Opinion
Street Roots Podcast | Jed Parriott is fed up with sweeps in L.A.’s Echo Park
On this episode of the Street Roots podcast, Jed Parriott of Street Watch LA joins host DeVon Pouncey to discuss police tactics during sweeps at Echo Park Lake in Los Angeles. “There was a major — I would say it was a military operation — at Echo Park Lake, where hundreds of cops and helicopters showed…
Opinion | Inequity is ingrained in Oregon land-use policy. Let’s fix that.
Lisa Arkin is the executive director at Beyond Toxics. The Eugene-based nonprofit centers and uplifts voices that are most affected by pollution and climate change in frontline communities to build a statewide environmental justice movement. Land is identity. “I’m from the coast.” “I own a farm.” “My family has lived on ranch land for five…
Diary of a Victims’ Advocate | When a victim of bullying fights back
Diary of a Victims' Advocate It’s during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week that we are launching this new periodic column from Crime Victim Advocacy Program staff at the Portland and Vancouver offices of Lutheran Community Services Northwest, a secular nonprofit offering multicultural services across the region. These advocates work with a restorative approach throughout the metro area to…
Kaia Sand | ‘Why are they shooting people?’
Her brother loved making people laugh. “He was always cracking jokes. Extremely dramatic. Every time he told you a story he was completely animated.” Paulette Martin stood near where her brother, Robert Delgado, was fatally shot by Portland police Officer Zachary DeLong in Lents Park on Friday, April 16. She looked at the memorial created…
Lakayana Drury | ‘The problem is police agencies, not Black people’
Lakayana Drury is the executive director at Word Is Bond. I consider myself a Black optimist. But perhaps I am not the unicorn I think I am. Perhaps all Black people are. You almost have to be to wake up each day and live your life as a Black person in the United States. Because every…
Mike Schmidt | Derek Chauvin is on trial, but ‘this journey toward equity hasn’t ended’
Mike Schmidt is the Multnomah County district attorney. Like many of us throughout Oregon and the nation, I’m having a hard time both watching and not watching the trial of Officer Derek Chauvin. As a prosecutor, I can’t help but be drawn to it, arguably the most prominent prosecution of a law enforcement officer since…
Podcast
Street Roots Podcast | Jed Parriott is fed up with sweeps in L.A.’s Echo Park
On this episode of the Street Roots podcast, Jed Parriott of Street Watch LA joins host DeVon Pouncey to discuss police tactics during sweeps at Echo Park Lake in Los Angeles. “There was a major — I would say it was a military operation — at Echo Park Lake, where hundreds of cops and helicopters showed…
Vendor Profiles
Street Roots vendor profile | ‘Every day is a solution’
Christine “Rainbow” Stief reflected on their first vendor meeting at Street Roots, an organization they credit with keeping them safe and providing critical resources. “It was December 2019 — it was the Christmas meeting. That’s when they were handing out the warm sweatshirts,” Rainbow said. In November 2019, Rainbow checked into an inpatient mental health…
Environment
Opinion | Inequity is ingrained in Oregon land-use policy. Let’s fix that.
Lisa Arkin is the executive director at Beyond Toxics. The Eugene-based nonprofit centers and uplifts voices that are most affected by pollution and climate change in frontline communities to build a statewide environmental justice movement. Land is identity. “I’m from the coast.” “I own a farm.” “My family has lived on ranch land for five…
With cap-and-trade off the table, here’s how Oregon lawmakers are tackling climate change
Over three decades after the Oregon Legislature set its first target to address global warming, the state has failed to put a dent in its greenhouse gas emissions. Creeping deadlines for atmospheric tipping points may be fresh on the minds of state lawmakers who have seen their districts decimated by wildfires, flooding and a historic…
Environmental bills we’re tracking in the 2021 Oregon legislative session
Here is some of the environmental legislation Street Roots is tracking in the Oregon Legislature: Environmental justice framework of principles Senate Concurrent Resolution 17 would establish an environmental justice framework of principles that Oregon’s state-level natural resource agencies would follow when policy decisions are made. This includes consulting with the state’s Environmental Justice Task Force,…
News
Even as Oregon uses Indigenous practices to fight wildfires, tribes are largely excluded from policymaking
Another wildfire season is already underway, with fires burning around Klamath Falls. Drought conditions across 85% of Oregon have threatened a worse fire season than last year. Lawmakers responded to 2020’s devastating wildfires, which burned over a million acres in Oregon, by introducing a slew of bills aimed at wildfire prevention, management and recovery. Also…
Kaia Sand | ‘Why are they shooting people?’
Her brother loved making people laugh. “He was always cracking jokes. Extremely dramatic. Every time he told you a story he was completely animated.” Paulette Martin stood near where her brother, Robert Delgado, was fatally shot by Portland police Officer Zachary DeLong in Lents Park on Friday, April 16. She looked at the memorial created…
Lakayana Drury | ‘The problem is police agencies, not Black people’
Lakayana Drury is the executive director at Word Is Bond. I consider myself a Black optimist. But perhaps I am not the unicorn I think I am. Perhaps all Black people are. You almost have to be to wake up each day and live your life as a Black person in the United States. Because every…
