Blaine Stum

When I first met Brad Crelia, I could tell he was unique. He was part nerd, part hipster and part politico.

In 2012, the median household income for the census tract that covers the downtown core of Spokane was $16,503. Low income apartments dot the urban landscape. Retired seniors, the disabled and the working poor stroll outside their apartment buildings.

One day, he told me he was from Bethlehem in Palestine. He started to tell me about what life was like in Palestine: clean water was scarce, poverty was endemic, military checkpoints degraded and humiliated people, settler roads cut the occupied territories up and made it impossible for people like him to travel, he had to go through Jordan when visiting home because he would be detained if he tried to return through Israel.

We are a nation of immigrants, as the saying goes. Despite this obvious fact, we resist tooth and nail the implementation of anything approaching a humane immigration system.

I stroll through downtown every day on my to and from work. My walk is usually pleasant, but jarring.

Another mass shooting takes place in America. We pay our respects to the victims of such a tragedy, condemn the man who committed it and move on

A shot near the Palouse this week.