The current recession is not an equal opportunity crisis. People of color are experiencing job loss, foreclosures and lack of healthcare at alarmingly higher rates than white Americans. These disparities are not a coincidence but rather the result of structural barriers that have been taking a toll on people of color long before the subprime meltdown.
John Kroger wants to be an activist attorney general. Since being sworn in, he’s taken on predatory lenders, challenged the LNG terminal, and headed up the investigation of Mayor Sam Adams. Now he’s asking lawmakers to fund a new civil rights unit so he can sue Oregon companies that break our state’s civil rights laws.
The 9th annual Village Building Convergence starts in Portland on June 5. Coming together under the them "Powered by the People," Portlanders will work on projects ranging from water catchment systems and intersection painting to native plant gardening and cob benches. But with record job and home loss rocking the metropolitan area, is the convergence still relevant? Even in good times, how much community voice does the convergence really create?
But what do the residents of Lents really think? The Lents deal has triggered deep-seated concerns about livability, affordable housing, economic development, historic preservation and how much voice citizens have with City Hall. Dave Mazza talks with Lents residents Kathleen Juergens de Ponce and Nick Christensen, organizers of Friends of Lents Park, about what their neighbors are concerned about and what they really think about Randy Leonard's desire to play ball in Lents. He also talks with Damien Chakwin, chair of the Lents Neighborhood Association and a supporter of the stadium proposal.
June 19th marks the 144th anniversary of the landing of federal troops in Galveston, Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation and finally bring slavery to an end throughout the United States. "Juneteenth" has not only become a day to commemorate the end of slavery but to reflect on the African American experience - from progress made to challenges that remain. As Oregonians celebrate the 150th anniversary of their statehood, Juneteenth is an opportunity to look at how we are contributing - or not - to overcoming racism in Oregon.
Portland's high school dropout rate is the highest in the metropolitan area. While the statewide rate declined last year, Portland high school students are dropping out at twice the rate - 8.2 percent - of students in other Oregon communities.
Over 75 percent of Americans want health care reform according to a new Pew Research poll. President Obama remains committed to reforming our health care system this year. But as Congress struggles to craft legislation, the voice of concerned voters is getting drowned out by a vocal minority working from the same play book. Will serious health care reform die on the operating table at the hands of congressional Republicans, conservative pundits, and industry spin doctors?
As recent events in Iran have shown, technology has given ordinary people the power to inform neighbors down the street and strangers halfway around the world about important events regardless of government censorship or corporate media indifference. "Community media" - citizen-operated print, broadcast and digital technologies - is filling the information needs of a growing number of Americans. The Alliance for Community Media's 2009 international conferencerecently took place in Portland, where hundreds of media activists discussed new concepts in community media and challenge old ones.
Seven months into a new administration and the nation still finds itself embroiled in two Asian wars. Many Americans would have difficulty explaining how the Obama administration's conduct of these wars differs from the last administration's. They're certainly not being helped by policymakers and pundits who are working overtime to marginalize arguments for American withdrawal from the region. With the economy now people's foremost concern, how does the peace movement change the national conversation about war and peace?