Past Issues :: 2007 January 19 :: Contents
Cover Story
United we stand
Like so many Portland transplants, Entisar Azouz fell in love with the city’s beautiful scenery, the quality of life, and the progressive political and social culture. But the core of Azouz’s wooded utopia shook on 9/11.
“With 9/11 came the discrimination,” said Azouz, who is from Libya and a Muslim. “I had friends who lost their jobs because their name is Muhammad. I had a friend shopping in a store and a person spit on her face.”
Act Now
Demand justice for Guantanamo Bay prisoners
Editorial
Time for the electorate to crack the whip
Horoscope
Astro logic
Letters
Soul to sole
Street Poetry
Poems
Columns
Director’s Desk
Thank you, Street Roots readers. We met our goal for the Winter Fund Drive! Your contributions are helping Street Roots upgrade its office technology and address staffing needs.
Memoirs of a Vietnam Vet
Clock keeps ticking on mystery benefits
Well, friends, let me give you an update on my veteran's disability check. Remember, I'm the one who got his check stopped because the government said I had a warrant in California.
Michael Anderson
Bold actions only happen when people push for justice
Like many who advocate for greater economic fairness, I was excited by the elections this past November. But before we all exhale a sigh of relief because we have a new ruling party, let us remember the lessons of the New Deal.
Floyd Ferris Landrath
Are we SAFE yet? Or is my 'disorder' still a nuisance?
With all due respect to Mayor Potter and the members of the SAFE workgroup, I do not think it's enough to pretend someone else has the “lead role in ensuring better progress.”
Alejandro Queral
Strengthening Venezuela's democracy under Hugo
Chavez
The Bush administration believes that free markets are the only path toward democracy and freedom. In my book, a healthy democracy is one where the people are free to vote, organize, question and petition their government, and where the press is truly free and independent.
Viewpoint
Time for a nonviolent public safety response
By now most of Portland has viewed the cowardly and vicious kicking assault by Portland Fire Lt. Robert Bedgood against Terry DeGeorge in the lobby of downtown Portland's Fairfield Apartments.
Street Culture
Diary of a Homeless Man, Part I
Awakened at 5:45 a.m. by cats fighting underneath my car. Not just the usual screeching & urgently creepy yowling — they were bumping up & down against the chassis & the oil pan, really locked into it.
Homeless: Not because I don't have a home
Experts agree that in order to tackle homelessness we must begin with what causes it. And until we do, there will be no quick fixes to this issue that affects Portland and every other metropolitan area in the U.S.
News
Homeless, poor targeted by shady petition firms
It’s a new year, and a new crop of measures is already out there on the streets, prompting Our Oregon to send out an early warning to would-be signature gatherers about shady payment practices.
Girl Scouts proudly serve breakfast to city's homeless
At 6 a.m. on a cold, crisp Christmas, nearly 150 Girl Scouts from the Columbia River Council were on hand to greet and serve breakfast to more than 750 homeless people in Portland’s Pioneer Square. This was the 18th year the Scouts have hosted this holiday event.
Book Review
Author examines the human casualties behind layoffs
Something for the business types who volunteer at Project Homeless Connect: Their mid-level white-collar management jobs are the ones showing greatest increase in outsourcing these days.
