1 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: At around ten thirty pm on May nine, a crowd 2 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:17,520 Speaker 1: of more than a thousand people gathered in North Portland's 3 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:21,600 Speaker 1: Peninsula Park and marched downtown to the Justice Center, headquarters 4 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: of the Portland Police Bureau. The direct inspirations for the 5 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: march were the murders of George Floyd and Brianna Taylor. 6 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:30,920 Speaker 1: Many in attendance also had a strong desire to express 7 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:35,160 Speaker 1: solidarity with protesters in Minneapolis. That's what brought Chris Wise, 8 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 1: volunteer protest medic out into the streets that first night. 9 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:44,279 Speaker 1: Initially I came out because as an African American, you know, 10 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: it was that that straw that broke the camel's back 11 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 1: on just like one death too many. We are murdered 12 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: by police and other law enforcement agencies at a rate 13 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:04,440 Speaker 1: of three to one when compared to the average white American. 14 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: And those numbers get a little funky because you know, 15 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:11,400 Speaker 1: obviously more white people die a year than black people 16 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: in police related shootings, but there are also you know, 17 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:21,800 Speaker 1: six times as many white people, uh then black people. Tristan, 18 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: another Black Portlander, didn't go out that night, but he 19 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 1: watched everything that happened on the live streams honestly, like 20 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:34,680 Speaker 1: my my first um impression was that it probably wasn't 21 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: going to be much, you know what I mean. I 22 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: didn't expect it to blow up the way it did. 23 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: I kind of felt like because I've I've seen it 24 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:45,560 Speaker 1: happen in the past, where you know, there's will be 25 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: some kind of like something happening like nationwide or another 26 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: city in Portland will kind of like you know, show 27 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 1: up and solidarity for it, and it might become something, 28 00:01:56,800 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: but usually it's kind of like a one off. So 29 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:01,360 Speaker 1: that's kind of what I was expecting, and so I 30 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,640 Speaker 1: was pretty surprised to see like how quickly grew and 31 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:08,760 Speaker 1: then also how like how the police were responding like 32 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: and like a very tear guys kind of way. Mariah 33 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: is a photojournalist and a lifestyle photographer. She was out 34 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 1: at Peninsula Park for the very start of the march 35 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:23,959 Speaker 1: was the beginning to you know, something that not a 36 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:25,440 Speaker 1: lot of us knew we were going to get into, 37 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:28,640 Speaker 1: you know, but gosh, I remember being at Peninsula Park 38 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:32,640 Speaker 1: and it was really great to see everyone there, and like, 39 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:35,960 Speaker 1: it just reminds me of some I hate that it's 40 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:38,280 Speaker 1: like a routine thing for us because it's you know, 41 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: why we're still fighting. And while we've been fighting so strong, 42 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:43,400 Speaker 1: but you know, when someone gets killed by you know, 43 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 1: via police brutality, everyone meets up. You know, maybe we 44 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,359 Speaker 1: protest for a few days and like you know, quote unquote, 45 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:50,080 Speaker 1: we go back to like normal life. But you know, 46 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 1: we already haven't been a normal life since it's been 47 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:55,239 Speaker 1: a pandemic this whole freaking year. But it was really 48 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 1: beautiful to see all the people and all the signs 49 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,640 Speaker 1: and the speeches. The side walks bordering Peninsula Park were 50 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:05,240 Speaker 1: filled with different slogans and exhortations written in chalk. One 51 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:09,079 Speaker 1: of the most striking statements was make the moment count. 52 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 1: As it turned out, the city of Portland took that 53 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:15,919 Speaker 1: to heart. The crowd at Peninsula Park marched nearly five 54 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 1: miles to downtown Portland. There they merged with a crowd 55 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: that had gathered around the Justice Center. The moment both 56 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,360 Speaker 1: groups met was powerful. You could taste the energy in 57 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: the air. Portland's Black Lives Matter protests had actually started 58 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:38,839 Speaker 1: several days earlier before that mass gathering. On the twenty nine, 59 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 1: a handful of activists of color had begun occupying the 60 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: steps of the Justice Center immediately after George Floyd's murder. 61 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 1: One of them was Tracy Molina, an Indigenous portland Er 62 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: better known as Colsca. Well. I remember it wasn't not 63 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 1: long after the George Floyd's story broke. A lot of 64 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: us wanted to do something here, but I think most 65 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 1: of the regular organizers kept saying wait, you know, let's wait, 66 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 1: let's wait for this, let's wait for that. And then finally, um, 67 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: then Danielle James, I think she's a pretty prominent black 68 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:18,359 Speaker 1: activist in this community and stood up against Patriot Prayer 69 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:22,200 Speaker 1: and Proud Boys and other white supremacist for years. Um, 70 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:24,719 Speaker 1: it was kind of the spark for that. You know. 71 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:28,760 Speaker 1: She was said like, we shouldn't wait in the night, supporter, 72 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:30,160 Speaker 1: I said, I don't think we should wait either. I 73 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:32,279 Speaker 1: think we should do something now. And so we ended 74 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 1: up the seven ten thirty all meeting at I and 75 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:42,440 Speaker 1: starting to protest there, and then we moved. Um, sometime 76 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:45,240 Speaker 1: after midnight, we moved over to the Justice Center and 77 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:48,839 Speaker 1: slept on the steps there and planned to to occupy 78 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:51,800 Speaker 1: it as long as we could. And so we stayed 79 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:57,360 Speaker 1: there and then um, there was only maybe like four 80 00:04:57,440 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: of us that slept on the steps, and then then 81 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,200 Speaker 1: next day, like at ice, we had about thirty or 82 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,440 Speaker 1: forty people. And then the next day after we stayed 83 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:07,559 Speaker 1: on those steps, I would say there was about forty 84 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:09,599 Speaker 1: or fifty people that showed up in the afternoon and 85 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 1: they did a direct action or we blocked off the 86 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:15,239 Speaker 1: streets in front of the steps of the Justice Center, 87 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:18,719 Speaker 1: and I think they did it also did it die. 88 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: And that night there was also impromptu direct action or 89 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: some people, some young women sat on sat in the 90 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:31,679 Speaker 1: doorway of the Justice Center and they brought riot police 91 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:33,480 Speaker 1: out for that. And there was at that time there 92 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: was only about twenty of us and only like six 93 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:40,920 Speaker 1: people participating in the sit in, but they still brought 94 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:45,200 Speaker 1: riot police out and they were violently removed. That made 95 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: the news because one of the women, one of the 96 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:50,719 Speaker 1: women that was hit with a baton, was she was 97 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: actually pregnant, a black woman. And the only way us 98 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:55,720 Speaker 1: the why I know that for sure is because after 99 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: she was in the ambulance, she came I don't know 100 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:00,080 Speaker 1: if she went to the hospital, but after she was 101 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,880 Speaker 1: in the ambulans, she returned paperwork from the as proving 102 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:07,159 Speaker 1: that she was pregnant. And was, you know, showing some 103 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 1: of the police officers that were still standing around. But yeah, 104 