There are "protesters" among us who were put in place by city officials to rally the crowds and keep the focus of protesting police violence.

They speak of George and Breonna, but not of their killers, as if they were killed in a vacuum.

These people are usually Black, and they invoke identity politics to aggressively engage and call out serious protestors for using more radical non-violent tactics.

They call themselves "peaceful protestors" - this is the language of the oppressor - but really they are policing.

During the march in NE on Saturday, I observed many of these people coordinating with long-known police affiliates. Some even lined themselves in front of the N Precinct as we passed, seemingly protecting police from the people.

These people - who came out of nowhere - have sudden access to cop-sympathetic media sources, and talk about things like "oversight" and "reform".

They scold people for ACAB chants. They implore you to vote and opine on education. https://www.kptv.com/news/demonstrators-marched-for-justice-reform-and-equity-in-education-in-n-portland/article_89cf3276-d451-11ea-82ac-0b6323c50cde.html

I was asked to attend this march by people who understood very well that my goal is to defund the police and invest in our communities. Yet when I arrived, I was not scheduled to speak, & speakers were literally told not to have anti-police messages.

This is textbook co-option.

Fortunately, we brought the soundtruck. So during the march, my guys and I talked about all of this, much more, and got the DEFUND chants going.

When we arrived at Peninsula Park, I got myself in the schedule, and did my best to reprogram the crowd.

Personally, I cannot stand to be in co-opted spaces, playing nice with "leaders" handpicked by the opposition.

But like myself, there were real people in that crowd, and I had to step into the lion's den to reach them.

These people came and found me. They saw it too.

I say all of this to say, there is no point beefing with fools. Jigga already explained why.

The best way to combat the fake is by being real.

The opps' tactic is to harness our energy, and then redirect it from the achievable goal.

So my job is simply to complete the thought.

keep the focus *off* police violence