June 1st, 2017

FEATURING:

Voices from the recent vigil at Portland's Hollywood Transit Center for victims of the racist double murder that occurred on a Portland MAX train on May 26th.  A known white supremacist, Jeremy Christian, verbally attacked two black girls, one of whom is Muslim and was wearing a hijab, shouting slurs, anti-Muslim rhetoric and other hate speech.  When three white men attempted to intervene, Christian stabbed all three in the neck before exiting the train and fleeing the scene.  Two of the men, Rick Best and Taliesian Myrddin Namkai Meche, died of their injuries, while the other, Micah Fletcher, survived.  Christian now faces multiple charges, including murder and attempted murder.  The day after the attack, family members of the deceased and hundreds of community members gathered near the train platform to honor the three men and the girls who were subject to the attacker's racist vitriol.

AND:

Jesce Horton, chairman of the Minority Cannabis Business Association and local co-owner of the Panacea Valley Gardens dispensary, about reversing the impact of the war on drugs through the legal cannabis industry.  Marijuana criminalization has had a highly disproportionate (and generational) impact on communities of color, and those with cannabis convictions often have difficulty accessing the cannabis industry in states that have legalized recreational use.  The MCBA provides economic empowerment and resources to minority entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry, including help expunging old convictions.  We also briefly discuss Portland's voter approved cannabis tax; it was revealed in this spring's city budget process that revenue would be allocated primarily towards law enforcement use, stirring debate (more information can be found here).