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:16,240 Speaker 1: that's how the first few days went. And then um, 105 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:19,680 Speaker 1: then we we all, um, we're going to have a 106 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:24,800 Speaker 1: rally at um and Insula Park. And then I agreed 107 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 1: to do part of the opening. And when I was there, 108 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:31,640 Speaker 1: more and more people kept coming, and I was surprised 109 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 1: at there are so many. I don't know, maybe a 110 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: thousand people that there was a lot, there was a 111 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 1: lot of people there. Was surprised, and it just kept 112 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:42,480 Speaker 1: getting bigger and bigger. The now merged crowd, which numbered 113 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 1: at least a couple of thousand people, marched back to 114 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:48,039 Speaker 1: the Justice Center. For a few minutes, they stood outside 115 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:52,119 Speaker 1: chanting George Floyd's name. The police were nowhere to be seen. 116 00:06:55,279 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 1: While most of the crowd stood out in the street, 117 00:06:57,360 --> 00:06:59,440 Speaker 1: a hundred or so people gathered in front of the 118 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: windows of the Justice Center. They started spray painting slogans 119 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 1: on the glass. A few people peered on the doorway, 120 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:08,800 Speaker 1: someone lit a small fire out in front, and then 121 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: quite suddenly, one person broke a window. The first broken 122 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: windows set off a frenzy, and soon people were using 123 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:22,440 Speaker 1: their feet, rocks and any tools they could find to 124 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,800 Speaker 1: shatter every exposed piece of glass on the building. With 125 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: the windows shattered, protesters ran into the Justice Center, ransacking 126 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:33,760 Speaker 1: police offices and setting small fires. The Portland police arrived 127 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:36,480 Speaker 1: a little bit later and began showering the crowd with 128 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:42,640 Speaker 1: tear gas and flash band grenades. Though no one knew 129 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 1: it at the time, events had just been set into 130 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:47,440 Speaker 1: motion that would lead to more than a hundred consecutive 131 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:51,760 Speaker 1: nights of protests and tear gas. The Portland Uprising had begun. 132 00:07:52,000 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 1: We should probably start by talking a bit about the 133 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: definition of a riot. Legally, anything the cops declare a 134 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 1: riot is a riot. May nine is generally referred to 135 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:13,480 Speaker 1: as riot night, because after the crowd was dispersed from 136 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:16,040 Speaker 1: the Justice Center, hundreds of people ran through the streets 137 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 1: of Portland's luxury shopping district, smashing up high end chain 138 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:23,239 Speaker 1: stores while the police chased after them. It certainly felt 139 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:25,000 Speaker 1: like a riot, but a number of the folks that 140 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:28,720 Speaker 1: we interviewed actually disagreed. Alan Kessler, a Portland based lawyer, 141 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:33,199 Speaker 1: pushed back on that description. I guess I disagree that 142 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:37,000 Speaker 1: even the first night was a real riot. I mean, 143 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:41,959 Speaker 1: there were some shops goot burg Old, there were there 144 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: were something stolen. Um, there was a fire in the 145 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:53,880 Speaker 1: in the j c. Um, I'm not sure that that. 146 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 1: I don't. I don't know the intent there right, like 147 00:08:57,480 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: looking at the fire, looking at the Piddale fire as 148 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:02,280 Speaker 1: I've seen, I don't know if anybody means to burn 149 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:06,840 Speaker 1: the buildings down or to y. Yeah, I don't know. Uh, 150 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:10,200 Speaker 1: it didn't seem like it. It doesn't seem it. If 151 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:11,920 Speaker 1: I were going to burn down the building, I would 152 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:14,120 Speaker 1: use a hell of a lot more accelerant. Then it 153 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:19,400 Speaker 1: seems like people are using. Um, I don't know. Uh. 154 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:23,679 Speaker 1: I was struck by even on even on that night, 155 00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 1: I was struck by uh, excuse me, Oh yeah, that 156 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:40,640 Speaker 1: was a lot more context. Yeah, please don't. Alvin Kessler says, 157 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:48,800 Speaker 1: I'm trusting you all the freedoms in your hands straight 158 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:54,959 Speaker 1: to Andy. So Um. Now, even that night, I was 159 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:58,640 Speaker 1: struck by Commissioner Fritz U, who I have absolutely no 160 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:03,959 Speaker 1: love for, h who seemed just horrified that that goocy 161 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:10,319 Speaker 1: got robbed. And uh, and I didn't seem able to 162 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:14,120 Speaker 1: put that in any kind of context. Um, Yeah, I don't, 163 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:16,400 Speaker 1: I don't. I didn't. I didn't see that as a riot. 164 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:20,680 Speaker 1: I didn't think that people, uh I wanted to just 165 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:22,880 Speaker 1: break shit. I think even then it was it was 166 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:26,760 Speaker 1: still it's political. It was it was a protest and 167 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:30,360 Speaker 1: it you know, I wouldn't recommend that people break stuff, 168 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:32,680 Speaker 1: for steal stuff, for set stuff on fire. But I 169 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:35,560 Speaker 1: understood the upset and I yeah, I just didn't see 170 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:39,960 Speaker 1: in those terms. Um, And it didn't seem like I 171 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:44,840 Speaker 1: don't remember that anybody died. I'm sure somebody was hurt, 172 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: but I don't remember that it was particularly severe that evening, 173 00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:51,959 Speaker 1: Like I don't. I don't remember that as a as 174 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:53,959 Speaker 1: a violent knight. I remember it as a night of 175 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:59,199 Speaker 1: property damage. Yeah. Yeah. And I wasn't making a legal distinct. 176 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:01,559 Speaker 1: There was more of a oral argument, like I think 177 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:05,400 Speaker 1: people put a moral import behind riot and it I 178 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:07,440 Speaker 1: don't think it was that. I don't think it was 179 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:11,080 Speaker 1: I don't think it was a breakdown in civilization. I 180 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:18,360 Speaker 1: think it was a uh, extremely heartfelt uh frustration with 181 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:23,640 Speaker 1: a system that wasn't meeting people's needs. Max Smith, a 182 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:27,199 Speaker 1: Portland based activist in live streamer, called it a riot 183 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:30,000 Speaker 1: light I called like a riot light that night. I 184 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:31,920 Speaker 1: think I was like that seems like a little kind 185 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 1: of a riot light. They broke a couple of windows, 186 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:36,320 Speaker 1: you know, they sacked the Apple Store. Of course, you know, 187 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:39,480 Speaker 1: some opera students are gonna, you know, take that opportunity 188 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:41,560 Speaker 1: if something is, if things are getting broken, someone's gonna 189 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:44,040 Speaker 1: rob the Apple store. It's it's it's dumb because you're 190 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:46,600 Speaker 1: gonna get caught, but go ahead and rob the Apple store. 