Story and photos by Pete Shaw So here we are, not long after an election that saw the man who will become President of the United States spending over a year hurling invective against just about everyone not a white, straight, Christian male, that has now clearly encouraged blatant and aggressive bigoted actions. Clearly, we…
Story by Pete Shaw After last week’s election, the Portland Occupier published a column I wrote about how regardless of who won the election, the same work of organizing for a more just world faced us. Had Hillary Clinton won, she at most would likely have made slightly tepid changes, but I doubt those changes…
by Kendall Reflections is a coffee shop where people meet to change the world. It’s a meeting space, book store, theatre, art gallery, music venue, and park. It’s one of the few places in Portland where people can buy African-American greeting cards and cowrie shells, fridge magnets and baskets. It’s a place to play chess,…
By Kendall These are sound-bites from a discussion among eighteen people who met at Reflections Coffee House and Bookstore on the morning of March 31, for the first of six discussions of Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow. “I’m appalled that people are appalled about Trayvon Martin and not about Keaton Otis. Everybody’s real concerned…
By David Glenn Cox It was just a few hours of one day, February 29th. It was leap day in downtown Portland and we were gathering under the Burnside Bridge and being Portland, it was raining. I’m learning a little about this town now: Portland is unique it is a quiet city, quiet and unhurried.…
Tracy Mattner Nowhere is the hierarchical structure of our society more apparent than at the airport gate. Once on board, first class passengers recline comfortably while the coach masses shuffle slowly past and into the economy cabin. Zone four passengers are forced to gate check their carry-ons, even though there are remaining spaces in the…
by Lana Buchanan It used to be that the homeless were the drunks and drug addicts that lived under the local bridge and people largely ignored them. In today’s world the faces of the homeless have changed, and it’s becoming increasingly hard to ignore. There are still many who choose to live on the streets,…
by Lester Macgurdy You don’t need to be wealthy to be elitist. In fact, you don’t even need two nickels to rub together. The 99% are just as prone to elitism as the 1%. Despite the wide economic chasm separating us, we’re all still endowed with the same psychological building blocks. What does every bullied…
By Deborah Rodney THE INCLUSIVENESS. In our mix there are a lot of differences– from the driven middle class professional to the self-medicated person numbing the effects of their homelessness through addiction. There are extreme liberals and a few tea partiers. There are differences in political priorities ranging from the desire to fix the system…
I was drawn to the Occupy Movement because I recognized a revolutionary moment. I’m 27 years old. I’ve been involved with activism in one form or another since I was 13. For the first time in my life, I feel like my sentiment resonates with the majority of people around the world. A huge awakening…
