March 16th, 2017

FEATURING:

Zahir Janmohamed, policy director for the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO), discussing the current campaign to bring ethnic studies classes in schools across the state.  Oregon House Bill 2845, if passed, would begin a process to include ethnic studies curricula into social studies education in Oregon public K-12 schools.  APANO is part of a newly formed coalition that's pushing for the change with youth-led organizing efforts.  HB 2845 had a public hearing before Oregon's House Education Committee on March 15th, at which youth, educators and others testified on the benefits of more inclusive & diverse social studies education.

AND:

Freelance journalist Mike Bivins on his recent reportage for the Willamette Week on an uptick in white supremacist activity in Oregon.  Bivins' story in the latest issue, co-written with Willamette Week reporter Corey Pein, revealed that a KKK imperial wizard from Mississippi was in attendance at a recent, chaotic #March4Trump rally in Lake Oswego, a Portland-area suburb. Pein reported that in a separate recent incident, staff at the Northwest Portland bar Lucky Labrador had to eject an aggressive group of self-proclaimed national socialists (that is, Nazis) gathered there, who'd previously left white nationalist fliers in the bar.