191 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:48,880 Speaker 1: But you know, that's kind of what I thought of it, Like, 192 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:52,800 Speaker 1: some stuff is gonna get broken. That's what happened. And 193 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:55,080 Speaker 1: I actually thought the police, you know, I thought that, 194 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:57,720 Speaker 1: and actually thought there was going to be some change, 195 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:01,000 Speaker 1: which we saw a couple of things, like they started 196 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:03,679 Speaker 1: talking about, you know, canceling the the d v R 197 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:05,640 Speaker 1: T and the cops in schools and things like that, 198 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:09,600 Speaker 1: and uh and since then, it's it's it's been fairly tame, 199 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:11,280 Speaker 1: and we haven't seen a whole lot of progress, So 200 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,280 Speaker 1: you know, I felt like it worked a little bit. 201 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:18,240 Speaker 1: The point Mac made is one that a lot of 202 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:21,680 Speaker 1: activists would agree with property damage, they argue is not 203 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:24,839 Speaker 1: nearly in the same moral realm as injuring or killing 204 00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:28,200 Speaker 1: human beings. Mac himself was not out on the twenty nine, 205 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:31,360 Speaker 1: but he was most directly inspired to start protesting because 206 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:34,079 Speaker 1: of something else that happened that day, hundreds of miles 207 00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:37,600 Speaker 1: south of Portland in San Jose, California, there was a 208 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:42,440 Speaker 1: guy named Derek Sanderland in San Jose and he was 209 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:46,960 Speaker 1: protesting for you know, he was prochasing against the murder 210 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:53,200 Speaker 1: of George Floyd in solidarity with Minneapolis. And I remember 211 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:55,960 Speaker 1: waking up and getting on my phone and kind of 212 00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:01,600 Speaker 1: just flicking through things and seeing that this man had 213 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:06,720 Speaker 1: been shot in the testicles with a rubber bullet and 214 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:11,160 Speaker 1: it like required like emergency surgery and he's probably never 215 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:13,800 Speaker 1: gonna have kids. And I'm looking at this dude and 216 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 1: he's like twenties seven years old. He's like a black dude. 217 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:20,920 Speaker 1: He's got dreads, he wears glasses, he's got a scrappys 218 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:23,560 Speaker 1: beard like mine, you know. And I'm looking at this 219 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:26,280 Speaker 1: guy like, man, that could have been me. And then 220 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:28,920 Speaker 1: I keep reading and he was like he was like 221 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:35,080 Speaker 1: a teacher. He taught the police about like not targeting 222 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:38,240 Speaker 1: people or whatever, like you know, de escalation tactics or whatever. 223 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:41,840 Speaker 1: And I'm like, you're telling me they shot a dude 224 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:47,080 Speaker 1: that that trains them, Like this has got to be 225 00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:49,200 Speaker 1: one of the craziest things I've ever heard in my life. 226 00:13:49,679 --> 00:13:52,160 Speaker 1: And he could have died from this, you know, And 227 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:54,120 Speaker 1: that just made me so mad. And I was like, 228 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:57,800 Speaker 1: it's even if it wasn't you know, it wasn't me. 229 00:13:58,000 --> 00:13:59,640 Speaker 1: It could have been me if I would have been 230 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 1: out there, And so I was just like, that's insane, 231 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:05,800 Speaker 1: Like this should not be a thing at all. This 232 00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:10,079 Speaker 1: shouldn't this just this, this can't be realized. Many protesters 233 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:13,319 Speaker 1: and some journalists will argue that most of the riots 234 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:16,720 Speaker 1: Portlands saw this summer, we're not cases of protesters rioting, 235 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:20,880 Speaker 1: but we're instead cop riots. After all, if people breaking 236 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 1: windows and looting an Apple store is a riot, then 237 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:26,520 Speaker 1: police driving into crowds, throwing grenades at random, and tear 238 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:31,200 Speaker 1: gassing hundreds of innocent motorists probably counts as a riot too, right. 239 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:55,320 Speaker 1: Riot we Broke was not the first night of Portland's 240 00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:57,320 Speaker 1: bill and protests, but it was the night that set 241 00:14:57,320 --> 00:14:59,840 Speaker 1: the tone for the next hundred plus nights. There was 242 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:03,320 Speaker 1: tear gas, flash bangs, armored cops fighting demonstrators who were 243 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:06,640 Speaker 1: armed with in the beginning, cardboard signs and water bottles. 244 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:08,880 Speaker 1: Now we're going to cover a lot of ground in 245 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:11,800 Speaker 1: this series, and it's probably best to kick this off 246 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:15,000 Speaker 1: by giving everyone an overview of what exactly happened in 247 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:18,080 Speaker 1: Portland from late May to the end of September, because 248 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:21,920 Speaker 1: the mainstream media only really showed a portion of this story. 249 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:23,840 Speaker 1: Late on the night of the twenty nine, the people 250 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: of Portland learned that their mayor, Ted Wheeler had actually 251 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:29,760 Speaker 1: been out of town visiting his mother. His first response 252 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:32,160 Speaker 1: to what had happened was a tweet that started with 253 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:34,920 Speaker 1: the word enough in all caps and ended with a 254 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:38,200 Speaker 1: promise that he was coming back now. Now was also 255 00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:41,680 Speaker 1: in all caps. City Commissioner joe Anne Hardesty, who was 256 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:44,360 Speaker 1: acting president in the mayor's absence, declared a state of 257 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:48,440 Speaker 1: emergency and enacted a curfew from eight pm until six am. 258 00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:50,840 Speaker 1: At this point, Portland was in the same boat as 259 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:54,120 Speaker 1: many other American cities, including New York and Los Angeles. 260 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:57,200 Speaker 1: In Portland, the curfew was not enough to clamp down 261 00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:00,760 Speaker 1: on unrest, quite the opposite. In fact, local activists like 262 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:04,280 Speaker 1: d s A member Olivia Cutty Smith were inspired. I 263 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:07,000 Speaker 1: just thought that it was it was not like anything 264 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:09,320 Speaker 1: I've ever seen before. I've never seen that level of 265 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:15,280 Speaker 1: um destruction happened at a protest before. It was exciting. 266 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:18,760 Speaker 1: I was like, we're going to start. This is huge, 267 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:20,520 Speaker 1: this is going to take off all across the country. 268 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:23,560 Speaker 1: It's happening in Portland, it's having in Minneapolis, like this 269 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:28,240 Speaker 1: is the start of a revolution, um, you know, and 270 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:30,720 Speaker 1: even knowing that that might not be true, that that's 271 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:33,520 Speaker 1: the feeling that I had. That night, several thousand people 272 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 1: gathered again and one nearly ten thousand Portlanders marched to 273 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 1: the Justice Center. We actually sort of organized the protest 274 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:46,560 Speaker 1: behind the scenes um and got like ten thousand people 275 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:52,080 Speaker 1: across the bridge, which was offer um. And yeah, it 276 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:56,680 Speaker 1: was just it felt like the sky was a limit 277 00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:59,360 Speaker 1: at that point, like I can't believe there are ten 278 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:01,920 Speaker 1: thousand pep while showing up every single night like this 279 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:05,359 Speaker 1: does never happened before. We have to turn us into something. 280 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:09,200 Speaker 1: Both times, police eventually dispersed the crowd with indiscriminate tear 281 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:12,760 Speaker 1: gas use and liberal clubbing with truncheons. Thousands of protesters 282 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:15,439 Speaker 1: were gassed, but so were hundreds of motorists who happened 283 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:18,160 Speaker 1: to be out on city streets and dozens of houseless 284 00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:21,199 Speaker 1: individuals who were gassed in their tents for no apparent reason. 285 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:26,080 Speaker 1: The curfew was rescinded in early June. It clearly hadn't helped. Next, 286 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:29,120 Speaker 1: the city began to build what would become a massive 287 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:32,639 Speaker 1: fence around the Justice Center. The protest movement started to 288 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:35,879 Speaker 1: splinter between a large group of demonstrators who engaged in 289 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:39,320 Speaker 1: daily marches that avoided police contact, and a smaller group 290 00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:43,280 Speaker 1: who repeatedly confronted police at the fence. At first, Portland 291 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:45,760 Speaker 1: police would gas and grenade any group of people that 292 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:48,040 Speaker 1: drew close to the fence, along with any motorists who 293 00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:51,439 Speaker 1: happened to be driving nearby. Protesters started calling at the 294 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:54,359 Speaker 1: sacred fence because law enforcements seemed to value it more 295 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:57,600 Speaker 1: than the physical well being of Portlander's The first fence 296 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:01,320 Speaker 1: war between protesters and police lasted host of June. There 297 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:04,159 Speaker 1: were occasional protests at other police buildings like the p 298 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:07,239 Speaker 1: p A, headquarters of the Portland Police Union, and the 299 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:10,760 Speaker 1: North Precinct. Smaller groups of activists also engaged in what 300 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:13,879 Speaker 