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…
Category: News & Current Events
Community Holds Vigil for Quanice Hayes as City Examines Circumstances Around His Killing
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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.…
Solidarity on Display as Citizens Rally in Resistance to Trump Executive Orders
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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…
Burgerville Workers Union Serves Up Resistance and Hamburgers
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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…
Transforming Body and Mind a Page at a Time
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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…
Rural Organizing Project Offers Hope, Ideas for Fighting White Supremacist Movements
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Story by Pete Shaw Almost as soon it became clear that Donald Trump was going to be the next President of the United States, Democratic Party operatives, pundits, and supporters began casting blame for Trump’s victory. Much of that blame has fallen upon rural people, and integral to those accusations has been generalizing these people–variously…
Burgerville Workers Union Rallies In Support of Fired Union Member
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Story and photos by Pete Shaw The Walla Walla onion rings–so good that they named them twice–have arrived at Burgerville. Inside its stores, signs advertise the food while emphasizing the community values Burgerville espouses to distinguish itself from the larger fast food chains such as McDonald’s and Burger King. One placard shows a farmer kneeling…
City Postpones Sweep of Springwater Corridor
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Story and photos by Pete Shaw Resistance mounted by houseless residents of the Springwater Corridor and their allies has resulted in Mayor Charlie Hales delaying sweeping away people without housing who live along the trail. Two weeks ago Hales announced that camping would no longer be allowed along Portland’s portion of the 21 mile long…
Passion, Resolve Infuse Black Lives Matter Event in Wake of Latest Murders
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Story and photos by Pete Shaw A woman with two children walked down the stairs into Pioneer Square in the early evening of July 7 and began talking about how tired she was. Tired of seeing Black people gunned down by police. Tired of being scared every time her husband, sons, and grandsons walk outside.…
SURJ Condemns Police Violence; Urges Support for People of Color Led Groups
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Story and photos by Pete Shaw Over 50 people affiliated with the Portland chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ PDX) gathered at the Justice Center on SW 3rd Avenue on Monday July 11 demanding an immediate end to police violence and calling upon white people to take action for racial justice. The event…