Red and Black Cafe

01/20/2023

Op-ed by Howard Zinn. Clip from “What’s Happening Mr. Silver?” WGBH Boston. 1968. Originally broadcast on “What’s Happening Mr. Silver?” on WGBH Boston, Howard Zinn lauds Eartha Kitt and Dr. Benjamin Spock for their public resistance and calls on everyone to actively resist and protest s...

01/20/2023

ALERT. The Cops have killed a Stop Cop City land defender. Spread the word. And act in solidarity. The primary call to action now is for folks to organize demonstrations against COP CITY throughout the empire. Demand the project end, drop the charges, and hold the trooper responsible for this extra-judicial killing accountable.

09/26/2016

Please read,this is especially important for Portland folks. There are 2 weeks left to save this radical community space! Share/like/donate pretty please. Thanks so much!

Protect Community Space in the Heart of Portland! Upscale blight getting you down? Then help us! (www.sjacpdx.org) Marginalized communities are being pushed further and further from the heart of Portland, and from each other. The Social Justice Action Center (SJAC) is a community organizing and...

04/30/2015

"Black and Brown Lives Matter!
Support the Monterey 8!

Help get the charges against protesters arrested at the Black and Brown Lives Matter rally and march in Monterey on Saturday, March 28th, 2015 dismissed immediately!

Oppose the criminalization of any form of protest and resistance against police brutality. No one should face arrest, fines, jail time, or any other form of repression for challenging racism and state violence!

All funds raised will go directly toward court fines and fees associated with legal representation. Any money left over will be donated to bail/legal funds for other protesters arrested at Black Lives Matters demonstrations around the country.

Contact and updates:
blackbrowncoalition [at] gmail.com"

Black and Brown Lives Matter! Support the Monterey 8! Help get the charges against protesters arrested at the Black and Brown Lives Matter rally and march in Monterey on Saturday, March 28th, 2015 dismissed immediately! Oppose the criminalization of any form of protest and resistance against p...

04/25/2015

The Portland Radicle* is looking for community members who would like to join other clever and talented ass-kickers in our project of collective liberation.

The Radicle is an anarchist print project that kicked off in 2012. We once had a good rhythm for solicitation and publication, as well as a robust editorial collective. At present, we're down to four people, and we've struggled to publish consistently. While the paper is in no danger of being discontinued, we believe that we would be stronger with more participation and more ideas.

Optimally, we'd love to make the Radicle an engaging multimedia platform for class war and social change that is not only interesting, but indispensable for all who strive for freedom in Portland and around the world. We have lots of ambitious ideas about how we can do that, and we'd love your participation and support.

We need people who can write articles, analysis and reviews, copyedit, proofread, translate, contribute artwork and photos, do web design, and help publicize by putting together fundraisers and social events. We could also use the help of those who'd like to join us in folding, collating, and stapling some papers.

Our editorial commitment is to be a multi-tendency, “anarchist-without-adjectives” publication that is free to access and a medium for dialogue across movements and projects. We also want to pay attention to, analyze and critique developments in Portland, challenge dominant narratives surrounding events here, cover protests (or, ideally, protracted rebellion), and seek paths toward a world free of domination and coercion. We never advocate for politicians or political parties, preferring to highlight popular efforts to effect change. We will never appeal to the state or capital, and we seek to dismantle social relations and power dynamics which demand our allegiance to and dependence on both. The Radicle also seeks to create an inclusive and respectful space for editors and contributors, and we invite suggestions as to how we can maintain the highest standards in this regard.

If you are interested in applying your talents to destroy that which harms us and build a world which sustains us, we would love to have you. We will work with contributors at any level; no previous experience in media is necessary.

To learn more about our project, send an email to: [email protected].

For love and anarchy, your partners in total revolt,

The Portland Radicle

*“Radicle” means the embryonic root growth of a plant from a seed. It is from the Latin word “radix,” meaning “root” or “origin”. Radix is the word that “radical,” one who seeks fundamental change, is also derived from.

04/10/2015

Cool stuff is still happening in the space!
(photo from earlier tonight)

04/09/2015

Friends, community and haters: We did it, WE SAVED THE BUILDING!!! Most of our focus over these last couple of months has been to find a bar or restaurant to lease and occupy the first floor. We are so, so pleased to announce that we've succeeded, instead, to lease-to-own the space to a newly forming team. This team will, in turn, coordinate the space for a wide spectrum of radical groups to use! If you'd like to DONATE please do!: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=XH92JWK9R4U64

Two days ago, at the last possible moment, we handed over cashiers checks in the total of $10 thousand dollars to our (very patient) mortgage lender. So now we're caught up and no longer in danger of imminent foreclosure! IN ADDITION: it will remain a safer space, prioritizing the needs of oppressed and marginalized folks in Portland including people of color, q***r folks, houseless folks, trans folks, working class organizing and anti-gentrification efforts!

The space will be offered to various groups on a subscription basis, based on what they can afford. The new organization will grow and formalize our community's relationships with the space and with each other, increasing transparency, accountability and democratic control. Plus everyone will be sharing the work of making the best use of our space. So far ideas include:
private meeting space, fundraisers, film showings, shows & performances -- really the skies the limit! In addition we're looking for commercial kitchen tenants to share our fully equipped kitchen for catering, food production and pop-up restaurants at low hourly rates. We're especially looking for food businesses that are excited to cater to the non-food orgs using the space.

