The former entrance to the Portland Assembly Center. Story and photos by Pete Shaw When President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw FUCK YOU FOR MAKING ME BE HERE! I recently saw those words on a…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw On Saturday January 10 over 300 people gathered in Stanton Park, just across the…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw I felt a bit like a broken record in last year’s “Giving Thanks” when…
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 FUCK YOU FOR MAKING ME BE HERE! I recently saw those words on a sign at a rally demanding that Legacy Emanuel Medical Center’s management cease its collaboration with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE). At pretty much any time those words are pertinent, but they feel especially…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw On Saturday January 10 over 300 people gathered in Stanton Park, just across the street from the Legacy Emanuel Medical Center (LEMC) in North Portland, demanding that Legacy management respect the hospital’s staff and patients by ceasing their collaboration with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE). Legacy management…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw The monthly vigils for Keaton Otis, Fred Bryant, and all victims of police violence have always had a tension to them. There is the grim reality of why people have gathered on the corner of Northeast 6th and Halsey for over 15 years, recalling Otis, Bryant, and the many…
Story and photo by Pete Shaw History, it is said, is written by the victors. Their perspective and their stories are presented as unimpeachable. From this favored perch, the present is interpreted and the path to the future is mapped. A new book, Memory & Place in Black Portland, adds its voice to the long…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw I felt a bit like a broken record in last year’s “Giving Thanks” when my lede was almost exactly the one from 2023. This time it’s the same record,…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw October 10, 2025 Dear Dad, I have a movie idea. The setting is Père Lachaise, Paris’s famed necropolis where many artists are buried. In many ways this vast burial…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw October 6, 2025 Dear Dad, Our numbers have dwindled. We arrived at Paris Gare de Lyon early on Friday afternoon. And then it was time to bid farewell to…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw October 2, 2025 Dear Dad, Marc has solved the issue. The other night, having dinner with him and his partner, Zahia, and their Friends, Edoard and Oliver, I jabbered…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw September 29, 2025 Dear Dad, How do I describe Marseille? It hit me a bit like New York City. The greeting was not so flagrant and aggressive as The…
Story and photo by Pete Shaw History, it is said, is written by the victors. Their perspective and their stories are presented as unimpeachable. From this favored perch, the present is interpreted and the path to the future is mapped. A new book, Memory & Place in Black Portland, adds its voice to the long and rich legacy of those challenging this privileged narrative. The history described in it is that of the Black community and culture that once thrived in North and Northeast Portland, particularly in Albina where the majority of Black people settled following World War II and…
Story by Pete Shaw Power and control of narrative are deeply intertwined. The United States, the narrative goes, does not invade countries, but rather seeks to spread the blessings of freedom, liberty, and democracy. We know this to be true because the purveyors of our capitalist imperial violence have said so. Those who die and suffer under the yoke of these blessings, particularly if they are resisting, are usually deemed terrorists. At the heart of any system and movement lies propaganda. Ultimately, the question is who gets to define who we are, and one of the most important aspects of…
By P. C. Wright It’s snowed more in the Willamette Valley than any Ohio transplant can remember. Bodom E. Switch’s wheelchair idles beside the bed. Rain won’t clear the sidewalks for three more days. The furnace has gone out. My bed is his home. I’ve told him there’s a whole city like this – lost to everyone except those they’ve huddled close to under covers. There’s been lots of huddling going on, he’s said. I’m going out tomorrow. And I smile with full dimples. Our crip muscles tighten in the cold, so our game in the morning has…
