Text and photos by Pete Shaw October 12, 2018 Dear Margaret, I speak Spanish. This is a truth. An even greater truth would be to say that I speak it poorly. Languages are not my thing. I never got down programming a computer. I can’t read music. And I took seven years of Spanish to…
Category: Authors
Letters from Spain, Part 1
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Burgerville Workers Union and Allies Stage Unfair Labor Practice Strike as Management Skirts Federal Labor Law
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Story and photos by Pete Shaw National Cheeseburger Day, while not an official holiday, is doubtless an important one to the restaurant industry. Anything to get customers to spend their money on your product, and it is fair to assume that most restaurants serving burgers had Tuesday September 19 circled on their calendars. But as…
Holgate Manor Tenants Union Announces Rent Strike; Demands City Take Greater Steps to Support Renters
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Story and photos by Pete Shaw Tenants of Holgate Manor launched a rent strike on August 1 in an effort to preserve the affordable housing at the apartment complex located around the 3500 block of Southeast Mall Street. For over 40 years, Holgate Manor has been a sanctuary for a wide-ranging mix of immigrants, refugees,…
Portland Anti-fascist Movement Continues to Build Solidarity Despite Predictable Violent Response from Local Government
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Story by Pete Shaw On Saturday August 4, Portland’s anti-fascist community held its Stop the Hate rally, bringing together a wide swathe of Portlanders and people from the metropolitan area opposed to white supremacy. The event, organized by the group Popular Mobilization (POPMOB), was called in response to the white supremacist organization Patriot Prayer’s rally…
Bring Them Along
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Story by Pete Shaw When considering how to spend a Friday night, particularly a sultry one in late July, likely not high on most folks’ list is attending a talk on Pan-African organizing. But even if my Friend Ahjamu Umi of the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) was not the featured speaker, the title…
Memories Forgotten and Gained, Old and New
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Burgerville Workers Union Becomes First Formally Recognized US Fast Food Union; Boycott to Continue Until Fair Contract is Signed
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Story and photos by Pete Shaw The locally grown Burgerville Workers Union (BVWU) now holds the distinction of being the only formally recognized fast food union in the United States. After two days of voting on Sunday and Monday overseen by the National Labor Relations Board, the workers at Burgerville’s store on Southeast 92nd and…
Ockley Green Community Forces PPS to Roll Back Disciplinary Action Against Revered Teacher
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Story by Pete Shaw The students at Ockley Green Middle School are getting an education. Fresh off Spring break, a crowd of over 200 students and parents gathered outside Ockley Green Middle School on the morning of Monday, April 2 in support of social studies teacher Chris Riser. He was placed on leave last month…
“I think decolonizing is what needs to happen because we’ve internalized all these layers of oppression and are reproducing oppressive behaviors ourselves. I think we need to start to dismantle the systems inside of us, and simultaneously do that with our surroundings.” An Interview with Kelly Baur, Part 2
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Interview conducted by Pete Shaw PS: I remember when Teressa Raiford was on trial, and the day before the actual jury trial happened and one of the arresting police officers was caught flat-out lying, and of course it was Teressa’s lawyer’s fault for doing that to her, for exposing her, for tricking her into lying.…