1: was briefly a nationwide practice of pulling down statues of 301 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:17,800 Speaker 1: famous white supremacists. On June eighteenth, a small number of 302 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:22,199 Speaker 1: mostly teenage Portlanders toppled a statue of George Washington. This 303 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:26,480 Speaker 1: prompted President Trump to create an executive order to protect statues, monuments, 304 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:29,439 Speaker 1: and federal property. He sent dozens of federal agents to 305 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:32,439 Speaker 1: Portland to enforce this new order. The first time the 306 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:35,679 Speaker 1: Feds made a large appearance was on July four. That 307 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: night was a turning point for a number of reasons, 308 00:18:38,359 --> 00:18:41,440 Speaker 1: after weeks of declining numbers. More than a thousand Portlanders 309 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:44,240 Speaker 1: showed up outside the Justice Center to shoot commercial grade 310 00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:46,879 Speaker 1: fireworks at its windows. They fired a few with the 311 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:50,359 Speaker 1: adjacent Federal courthouse as well. The police l rad a 312 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:53,639 Speaker 1: car mounted loudspeaker started warning everyone not to shoot the 313 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:56,600 Speaker 1: court house, so, of course, the entire crowd swarmed around 314 00:18:56,600 --> 00:19:00,399 Speaker 1: the building and continued shooting it with fireworks. Suddenly, wooden 315 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:03,159 Speaker 1: hatches opened up on the front of the fortress like building, 316 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:06,359 Speaker 1: and the Federal Allegiance inside began tossing out tear gas 317 00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:09,520 Speaker 1: grenades and shooting impact munitions into the crowd. For a 318 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:12,199 Speaker 1: few minutes, the scene resembled a cross between an acid 319 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:15,760 Speaker 1: trip in a medieval siege, with protesters bombarding the courthouse 320 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:18,520 Speaker 1: with fireworks while the Feds inside pumped out gas and 321 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:28,680 Speaker 1: riot munitions, Yeah, everybody. Eventually the fight spilled out into 322 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:31,480 Speaker 1: the street, and for several hours, Portland police and Department 323 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:34,480 Speaker 1: of Homeland Security agents engaged in a running battle with 324 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:38,280 Speaker 1: hundreds of protesters. Fireworks provided the activists with their first 325 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:41,240 Speaker 1: weapon that could disrupt a police riot line, while law 326 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:45,439 Speaker 1: enforcement responded by escalating physical violence even further. I was 327 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:48,720 Speaker 1: walking up from the j C Up towards the park blocks, 328 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:51,840 Speaker 1: and there was a person who was essentially having an 329 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:55,360 Speaker 1: asthma attack and a cloud of tear gas, and they 330 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:57,520 Speaker 1: had one buddy with them, and it was just such 331 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:00,800 Speaker 1: an impossible project for that one buddy to sort of 332 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:03,119 Speaker 1: haul them out of tear gas while they're having an 333 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:05,640 Speaker 1: asthma attack and like a panic attack and really having 334 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:09,159 Speaker 1: her off time. Everything got more serious after the fourth 335 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:12,720 Speaker 1: the federal agents started responding to protests downtown more often 336 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:15,879 Speaker 1: than the Portland Police Bureau. A week later, federal agents 337 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:19,199 Speaker 1: almost killed a protester named Donovan Labella by shooting him 338 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:22,639 Speaker 1: in the forehead with a less lethal round. Slowly, the 339 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:26,320 Speaker 1: mainstream media began to realize that something strange and terrifying 340 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:29,720 Speaker 1: was happening in Portland. The national interest was finally peaked 341 00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:32,240 Speaker 1: a few days later when camo clad Feds in a 342 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:36,400 Speaker 1: rental band started kidnapping people off the streets. In early July, 343 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:40,000 Speaker 1: the fourth accepted most nightly protests only numbered a few 344 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:43,600 Speaker 1: dozen to a hundred or so protesters, but national media, 345 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:47,680 Speaker 1: in the specter of federal snatch fans panicked Portland's liberal majority. 346 00:20:48,119 --> 00:20:51,680 Speaker 1: By mid late July, thousands upon thousands of protesters were 347 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:54,880 Speaker 1: showing up in the street every night. The time between 348 00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:58,760 Speaker 1: July thirty, dubbed the Fed War, is the stuff most 349 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:04,040 Speaker 1: Americans saw from Portland in the news. Moms and dad's, veterans, doctors, chefs, 350 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:07,320 Speaker 1: and students gathering in front of the Federal courthouse, chanting demands, 351 00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:11,120 Speaker 1: banging on doors, setting fires, ripping off plywood covering the windows, 352 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:15,080 Speaker 1: and repeatedly tearing down that massive fence. Whenever the federal 353 00:21:15,119 --> 00:21:17,880 Speaker 1: agents came out, a shield wall of protesters would form, 354 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:21,160 Speaker 1: deflecting metal tear gas canisters and flash bangs up into 355 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:24,280 Speaker 1: the air. People armed with leafblowers directed gas back at 356 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:28,160 Speaker 1: the Feds. In response, the Feds started using experimental new weapons, 357 00:21:28,359 --> 00:21:32,160 Speaker 1: including a pesticide sprayer jerry rigged di spew poison gas. 358 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:36,240 Speaker 1: Seeing the police attack people, especially the FEDS when the 359 00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:39,080 Speaker 1: Feds came, when they came started attacking people like like 360 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:41,200 Speaker 1: in the smoke. After I got like a gas mask 361 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:44,399 Speaker 1: and started going into the smoke, you know, and seeing 362 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:47,520 Speaker 1: what was going on in there, I was pretty I 363 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:51,760 Speaker 1: was pretty uh disturbed by seeing the way that they 364 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:56,919 Speaker 1: were like beating people under the under the cover of 365 00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:00,960 Speaker 1: tear gas. That was, um, that was a prize for me. 366 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:03,200 Speaker 1: I'd heard people saying, I've got I ask it in there, 367 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:06,000 Speaker 1: but I didn't know it was going down like that. 368 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:08,840 Speaker 1: As July came and went, so did the visible federal 369 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:12,120 Speaker 1: presence downtown. Most of the more liberal types packed it up, 370 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:14,920 Speaker 1: calling the protests a success. But while the days of 371 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,440 Speaker 1: walls of camouflaged Fed's head temporarily ended despite reports of 372 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:21,560 Speaker 1: their withdrawal, federal presence in Portland lingered on for weeks. 373 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:25,160 Speaker 1: Dedicated activists were not fooled by the faux withdrawal. They 374 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:28,680 Speaker 1: knew the work was far from over. Throughout August, protesters 375 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:31,840 Speaker 1: gathered in front of police precincts, city buildings in Portland's 376 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:35,520 Speaker 1: ice facility. Sometimes they engaged in property damage, but more 377 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:37,639 Speaker 1: often they just stood in the street yelling at the 378 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:41,480 Speaker 1: cops until they were inevitably charged by riot lines. It 379 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:44,920 Speaker 1: was in August that Portland first saw right wing counter protests, 380 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:49,200 Speaker 1: generally framed as back the Blue or MAGA gatherings. Sometimes 381 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:52,080 Speaker 1: these escalated into street brawls between Proud Boys and left 382 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:55,480 Speaker 1: wing activists. On several occasions, Proud Boys and other right 383 00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:58,840 Speaker 1: wing vigilantes through home made explosives and shot paintball guns 384 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:01,920 Speaker 1: into crowds. Five rounds were even fired into the air 385 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:06,160 Speaker 1: and into crowds. The escalation continued until a Trump caravan 386 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,800 Speaker 1: of vehicles waving flags drove through Portland in late August. 