Civil Rights reclamation can begin right here in our own communities, because every generation inherits the responsibility to decide what freedoms will exist and expand for the next

— Demond Hawkins

The history of Juneteenth is often told as something that happened elsewhere — in the South, in a different era. But Oregon has its own record of exclusion to confront, including its founding as a “white utopia” after the Civil War. Oregon entered the Union in 1859 with Black exclusion laws written directly into its Constitution, prohibiting Black people from living, owning property, and entering into contracts in Oregon…

The police body cam footage recently released is disturbing, if unsurprising. The casual, mundane, joking tone of the phone call is more troubling even than the racism as expressed through stale, Civil-war era stereotypes. Violence is discussed as an everyday matter, including harm against partners and children. It shows how dehumanization works as a normalized pattern that creates violence across identities — but it also creates an open door for all of us to unite in our fights for justice.

“It is past time that the United States look at its soul and that means the United States is made up of individuals.” Richardson said,  “So we as individuals have to look into our souls and activate ourselves as stewards of a great spirit that this nation can embody.”

—Eric Richardson. Executive Director of the NAACP chapter.