By Roman Mendoza
PORTLAND, OR – On the steps of the Multnomah County Justice Center, a local Black Lives Matter speaker makes a passionate “Thank You” to the Wall of Moms, while surrounded city and county officials, along with estimates of more than 3,000 demonstrators.
The speaker captivated the crowd by thanking the abundance of support given by the WoM. He asked the crowd, “Portland, do you know why your moms are out here?” He then asked, “Do you remember George Floyd?” The crowd cheers at his name. The speaker continues, “They’re out here because when George Floyd died, he called for his mama… And all these Portland mamas heard him.”
I arrived in Portland around 8 p.m. and began making my way to Tom McCall Waterfront Park, where Portland’s Wall of Moms met with Black Lives Matter. These are just two of the organizations and groups who have been protesting police brutality, and now federal police presence in Portland. The federal police are made up of many departments too, like ICE, CBP (Customs and Border Protection), and U.S. Marshals, acting under the Federal Protection Service.
From the waterfront, the crowd marched to meet other groups and an even larger crowd at the Justice Center. The groups met around 9:30 p.m. and took time to acknowledge safety, goals, community, and even more safety. Leaders warned, the police will be out tonight and they will use force. Then, they led a chant renouncing fear and embracing courage.
Between 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. most of the crowd marched half a block from the Justice Center to the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building. The federal building was fenced in black steel, and reinforced by concrete “Jersey” barriers. The majority of protesters were peaceful but there were outliers.
A small group of no more than 20 began rocking the fence. After gaining momentum and swaying the fence, federal officers announced that interference with the fence would prompt crowd control measures, including force.
The group persisted, and true to their word, federal officers began shooting tear gas, pepper balls, and flash bangs. The group rocking the fence dispersed but the peaceful protesters had formed a line, using umbrellas as cover. They also had people with leaf blowers, clearing the air.
The leaf blowers are so successful that I recorded an officer with a leaf blower using it in the same fashion.
There were glaring gaps between all these: the federal building and officers, the officers and the fence, as well as between the fence and protesters. The problem with tear gas and pepper is that it is indiscriminate. It affects bad actors and peaceful protectors alike, lumping everyone on the side of criminal activity.
I moved between the front line and areas that were clear of gas because I was affected. Some rounds affected me more than others. After being subjected to crowd control measures for being in the same vicinity, I was disoriented. The gas affects your skin, eyes, and breathing. The best way to describe it is that it is disorienting.
Blinking tears out, heavy breathing in a mask, and irritated skin makes dispersing especially hard. Tens of people moved with their heads down, one arm out, coughing, trying to feel their way to safety. As the people at the front moved back, people from the back moved up. This went on until about midnight.
The Federal Protection Service eventually declared an unlawful assembly and dispersed the crowd even further. At this point most people left the area. There were still hundreds of people but not nearly the thousands had been there moments earlier.
The discretion of the officers changed after they declared the assembly unlawful for the three blocks surrounding the federal building, despite the protest only taking place immediately in front of the federal building.
They began to shoot pepper and tear gas at people for seemingly no reason. The people they targeted were not on federal property, and many from what I observed, were just standing, kneeling, shouting, and speaking.
The holdovers from this dispersal moved to the street intersection near the federal building. They created a phalanx with makeshift shields and umbrellas. Behind the phalanx, they started a small bonfire in the street, using pallets and rubbish. They were also blowing bubbles, and had a dancing drum circle.
As the tension eased, I felt the night was coming to an end, and I got ready to leave the scene. I was three blocks away from the federal building and I heard people shouting. “They’re coming, they’re coming,” they shouted as they ran.
I ran back to the federal building and got back there right after federal officers came out of the fenced area and dispersed the people having a bonfire in the street. What I saw next made me feel I was in a war zone. Multiple lines of federal officers cleared the streets using tear gas and flash bangs. The gas was so thick, I could not go back the way I came.
I circled back to get in front of the gas. With most people dispersed, and finding myself alone, I made my way back to my car. There was a large federal presence on the city blocks. They were lined up in a standoff with a few protesters. And, then they turned around, apparently to go in for the night.
Fireworks were sporadically tossed over the fence at federal officers, but officers did not appear to be targeting those who threw them.
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https://nypost.com/2020/07/26/portland-protest-declared-a-riot-sunday-as-federal-building-is-breached/
It’s not a peaceful protest.
Actually as my reporter documented it was a peaceful protest until the police came in with tear gas and broke it up. And that’s part of the problem. The Portland protests were dying down until federal action came in and injected new engery and now anger into them. How do you determine what is and what is not peaceful when there are so many moving parts and each action creates a new outcome? And you’re trying to do it through the lens of very biased right wing sources.
