Story by Pete Shaw One of the many great works of art to come out of the Civil Rights Movement was the Billy Taylor and Dick Dallas song “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free,” its best-known version performed by the late, great Nina Simone. Its most poignant line, “I wish…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw “We will always see ourselves as a sanctuary city and we will continue to be welcome to everyone,” said Ted Wheeler after he was elected mayor. His words were given official imprimatur in late March when the City Council declared Portland a sanctuary city. It was a symbolic gesture,…
Story by Pete Shaw Since the white supremacy rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in mid-August that saw the murder of one anti-fascist and numerous injuries to other opponents of white supremacy, people throughout the country have stepped up at similar gatherings to tell white supremacists that they are not welcome. In Boston, thousands of people…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw Kelly Baur and Jeremy Ibarra, who were arrested during the police crackdown on anti-fascism activists following the June 4 white supremacy rally in Terry Schrunk Plaza, both entered pleas of not guilty on August 17 to the charges brought against them. In doing so, they rejected a plea deal…
Story by Pete Shaw Refusing to back away from a city in emotional upheaval in the wake of a white supremacist murdering two of three people trying to stop his verbal assault on two young black women, 400 fellow white supremacists from around the country converged on Portland on June 4th for a “Free…
Story by Pete Shaw. Photos by Benji Bảo Vương. Over the past few weeks, Portlanders have been given a tutorial in how white supremacy works, as well as the privileges whiteness confers upon white people and how that whiteness ravages the lives of people and communities of color. These lessons have long been learned by people…
It is not the policy of this publication to print press releases. But as people process the events of May Day, we would do well to consider the perspective of those who were most vulnerable to the police attack on Monday’s parade. The press release below from various Filipino organizations under the banner of Bayan-USA…
Story and photos by John G. Mellor In a shocking turn of events late yesterday, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler announced that he would be taking steps to abolish the Portland Police Bureau and called upon Portland’s citizens of conscience to burn down the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) prison on Southwest Macadam Avenue. Speaking before…
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 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…