387 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:13,760 Speaker 1: Several Trump supporters fired paintball guns and mace into the 388 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:16,800 Speaker 1: crowds as they drove by. The whole awful day ended 389 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:19,560 Speaker 1: with a member of the right wing street gang Patriot Prayer, 390 00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:22,640 Speaker 1: being shot and killed by a white BLM activist after 391 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:25,199 Speaker 1: charging him with a can of mace. Throughout all this 392 00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:29,359 Speaker 1: Portland's BLM marches occurred every single night, right up until 393 00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:33,719 Speaker 1: late September, when a series of devastating wildfires overwhelmed Oregon 394 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:36,280 Speaker 1: and blanketed the city of Portland in a thick haze 395 00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:39,240 Speaker 1: of poison. The nightly marches were halted, and the various 396 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:42,080 Speaker 1: mutual aid organizations that had started up to service the 397 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:46,520 Speaker 1: protests turned their efforts to meeting the needs of evacuees. Meanwhile, 398 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:50,000 Speaker 1: right wing activists blamed the fires on Antifa and spent 399 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:52,840 Speaker 1: several days setting up a legal arm checkpoints and threatening 400 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:55,959 Speaker 1: people with rifles. When the rains came and the air cleared, 401 00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 1: the protests started up again. There were no longer nightly affairs, 402 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:02,520 Speaker 1: but they've remained regular occurrences ever since. And all of 403 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:07,639 Speaker 1: this begs the question why Portland all fifty U s 404 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:10,399 Speaker 1: States hosted Black Lives Matter protests during the summer of 405 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:15,159 Speaker 1: Many cities saw mass demonstrations, and while of b l 406 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:19,120 Speaker 1: M protests were considered peaceful, numerous cities saw rioting, exchanges 407 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:22,080 Speaker 1: of gunfire, and even had buildings burnt down. But no 408 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:25,280 Speaker 1: city in the United States had as many continuous nights 409 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:28,680 Speaker 1: of protests as Portland. No city saw thousands of citizens 410 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:31,840 Speaker 1: lay a week's long siege of a federal courthouse. No 411 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 1: city experienced a thousand persons street fight between right and 412 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 1: left wing demonstrators. Perhaps most importantly, no city earned the 413 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:43,040 Speaker 1: ire of President Donald Trump in the same way as Portland. 414 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,480 Speaker 1: It seems bizarre that this all would happen in Portland, 415 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:48,920 Speaker 1: a small city off about six hundred and fifty three 416 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:51,359 Speaker 1: thousand people. How did it grow to become one of 417 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:53,960 Speaker 1: the most active front lines in a national battle for 418 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:57,960 Speaker 1: black lives and against white supremacy. It actually makes a 419 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:00,840 Speaker 1: lot of sense once you scratch beneath surface a bit. 420 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:06,640 Speaker 1: Here's Tristan again. Organ was kind of um, I found 421 00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:09,280 Speaker 1: it as like something of like a white utopia, you know, 422 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:12,320 Speaker 1: like a place for the the white man to really 423 00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:16,000 Speaker 1: like find his destiny right and like conquer this you know, 424 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:20,000 Speaker 1: this continent. And I think that's just kind of like 425 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:24,879 Speaker 1: it's just like baked into the culture here where even 426 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:29,240 Speaker 1: like even like the love of the outdoors isn't like 427 00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:37,200 Speaker 1: isn't like a love of um like keep like keeping 428 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:39,399 Speaker 1: the environment like healthy and like bounce. It's just like 429 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:44,639 Speaker 1: a very like commodified like we deserve this, you know, 430 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:48,000 Speaker 1: we deserve to live in this beautiful place, and we're 431 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:50,240 Speaker 1: the only ones who know how to take care of it. 432 00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:53,600 Speaker 1: And obviously that's like mellowed out a little bit over 433 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:57,040 Speaker 1: the you know, decades, but I think that's still basically 434 00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:03,919 Speaker 1: like what what like um, it's like the undercurrent, you know, 435 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:09,480 Speaker 1: that's like behind most of what cos in Oregon. You 436 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 1: can learn a lot of what you need to know 437 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,480 Speaker 1: about Oregon's history of racism by studying one of the 438 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:19,280 Speaker 1: state's founders, Peter Hardman Burnett. As a young man in Tennessee, 439 00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:21,560 Speaker 1: he murdered a black person with a booby trap as 440 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,680 Speaker 1: revenge for petty theft. In eighteen forty three, he helped 441 00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:27,359 Speaker 1: organize the first great wagon train of white people that 442 00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:30,359 Speaker 1: headed to the Oregon Territory. He was elected to the 443 00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:34,720 Speaker 1: Provisional Legislature and served as the territory's first Supreme Court justice. 444 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:37,399 Speaker 1: In eighteen forty four, he worked to pass what became 445 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:40,480 Speaker 1: known as Burnett's Lash Law. This stated that all black 446 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,320 Speaker 1: people were required to leave Oregon under penalty of being 447 00:26:43,359 --> 00:26:46,240 Speaker 1: whipped in public not less than twenty or more than 448 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:49,800 Speaker 1: thirty nine stripes. This punishment was to be repeated every 449 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:52,840 Speaker 1: six months until they moved. The law did include a 450 00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:55,720 Speaker 1: grace period three years for black women and two years 451 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:59,320 Speaker 1: for black men. Burnett also pushed to ban Chinese immigration 452 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:02,560 Speaker 1: into Oregon. While there are no documented instances of the 453 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:05,280 Speaker 1: Lash laws being used, it set a clear tone for 454 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,439 Speaker 1: the state Burnet's Lash law reflected the values of the 455 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:12,080 Speaker 1: first white people who moved to Oregon. They were abolitionists 456 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:14,880 Speaker 1: in that they hated slavery, but they only hated slavery 457 00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:17,120 Speaker 1: because they were revolted by the thought of living near 458 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:21,080 Speaker 1: black people. In eighteen forty eight, the Oregon Territorial government 459 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,480 Speaker 1: passed a law that banned any quote, negro or mulatto 460 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:28,760 Speaker 1: from living in Oregon. In eighteen fifty, the Oregon Donation 461 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:32,359 Speaker 1: Land Act gave whites and half breed Indians their quote, 462 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:34,920 Speaker 1: six hundred and fifty acres of land from the government. 463 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:38,240 Speaker 1: All other people of color were banned from the land grants. 464 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:43,080 Speaker 1: Oregon was finally made a state in February eighteen fifty nine. 465 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:47,879 Speaker 1: Under its constitution, quote, no free negro or mulatto not 466 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,160 Speaker 1: residing in this state at the time of the adoption 467 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:53,160 Speaker 1: of this Constitution shall ever come reside or be within 468 00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:56,280 Speaker 1: this state, or hold any real estate, or make any contract, 469 00:27:56,359 --> 00:27:59,720 Speaker 1: or maintain any suit therein. And the Legislative Assembly shall 470 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:02,879 Speaker 1: prove by penal laws for the removal by public officers 471 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:06,040 Speaker 1: of all such free negroes and mulatto's, and for their 472 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:09,320 Speaker 1: effectual exclusion from the state and for the punishment of 473 00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:11,960 Speaker 1: persons who shall bring them into the state or employer 474 00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:16,280 Speaker 1: harbor them there in. Oregon remains the only state in 475 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:19,280 Speaker 1: the Union that ever banned black people from living there. 