The Blacktastic Adventure

“Black News Future” is a 3-part panel series exploring the current state of Black news media in Portland and the future of the landscape going forward. The panels each have themes, which are Black media and politics, Black print media and Black-owned radio. Each panel features 2-3 guests from Portland’s Black media community, ranging from columnists to podcasters to editors and more. This series is sponsored by the University of Oregon Agora Journalism Center.This panel focuses on the interface between local politics and media. It explores the role of traditional journalism and editorials in influencing campaigns around Black issues, as well as looks at examples such as the Rose Quarter development project and recent non-general elections.Panelists- Candace Avalos, Winta Yohannes and State Sen. Akasha Lawrence SpenceCandace Avalos is a first generation American “Blacktina”, daughter of Black Americans from the south and Guatemalan immigrants. She currently serves as the Executive Director at Verde. Prior to her venture into the nonprofit world, she worked at Portland State University for 8 years providing civic engagement education and advising support for student leaders. Originally from Virginia, she lives in NE Portland and is an active member of her community, such as a co-founder of the Black Millennial Movement, serving on the Citizen Review Committee and Charter Review Commission for the City of Portland, as well as on the boards of Portland: Neighbors Welcome, Street Roots, and the Oregon Kickball Club.Sen. Akasha Lawrence Spence is an innovator, change agent, and intuitive strategist who puts community first. She proudly serves NW and SW Portland and The City of Tigard as Oregon State Senator for District 18. She is also the Founder & Principal Designer of Fifth Element—a conscientious community development firm fortifying historically undercapitalized communities through decision making power and real property ownership. Winta Yohannes serves as the executive director of the Albina Vision Trust - a nonprofit organization stewarding the thoughtful reinvention and transformation of lower Albina, from which thousands of primarily African Americans residents were forcibly displaced. Previously, she served as a senior policy advisor in Portland City Hall and is passionate about connecting community power to the political process. Winta grew up in Northeast Portland and graduated from Reed College.Support the show

Help me make videos and join the monthly discussions: https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsetteSign up for classes and check out the latest bylines: https://www.brucepoinsette.comSubscribe to the monthly newsletter: https://www.brucepoinsette.com/newsletter/Read Donovan's Essay: https://www.streetroots.org/news/2022/02/09/opinion-why-scribes-long-ancestral-journey-led-me-change-my-nameSupport the show

Help me make videos and join the monthly discussions: https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsetteSign up for classes and check out the latest bylines: https://www.brucepoinsette.comSubscribe to the monthly newsletter: https://www.brucepoinsette.com/newsletter/Support the show

Help me make videos and join the monthly discussions: https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsetteSign up for classes and check out the latest bylines: https://www.brucepoinsette.comSubscribe to the monthly newsletter: https://www.brucepoinsette.com/newsletter/Support the show

Help me make videos and join the monthly discussions: https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsetteSign up for classes and check out the latest bylines: https://www.brucepoinsette.comSubscribe to the monthly newsletter: https://www.brucepoinsette.com/newsletter/Support the show

Help me make videos and join the monthly discussions: https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsetteSign up for classes and check out the latest bylines: https://www.brucepoinsette.comSubscribe to the monthly newsletter: https://www.brucepoinsette.com/newsletter/Support the show

Help me make videos and join the monthly discussions: https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsetteSign up for classes and check out the latest bylines: https://www.brucepoinsette.comSubscribe to the monthly newsletter: https://www.brucepoinsette.com/newsletter/Support the show

Help me make videos and join the monthly discussions: https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsetteSign up for classes and check out the latest bylines: https://www.brucepoinsette.comSubscribe to the monthly newsletter: https://www.brucepoinsette.com/newsletter/Support the show

Help me make videos and join the monthly discussions: https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsetteSign up for classes and check out the latest bylines: https://www.brucepoinsette.comSubscribe to the monthly newsletter: https://www.brucepoinsette.com/newsletter/Dancing Hearts Consulting: https://www.dancingheartsconsulting.orgSupport the show

Help me make videos and join the monthly discussions: https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsetteSign up for classes and check out the latest bylines: https://www.brucepoinsette.comSubscribe to the monthly newsletter: https://www.brucepoinsette.com/newsletter/Portland NAACP: https://www.pdxnaacp.org/Community Alliance of Tenants: https://www.oregoncat.org/Support the show

Help me make videos and join the monthly discussions: https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsetteSign up for classes and check out the latest bylines: https://www.brucepoinsette.comSubscribe to the monthly newsletter: https://www.brucepoinsette.com/newsletter/The Blacktastic Adventure is an ongoing interview series that explores Oregon's Black diaspora. In this episode, I speak with Amber Starks.About Amber:Amber Starks is an Afro Indigenous (Black and Native American) activist. She is an enrolled citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and is also of Shawnee, Yuchi, Quapaw, and Cherokee descent. Her passion is the intersection of Black and Native identity, where she seeks to normalize, affirm, and uplift the multidimensional identities of Black and Native peoples and to encourage Black and Indigenous peoples to prioritize one another and divest from compartmentalizing struggles. Her pronouns are she/her/hers.Support the show

