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Oscar Rosales Castaneda

Contributing Writer

Articles by Oscar Rosales C...

  • Real Change

    On the border

    by Oscar Rosales C... | November 28th, 2018
    Real Change columnist

    On Nov. 19, Judge John S. Tigar of the U. S. District Court in San Francisco issued a restraining order against the Trump administration. The court decision will be in place until the federal courts issue a new ruling concerning the administration’s reluctance to accept new asylum cases. The original intent behind the Cheeto-in-Chief’s executive actions were to deter the Central American caravan’s attempt to apply for asylum at the southern border.

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    Problems with the SPD contract

    by Oscar Rosales C... | October 24th, 2018
    Real Change columnist

    On Oct.15, Crosscut published an article that details the specifics of the long-awaited Seattle Police contract with the City of Seattle. The tentative contract, initially agreed upon by the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) in August, sought to reach common ground on wage increases as well as implementation of police reforms that were handed down as a result of the consent decree issued by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2012. Contention over stipulations with reform drove the prolonged negotiation and left SPD without a contract since 2014.

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  • Real Change

    The complexities of celebrating ‘Hispanic’ Heritage Month

    by Oscar Rosales C... | September 26th, 2018
    Real Change columnist

    This is my first “Hispanic Heritage Month” since taking on this column; it feels as though it carries extra weight amid the racist rhetoric being proliferated by the White House — even if I have qualms about the word “Hispanic.”

    On one hand, the term “Hispanic” ignores indigenous inhabitants who have little connection to Spain or Spanish culture. Likewise, this term excludes the Portuguese-speaking inhabitants of Brazil, which bears the distinction of being both the most populous nation-state in Latin America and second-most-populous country in the Western Hemisphere.

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  • Real Change

    Now we have a war against the poor

    by Oscar Rosales C... | August 29th, 2018
    Real Change columnist

    Three months have passed since the Seattle City Council’s unceremonious backpedaling and subsequent reversal on funding for very needed affordable housing. Our corporate overlords flexed their muscle and our timid council obliged, lest they bear the brunt of becoming unelectable for not working with our local “job providers.” I’m sure it’s a distinction that many politicians wish to do without.

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    The psychological toll of immigrant detention and incarceration

    by Oscar Rosales C... | July 25th, 2018
    Real Change columnist

    To understand the psychological impact of immigrant detention, we must also look at incarceration. Though they may not seem intimately related, it is no coincidence that both anti-immigrant legislation and “three strikes” incarceration policies became central focuses of lawmakers almost simultaneously more than two decades ago.

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  • Real Change

    Jeff Bezos doesn’t care about poor people

    by Oscar Rosales C... | June 27th, 2018
    Real Change columnist

    The Employee Hours Tax suffered its demise in the most cringeworthy way possible. The sad display of political cowardice was reflected in a 7-2 vote to repeal the tax, with councilmembers Kshama Sawant and Teresa Mosqueda being the oppositional votes. As Jeff Bezos ponders using his wealth for space exploration, the city of Seattle continues to grapple with a state of emergency.

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    Affordable housing in an intersectional lens

    by Oscar Rosales C... | May 23rd, 2018
    Monthly columnist

    It has been quite the eventful last few weeks in the Emerald City. The Seattle City Council voted for a scaled back employee hours tax (EHT) to the tune of $275 per full-time employee for Seattle’s largest corporations. The amended proposal was substantially less than the initial $500 proposal, which Mayor Jenny Durkan threatened to veto.

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    Reflecting On May Day in Seattle

    by Oscar Rosales C... | April 25th, 2018
    Monthly columnist

    May 1 quickly approaches once again in the Emerald City. The day, punctuated by marches and calls for social justice, originated in the 1880s to honor the martyrs of Haymarket Square during the height of the American Labor Movement.

    Systemic repression against radical labor, in tandem with the creation of Labor Day (set in early September), led to collective amnesia of our shared labor struggles. May 1 as a holiday was forced to the margins.

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    The psychological toll of ICE raids

    by Oscar Rosales C... | March 28th, 2018
    Real Change columnist

    Immigration discourse has been contentious for several years. I would argue several generations. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been given a renewed license to operate unchecked since President 45 (known as Cheeto in Chief amongst my friends) has entered the Oval Office.

    The uneasy feeling that comes from these raids oddly resonates with me and is reminiscent of the Immigration and Naturalization Service raids (INS, a precursor to ICE) in the Yakima Valley in the 1980s.

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  • Real Change

    Notes from El Noroeste: Circular migration

    by Oscar Rosales C... | February 28th, 2018
    Real Change columnist
    Oscar Rosales

    I originally made my way to Seattle in 2002 by way of Yakima. My own trek is a shorter variation of a journey my parents made — as part of the Mexican diaspora — to Washington state in the 1980s. Their migration north was not the first northbound journey made by family members. In the 1910s, my paternal great-grandfather moved to Santa Barbara, California, where my grandmother was born. In Texas, my maternal great-grandparents established a home, and to this day I have relatives that I have yet to meet who live in Fort Worth, my grandfather’s birthplace.

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