476 00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:23,520 Speaker 1: Now things have gotten better since eighteen fifty nine, but 477 00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:26,680 Speaker 1: better is a low bar. In Portland remains the whitest 478 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:31,320 Speaker 1: metropolitan area in the United States. Seventent of the population 479 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,960 Speaker 1: is white, less than six percent is black. Today, Portland's 480 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:37,520 Speaker 1: owns the distinction as one of the most gentrified cities 481 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:40,560 Speaker 1: in the United States. Oregon continues to report some of 482 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:43,200 Speaker 1: the worst graduation rates for black students in the nation, 483 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:46,200 Speaker 1: and the wealth gap between white and black Oregonians over 484 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,880 Speaker 1: the last fifty years has widened, not shrunk. And moved 485 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:53,920 Speaker 1: to Portland like like five and a half six years ago, 486 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:58,760 Speaker 1: I think, and from where I definitely I did from 487 00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:04,320 Speaker 1: northern California, got a Bay area, um, and I didn't 488 00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:07,719 Speaker 1: really I didn't have a idea of what the city 489 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:11,600 Speaker 1: was per se, Like I've never seen an episode of 490 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:13,360 Speaker 1: Portland here, for instance. I just kind of moved up 491 00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:19,960 Speaker 1: here would be closed with a family and and yeah, 492 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:21,520 Speaker 1: and when I when I kind of first got here, 493 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:24,480 Speaker 1: it was like, you know, that hang out with a 494 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:26,720 Speaker 1: bunch of like hippies, a bunch of people who love 495 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:30,360 Speaker 1: trees and to ride bikes and go hiking, and it's like, oh, 496 00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:35,040 Speaker 1: they love the environment and they love progressive you know politics, 497 00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:39,120 Speaker 1: and you know, and everything's just chill within. Like the 498 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:42,720 Speaker 1: longer I stayed here, the facade started to like fall away, 499 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 1: and and it's I mean, like I've been here for 500 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:50,680 Speaker 1: you know, almost six years now, and I still I 501 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:55,920 Speaker 1: don't quite know what to make of it still, you know, 502 00:29:57,040 --> 00:30:02,640 Speaker 1: but like recently, um like if the passage of or 503 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:05,400 Speaker 1: like with the most recent election, you know, like so 504 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:11,440 Speaker 1: the local measures that passed and didn't pass. It's like 505 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:15,600 Speaker 1: like Oregon loves to have a black friend. That's what 506 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:18,600 Speaker 1: they like. They like to have somebody they can point 507 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:21,720 Speaker 1: to and be like, look, I'm not racist, but they don't. 508 00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:26,160 Speaker 1: They're not interested in actually like challenging the like white 509 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:33,800 Speaker 1: supremacists like power structures that actually like benefit them and 510 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:36,000 Speaker 1: and if you like, if you agitate them on that, 511 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:40,040 Speaker 1: they just you know. That's that's when like the Pacific 512 00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:43,720 Speaker 1: Northwest like passive aggressiveness like kicks in and they just 513 00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:46,240 Speaker 1: like kind of like try to ignore you. But secually 514 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:50,400 Speaker 1: they're totally fucking piste off that you dare to like 515 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:56,440 Speaker 1: insinuate their racist um. But yeah, that's like it's a 516 00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:59,640 Speaker 1: really complicated thing and I still quite haven't figured out 517 00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:03,520 Speaker 1: like what makes white people take here, but it's, you know, 518 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:08,080 Speaker 1: it's messy. Another activist we interviewed, Courtney, is an indigenous 519 00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:10,840 Speaker 1: Hawaiian person who moved to Oregon when she was seventeen. 520 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:14,239 Speaker 1: She recalls being stunned by how white her school was. 521 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:17,760 Speaker 1: I like ended up going to Oregon City High School, 522 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:23,320 Speaker 1: which was like insane. I was the only non Hispanic 523 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 1: person that was at that school. Um, and nobody talked 524 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:30,600 Speaker 1: to me for a really long time, and I just 525 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:32,720 Speaker 1: was kind of like it was a culture shock because 526 00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:36,560 Speaker 1: there were so many white people that I had never 527 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:40,120 Speaker 1: seen this many white people in my entire life because 528 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:44,640 Speaker 1: everyone in Hawaii is like mixed races, majority of them 529 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:50,920 Speaker 1: are Asian or Polynesian. So um, I definitely was nobody 530 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:52,960 Speaker 1: really talked to me for a while, and I kind 531 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:56,040 Speaker 1: of like found my little niche of people to hang 532 00:31:56,080 --> 00:32:00,120 Speaker 1: out with. Um. But yeah, like just even live in 533 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:04,600 Speaker 1: that area, I would get a lot of weird looks 534 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:11,080 Speaker 1: and um, yeah, just not the most friendly people to 535 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 1: be around. Um. Yeah, that's basically it's just a culture 536 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:19,880 Speaker 1: shock to just see how white organ is. I just 537 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:22,440 Speaker 1: I didn't expect it at all. I didn't and I 538 00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:23,840 Speaker 1: was like, I knew that they were going to be 539 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:29,600 Speaker 1: like Hispanic people, but I just didn't realize that. Um. 540 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:32,360 Speaker 1: I thought maybe I would see more after like black people, 541 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:36,320 Speaker 1: and especially living in a city, you know, in sport 542 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:38,600 Speaker 1: when you're from what you're like, Portland is just like 543 00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:41,440 Speaker 1: a major city in the United States, and then coming 544 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:44,440 Speaker 1: here and not really seeing the mix of cultures was 545 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,440 Speaker 1: just kind of shocking. Tristan described the races of in 546 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:50,400 Speaker 1: Portland as unique in a subtle way. It's just it's 547 00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:54,480 Speaker 1: very it's very covert, or you know, it tries to 548 00:32:54,520 --> 00:33:00,920 Speaker 1: be very covert. Um and it's very like like well, 549 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:03,840 Speaker 1: part part of what it is is that for a 550 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:06,360 Speaker 1: very long time now they're barely when any people of 551 00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:09,160 Speaker 1: co here at all. Like, you know, it's one of 552 00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:11,080 Speaker 1: the widest states in the country. That's why it's major 553 00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:15,800 Speaker 1: city in the country, and so like to a certain extent, 554 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:22,240 Speaker 1: people are they just don't actually know what like like 555 00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:26,040 Speaker 1: what like a microaggression is or what that would be like, 556 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:33,640 Speaker 1: you know, I had to experience um, like just like 557 00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:36,480 Speaker 1: a year, year and a half ago, maybe I was 558 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:41,120 Speaker 1: out with this group um these like forest offender type 559 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:45,200 Speaker 1: people and every year they go out post this big 560 00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:48,400 Speaker 1: camp out and you know, like go out into the 561 00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 1: woods and do like surveys and stuff like that, try 562 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:53,800 Speaker 1: to collect data they can use to fight timber companies 563 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:57,480 Speaker 1: and ship and like someone us drop the N word 564 00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:02,040 Speaker 1: like just five ft from me. There's like in casual conversation, 565 00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:07,360 Speaker 1: and then I had to like address the camp like 566 00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:12,520 Speaker 1: at breakfast. I was like, okay, so just just don't 567 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:17,000 Speaker 1: don't say that word. Like there's no like like like 568 00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:18,719 Speaker 1: even if you're just telling a story that there's no 569 00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:24,080 Speaker 1: appropriate context for a white person to say that. And 570 00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:27,640 Speaker 1: and that's one of the reasons why I don't go 571 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:31,040 Speaker 1: to those fucking campouts anymore. But like it's like that, 572 00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:33,480 Speaker 1: it's like they just don't they haven't been around black 573 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:36,520 Speaker 1: people or people of color in general, and they just 574 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:41,280 Speaker 1: don't know what to do. And of course the racism 575 00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:44,320 Speaker 1: that pervades Portland's is present in the Portland Police Bureau. 576 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:47,320 Speaker 1: Despite black people making up again less than six percent 577 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:50,400 Speaker 1: of the population, Portland Police use force on black people 578 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:53,840 Speaker 1: more often than people of any other race. Portland police 579 00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:57,000 Speaker 1: are five to fourteen times more likely to shoot impact 580 00:34:57,080 --> 00:35:01,319 Speaker 1: munitions at and to forcibly restrain black residents. At one 581 00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:04,640 Speaker 1: point in the late sixties, black Portlanders accounted for nearly 582 00:35:04,719 --> 00:35:08,160 Speaker 1: half of p p b's arrests. Portland's black community has 583 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:11,000 Speaker 1: been fighting against this kind of racist violence for decades. 