Oscar Rosales Castañeda

Jobs, Journalism, Justice

Contributing Writer

Oscar Rosales grew up in the Yakima Valley and works and resides in Seattle.

Articles by Oscar Rosales Castañeda

Notes from El Noroeste

By Oscar Rosales Castañeda | December 22, 2021

As the year draws to a close, it is safe to say that the last two months have been absolutely harrowing. Widespread flooding and disruption to people’s lives in Skagit and Whatcom counties, the emergence of yet another COVID-19 variant and the malaise that is ever present during a “100-year” event that is slowly approaching a third year. The point of this being, of course, that people are still in a state of emergency and thus are still in need of active material support. ...

Carceral apparatus is as anti-worker as it is anti-immigrant

By Oscar Rosales Castañeda | November 24, 2021

Earlier this month, a federal jury determined that the GEO Group, a for-profit entity based in Florida that runs the Northwest ICE Processing Center (formerly the Northwest Detention Center), violated Washington state’s minimum wage law by paying detainees well below an hourly wage for essential tasks including preparing and serving food, laundry service and janitorial services. Per a press release written by the Washington state Attorney General’s Office, Washington state is the first to sue a for-profit detention center for violating wage theft. ...

The Great Resignation as a counter to the commodification of workers

By Oscar Rosales Castañeda | October 27, 2021

In the last few weeks much has been said about a shift in the economy, with many workers opting to leave their places of employment. This movement, dubbed “the great resignation,” illustrates a curious trend that has not been seen in generations: namely, how workers are more emboldened to exert their power by withholding and dictating what they wish to do with their own labor. ...

Reimagining as a way of remembering

By Oscar Rosales Castañeda | September 22, 2021

A little over a month ago, a replica of the Templo Mayor was erected to commemorate the 500-year anniversary of the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, the former Aztec capital, which also happens to be the present site of Mexico City. I found it curious yet oddly comforting that there is an intentional acknowledgment of the original communities in this area, as this is long overdue. In many ways, the reimagining and repurposing of memory carries a lot of weight in syncretized communities. ...

COVID-19 outbreaks at the Tacoma detention center

By Oscar Rosales Castañeda | August 25, 2021

It goes without saying that there is some trepidation as schools come back to in-person session in the next few weeks. There’s an interesting tension that occurs as we meet present conditions. It’s clear that the pandemic is not going away any time soon, and thus we can’t collectively presume that we can simply return to life as it was before COVID-19. Sadly, this does not stop the immigrant carceral apparatus from reverting to its pre-2020 modus operandi. ...

Systemic erasure and anti-intellectualism

By Oscar Rosales Castañeda | July 28, 2021

Late last week, the Texas Senate advanced a bill that restricts how the nation’s history — and race especially — can be taught in schools. This is yet another volley in the emergent ideological battle against the teaching of elements of critical race theory, which appears to be the most recent anti-intellectual cause célèbre among right-wing politicians. For those unfamiliar, CRT are works from civil rights scholars critiquing how U.S. law in historical and contemporary context intersected with racial issues. ...

Central American migration and historical amnesia

By Oscar Rosales Castañeda | June 23, 2021

Earlier in June we saw a preliminary glimpse into the possible trajectory this presidential administration may take with the “migration crisis.” Let us be abundantly clear first: Migration itself is not a crisis. It is a process that many people undertake when the lands they are on do not provide for peoples’ material necessities. Migration itself is not a state of crisis, but rather a reflection of circumstances that lead folks to look beyond place of origin to meet their needs. ...

Excluded, expendable: Workers are demanding better conditions

By Oscar Rosales Castañeda | April 28, 2021

As we cautiously climb out of the worldwide pandemic abyss, we examine a world in which inequality runs rampant. The last calendar year has illustrated the poor state in which many people find themselves. This is especially so for community members on the social and economic margins. Once-a-century events really have a way of exposing normalized systematic violence and negligence to the point that we see poverty, racism and poor health as natural conditions in our contemporary lived reality. ...

Mass shootings are violently rooted in xenophobia

By Oscar Rosales Castañeda | March 24, 2021

The past week carried a heavy tone that continues to add to the incremental accumulation of collective psychological trauma. As news seeped into my digital media feeds, I prepared myself for that cyclical pattern that many of us undergo when we encounter repeated instances of violence. We are made aware of our otherness and, in turn, feel the paranoia that follows. ...

Vaccine inequality and structural racist optics

By Oscar Rosales Castañeda | February 24, 2021

In early February, The Seattle Times published a report that provides a preliminary glimpse at who has had access to the first set of COVID vaccines that were doled out. As much as I want to tell myself that this is an incomplete picture and that the first set of vaccines is reflective of a strategy to inoculate first responders and medical personnel, I still feel that the preliminary rollout failed to address a key consideration. Namely, the disproportionate impact that the pandemic has had on people of color and economically marginalized folks. ...

Jobs, Journalism, Justice

Notes from El Noroeste

Carceral apparatus is as anti-worker as it is anti-immigrant

The Great Resignation as a counter to the commodification of workers

Reimagining as a way of remembering

COVID-19 outbreaks at the Tacoma detention center

Systemic erasure and anti-intellectualism

Central American migration and historical amnesia

Excluded, expendable: Workers are demanding better conditions

Mass shootings are violently rooted in xenophobia

Vaccine inequality and structural racist optics

Mar. 15-21, 2023

Mar. 22-28, 2023

Mar. 22-28, 2023