On Sunday Feb. 17, 2019, Respond to Racism co-founder Willie Poinsette spoke to Ainsworth United Church of Christ in Portland. During her speech, she discussed the creation of RTR and how there is still so much work to do, not just in Lake Oswego, but in Portland and throughout Oregon. (Author's note: The recording begins with a scripture reading and the actual speech begins at the 1:08 mark). #respondtoracism #williepoinsette #ainsworthucc #racism #portland #institutionalrac

Author's Note: This Week's 5 is a weekly collection of stories designed to provide insight into how racism works and serve as an easily accessible resource for people trying to have nuanced discussions about these issues. For more explanation on how This Week's 5 works and descriptions of each of the categories, click here. Overt How brazen can white supremacists get? That seems to be one of the ongoing themes of the Trump presidency. We’ve seen the murder, marches and everyt

Author's Note: This Week's 5 is a weekly collection of stories designed to provide insight into how racism works and serve as an easily accessible resource for people trying to have nuanced discussions about these issues. For more explanation on how This Week's 5 works and descriptions of each of the categories, click here. Overt President Donald Trump is planning to declare a national emergency because of a “crisis” at the Mexican-American border. If you’ve been keeping scor

On Jan. 18, 2019, I was invited to share a story for The Blackonteurs, an all-Black storytelling showcase hosted by Minority Retort. For my performance, I shared how my first viral column as a professional journalist put me on the path to the work I'm doing today with Respond to Racism. Without spoiling anything, let's just say it was anything but a linear path. You can read the full remarks below (Disclaimer: contains some adult language) and for more, check out the related

Author's Note: This Week's 5 is a weekly collection of stories designed to provide insight into how racism works and serve as an easily accessible resource for people trying to have nuanced discussions about these issues. For more explanation on how This Week's 5 works and descriptions of each of the categories, click here. Overt There are too many reasons to list why President Donald Trump’s racist border wall campaign is highly problematic. To that end, we’ll just focus on

Editor's Note: As part of our efforts to educate the Lake Oswego community about race and racism, Respond to Racism is launching a multi-platform storytelling campaign focused on the experiences of people of color called #notanisolatedincident. This project will utilize everything from personal essays to interviews to photos of graffiti and social media screenshots to capture the pervasiveness of racist incidents in this town. Some stories may be familiar because they made th

Author's Note: This Week's 5 is a weekly collection of stories designed to provide insight into how racism works and serve as an easily accessible resource for people trying to have nuanced discussions about these issues. For more explanation on how This Week's 5 works and descriptions of each of the categories, click here. Overt It’s no secret that a lot of racism happens in schools. To stand out, you have to go out of your way. To get sued by the ACLU, you really have to le

An artist whose name will not be mentioned once said the prophetic words, “Listen to the kids bro.” For our Feb. 4 Respond to Racism meeting, we will be doing just that. This special community meeting will feature a packed panel of students from both Lake Oswego and Lakeridge High School who are heavily involved in equity work in their respective schools and communities. The fact is, too often we find ourselves talking about young people but not talking to them, and perhaps m

Author's Note: This Week's 5 is a weekly collection of stories designed to provide insight into how racism works and serve as an easily accessible resource for people trying to have nuanced discussions about these issues. For more explanation on how This Week's 5 works and descriptions of each of the categories, click here. Overt When it comes to extremist violence in the US, a lot of people are quick to make the “both sides” argument. Presumably, I would guess it feels bette

Author's Note: This Week's 5 is a weekly collection of stories designed to provide insight into how racism works and serve as an easily accessible resource for people trying to have nuanced discussions about these issues. For more explanation on how This Week's 5 works and descriptions of each of the categories, click here. Overt First off, let’s be clear. It is not the job of people of color to save the souls of racists. That said, Phenomena bless those who are willing to te