On weekdays, Evelyne (say it like the French: EvvLEEN) Moyo is champion of conjugations and culture at the high school and Sherwood Middle School.

But in a tres francais separation of public and private life, Moyo doubles as a political activist outside of school hours -- a role that landed her the civics-lesson status earlier this year.

Moyo and nine others who protested President Bush's Aug. 22 visit to Portland sued the city and its leaders in October, alleging excessive police force violated their rights to free speech and free assembly. Police have defended their actions as appropriate.

Sherwood students have seen Moyo's lawsuit in the news, and some debated its merits in government class. But no one hears about it in French class.

"We talk about verbs and grammar and French culture and food," Moyo said, "not about my politics."

In Moyo's French-speaking family, everyone talks politics. Her communist grandfather and royalist grandmother -- both French -- debated constantly. So did her French mother and American father, who raised Moyo bilingually in Portland.

Moyo's love of the language led her to teach French, which she's done for 20 years. Her opposition to possible war with Iraq and to the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba -- a country she's visited six times -- led her to downtown Portland on Aug. 22, when Bush swung through town to raise money for Republican U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith.

"All right, Evvleen," her conservative father said before the protest. "I hope you get arrested."

Close.

More than 1,000 protesters had massed downtown, without a permit, and police employed about 400 officers to control the crowd. Moyo was standing in a front line of protesters, facing police, holding a sign, when someone shouted something through a bullhorn. She couldn't understand, but she saw people moving backward and tried to follow. Then, Moyo said, the pepper spray hit her.

Coughing uncontrollably, she drove to a Kaiser clinic, where she saw a doctor. The next morning, Moyo called Portland City Hall and asked the city to pay her $5 to cover her fee for the clinic visit.

"They told me I needed to go see a lawyer," Moyo said, "so that's what I did."

She called Alan Graf, a Portland attorney, and soon joined in a 10-person suit against Portland, its mayor, its police chief and other leaders. The suit claims officers wrongly used pepper spray and rubber bullets as part of a "pattern and practice of flagrantly violating peaceful demonstrators' First Amendment rights."

A Portland Police Bureau report on the incident suggested protesters should follow the law, that the bureau improve loudspeakers used to announce dispersal orders to protesters, and that those orders should include warnings that failure to comply could result in the use of pepper spray or other less-than-lethal weapons. A trial date has not been set.

Some students in a Sherwood government class heard about the suit and criticized Moyo. Others defended her right to sue.

Sherwood's principal, Rob Patton, said the debate can only have positive effects on students.

"I wouldn't say that about every teacher," he said. "But Evelyne is a wonderful French teacher. Some people might see her activism as detracting from teaching French, but I don't see that happening. . . . Obviously, for a lot of our kids it's interesting."

For most students, the only politics they learn from Moyo are French: The president serves a seven-year term; French people pay higher taxes than Americans and receive more government services. Nothing about war or pepper spray.

If you're looking for a lesson in her life outside of school, Moyo offers this: Activism can make a difference, and it's important to stand up for rights.

"It's the first time I've sued anybody," she said, "and I hope it's the last time."

© 2002 OregonLive.com

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