584 00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:14,640 Speaker 1: Here's Max Smith again. For me, the battle with the 585 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:20,000 Speaker 1: police began, you know, in the hip hop field. Um. 586 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:22,560 Speaker 1: There was an event here in Portland that happened maybe 587 00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:25,080 Speaker 1: six or seven years ago. UM. That happened at a 588 00:35:25,160 --> 00:35:29,120 Speaker 1: venue called the Blue Monk, and it was a pretty 589 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:32,400 Speaker 1: big deal. And I was there and I had friends 590 00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:34,760 Speaker 1: who were performing at the show, and the police essentially 591 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:39,120 Speaker 1: came under the guise of a capacity of violation and 592 00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:42,560 Speaker 1: brought like a seven cars and twenty something officers and 593 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:47,279 Speaker 1: shut the whole street of Belmont down And and that 594 00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:52,040 Speaker 1: bar eventually actually ended up a closing shortly after that. Um. 595 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:54,040 Speaker 1: And it was a huge deal. They made a huge 596 00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:56,399 Speaker 1: deal about a small thing, and it went like into 597 00:35:56,440 --> 00:36:02,279 Speaker 1: like national news. And even prior to that, we had 598 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:06,520 Speaker 1: been really combating the efforts of the police to kind 599 00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:10,000 Speaker 1: of shut down or stifle hip hop events in the city. 600 00:36:10,239 --> 00:36:11,800 Speaker 1: Every time we wanted to have a hip hop event, 601 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:14,719 Speaker 1: it became like, you know, like a world war um, 602 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:16,520 Speaker 1: to the point that it ended up actually being a 603 00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:21,880 Speaker 1: protest about the hip hop community here. And so that 604 00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:23,919 Speaker 1: was a fight that we had as far as hip 605 00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:26,240 Speaker 1: hop music and clubs, as far as hip hop events, 606 00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:29,840 Speaker 1: as far as live music. Um. They really just used 607 00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:33,160 Speaker 1: the city's resources that the police, the fire marshals, and 608 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:37,280 Speaker 1: the o l c C to really like shut down 609 00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:41,960 Speaker 1: hip hop and and really any black lead events. Lawyer 610 00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:44,239 Speaker 1: Allan Kessler has done a lot of digging into the 611 00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:47,280 Speaker 1: early history of the Portland police. His research has revealed 612 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:51,360 Speaker 1: a century long history of Portland police involvement with hate groups, 613 00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:55,000 Speaker 1: most particularly the Ku Klux Klan. I think it was 614 00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:58,279 Speaker 1: lost Memorial Day. I spent the whole weekend in the 615 00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:02,439 Speaker 1: Oregonian Archives basic living through World War two. It wasn't 616 00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:07,719 Speaker 1: fun uh and it's outrageous, like the clan was on 617 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:11,280 Speaker 1: there was a front page column talked to a klansman 618 00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:15,560 Speaker 1: every day for like a week, uh, and then every 619 00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:17,560 Speaker 1: other day they had the clan on the front page. Anyway, 620 00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:20,359 Speaker 1: but that you know that was like, um, it was yeah, 621 00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:28,799 Speaker 1: it was incredible. Um. During the war, Uh, basically everybody, 622 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:33,240 Speaker 1: every adult white dude had a little star badge. Uh. 623 00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:36,520 Speaker 1: They the police would basically deputize anybody or people just 624 00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:39,000 Speaker 1: don't be a badge is made, so everybody in town 625 00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:41,680 Speaker 1: had a badge. There were lots of articles in that 626 00:37:41,719 --> 00:37:45,600 Speaker 1: time frame about um, fake police officer pulls over so 627 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:49,880 Speaker 1: and so and they sue. In a Portland Telegram article 628 00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:53,080 Speaker 1: reported that the Portland Police Bureau was quote full to 629 00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:57,120 Speaker 1: the brink with klansmen. The police bureau actually deputized a 630 00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:01,360 Speaker 1: hundred clansmen handpicked by the local Grand Dragon and designated 631 00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:05,040 Speaker 1: them Portland Police Vigilantes. This was before the p p 632 00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:08,239 Speaker 1: A existed, but the tradition lives on. In two thousand ten, 633 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:11,799 Speaker 1: Portland police officer Mark Krueger was suspended for erecting a 634 00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:16,400 Speaker 1: memorial to five deceased Nazi soldiers on city property. The 635 00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:19,160 Speaker 1: p p A successfully sued for him to be reinstated 636 00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:22,880 Speaker 1: and given an apology. When he quit in early he 637 00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:26,319 Speaker 1: was the highest paid police officer on the force. I 638 00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:30,520 Speaker 1: asked Maria, a lifelong Portland resident, what her earliest memory 639 00:38:30,520 --> 00:38:33,080 Speaker 1: if the police was. Here's what she told me. I 640 00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:38,560 Speaker 1: would say it was when I was a child. Honestly, Um, 641 00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,759 Speaker 1: I've had some some family stuff and a family member 642 00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:44,239 Speaker 1: have to go to way to to prison. So I 643 00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:47,440 Speaker 1: remember some like vaguely stuff like remember then as far 644 00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:51,360 Speaker 1: as like police brutality wise. Um, the very first like 645 00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:54,200 Speaker 1: murder I remember was Kindred James. Um, that will happen 646 00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:56,719 Speaker 1: like a mile from my house. And I want to 647 00:38:56,719 --> 00:38:59,360 Speaker 1: say I was like ten at the time. Kindred James 648 00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:01,560 Speaker 1: was a twenty one year old black mother of two. 649 00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:05,560 Speaker 1: She was killed under suspicious circumstances during a traffic stop. 650 00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:09,520 Speaker 1: Her killer, officer, Scott McCallister, fired a single shot when 651 00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:12,520 Speaker 1: James attempted to drive away from the traffic stop after 652 00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:15,319 Speaker 1: the motion of the vehicle caused him to fall. A 653 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:18,120 Speaker 1: number of the statements he made in court were inconsistent 654 00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:20,879 Speaker 1: with physical evidence required from the shooting, and we don't 655 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:24,640 Speaker 1: really know exactly what happened, Among other things, The police 656 00:39:24,719 --> 00:39:27,400 Speaker 1: argued in court that Portland police were trained to quote 657 00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:31,400 Speaker 1: shoot as they fall aslee as the police is how 658 00:39:31,480 --> 00:39:35,399 Speaker 1: I grew up. My dad is a huge like Tupac fan, 659 00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:37,760 Speaker 1: so like I would grow up on hearing tupac lyrics 660 00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:40,759 Speaker 1: all the time. Will screw the police and everything. So yeah, 661 00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:44,759 Speaker 1: no screw Yeah. Now that's how I like grew up. Yeah, 662 00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:47,560 Speaker 1: um is to like not interact with them. Yeah, I've 663 00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:50,719 Speaker 1: I've grown up. You know how A lot of us, 664 00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:53,160 Speaker 1: you know, people who are black, feel like, you know, 665 00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:55,840 Speaker 1: when we're being followed, profiled all that. I mean, I 666 00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:58,680 Speaker 1: got profiled to dance in a store like it's it's 667 00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:00,520 Speaker 1: still happened. That's been going on as the kid. I 668 00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:02,280 Speaker 1: don't know if I don't know when it will stop, 669 00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:06,360 Speaker 1: that you know, goes on. Officer McCallister was acquitted in 670 00:40:06,440 --> 00:40:09,319 Speaker 1: federal court. He got to keep his job, but even 671 00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:11,480 Speaker 1: if he had been fired for the shooting, the firing 672 00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:15,719 Speaker 1: might not have stuck. Nationwide, of police officers fired from 673 00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:19,799 Speaker 1: his conduct are reinstated because of union mandated appeals. Over 674 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:22,480 Speaker 1: the years. This has included an officer who challenged a 675 00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:25,560 Speaker 1: handcuffed man to a fist fight for his freedom, and 676 00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:28,600 Speaker 1: a copper sexually assaulted a young woman in his patrol car. 677 00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:31,759 Speaker 1: In many cities, the number of police reinstated by union 678 00:40:31,800 --> 00:40:36,759 Speaker 1: appeals is much higher than sevent of fired San Antonio 679 00:40:36,880 --> 00:40:40,480 Speaker 1: officers are reinstated because of union appeals. The number is 680 00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:45,440 Speaker 1: sixty for Philly cops and fifty from Minneapolis cops. This 681 00:40:45,520 --> 00:40:47,840 Speaker 1: is part of why the people of Minneapolis burnt the 682 00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:51,319 Speaker 1: Third Precinct to the ground after George Floyd's murder. They 683 00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:54,880 Speaker 1: knew from experience that it was extremely likely Derek Chauvin, 684 00:40:54,960 --> 00:40:57,960 Speaker 1: Floyd's killer, would not just avoid prison, but would soon 685 00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:00,719 Speaker 1: be back on the street with a badge. In fact, 686 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:03,560 Speaker 1: as soon as