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A lot of people have been asking me, a person they know who lives in Portland, about what's going on here. Here is a brief thread with some context /1
I moved to Portland in 2013. In 2014, Michael Brown was murdered by a police officer, and the Ferguson protests began, spurring action across the country. Black Lives Matter protests have gone on in Portland ever since. /2
Here's a good article from 2014 https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-23657-bring-the-noise.html /3
Protests continued in 2015 https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2015/11/black_lives_matter_protesters.html /4
As this was going on, and I was the Oregonian music critic and reporter, the Portland Police Department and fire marshals cracked down on hip-hop shows. Suddenly, venues had their capacity limited. Some shows were shut down entirely. Not in 1987 or 1992. Now.
One flashpoint was an Illmaculate show at the Blue Monk (now defunct) - which set the tone for the scene for a long time https://www.oregonlive.com/multimedia/2014/03/illmaculate_leaves_blue_monk_w.html
Portland participated deeply in the protest movement after Trump was elected. After a peaceful Women's March in the day, in front of TV cameras, police went out in the nights to come, penned in protestors, and attacked them with flashbangs and gas.
At some point, certain right-wing groups decided Portland was a place to exploit. Here is a piece about one group of instigators, Patriot Prayer. https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2019/08/15/patriot-prayer-leader-joey-gibson-will-face-criminal-charges-in-may-day-riot-his-lawyer-says/
This led to a number of face-offs between right-wing groups and Portland activists. Let's remember "antifa" is short for "anti-fascist." Their goal, as I understand it, is to stand up to these dangerous bullies and make sure they are not welcome in Portland.
Portland police, now under the leadership of Mayor Ted Wheeler, worked directly with Patriot Prayer on a number of occasions, even as they stashed a cache of weapons on a rooftop in one incident. There are a lot of links about this relationship, you can track them down.
To sum up a bit here: for most of the ~7 years I've lived here, brave Portland activists have tirelessly protested against racist violence—from the police, from right-wing hate groups, and from the colluding police and right-wing hate groups.
The protests that began two months ago are not new. Respect to the vets, moms, and dads who have joined this fight over the last week or so—they are showing up to a years-long movement, a moment our mayor has continuously failed to meet.
Now, a bit about Portland: most protests over this period have happened in parks, or involved marching around a mile or so of downtown at night after the office worker crowd clears out. In most of residential Portland, you wouldn't know they even happened.
Occasionally one of the bridges gets blocked off and a handful of cars gets stuck.
But not exactly disruptive. The city has not descended into rubble and panic. This is over hundreds of protests.
But not exactly disruptive. The city has not descended into rubble and panic. This is over hundreds of protests.
The Patriot Prayer/antifa stuff has been more intense and has been worth staying out of the way of but personally, I live in Southeast and I don't cross the river anyway.
To bring us up to date here: the last couple months have been the biggest protests of this era. Let's remember, again: these are anti-police violence protests. They are Black Lives Matter protests. They continue to be, even with Trump's federal officers.
Some people have been in the streets for this for 6 years—if not decades. How much longer are they supposed to wait for change? How many times do they need to keep showing up to elections to be disappointed?
If these protest are disruptive—it is because people are tired of waiting for the police and the city government to do the right thing.
To speak to the feds: watch the videos. Follow local reporters at the Oregonian, Willamette Week, Portland Mercury. The videos are terrifying. But here in SE, I'm seeing the same stuff you are. Life continues over on this side of the river. We got delivery from Bunk Bar tonight.
(There was one protest at Laurelhurst Park in my neighborhood weeks back that involved people politely marching as the cops brought out helicopters and yelled at them on megaphones.)
Epilogue: I did a night of protest coverage for the Oregonian in 2017 and was lucky to avoid getting pepper sprayed or attacked by PPD as it seems like all of my colleagues have since. Did not actually protest during my journalism tenure for journalism reasons.
Not protesting now because we have a high-risk person in the house and I'm worried about bringing home covid. We are also at our limits trying to work and parent. I don't feel great about it, but that's where we are. We 100% support the protestors. I hope you do, too. /x
I am a humble former music critic and there is a long, thorough history of serious reporting on all of the stuff in this thread that you can dig through. I'm sure there's a lot I missed.
- http://oregonlive.com
- http://wweek.com
- http://portlandmercury.com
- http://oregonlive.com
- http://wweek.com
- http://portlandmercury.com
