By JESSICA ANDERSON
In April and May of 2022, a man later identified as Michael Bivins, set fire to the Muslim Community Center of Portland with congregants inside of it, shattered windows of Congregation Shir Tikvah at Eastside Jewish Commons and a black-owned business, Everybody Eats PDX, and spray painted “Die Juden” on Congregation Beth Israel - an explicit reference to the Holocaust - the day after the synagogue hosted the community Holocaust Remembrance Day observance. Many of you may remember our community’s growing awareness that an unidentified individual had targeted multiple organizations and remained at large. Now you have a chance to take part in demonstrating that bias crimes affect everyone in a community and not only the impacted organizations.
Thankfully, Bivins was arrested. He has been charged with 15 State and Federal crimes including Arson, Bias Crime, and Damaging Religious Property. In addition to these charges, many are also aware that he was a suspect in an uncharged bias crime that occurred during the same period. This crime caused great destruction and could have caused the deaths of numerous people.
Within the month, Bivins is slated to appear in court to plead guilty. Following this, a judge will determine his sentence, based on agreements made between the defense and the prosecution. Our country’s legal process allows for direct victims and those affected by these crimes to voice how the events affected them, to influence the sentence, and to help shape the Judge’s understanding of the effect of the person’s actions. As members of the Portland Jewish community, you can take part in this phase of the judicial process. Several community members have worked diligently over the past two years to follow the case and prepare for the submission of a Community Impact Statement to the court. In this case, the goal of the statement is to show that bias crimes impact an entire community, to strengthen the legal response to these crimes, and help prevent them in the future.
Read the community impact statement at https://docs.google.com/document/d/17oq4Onaw1nqnQCjza1BMeAwe4T4hnbJxtPAT8ypz57Q/edit?usp=sharing
The hope is that hundreds of community members will indicate their support of this statement. No individual names will be submitted to the court - only the names of directly affected institutions and the total number of signatories from the community at large. Within the form, you have two options – you can anonymously sign the Community Impact Statement, you can opt to be notified of the hearing date, or both. The court’s victim advocate group says that it’s very helpful if many members of a community show up to a plea bargain hearing - they help demonstrate to the court the impact and importance of the proceeding. This plea hearing will be on a single date and is not an ongoing trial. 
To sign up as a supporter of the Community Impact Statement, please fill out the Google form here https://forms.gle/skC7hK9tFPmKwV356.
Feel free to share the links with others whom you know care about bias crimes being committed against any group, in Oregon, and who seek to stand and be counted.
Reporting remains a critical step in stopping bias crimes, and we know incidents are underreported. Please report and encourage others to do so as well. Incidents can be reported on the JFGP Security page at https://www.jewishportland.org/security.
You may also contact the Oregon Department of Justice’s Non-Emergency Bias Response Hotline at 1-844-924-2427 or report online at https://justice.oregon.gov/CrimeReporting/BiasCrime.