Social Justice

Gender Diversity Awareness Week is wrapping up in Eugene over the next few days with a panel discussion, vigil, clothing swap and more.

The Eugene City Council Wednesday approved a resolution to declare the urgency of the housing and homelessness crisis and ask Governor Kate Brown to help.

Tim Wise is one of the nation's foremost anti-racist writers and educators. He'll be speaking at the University of Oregon Thursday, Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m. in Straub Hall, Room 156. The event is free and welcome to the public.

Several community members are traveling from Eugene to Washington D.C. to participate in “America’s Journey for Justice” march. Supporters and elected officials gathered for the sendoff in downtown Eugene on Thursday.

“America’s Journey for Justice” began in Selma, Alabama on August 1 and will end in Washington D.C . The Eugene/Springfield NAACP president Eric Richardson is marching with his daughter and members of the group SURJ—Showing up for Racial Justice. Richardson thanked the community for supporting social justice efforts.

A former Register-Guard reporter is suing the newspaper's publishing company for firing her.
 

The lawsuit says Serena Markstrom Nugent was terminated after she became pregnant. The suit claims the firing amounts to gender discrimination.

Members of the NAACP will begin an 860-mile journey from Selma, Alabama to Washington D.C. Saturday, August 1st.

Eugene / Springfield NAACP Director Eric Richardson says he's hoping a delegation from Oregon can join the march, called "America's Journey for Justice". He says it's to raise awareness around recent events of police brutality toward African Americans. Including the recent case of a Cincinnati Police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man during a routine traffic stop.

Union representatives, business owners, and volunteers took part in a statewide effort to raise Oregon's minimum wage Saturday.

The "Raise the Wage" Coalition is proposing increasing the minimum wage to $13.50 an hour, a boost from the current $9.25.

Friday's decision by the U.S. Supreme Court extends marriage rights to same-sex couples in all 50 states. Oregon's ban on gay marriage was struck down in May 2014 by Federal Judge Michael McShane.

Matt Friday and Bruce Carlson of Eugene were the first gay couple to get married in Lane County after Judge McShane's ruling. They've been together for nearly 30 years. Matt Friday says the supreme Court decision means a lot.

Native American activist Suzan Harjo will speak Thursday at Lane Community College. She's director of the Morningstar Institute, and a recipient of Presidential Medal of Freedom. She talks with KLCC's Tripp Sommer about efforts to remove native mascots from sports teams.

Suzan Harjo will speak Thursday as part of the 8th Annual Peace Symposium at Lane Community College.

EUGENE, Ore. -- Any given Saturday, Jonathan Elsworth can be found in front of the Lane County courthouse in Eugene, drumming and dancing in a community drum circle. Saturday Market goers gather around to take in the sights and sounds of the eclectic group. This is a passion for Elsworth, providing him with an escape from the challenges of daily life.

EUGENE, Ore. -- On Sunday afternoons near 8th Avenue and Oak Street, the Saturday Market block fills with people wearing backpacks or carrying bags of belongings. A diverse crowd of men and women, both old and young, is looking for a warm meal from Food Not Bombs, a national non-profit group.
 

African-Americans are more likely to be targets of hate and discrimination in Eugene than other minorities. That's according to a report released this week.

The report records criminal and non-criminal hate and bias behavior that is reported in Eugene. That includes a wide spectrum of activity including harassment, graffiti, and assault.

The city found there were 47 criminal incidents reported last year. The majority of victims were African-American. Eugene Springfield NAACP Director Eric Richardson says this is not a surprise.

Portland veterinarian Stacey Addison, who was detained in East Timor for five months, is on her way home. She boarded a plane to the U.S. after being released Monday night.

Although never charged with a crime, Addison was arrested last September in the southeast Asian country when she shared a taxi with a stranger who was arrested for possessing methamphetamine. She was told investigation of the incident might take a year. In December, KOIN-TV captured her despair:

A plan to build long-term housing for people who've been in prison is raising objections from neighbors. The proposal is to put in a 60 unit building in the neighborhood of Acorn Park in West Eugene.

Sponsors is a program that helps people who've been in prison get back into society. Director Paul Solomon:

Solomon: "Re-entry services consist of transitional housing, long-term housing, employment services, mentoring and a range of other services designed to help people transition successfully back into the community."

Several hundred marchers gathered in Eugene today to honor Martin Luther King Junior.

 Speakers including Lane County NAACP president Eric Richardson and Congressman Peter DeFazio kicked off the event. Dr. King’s words “darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that,” had impact on the bright sunny morning. Several participants thought the race and equality issues of the past year brought energy to this year’s holiday. Eva Bertoglio is a student from Newberg:

On Wednesday, the University of Oregon hosted “I Can’t Breathe:” A Conversation Starter about Racism, Justice and Love. In the wake of the recent grand jury decisions in Ferguson and New York, the meeting was called to address racism and what can be done on the UO campus and in the community.

Maria Chavez-Haroldson is director of the Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations at the Oregon Youth Authorirty in Salem.  She discusses the reasons minority youth are over-represented in the state’s correction system.

Even as the White House moves to announce an executive order overhauling American immigration policy, many people who bought houses while living here illegally will continue to face fallout from unorthodox real estate deals. Historically, undocumented immigrants have had few options for formal financing, leading to informal arrangements with some risky consequences.

After an early morning shift at the warehouse where she packs apples, Maria rests her elbows on the kitchen counter of her tidy home in the Yakima Valley.