By Joseph Orosco (July 2, 2019) This year marked the 8th anniversary of the Solidarity Fair in Corvallis, Oregon. Started as a project by members of the Corvallis Industrial Workers of the World and Occupy Corvallis, the Solidarity Fair is a once a year event that brings together groups and individuals from the Willamette Valley that are interested in grassroots…
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By Christian Matheis (June 21, 2019) “What do I tell my kids?” a student asked me last spring in an intro class on community problem solving. She, African-American and one of the few (4, she tells me) on the municipal police force of around 450 officers, caught my words. “What do I tell my kids???” she repeated as…
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By Teka Lark and Arun Gupta (December 22, 2017) Teka Lark: We are celebrating people being acquitted of being charged with a crime for exercising their First Amendment rights against Trump?! We are celebrating that?! I am pissed! They should not have been charged in the first place. If anyone on the left think this is a win for…
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By Caroline Randall (March 30, 2017) In the fear and loathing that followed Trump’s election, my frustration and contempt for my fellow progressive white Americans has transcended a level I ever thought possible. I can’t physically stomach their attempts to be consoling, blaming the victory of hate and violence on the uneducated and conservative voters. This false assertion conveniently…
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By Chris Crass (January 31, 2017) There are demonstrations taking place all over the country today and remember 10 people demonstrating in a rural community, small town or the suburbs, where I grew up, can have a powerful impact, like the hundreds and thousands in cities. When we act as movement, like Black Lives Matter, like Standing Rock, like the…
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By Paul Messersmith-Glavin (January 24, 2017) To the well-meaning liberals complaining about “anarchist violence” and broken windows: please stop. Instead, come out to the next protest and look around and see what’s actually going on. For instance, if you had come out to the streets of Portland on January 20th, you would have seen literally thousands of people, most of…
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By Chris Crass (November 9, 2016) 1. The need for Left liberation organizing in white communities, of all kinds, screams out with each stat from the exit polls. The need for tens of thousands of white anti-racists to dedicate themselves to not only active solidarity with people of color-led struggles, but also to rising up with anti-racist/collective liberation leadership in…
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By Teka Lark (November 8, 2016) Thousands of poor Black families were hurt owing to Bill Clinton’s welfare reform, which also criminalized poverty. 2.5 million people were deported under Obama. Totally cool with your support for Hillary. I get it, but please don’t think your vote is helping me as a Black woman. The Democratic Party does not care about…
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By Mark Naison (June 14, 2016) I just received this letter from a former student living in Brazil who came out shortly after he graduated.. I needed to share it here because of its powerful message: Hey Doc, I wanted to reach out to you about what happened in Orlando. I’ve been shaken by this in a way that I’m…
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By Chris Crass ( February 24, 2016) One of the ways that white supremacy hurts white people is that it teaches white people they have nothing to learn from the histories of people of color.
By Chris Crass (December 11, 2015) One of my closest friends was a white supremacist skinhead when we first met as teenagers in high school. He would have cheered at Donald Trump rallies with each call to deport Mexicans and ban Muslims from entering the country. He would have agreed with Trump that the African American Black Lives…
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