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
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