Think Out Loud

Eric Ward recently wrote an essay called “Hate Crimes: The Gateway Drug.” In it, the civil rights activist and executive director of the Western States Center argues that addressing hate crimes is key to reimagining community safety. We talk with Ward about his ideas and a recent experience with a hate crime in his own neighborhood.

Last year, Cindy Werhane tried to become the first person to swim all the way around Sauvie Island. She swam for 20 straight hours — and almost completed the loop — before she had to call it quits. We listen back to our conversation with Werhane.

The only documented lynching in Oregon’s history was committed in 1902 in Coos Bay. Now, a group of Oregonians are working to create a memorial to Alonzo Tucker, the man who was killed. They say it’s a way to educate Oregonians about the state’s racist history and bring restorative justice to the community. Jay Brown is a co-founder of the Alonzo Tucker Project, and Taylor Stewart is the founder of the Oregon Remembrance Project, which educates Oregonians about the history of lynchings.

The Crossroads Carnegie Art Center is used to being a hub for all kinds of activities in Baker City — First Friday art gallery openings, dance and craft classes for kids and adults, ragtime piano music, and more. The organization is finding creative ways to continue to offer as much as they can to the community. We talk with executive director Ginger Savage about navigating the new normal.

This week, the Oregon Supreme Court granted 2020 law school graduates the ability to practice law without passing the bar exam. In June, law students and law school deans sent letters to the Oregon Supreme Court asking the justices to waive the Bar exam requirement due to coronavirus health hazards, and stress from the pandemic. We hear from 2020 University of Oregon law graduate Andi Pla and Lewis and Clark graduate Peter Raptis about the Supreme Court’s decision, and how institutional white supremacy shows up in law school.

Ableism and racism in law enforcement can put Black people with disabilities especially at risk of police violence. While there is no federal data on police violence against people with disabilities, experts believe that up to half of people who are killed by police have a disability. We hear from two Black people with disabilities, Kason O’Connor and Babatunde Azubuike, about their experience with police, the intersection of ableism and racism, and what changes they want to see.

In a story that feels all too familiar for residents of the region, the Warm Springs Reservation has a water emergency. Many residents are under a boil-water notice after a break in the water system's main pipe. This is the same pipe where a break last summer caused problems that dragged on for months. Lack of clean water is an even more dire concern during a pandemic. We talk with Danny Martinez, emergency manager for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.

According to data from the Oregon Health Authority, Pacific Islanders have the highest COVID-19 infection rate per capita in the state. Pacific Islander communities in Oregon see policies restricting healthcare access and a lack of culturally-specific resources as barriers to care. We talk about the work nonprofit organizations and local governments are doing across Oregon to bring resources directly to PI communities during the pandemic. Our guests are Manumalo Ala’ilima, co-founder and board co-chair of UTOPIA PDX and Joe Enlet, Consul General for the Consulate General of Micronesia and president of COFA Alliance National Network.

Earlier this year, a group of Black women in Portland founded the Equitable Giving Circle to provide resources to Black, Indigenous and other people of color in Oregon. The group works with Black and Indigenous farmers to provide food to families in need, and has also raised about half a million dollars in funds to help people with other immediate needs. We talk with Equitable Giving Circle co-founder and director AJ McCreary and co-founder Dyvisha Gordon.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted higher education in a number of ways. Many colleges went largely online with their classes, and some are still figuring out exactly how to handle fall enrollment. But university research of all kinds was arguably even more affected, with many projects paused, stopped or prevented altogether. And not all studies can be easily resumed as the state begins reopening while still in the midst of the pandemic. We talk with Tuba Ozkan-Haller, a marine researcher and associate vice president for research at Oregon State University who tells us how OSU is slowly ramping up research after several months on hold.

One year ago, Portland teenager Asukulu (AH-soo-koo-loo) Songolo (sawn-GOH-loh) started the Congo Peace Project. The grassroots non-profit provides resources for students and women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Songolo’s family is from. Now, amid the global uprising against systemic racism, Songolo is organizing rallies in Portland to support Black liberation worldwide. He joins us to talk about his activism work.

Deschutes County Sheriff Shane Nelson recently created a safe firearm storage program. People can drop their firearms off at the sheriff’s office, store them for however long they need, and then pick them back up when they are ready. Nelson says some people may want to store their weapons if they are a safety hazard for a family member, or if they have visiting guests. We hear from Nelson.

Last week, seven Oregon counties started requiring masks inside businesses. But one of those counties received a lot of national media attention. Lincoln County’s mask requirement included a clause that “people of color who have heightened concerns about racial profiling and harassment due to wearing face coverings in public” were exempt from the rule. After people of color in Lincoln County told commissioners the racist backlash was making them feel more unsafe, the county changed the rule. Lincoln County Commissioner Claire Hall joins us to talk about the decision.

Gov. Kate Brown issued an order yesterday requiring all Oregonians to wear a mask when indoors in a public space. All of Oregon’s 36 counties are in Phase 1 or Phase 2 of reopening, and the state’s coronavirus case count is rising steadily. We talk with Patrick Allen, director of the Oregon Health Authority about the new order, the latest on what the numbers mean and what he expects and hopes for from Oregonians going into the July 4 holiday weekend.

On Monday, Profile Theater releases the final episode of their new podcast series called “Clauda, A Viral Love Story.” It was written by 9 different playwrights creating a story that travels around the world following the path of the novel coronavirus, and a French-speaking pangolin named Claudia. Portland playwright Dan Kitrosser wrote one of the scenes and acted in the production. He joins us to talk about this new kind of theater for a new kind of world.

Ed Ray has been the president of Oregon State University since 2003. His last day in this job is June 30, 2020. He will continue to serve as an economics professor at the university. We talk with him about his legacy and what he sees on the horizon for OSU as the school works to combat racism and continues to deal with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It started out as a joke, just something fun to talk about. And then it really happened. Fifteen-year-old Aiden Bork worked with their local PFLAG chapter to organize Pendleton’s first Pride parade on June 24. After hearing from some speakers, about 75 people marched through downtown. Bork says they were inspired by the weekly Black Lives Matter protests happening in Pendleton.

Portland Hip-Hop artists Mic Crenshaw, Karma Rivera and C3 the Guru have performed at Black Lives Matter protests and block parties over the past few weeks. They all believe that music can be a revolutionary tool for BIPOC liberation from white supremacy, as well as an expression of Black joy, or a way to celebrate Black culture and history. We hear from Mic Crenshaw, Karma Rivera and C3 the Guru about how they have been engaging with the protests, and what changes they want to see in Portland.

Going to sit in the audience at a theater isn’t an option right now, but Portland Center Stage has commissioned a series of plays aimed at bringing the theater into our homes. As a part of the Play at Home project, PCS commissioned four artists to write scripts for short plays that can be read and performed by anyone in the community in the comfort of their own homes. Anya Pearson and Josie Seid are two of the playwrights who worked on the project.

Kerry Tymchuck, Art Alexander, and Kimberly Wilson give us opinions and analysis on the news of the week.