News From The Community

Commissioner Susheela Jayapal

On March 21, 1910 — more than a century ago — a mob of two hundred white residents of St Johns, then an independent town just north of Portland, attacked a small community of Indian immigrants who had arrived at the tail end of the nineteenth century to work at the local lumber mills. The...

Commissioner Lori Stegmann

As a woman, I am constantly reminded of what it is like to feel unsafe. I often plan to do my errands during daylight hours, am mindful of the lighting in parking lots, and never put myself in a position where I could be surprised. To a degree, there are factors that I can control,...

Lauren Waude

A few weeks ago, I called my mom, as I often do, on my way to the Japanese market to ask what she wanted me to pick up for her. The market has been a vital source of connection to our culture and community, often the only place we can find the foods that are...

Suk Rhee

In 2020, the local government I work for adopted anti-racism and equity as core values (alongside transparency, communication, collaboration and fiscal responsibility). This was, in part, in response to the pandemics of racism and COVID-19. We have heard similar words before, including the 14th amendment, Civil Rights Act, and Voting Rights Act. Yet none would...

Mari Watanabe

White nationalism and anti-Asian hate have been a part of America since the Chinese immigrants arrived in the 1800s. It is nothing new. The pandemic exacerbated hate against Asians and Pacific Islanders (API). We know from history that in times of crisis, people project blame onto a group or race. In the case of this...

Samantha Bakall

I remember, back when I worked in a newsroom, standing in the office kitchen making tea one morning, and a man I had never seen before approached me and thanked me for the coffee I had apparently shared with him. Confused, I walked back to my desk, opened my computer and sent a message to...

Duncan Hwang

My parents opened some of the first Chinese restaurants in Upper Michigan, and I was one of those kids from an immigrant family that was often in the back eating snacks and doing homework. One dish called the Triple Delight with stir fried vegetables, shrimp, chicken, and beef in a brown sauce was the star...

Raahi Reddy

Anti–Asian hatred, violence and discrimination from the neighborhood to the workplace has been deeply sown into the soil and roots of this nation. The threat of harm and worrying about potential harm has always loomed over my experience as an Asian American since I came here from India at 4 years old. My mother worked...

Janet Hamada

Imagine the courage it takes to deliberately get yourself arrested in order to protest an unfair law. On March 28, 1942, Minoru Yasui, purposefully broke the curfew established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt under Executive Order 9066, that restricted dusk to dawn movement of Nationals from Germany, Italy and Japan, as well as all Americans...

COVID and Our Elders: My Personal Journey

Next month, we are presenting a learning event in partnership with the GOSW Collaborative for Older Adults that will focus on the impact of COVID on our elders. For 2 years, GOSW has been working with this group of funders who have prioritized being in service to elders in our community. As we prepared for...