I guess you missed the part where “Throughout the night some people in this crowd spent their time shaking the fence around the building, throwing rocks, bottles, and assorted debris over the fence, shining lasers through the fence, firing explosive fireworks into the area blocked by the fence, and using power tools to try to cut through the fence”
That sounds so peaceful.
That wasn’t our account
Our account was: “A small group of no more than 20 began rocking the fence.”
So they violently cleared out the entire crowd based on the actions of a very small number of people.
It only took a few bad cops to cause destruction in many of our cities.
So you admit that it’s only a few protesters
So you admit that it’s only a few cops
My comeback will be in today’s column
Keith
An estimated 3,000 people gather and 20 of them choose to rattle a fence. Let’s use the terminology used frequently favored by those on the right to justify repeated killings of blacks by the police. Sure sounds like “a few bad apples” to me.
The same George Floyd who put a gun to the stomach of a pregnant mother and his fellow assailants pistol whipped her while Floyd robbed her house. Did the Portland mamas hear her screams?
I don’t think anyone has asserted he was ‘a choir boy’… but for police in the street, to detain, subdue, charge, try, convict, and execute him in a matter of less than 15 minutes? Really?
False equivalence, but it makes a good excuse for those looking to deny unconscionable state action.
[Responding to Keith’s post, not Bill’s.]
And it’s not unconscionable to do what Floyd and his fellow thugs did to the pregnant mother? Are you going to deny that? It just strikes me as so hypocritical for a group calling themselves the Wall of Moms to put Floyd on a pedestal after what he did to that mom.
https://www.mbs.news/en/2020/06/george-floyd-was-a-brutal-marauder-who-put-a-gun-to-a-pregnant-womans-belly-to-documents.html
Keith
No one, literally no one has justified or defended those actions. And you are doing nothing but deflecting from the obvious issue at hand. The egregious taking of black lives by the police. Can you not for one-second address the core issue here? You know, the issue without which none of this would be happening.
WoM, Wall of Mothers, is out cheering for a man who put a gun to a mother’s pregnant belly, so so hypocritical:
What a hero, especially to a group called the Wall of Mothers.
More accurate term: cause celebre
BTW, I looked it up and Floyd never put a gun to a pregnant woman, the person he robbed back in 2007 was not pregnant. I would appreciate you not posting fake news on here.
George Floyd was sentenced to five years in prison for his involvement in an armed robbery in 2007.
The woman robbed, Aracely Henriquez, was injured by another man, and there’s no evidence she was pregnant at the time of the incident.
Your source please? Links?
Probable cause report (link) says that the victim and a toddler were home at the time of the incident, floyd was one of several people who forced their way into the home. He did threaten her with a gun. She was not pregnant. (Link)
She was injured, but her injuries were inflicted by another man, not Floyd. (Link).
Alright, I’ve done some more research, no one can say for sure if she was pregnant or not. Some reports say she was, others say not. But Floyd did put a gun to Aracely Henriquez’s abdomen and she was beaten by another assailant as I have posted. There, so Floyd put a gun to a mother’s abdomen and the WoM cheer for him?
Appreciate that. What I would say however is that the incident occurred a long time ago and had nothing to do with why he died. He didn’t deserve to die for what happened in Minneapolis on May 25. And more importantly he’s become a symbol of policing that is unconstitutional.
Keith
Ok, so you don’t like that emotive description. I bet Breonna Taylor, Stephon Clark, Philando Castile, and Tamir Rice would have cried out too. Oh never, mind about Tamir Rice. He probably had no time to cry out anything.
And none of them had done anything wrong at all.
But you know…a few bad apples.
How about the three cops who were possibly blinded by the lasers used by the Portland rioters, do you think they might be crying out too?
Didn’t happen on Friday
So it still happened. What’s your point?
No one is denying anything… he confessed to those crimes, and in 2009 was sent to prison for 5 years… the crime you refer to is ~ 13 years ‘old’.
Seems to me that these protests are becoming a proxy protest, for those who really don’t like Trump.
That’s really not true.
According to your articles, the Floyd protests were dying down until Trump sent in these agents.
Regardless of what one thinks of all of this, local (Democratic) officials helped frame it that way, as well. (Essentially, a rejection of Trump.)
I’m pretty sure that my comment above is true, to some degree. Seems like the following two comments support that theory.
“I’m pretty sure that my comment above is true, to some degree. ”
Based on what? I think if you better understood the left movement, you wouldn’t make these comments. There is a clear cleavage between the progressive left and the mainstream left.
Based upon what I’ve already noted – including the comments which immediately followed mine (below).
It was an observation and theory, not an “argument”.
It’s actually not an observation. You are observing behavior in Davis on this site not observing behavior in Portland on the ground there. You may have attempted to infer, but you failed to consider a number of factors that make that inference problematic.
