Story by Pete Shaw How could this happen here? That was the question on many Portlanders’ lips on November 21, 1988, when three white supremacists were arrested in connection with the death of Mulugeta Seraw. Seraw, a 28-year-old Ethiopian immigrant who came to the US to attend college, was beaten with a baseball bat on…
Category: Headlines
Government Workers Face Erasure by For-Profit Companies
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Story by Pete Shaw Photos by Farrell Richartz The first item on the agenda as City Council went into session on Wednesday October 30th was a remembrance of Nohad Toulan, the founder of Portland State University’s School of Urban Studies and Planning, and his wife, who died on Monday. During the memorial, Councilman Nick Fish…
Protesters Drive Home Unfair General Motors Practices at Local Dealership
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Story and photo by Pete Shaw After two years of attempts to receive compensation for injured General Motors workers, protesters are bringing the fight to GM dealerships, the real points of profit for GM. On Saturday November 2, a group of 15 activists gathered at Wentworth Chevrolet on SE Grand Avenue as part of the…
Protest Underscores Continuing Privatization of Oregon Schools
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Story and photos by Pete Shaw The Oregon Business Association (OBA) held its annual Statesman Dinner on October 17 to honor the Statesman of the Year. The event was fraught with anomalies, not least of which was the fact that the award went to Sue Levin, the Executive Director of Stand for Children Oregon. According to the…
Portland Tax Dollars Supporting For-Profit Prisons; Group Demands Divestment
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Story and photos by Pete Shaw On Tuesday October 15th about 40 people gathered outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building on NW Broadway demanding that the City of Portland divest from the for-profit prison industry, and as well that Sheriff Staton drop the ICE Hold on Oregon Dream Activist Manny Perez. The rally,…
Fast Food Workers Forcing Fight Over Fair Wages
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Story and photo by Pete Shaw “If food is essential for survival, then why are the people who bring it to us paid so little?” That question was recently asked at a forum regarding the many fast food worker strikes across the country over the past year. Those workers, many of whom make the federal…
Immigrants Enduring Brutal Road to Citizenship; Determined to Prevail
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Story and photos by Pete Shaw The Obama Administration is barreling toward a milestone, one it probably would like kept in the shadows. Sometime in the next few weeks, the number of people without documentation deported since President Obama took office in 2009 will exceed 2 million. It’s an astounding number–far more than the Bush…
Class Warfare, Compassion Emerge at R2DToo Hearing; Move Hangs in Balance
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CLASSLESS AND CLASSIST Story by Pete Shaw Since Right 2 Dream Too (R2DToo) and the City of Portland came to an agreement in July to move the rest area for people without housing to a spot in the Pearl District, those opposed to the move have been trying to walk a tightrope. On the one…
“Dream” Move Challenged by Ugly Reality of Class Politics
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Story and photos by Pete Shaw The Portland City Council will be hearing testimony this Thursday, October 3, as it considers granting Right 2 Dream Too a permit to continue its work helping people without housing at a new location. The group is planning a move from West Burnside to NW Lovejoy Court and NW…
City Takes Whack At Populist Services; Golf Unscathed by Austerity Cuts; Part 2
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By Barbara G. Ellis and Pam Allee The Taxpayers’ Budget Committee The real values and priorities of City leadership tend to be revealed when hard times force significant financial cuts. Research by the Taxpayers’ Budget Committee into the Portland Parks and Recreation’s Enterprise unit—the Golf Fund—strongly indicates that city wide reach in recreation activities continues…