In addition to keeping the space available for radical organizing this deal will make it possible, over the next period, to actually pay off the non-mortgage debts held by the cafe. This includes paying back lenders that helped us buy and hold on to the building in the first place, including workers who contributed many, many hours of unpaid work! This all needs to get figured
out but we are committed to making good with *all* the people who made it possible to get to this point! Thanks so much!

A special shout out goes to all the cop lovers and assorted R&B haters: by sharing and making fun of our going out of business post you inadvertently pushed up our facebook algorithms, thus helping get it up to over 26k page views! That really helped us to get the message out and mobilize our supporters and community. So thanks *so much* for doing your part!

The next few weeks will be a critical time as a brand new organization is formed to take over the lease from the group that is holding it in trust. What happens during this time will determine the exact character and the initial membership of this organization. So please get in touch with them if you're
interested in helping and shaping this process.

From the organizers of this new venture:
"A small group of committed radicals is currently caretaking the lease, seeking potential organizations that want to subscribe to use the space regularly, as well as caterers and cooks wanting to share the kitchen space. More importantly, over the next two or three weeks they are recruiting trusted, passionate radicals from a wide spectrum of organizing cultures, to launch a new movement-building organization to coordinate use of the building. The focus will be on growing skills to work together strategically, despite and alongside the conflicts we all know will arise."

HEY MEDIA: The new organizing group will be taking lead on talking to you all; press releases will be released and folks will be ready to do interviews by early Monday morning. If you're interested in doing a story please be in touch!

CONTACT INFO FOR MEDIA, KITCHEN SUBLETS, AND FOLKS & ORGANIZATIONS THAT WANT TO GET INVOLVED:

John Brush
[email protected]
503-776-0425

03/30/2015

Red and Black Cafe 8509 likes Dick Cheney 6148 likes. Its official. A local cafe with a 15 yr run in the Buckman community of Portland, Oregon that served vegan food has more likes than an american politician known the world over.

03/26/2015

So you've heard that we're closing, which is sad. But you can still help: please spread the word that we are looking for a commercial tenant to occupy our 1400sq foot restaurant space.

The reason why this helps is twofold:
1. It could put the Red & Black in the financial position to reopen elsewhere / in the future and

2. It will enable the R&B to retain ownership of the building, which includes low income housing upstairs and books to prisoners in the basement.

If this sounds like something you're interested in, we really need to hear from you right away. Our window of opportunity to make a deal is closing fast...Thanks.

03/26/2015

Sh*tty as well :(

In the early morning of March 21, the building behind ours caught fire. Two people lost their lives. The fire moved to the mixed-use warehouse building we share with 1984 Printing and 30+ residents. Everyone in our building got out safely, but several units were completely destroyed. There was e...

03/24/2015

To Our Friends, Family and Community,

The time has come announce that the small but mighty Red & Black Collective will be shutting down. This year we would have turned fifteen years old. In those years, using our collective labor, we have served a lot of vegan dragon noodles and sandwiches. We’ve also made decisions together and taught each other so many skills. We’ve met so many travelers from all over this amazing world and made friendships and relationships that will last forever. We’ve created and maintained some of the only and last low-income housing in inner Southeast Portland. We’ve housed & supported Portland Books to Prisoners as a collection point and by hosting their library & workspace in our basement. We’ve hosted countless local and touring bands and other DIY, all-ages events. We’ve kept our space as safe we could as workers and as a community -- even when that's been controversial. We’ve acted in solidarity with women, children & youth, q***r people, trans folks, and nonbinary folks, people of color, immigrants & undocumented people, disabled and differently-abled folks, survivors of r**e and abuse, people experiencing houselessness, mental health issues and drug addiction, s*x workers, organizing workers, underpaid workers and laid off workers, and the environment and our animal friends. And we’ve done so with huge love for each other, unquenchable anger at a system which seeks to silence and destroy all that is beautiful in this world, and ultimately, with a tireless hope that a new way of doing things is possible.

We have the deepest gratitude for all the people who have supported this project in so many ways over these long years. We could create a list of countless thank yous and appreciations that would run on and on forever. And while we wish to impart our incredible gratefulness to our community around the world, we also want to end this portion of our journey with a continued call to action. Please, please continue to use your spaces and bodies and words for smashing patriarchy, racism, classism, and all the other oppressions that stand in the way of our happiness and safety. Stand up for each other and with each other. Call each other out and when you are called out, take responsibility for your actions and fix them! Organize with each other and while learning how to take care of yourselves and your communities.

We are still going to be fundraising in order to close our business as responsibly as we are able. Please stay in touch with us. You can get ahold of us if you have questions or business with us, would like to help us out with moving or fundraising at [email protected].

With incredible gratitude and sadness and pride,
See you in the streets,

The Red & Black Cafe Collective

03/21/2015

Hey folks, long time friend of the Red & Black, Ahuviya, is looking for housing. Since we