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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 2016)
Street Roots • Dec. 2-8, 2016 Page 3 Editorial Standing in solidarity with our unprecedented nation truths really are. Who decides what is news? Who ithin 10 days of president-elect Donald Trumps Nov. 8 victory, the Southern decides what is illegal? Who decides who the enemy Poverty Law Center reported nearly 900 is? We’re reduced to debating whether or not the cases of hate crimes across the country. Oregon erratic, midnight Twitter posts from the president of topped the list for the number of crimes per capita. the free world qualify as “news.” It wasn’t because people just started hating. Rome is on fire and we’re arguing over what And recently the Associated Press came out with direction the smoke is blowing. parameters for the use of the term “alt-right.” Avoid Its easy to say stand up, fight back and don’t be using the term generically and without definition, weary, when bullies threaten our beliefs around the AP ruled, noting that the term may exist humanity, civility and the planet. But we need to primarily as “a public remember that many of our friends and neighbors relations device to make its were weary long before Election Day. For some supporters’ actual beliefs Portlanders and Oregonians, what really changed on less clear and more Nov. 8 is that now hate speech and discrimination acceptable to a broader are openly sanctioned by the highest powers of audience. In the past we have called such beliefs government. racist, neo-Nazi or white supremacist.” In this edition of Street Roots, Shannon Wight This didn’t happen because racists just starting use new terms to sugar coat their agenda. with the Partnership for Safety and Justice quotes Also this week, the conservative nonprofit the author James Baldwin, via Angela Davis, about Turning Point USA, which advocates for free market defending the rights of the imprisoned: “Some of principles and limited government, created a watch us, white and black, know how great a price has list of so-called leftist professors teaching at already been paid to bring into existence a new universities across the United States. To date, there consciousness, a new people, an unprecedented are more than 100 professors on the list. nation. If we know, and do nothing, we are worse Again - this is not the first time the academic than the murderers hired in our name. If we know, community was targeted for liberal thinking. then we must fight for your life as though it were These aren’t new concepts, but the left seems our own — which it is — and render impassable with gobsmacked that they are roaring full force yet our bodies the corridor to the gas chamber. For if again, in the 21st century no less. they take you in the morning, they will be coming We’re returning to an age when open discussions for us that night.” about singling out people for their faith, their It is defiant, poetic and relevant to this very day. gender and their political beliefs are laying the Street Roots intends to be on the front lines to groundwork for renewed federal oppression. We are preserve the rights and progress of our community. even questioning the basic tenets of our Constitution, including free speech, due process and We aren’t afraid of watch lists. We stand with all equal protection under the law. media in this town that refuses to bend under For example, journalists and activists who have threats to our independence and essential social been confronting the fossil fuel industry - a leading responsibility as watchdogs. It seems particularly contributor to climate change - are now facing important to say that today - given the threats devastating punishments, mediated by corporate emanating from the future administration. And influence with the intent to shut down public while the suppression of a free press has been dissent Our feature story on the Valve Turners ongoing, today the challenges are aggravated by the sheds light on just a few of the people facing what decline of legacy media. It is more valuable and yet amount to life sentences for their nonviolent more vulnerable than ever. demonstrations. We pledge to stay true to our mission and build Inflated eco-terrorism charges aren’t new, but upon the cornerstones of our coverage including this kind of corporate influence on our criminal freedom of the press, environmental oversight, justice system is expected to increase with the new housing policy and immigration issues. And we want administration’s support of private prisons, and its you to be a part of it. demonstrated disdain for free speech. Now is not the time for any of us to be silent. We as a nation are even questioning what basic W EDITORIAL ■rite in If you would like ■ have something jthat^u’wC written published in our pages, or would like to get involved as a member of our reporting staff, contact Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl at 503-228-5657, joanne@streetroots.org. i We ask that all submissions include the author’s name and contact information, if avail able. < Street Roots 211 NW Davis St Portland, OR 97209 503-228-5657 Fax:503-227-3117 www.streetroots.org www.news.streetroots.org Hours:7:30 a.m.-3p.m. Mon.-Fri., 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat.and 7:30-11 a.m. Sun. Advertising Interested in advertising in Street Roots? Contact Israel Bayer at israel@streetroots.org Itaft Executive Director Israel Bayer israd@streetroots.org Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl joanne@streetroots.org , Vendor Program Director Cote Merkel : ■ cole@streetroots.org Operations Director Sarah Beecroft Development Director Sarah Cloud Program Assistant Meghann Van Pelt, Jesuit Volunteer Development Assistant Patricia Romero Reporters Emily Green, Suzanne Zalokar, Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Jared Paben, Amanda Waldroupe, Stephen Quirke Photographers Diego Diaz, Joe Glode Editorial Assistant Monica Kwasnik Canvasser Desmond Hardison Board of Directors Chairman Brad Taylor Vice-Chairman Rachel Langford Treasurer Heather Stadick Secretary Dan Jones Directors Rich Rodgers, Michael Alderson, Leo Rhodes, Sandra Hahn, John Brown, Marcus Swift Volunteers Kindred Spirits by Ed Gould. COURTESY OF THE WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Anjali Rathore, Zoe Klingmann, Haven Herrin, Dan Jones, Dennis Hogan, Tom Wright, Judy Taylor, Karen Allen, Monica McKune, Susan Wolfe, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas Buell Jr., Jeanie Lunsford, Yasmin Amirsoleymani, Jason Cohen, Tom Ray, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Jon Raymond, Hilary Smith, Diana Richardson, Cherie Manning, Paul and Madeline Gefroh, Mary Anne Joyce and Faye Powell. If you're interested in volunteering with Street Roots, please submit a volunteer application at streetroots.org/volunteer. Or you can call our volunteer coordinator for more information at 503-228-5657.
