Photos by Bette Lee Story by Pete Shaw As I made my way to the bus stop, I could feel my rhythm returning. However, there was still a way to go. Most pressingly, I was not sure how I would pay my fare. Due to health considerations, the last time I rode public transportation was…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw When President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, he set into motion the United States government’s rescinding of the constitutional rights of 120,000 people of Japanese descent in the US, two-thirds of whom were US citizens. They were not convicted of any crime. They were…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw One of the last events I was able to cover prior to the onset of the novel coronavirus was of my Friend Walidah Imarisha speaking at the University of Portland’s inaugural MLK Day On event, on January 20, 2020. After a year and change of masks, social distancing, lockdowns,…
Story by Pete Shaw What material changes will result from the protests, rallies, and other actions demanding transformation to the way policing is conducted in the United States? Calls range from fairly tepid reform to outright abolition of policing. These protests are connected with larger movements seeking to dismantle white supremacy and policing, which is…
Story by Pete Shaw Nine years ago, near the corner of NE 6th and Halsey, Keaton Otis was murdered in a hail of 23 bullets fired by a clutch of police officers of the Portland police’s Hot Spot Enforcement Team. In video capturing the event, it appears to be an execution. Otis had been profiled…
Story and photos by R.G. Manuel Decrying the limitations of Sanctuary City status, the Portland City Council today declared Portland a “Stability City.” As a result, Portland will immediately move forward with plans making all its citizens have access to not just the bare necessities of survival, but also a standard of life and living…
Story by Pete Shaw Of all the forms of struggle against oppression, there is none more fundamental than memory. It is the substrate from which all resistance germinates. Nurtured and nourished, those sprouts bloom, fruit, and scatter more seed upon ground both hallowed and fallow, their shoots pushing up with great tenacity against at times…
Story by Pete Shaw Watershed moments are always interesting. On the one hand, there is great cause for celebration. Raise a glass, take a bow, give a pat on the back–even your own–and revel in your moment. But no such moment is ever an end point. Morning becomes afternoon. Afternoon rolls into evening. Night falls.…
Story and photos Pete Shaw Three years ago I was in Haarlem, Netherlands, watching a televised debate on climate change. For a few moments I felt I had bent my balance: something was bothering me, but I could not figure out what it was. And then I realized that the debate was not about the…
by Adam Rothstein On the night of Saturday, April 21, a group of Occupy Portland activists briefly “re-occupied” Chapman Square, spurred by a Facebook post sent that very evening. The media, the city, and the Police have, as usual, engaged in their own misguided interpretation of events, attempting to spin it as a trash-talking, beer-drinking…