Derek Schaubin and the other officers responsible 687 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:06,920 Speaker 1: for George Floyd's death were fired, police union head Bob 688 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:10,680 Speaker 1: Kroll started fighting to have them reinstated. He was concerned 689 00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:14,560 Speaker 1: that they had been quote terminated without due process. Kroll 690 00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:17,239 Speaker 1: was oddly unconcerned that the same thing was true of 691 00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:21,560 Speaker 1: Mr Floyd. The fact that police officers are extremely difficult 692 00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:24,040 Speaker 1: to fire, even when they commit murder or rape on 693 00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:27,279 Speaker 1: the job is a national problem. But it is a 694 00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:31,200 Speaker 1: national problem that traces back to a single place where 695 00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:35,160 Speaker 1: else the city of Portland, Oregon, and more specifically to 696 00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:57,000 Speaker 1: the Portland Police Association. The Portland Police Association or p 697 00:41:57,200 --> 00:42:00,799 Speaker 1: p A, is Portland's police union. In a way, it's 698 00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:03,720 Speaker 1: the police union because the p p A is actually 699 00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:07,520 Speaker 1: the oldest functioning police union in the United States. Police 700 00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:10,279 Speaker 1: had attempted to unionize several times before the p PA 701 00:42:10,440 --> 00:42:13,320 Speaker 1: was established in nineteen forty two, but Portland was the 702 00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:15,279 Speaker 1: first city to get it right, and the p p 703 00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:17,440 Speaker 1: A has served as a model for the rest of 704 00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:21,680 Speaker 1: the nation's law enforcement ever since. Every other police union 705 00:42:21,719 --> 00:42:24,520 Speaker 1: in the United States is based off of the Portland 706 00:42:24,600 --> 00:42:27,879 Speaker 1: Police Association, and one of the many trends that pp 707 00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:32,680 Speaker 1: A set was ensuing to reinstate fired officers. This story 708 00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:35,799 Speaker 1: starts on the night of March twelfth, nineteen one, when 709 00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:38,959 Speaker 1: to Portland police officers from the North Precinct dumped four 710 00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:41,839 Speaker 1: dead possums in the doorway of the Burger Barn, one 711 00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:45,319 Speaker 1: of Portland's few black owned businesses. The use of the 712 00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:48,759 Speaker 1: word possum as a derogatory term for black Americans dates 713 00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:51,440 Speaker 1: back as far as eighteen thirty. The owner of the 714 00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:55,280 Speaker 1: Burger Barn, George Powell, called the police commissioner to report 715 00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:57,440 Speaker 1: the incident and claimed that it was only the latest 716 00:42:57,440 --> 00:43:01,160 Speaker 1: example of police harassment his business had faced. An internal 717 00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:05,600 Speaker 1: investigation was opened, and the officers responsible, Ward and Galloway, 718 00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:09,680 Speaker 1: admitted their guilt immediately Their identity was initially kept hidden 719 00:43:09,719 --> 00:43:11,880 Speaker 1: thanks to a clause in the pp A contract with 720 00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:14,880 Speaker 1: the city that protected officers from having their names disclosed 721 00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:18,640 Speaker 1: during disciplinary proceedings. This is another one of the innovations 722 00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:22,440 Speaker 1: that the Portland Police Association brought to police departments nationwide. 723 00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:25,560 Speaker 1: By the way, the possum incident happened at an awkward 724 00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:28,520 Speaker 1: time for the Portland Police. Several officers had just been 725 00:43:28,560 --> 00:43:31,800 Speaker 1: fired and convicted of faking evidence and using illegal drugs 726 00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:34,440 Speaker 1: on the job. Nearly a hundred criminal cases had to 727 00:43:34,480 --> 00:43:37,560 Speaker 1: be thrown out because of falsified evidence. Public opinion of 728 00:43:37,560 --> 00:43:40,560 Speaker 1: the police bureau was low, and when Portland started marching 729 00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:43,720 Speaker 1: and demonstrating to demand that officers Ward and Galloway be fired, 730 00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:47,160 Speaker 1: the police Commissioner was only too happy to oblige them. 731 00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:51,680 Speaker 1: Enter Stan Peters, the most powerful union president Portland has 732 00:43:51,719 --> 00:43:55,240 Speaker 1: ever had. Peters took to every local news show in town. 733 00:43:55,320 --> 00:43:58,959 Speaker 1: He circulated petitions. He even organized a massed protest march 734 00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:01,600 Speaker 1: made up of Portland po last officers and their families. 735 00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:05,200 Speaker 1: He forced the city government into arbitration, which ended with 736 00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:09,320 Speaker 1: both officers being rehired and given back pay. There's actually 737 00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:13,360 Speaker 1: a book about the Portland Police Association, Pickets, pistols and Politics. 738 00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:16,920 Speaker 1: Alan Kessler informed us of its existence. Here's what it 739 00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:20,840 Speaker 1: says about the court case that resolved the Possum incident. Quote, 740 00:44:21,560 --> 00:44:24,440 Speaker 1: the City of Portland versus Ward and Galloway case is 741 00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:28,200 Speaker 1: still the leading police discipline case in the United States, 742 00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:32,360 Speaker 1: and in labor law circles is the arbitration decision referred 743 00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:36,960 Speaker 1: to the most often. It's legal nomenclature is simply City 744 00:44:37,120 --> 00:44:40,120 Speaker 1: of Portland. And so in the end, it really isn't 745 00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:42,520 Speaker 1: that odd that the City of Portland wound up as 746 00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:45,680 Speaker 1: ground zero for a battle against white supremacy and police 747 00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:49,839 Speaker 1: brutality and a battle for black lives. It's actually been 748 00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:53,359 Speaker 1: that for a very very long time. As much as 749 00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:56,520 Speaker 1: people have just kind of started to contextualize how Antifa 750 00:44:56,600 --> 00:44:59,840 Speaker 1: has been fighting against these studs here for years. You know, 751 00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:02,839 Speaker 1: it actually isn't just the last couple of years where 752 00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:04,279 Speaker 1: it's been in the news. It has been going off 753 00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:08,279 Speaker 1: for decades. In Portland. There's always been a level of 754 00:45:08,360 --> 00:45:11,319 Speaker 1: especially in southeast of Portland, has always been like even 755 00:45:11,320 --> 00:45:13,080 Speaker 1: like in the eighties, has been like, you know, these 756 00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:16,480 Speaker 1: white skinhead groups and the Sharps has always kind of 757 00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:20,240 Speaker 1: been like a race war between the white folks in Portland, 758 00:45:20,520 --> 00:45:23,080 Speaker 1: especially in the southeast. Over the course of the summer 759 00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:27,160 Speaker 1: of Portland's wounds were exposed to the world after George 760 00:45:27,160 --> 00:45:31,080 Speaker 1: Floyd's gruesome murder accelerated long brewing unrest across the country 761 00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:34,440 Speaker 1: and even the globe. The Northwest's liberal bastion was forced 762 00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:37,680 Speaker 1: to reckon with its own deeply anti black traditions while 763 00:45:37,719 --> 00:45:40,600 Speaker 1: also becoming an unlikely epicenter in a movement for black 764 00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:43,839 Speaker 1: lives that had taken the world by storm. Thousands took 765 00:45:43,880 --> 00:45:45,759 Speaker 1: to the streets and a battle that would be fought 766 00:45:45,800 --> 00:45:50,120 Speaker 1: against a corrupt police force, Trump's federal agents, right wing vigilantes, 767 00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:53,640 Speaker 1: and even at times between protesters themselves. Through it all, 768 00:45:53,719 --> 00:45:56,239 Speaker 1: people banded together to support each other and build the 769 00:45:56,280 --> 00:45:58,960 Speaker 1: infrastructure that would propel the city to a hundred plus 770 00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:02,520 Speaker 1: days of protests that even the strongest tear gas couldn't end. 771 00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:05,080 Speaker 1: In the next episode, we will delve into how a 772 00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:08,960 Speaker 1: disorganized crowd of angry Portlander's turned themselves into a movement 773 00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:11,400 Speaker 1: that could stand up to the worst violence the Trump 774 00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:17,880 Speaker 1: administration could throw at it. Uh where the grandpops who 775 00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:21,080 Speaker 1: couldn't fathom the obamacist, I don't hate America just to me, 776 00:46:21,160 --> 00:46:24,480 Speaker 1: And she keeps the promises teens looking like the sixties. 777 00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:27,800 Speaker 1: It's crazy, a nationwide deja fo. What my people post 778 00:46:27,880 --> 00:46:30,960 Speaker 1: to do go to schools named after the clan founder 779 00:46:31,280 --> 00:46:33,800 Speaker 1: we're around town is I don't see why we're frowning. 780 00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:37,759 Speaker 1: Native American students want to learn about when o'parah sarah. 781 00:46:37,760 --> 00:46:41,359 Speaker 1: How is that fair? Bro? Some heroes unsung in some 782 00:46:41,440 --> 00:46:43,920 Speaker 1: monster's get monuments built for them. But it ain't be 783 00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:47,000 Speaker 1: all a little bit of monster. We crook it. Man, 784 00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:50,040 Speaker 1: Your heroes are worthless and man can show private only 785 00:46:50,120 --> 00:46:51,960 Speaker 1: God gives purpose. You crook it