‘Hispanic’ heritage, government identifiers and census count

Real Change
The Temptation of St. Mike: The fly on his head painted him in glo-ry

by Dr. Wes Browning | October 14th, 2020

We all remember the adorable house finch that landed on Bernie Sanders’ podium during a 2016 Portland, Oregon, rally. Now we get to remember an adorable fly who became attached to Mike Pence’s head for two minutes during the debate.

I’m going to say that the most telling difference between the finch and fly incidents is Bernie noticed the finch, while Mike did not notice the fly.

It reminded me of the fun I used to have with overtalkers like Pence back in my college days.
Read more in the Oct. 14-20, 2020 issue.
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Fortify your soul

by John Helmiere | October 14th, 2020

Our bodies have limits to how much tension we can absorb. We are already in the midst of a generation-defining disruption in normal life, and then we add to it the tide of white supremacist violence and reverberating effects of prolonged isolation and economic paralysis. Now, as the election looms in just a few weeks and our society is already quivering with anxiety, many will experience seismic shifts in their personal, spiritual stability. Many of my friends and members of my community have been reporting troubled sleep, persistent inability to focus and even episodes of vertigo.
Read more in the Oct. 14-20, 2020 issue.
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Real Change
Robert Marbut, the greatest policy threat to homeless people since Rudy Giuliani

by Timothy Harris | October 14th, 2020

While there is no of shortage of reasons to be terrified by the prospect of another four years of Donald Trump, allow me to add one more: Robert-fucking-Marbut, the greatest policy threat to homeless people since Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani, before he became America’s Mayor after 9/11, and then the rabid clown prince of the Trump administration, was an early popularizer of broken windows theory, the notion that visible poverty is an advance harbinger of pathological urban decay.
Read more in the Oct. 14-20, 2020 issue.
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Crucial outreach to voters with limited English proficiency

by Mahnaz Eshetu | October 14th, 2020

The late U.S. Congressman John Lewis said the vote must be cherished and exercised in the name of those who sacrificed everything for it.

Voting is a right that is not guaranteed. This is a reality that native-born Americans may easily forget, yet many immigrants and refugees know deeply.

Since the Voting Rights Act was partially dismantled in 2013, we see efforts to limit, obstruct and deny access to the ballot every day.

“Aung” (an alias, for privacy) knows this very well. She grew up in a country ruled by a military dictatorship: There were no referendums, no elections, no opportunities for the people to make their voice heard.
Read more in the Oct. 14-20, 2020 issue.
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Real Change
I give Trump credit for being rare. He’s one in 8 billion

by Dr. Wes Browning | October 7th, 2020

Because I write these things, I often jot down thoughts I have, thinking I might use them later. Here’s one I found that I wrote a couple of months ago. I have no clue what I was reacting to:

“Some people invite karma. They beg for life’s hard lessons. Who am I to interfere? I should say to each one, ‘You do you, and good luck with that. I don’t want to harsh your trip.’” That does not make sense — of course I want to harsh their trip. I want what they want.
Read more in the Oct. 7-13, 2020 issue.
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Real Change
Why poor people pay more taxes than the president

by Hanna Brooks Olsen | October 7th, 2020

In this Washington, it’s extra bad

After a New York Times report surprised exactly no one by revealing President Trump’s meager tax filings, a lot of people around the country were mad.

But in Washington, we all should have been even more mad — because here, the homeless pay more in taxes than the country’s president.

Washington holds the uniquely embarrassing distinction of having the most regressive tax structure in the nation. Worse than Florida.

That means people who earn the least pay the highest percentage of their earnings, while folks who have the most pay the least.
Read more in the Oct. 7-13, 2020 issue.
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Real Change
The Jewish High Holidays

by Rabbi Olivier BenHaim | September 30th, 2020

We, Jews, just finished celebrating our High Holidays. These started with Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, and closed — 10 days later — with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Associated with these Holidays is a poem from the Torah portion called HaAzinu. Amidst this poem is a particularly salient verse:

He found him in a desert land, in a desolate howling void. He surrounded him, He gave him understanding, He guarded him as the apple of His eye. (Deut. 32:10)
Read more in the Sept. 30 - Oct. 6, 2020 issue.
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Real Change
We have nothing to fear but fear itself. And robots. Fear them

by Dr. Wes Browning | September 30th, 2020

Some cheerleading is in order. There’s little chance the national election will come down to one state locked in recounting votes, as in Florida in 2000. The most likely scenario is that by Nov. 20 or so, after mail-in ballots have been counted everywhere they need to be, the electoral college tally will be clearly for one candidate, and there won’t be grounds for appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn any state’s determination of their results.
Read more in the Sept. 30 - Oct. 6, 2020 issue.
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Real Change
We are truly all in this together

by Timothy Harris | September 30th, 2020

What a month this has been! The week of Sept. 14, we asked you to join us to recognize the people in our community that inspire change and fuel this paper. We took our 26th Annual Breakfast event online this year with the huge goal of raising $146,610 to support Real Change during this challenging time.

Thanks to you, we are very close to reaching that goal. Your support means that our vendors have opportunity, a voice, and the means to take action, and that we’re working toward a better future together.
Read more in the Sept. 30 - Oct. 6, 2020 issue.
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Real Change
‘Hispanic’ heritage, government identifiers and census count

by Oscar Rosales Castaneda | September 23rd, 2020

I cringe every time I hear the term “Hispanic” when September rolls around. I used this term sporadically as a youth when referring to people of “Spanish-speaking” background and slowly phased it out in favor of the term “Latino” and, as of late, its more recent variant, “Latinx.” Even still, there is reluctance on my part to self-identify with either, as I prefer the more regional-specific labels “Mexican,” “Mesoamerican,” “Chicano” and “Xicano.”
Read more in the Sept. 23-29, 2020 issue.
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