Opinion
Roy Pascoe: ‘If I wasn’t fighting for my life, I’d be fighting for the river’
Roy Pascoe was born on July 31, 1962, and grew up mainly in Bremerton, Wash. He fished, swam, sailed, and worked on the docks in Puget Sound. He also worked in food service on naval ships and ssubmarines. In 1995, he moved to the St. Johns neighborhood, in Portland. Over the years, Roy worked various…
Director’s Desk: The complexity of homeless encampments in urban America
I have witnessed people suffering on the streets every day — all day, year after year, for the past 15 years. They are traumatized. I am traumatized. People tell me on the streets that they are desperate to find housing. It’s one tragic story after another. They also tell me how tent cities or encampments…
Street Roots editorial: Lawmakers pick up the mantle on timber workers
It is unconscionable that there are thousands of workers in Oregon who would suffer injury, forgo fair pay and endure untenable living conditions out of fear of losing their jobs. It’s happening on our farms, in our hotels and restaurants, and in our beloved forests, where reforestation workers – most of them immigrants – are…
News
The irreverent Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping
Ask almost anyone about Earth’s future and you’re likely to hear a litany of doom and gloom. It’s not hard to see why. Ominous warnings about climate change and the coming wave of droughts, refugees and extinctions have barely nudged our national habits of militarism, racism, consumerism and economic entrapment. Faced with these problems, it…
Outside the Frame to celebrate work of homeless filmmakers
Jake Averi was 18 when he became homeless and on his own. He moved out of his foster home a month after aging out of the system and, despite his best efforts at getting and keeping his own apartment, within six months he was in a shelter. “In foster care you’re not prepared for anything…
Former Bloods, Crips unite in effort to rebuild Portland’s black community
The prevalence of gangs in Portland is a symptom of a community torn apart, said Nathaniel Williams – and it’s only part of the problem. “The black community is broken. Its people are broken,” he said. But those who want to end the violence vastly outnumber the gang members, he said. “It’s about bringing all…
Street Roots reports on forest worker abuse prompt special hearing in Salem
Worker abuse and exploitation in Oregon’s forests was the focus Tuesday, May 24, at a special hearing before lawmakers in Salem. Sen. Michael Dembrow (D-Portland), chair of the Oregon Senate Workforce Committee, invited workers, their advocates, state regulators and land managers, industry leaders and employers to answer questions about the oversight of contractors and the treatment…
Vendor Profiles
Street Roots vendor profile: The church versus ‘who I am’
Family is important to April Harrison, and she has had to make hard choices for herself and her loved ones. April grew up in Utah and cared for her father until he died as a result of diabetic complications. She was caring for her ailing mother until conditions made it unbearable for April to stay…
