Story and photos by Pete Shaw In the days following Republican Donald Trump’s inauguration, many US cities and states–including Portland and Oregon–declared themselves to be sanctuaries. The term was meant to imply safety for people without documentation. However, it is one thing to make a declaration and something else entirely to enforce it. This…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw When a politician says he is going to do awful things, it is worth believing him. And when that politician is a bully like Donald Trump who seemingly possesses no moral compass, it is reasonable to be afraid. Therefore, it should have come as no surprise when his administration…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw After Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tried to take him into custody in 2014, Francisco Aguirre made a desperate phone call. Thirty minutes later a car arrived at his home, and soon Aguirre found himself taking sanctuary in Augustana Lutheran Church in Northeast Portland. He would remain there for…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw It’s been 75 years since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the forced incarceration of over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry. The order, which in an immediate sense was a response to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, resulted in a…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw Over 100 people attended a Sunday night vigil for Quanice Hayes, the 17 year old Black man who was murdered by Portland Police officer Andrew Hearst. The vigil, which included people holding hands during a prayer led by Hayes’s aunt, Patricia Ruffin, occurred three days after Hayes was murdered.…
“Days up and down they come Like rain on a conga drum Forget most, remember some But don’t turn none away” –Townes Van Zandt Story by Pete Shaw At the end of this month Portland will be losing organizer…
Story by Pete Shaw In a boisterous show of solidarity, over 1,000 people came together Monday January 30 for a No Ban, No Wall rally. The assembly was composed of a wide array of individuals and city, state and regional organizations opposed to President Donald Trump’s racist executive orders banning immigrants and refugees from seven…
Story by Pete Shaw Over 100 members and supporters of the Burgerville Workers Union (BVWU) came out on Wednesday January 25 to stand for worker justice at the Convention Center Burgerville on NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. The BVWU’s most recent action occurred nearly a week after fellow worker and union leader Jordan…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw “You need to stop pretending you’re not a storyteller.” With that friendly admonition, author Prisca Dorca Mojica Rodriguez began an evening sponsored by the Momentum Alliance that served as a reminder that all people–particularly Latinas–have their own stories. It was also a plea for them to tell those stories because…
Story by Pete Shaw These are bleak times in the United States, although an honest reckoning shows that for many people, particularly those who are not heterosexual Christian men bearing white skin, these are perhaps more accurately times ranging between the usual and bleaker. After Monday’s electoral college balloting officially paved the way for…