Using that definition, you are also not “observing” what’s occurring in Portland.
Here’s a video showing what objects were thrown at the officers last night.
Peaceful my …….
https://www.nbc29.com/2020/07/26/portland-protesters-breach-fence-police-declare-riot/
Ron
They may indeed have become that. But that is entirely of his own making. It was he who chose to call for domination rather than reconciliation. It was he who chose to clear an entirely peaceful march outside the WH for his photo op. It was he who chose to send in unnamed agents neither requested nor wanted by the local authorities or the people ostensibly to protect a building which despite graffiti, broken windows and doors had stood for 50+ days of protest.
And a few days ago the rioters tried to blockade the doors of the court house with officers inside and start the building on fire. Attempted murder.
Keith
I would love to see your evidence that the protesters and the rioters are the same people, or in any way related. Since no one is identified by name, how do we know, for fact, this was not staged by the feds themselves.
I am not saying it was. I am saying we do not know who the assailants were. But some of us are very willing to leap to conclusions based on our own political preference.
Puh-lease….
If we go by that reasoning maybe the rioters staged the officers driving back the protesters.
See how far fetched that sounds?
But the fact is we don’t know who did what, you’re inferring all actions to the protesters.
Yeah, and maybe the blinded officers shined the lasers in their own eyes too. SMH
It doesn’t take ridiculous conspiracies to recognize the possibility that there is a smaller group of people wanting to take advantage of the moment to do acts of mischief or worse and that they likely have nothing to do with and share no goals with the bulk of the protesters. That’s not a far-fetched notion at all and in fact likely.
The fact is we are flying blind on this. But understand there is a difference between someone like Tia, someone like the other organizers, and someone who sees this as an opportunity to throw rocks at the cop. Why is that difficult for you to comprehend?
I doubt that Keith has difficulty comprehending this.
But, it’s also likely that those “throwing rocks” (or engaging in other “mischief”, as you put it) aren’t Trump supporters in this case – don’t you think?
The ones throwing rocks are probably not motivated by politics.
I strongly disagree with that conclusion, regarding those engaging in “mischief” – as you put it.
Maybe ask your reporter to interview them, assuming that some might be willing to participate.
It’s like the people who go to the music festival to get drunk and start a fight. They really weren’t there for the music. When you have a large crowd, there are people who are going to be there wanting to take advantage of the situation.
I think you are grossly miscalculating the motives of those who engage in violence and destruction at protests.
This is no music festival.
How many have you been to? How many people do you personally know and have talked to who have been to a protest that has gotten out of control?
Protests, or music festivals?
Either way, the question is irrelevant.
You miss the point – you have no basis for your opinion because you have neither been to a protest nor know anyone who has been to one out of control and therefore have no insight into who is and is not causing the problem. I’ve talked to a lot of organizers and most don’t want people doing this kind of stuff since it causes them problems and hurts the cause. But you guys never seem to get the fact that most of people who organize this stuff are quite smart and politically savvy. The worst thing that can happen is someone throw a rock at a cop. That’s why MLK used to train people so hard for turning the other cheek, one slip up and the movement goes poof.
I guess the conservatives have forgotten about the extremists who latched on to the ‘reopen’ protests.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/white-supremacist-extremists-reopen-rallies-black-lives-matter-protests-20200613.html
Remember this?
So do those extremists who acted out at the ‘reopen protests’ reflect the views of all the protest participants?
I always laugh when David says this, and he often does.
David, you miss the point. You seem to think that only your points count. Guess what, you don’t know it all even though you seem to think so.
You have no idea whether I have, or haven’t.
This is the second time (today, alone) in which you’re claiming knowledge and judgement from “afar”, while suggesting that others cannot do so. The effort to do so is politically-motivated in the first place.
Go interview the people who are engaging in violence, if you want to know “why”.
You’re not going to be able to completely “divorce” those who choose to participate in violence, from those who don’t.
That’s also irrelevant.
Who is “you guys”?
You’re implying that this type of thing is “organized” in the first place.
That is absolutely NOT the worst thing that can happen. And, that’s been demonstrated over-and-over again.
This is very different than the protests that MLK led, including the basic/underlying message.
I think you lack appreciation for the fact that you would not agree with MLK on policies or tactics. He in fact was a disruptor.
Actually, this is the correct/intended order of the sentences above:
You’re not going to be able to completely “divorce” those who choose to participate in violence, from those who don’t.
The effort to do so is politically-motivated in the first place.
You’re not doing too well today, regarding what I might “agree” or “disagree” with.
“Disruption” is quite different from what we’re seeing occur repeatedly, these days.
You actually had one commenter on here recently, who stated that she viewed looting as a form of protest. (At least she was seemingly honest about her views.)