Help me make videos and join the monthly discussions: https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsetteSign up for classes and check out the latest bylines: https://www.brucepoinsette.comSubscribe to the monthly newsletter: https://www.brucepoinsette.com/newsletter/The Blacktastic Adventure is an ongoing interview series that explores Oregon's Black diaspora. In this episode, I speak with Bashira Muhammad.About Bashira:Bashira Muhammad is an environmental scientist, fungi farmer and sustainability leader. In 2017, she established the agricultural company, Zoom Out Mycology with the goal of creating a sustainable business that contributes to achieving a sustainable society. To “Zoom Out” is to see the big picture of sustainability including social, environmental, economic and institutional tactics.Support the show

Help me make videos and join the monthly discussions: https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsetteSign up for classes and check out the latest bylines: https://www.brucepoinsette.comSubscribe to the monthly newsletter: https://www.brucepoinsette.com/newsletter/The Blacktastic Adventure is an ongoing interview series that explores Oregon's Black diaspora. In this episode, I speak with the Oregon Black Pioneers.About Oregon Black Pioneers:Oregon Black Pioneers is Oregon’s only historical society dedicated to preserving and presenting the experiences of African Americans statewide. Since 1993, the organization has illuminated the seldom-told history of people of African descent in Oregon. They are inspired by the tenacity of Black Oregonians who have faced discrimination and hardship to make a life for themselves here over the past 400 years. OBP honors their sacrifices by remembering their stories and by sharing them to the public.Support the show

Help me make videos and join the monthly discussions: https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsetteSign up for classes and check out the latest bylines: https://www.brucepoinsette.comSubscribe to the monthly newsletter: https://www.brucepoinsette.com/newsletter/The Blacktastic Adventure is an ongoing interview series that explores Oregon's Black diaspora. In this episode, I speak with Gina DuQuenne.About Gina:Gina DuQuenne is a native of Los Angeles, California and move to Ashland, Oregon in 2008. She is proud of her ancestors and gets her courage and strength from her great grandmother. In 2010 she founded Southern Oregon Pride and in 2020 she was elected the first African American Lesbian to the Ashland City Council and the first in Southern Oregon.Support the show

Help me make videos and join the monthly discussions: https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsetteSign up for classes and check out the latest bylines: https://www.brucepoinsette.comSubscribe to the monthly newsletter: https://www.brucepoinsette.com/newsletter/The Blacktastic Adventure is an ongoing interview series that explores Oregon's Black diaspora. In this episode, I speak with Jason Lamb.About Jason:Jason Lamb is co-host and producer of Minority Retort (Portland’s Black and brown standup comedy show), co-producer of The Blackonteurs (the all Black/African-American storytelling show) and writer of numerous unpublished comic books and unproduced screenplays.Support the show

Help me make videos and join monthly, patrons-only discussions: https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsetteSign up for writing classes and check out my latest bylines: https://www.brucepoinsette.comThe Blacktastic Adventure is an ongoing interview series that explores Oregon's Black diaspora. In this episode, I speak with Amira Stanley.About Amira:Queer Femme, Amira Stanley is a Mindset & Intention Coach, Anti-racism Student and community activist. Amira believes in sitting in discomfort in a way that is loving and nurturing to one's self, EVEN in the Bullshit.Support the show

The Blacktastic Adventure is an ongoing interview series that explores Oregon's Black diaspora. In this episode, I speak with Walidah Imarisha.About Walidah:Walidah Imarisha is the co-editor of Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories From Social Justice Movements, and her book Angels with Dirty Faces: Three Stories of Crime, Prison and Redemption won a 2017 Oregon Book Award. She spent 6 years with Oregon Humanities’ Conversation Project as a public scholar facilitating programs across the state about Oregon Black history and other topics. Imarisha currently teaches in Portland State University’s Black Studies Department and is the Director of the Center for Black Studies.For early access to Blacktastic Adventure episodes and more, become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsettehttps://www.brucepoinsette.comSupport the show

The Blacktastic Adventure is an ongoing interview series that explores Oregon's Black diaspora. In this episode, I speak with Nikeisah Newton.About Nikeisah:Chef Nikeisah Newton founded Meals for Heels (M4H), a late-night meal delivery service for Portland's sex worker community. M4H brings fresh, delicious meals to those with less access to healthy food. As a food activist, Nikeisah uses food as the entry point to dismantling systems of oppression, and as a social enterprise, M4H is thriving -- feeding frontline workers, LGBTQ and houseless folx, and protesters.For early access to Blacktastic Adventure episodes and more, become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsettehttps://www.brucepoinsette.comSupport the show

The Blacktastic Adventure is an ongoing interview series that explores Oregon's Black diaspora. In this episode, I speak with BASE (Black Alliance & Social Empowerment).About BASE:Black Alliance & Social Empowerment (BASE) is a volunteer nonprofit community organization, established in 2020, that provides a welcoming, supportive, and shareable platform for Black community members and their families to connect, collaborate, and ultimately prosper in Southern Oregon. Through information sharing, events, connection, support, and resources, BASE serves to build an inclusive, thriving community to combat structural racism that is still prevalent today.For early access to Blacktastic Adventure episodes and more, become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsettehttps://www.brucepoinsette.comSupport the show

The Blacktastic Adventure is an ongoing interview series that explores Oregon's Black diaspora. In this episode, I speak with Janita Jones.About Janita:Janita Jones is a curator of memorable moments and happy sweats. She is the owner of JJT Studios, home of The Tribe Called Sweat.For early access to Blacktastic Adventure episodes and more, become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/brucepoinsettehttps://www.brucepoinsette.comSupport the show