. It took decades before Monsanto's agent orange and vets' health problems were linked. Even now, George, as with many other vets, struggle to prove that the government and Monsanto poisoned them. They still ignore the already proven connection and refuse to compensate for the pain and suffering they caused them.

My biggest fear is that we will repeat history, but on a bigger more blatant scale. That myself and my kids, and our friends and family will all be struggling to survive horrid diseases and misery which could have been prevented RIGHT NOW if we take back control over what we put into our bodies. I fear that we will continue to let Monsanto poison us with their chemicals before we can "PROVE" the deadly effects they are already having on us and will continue to have on us. I fear any proof we come up with will never be good enough while Monsanto has such a close connections with our government. While labeling GMO's is a start in the right direction, I strongly feel that banning all GMO's (as well as the chemicals used on our food) from the world's food supply is very important. Many countries already have a ban on Monsanto's seed, chemicals and food, why doesn't the United States?

It was a very well organized and peaceful protest. My families first protest. There were a lot of families and children there - people from all walks of life. A permit was obtained for the gathering and march. Roads were blocked off and traffic was redirected. Portland police on bikes, motorcycles, cars, trucks and horses lined the streets. We gathered in a park near Lloyd Center where Vietnam Vets, farmers, community leaders and others spoke to the crowd about the destruction Monsanto is causing us all. After the talks, we marched.

I took a lot of pictures, but also borrowed several from the Portland's March Against Monsanto's Facebook page. These are all photos from Portland. The signage seen among the crowds were powerful.