You really think things are that much different from the south in the 1950s or 1960s? This is like kids stuff. But the civil rights movement was most effective when it had a Bull Connor or Jim Clark to play the bad guy. Trump and Wolf are doing nice stand ins. The Civil Rights movement was severely criticized for putting kids into Birmingham to confront Connor – but it worked. Meet the Moms.
I don’t recall MLK commandeering entire neighborhoods for extended periods of time, shutting down freeways night-after-night, smashing windows, burning buildings down, attacking police, or walking off with a looted TV in his hands.
Then again (like “you”) – I wasn’t there to “witness it” first hand.
“shutting down freeways ”
I’m sure the vehicles traveling from Montgomery to Selma have a different recollection.
The 1963 campaign in Birmingham sought to overflow the jails, cripple the downtown, and stop city functions. They understood that injustice would not be changed without disrupting civic and commercial life. They literally ground the city to a halt.
In April 1963, Martin Luther King along with 47 other demonstrators were arrested for kneeling down in prayer across the from the Birmingham City Hall.
Yes that’s where the practice originated.
In response, local ministers wrote, “We recognize the natural impatience of people who feel that their hopes are slow in being realized. But we are convinced that these demonstrations are unwise and untimely.”
It was out of this arrest that originated the now classic, “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” where King responded, “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront an issue.”
I don’t believe he set up “occupancy” on freeways.
By the way, did you see that incident (about a month ago) in Seattle, where a guy (who happened to be black) mowed down two protesters at high speed, on a closed freeway? Killing one person.
And yet, it was apparently not even purposeful, from what I gathered. Betcha if that guy was white, a different conclusion would have arisen.
Didn’t you say earlier that nothing bad could happen, other than “throwing rocks” at police? (As if that isn’t bad enough, on its own.)
“I don’t believe he set up “occupancy” on freeways.”
I believe you are distinguishing tactics. And that is a distinction without a difference. The protesters blocked freeways. He disrupted communities. If you want to say they technically didn’t “occupy” them they only marched on them, fine. Perhaps correct. But what does that difference really mean? I think Occupying came into play later during Vietnam protests when buildings were occupied on college campuses. The park was occupied in Berkeley, etc. Is this really the point you’re hanging your argument on?
If you haven’t seen that video, I’d suggest you watch it. It is beyond shocking.
You’re barking up the wrong tree, in your arguments with me. I don’t like seeing anyone get hurt or killed.
People got hurt and killed in the 1960s INCLUDING King. He knew it was the price to be paid to make a change.
At this point, I don’t think you’re even reading my comments, before responding.
Seems like you’re more interested in arguing.
Disruption is not the same thing as destruction and violence.
MLK didn’t “kill himself”, or engage in violence. The latter being the key to his widespread support (and in the face of rampant discrimination in the south, Jim Crow laws, etc.).
In Portland (and other places), black-owned businesses are being destroyed. These are pretty much white protesters.
By the way, the two protesters in Seattle who were mowed down (by someone who happened to be black) were apparently “white”, though I’m not sure how they identified their gender.
Oh, the sad irony.
Watch that video, and tell me what good is coming out of that. Do you think those two will be remembered in the same way that MLK is?
I honestly think you’re pretty confused regarding your comparisons (and apparent support for what is occurring). But, you’re clearly not alone.
And again, these protests (at this point) are clearly more about Trump (and the deploying of “his” agents), than they are about George Floyd.
Though it’s also pretty clear that those who oppose Trump are usually the same ones who are the most concerned about the George Floyd incident, as well.
But concern about the George Floyd incident crosses party lines. Hell, even Trump denounced it, from what I recall. I don’t remember anyone, anywhere defending it.
Yes Trump did denounce what happened to Floyd. I asked David for examples of things Trump has said or done that makes him a racist towards blacks. David couldn’t come up with anything except the old tired “there were good people on both sides” which was twisted and spun as to what Trump actually meant. David said it didn’t matter because the perception is that Trump is racist towards blacks, not that any proof is needed.
Keith: I would have to say that for whatever reason(s), Trump seems to go out of his way to create division.
Not the kind of leader I’d like to see. I think he’s harmful.
Tried to add:
The division that Trump creates does not always correspond with skin color, though.
Seems to me that he can “turn on a dime” regarding his support (and even friendship), vs. scathing criticism of someone. I’ve never seen anything like it at this level of governance.
He seems like the kind of guy that you don’t want to criticize, publicly (if one wants to maintain any kind of positive relationship). In my opinion, that is probably a lot more important to him, than skin color.
(Excuse me, but i think the secret service might suddenly be knocking on my door.) 😉
I’ve said this before, Trump says and tweets some things that I wish he hadn’t and I wish we had better candidates than Trump, Hillary and Biden. But one thing you can say for Trump, he doesn’t kowtow to the left and that alone gets my vote.