WEBVTT - Episode 7: Uprising: A Guide From Portland: Resistance Through Mutual Aid 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:03.880 From Cavalry Audio comes the new true crime podcast, The 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:07.040 Shadow Girls. I grew up near the banks of the 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:09.960 Green River and in the shadow of the killer that 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:14.000 bears its name. Prosecutors described him as a serial killer survant. 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:17.640 But this podcast isn't only about tracking down the killer. 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:21.159 It's about the victims. We stayed in the woods. He 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:23.800 always liked to go into woods. Listen to The Shadow 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:27.240 Girls on the I Heart Radio app, on Apple Podcasts 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:34.640 or wherever you get your podcasts. Mama, what does the 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:45.080 chicken say? Draft draffe? Really? Giraffe? Giraffe? You're not gonna 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:46.879 get it all right. Just make sure you know the 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:49.360 big stuff, like making sure your kids are buckled correctly 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:51.479 in the right seat for their agent's eyes. Get it 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:56.000 right visits n h S a dot gov slash the 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:58.800 Right Seat, brought to you by the National Highway Traffic 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:02.880 Safety Administration and the AD Council. Hi, everybody, I'm Rachel 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:06.280 Banetta and I have my very own podcast called Benched 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:09.480 with Banetta. You getting me. I'm just here so I 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:12.000 won't get fine. Every week I'm gonna be talking about 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:14.839 all the things I find fascinating about the NFL, and 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:18.240 I'm doing something that has never been done before. I'm 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:25.720 opening my d m s. D MS now open listen 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:29.479 every Tuesday and join me on the bench. Subscribe now 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:31.840 and listen to the Bench with Banetta podcast on the 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:34.840 I Heart Radio app, on Apple Podcasts or wherever you 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:38.680 get your podcasts. I'm gonna need sports on it. You 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:44.680 don't get out of here. Everybody each other here, I'm awful, 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:49.480 get out of here. The first thing that comes to 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:55.400 mind is just like the power of mutual aid UM, 0:01:55.440 --> 0:02:00.840 the smaller events really build the community ties together UM 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:05.080 and just it enables people to like lean on each 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:09.000 other for safety and for any resources and pretty much 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:14.320 anything that somebody needs. UM. These smaller like well being 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:18.720 based kind of events, like it keeps everybody together, and 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.560 I think, I mean, there's so much power. Like mutual 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:24.560 aid really is the way of the future. So this 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:28.120 is basically just a precursor to like what I feel 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:30.960 like will be a world like a void of police 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:36.160 and and like constant state violence is will have these 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:41.239 networks and mutual aid communities that UM will basically make 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:45.760 that obsolete. So that's really huge for us. That's Jedi, 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:49.400 a local organizer and musician as the protests in Portland 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:52.000 and around the nation moved into their third month, Governor 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:54.560 Kate Brown announced that the FEDS were pulling out of 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:57.600 the city. With the announcement, the crowds of thousands that 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:00.600 had come out and forced to protest the federal presence shrunk. 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:03.799 By the second week of August, ongoing protests drew only 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:06.560 a few hundred people into the streets each night. For 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:09.360 the people that wanted to defund and abolish the Portland Police, 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:11.560 the federal draw down meant that it was time to 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.400 get back to the real fight. Months of being gassed 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:17.080 and beaten together had given this community of protesters a 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:20.400 powerful sense of shared purpose. At the same time, the 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.080 drop off in numbers raised the specter of burnout for 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:26.440 activists and pointed to a long road ahead. Systems of 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:29.040 mutual aid began to spring up, both out of need 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:31.519 and out of a desire by many to finally start 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:39.560 building the world they wanted to live in. To narrate 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:41.840 the next part of this here's Donovan Smith, a local 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:44.280 Portland journalist and one of the authors of this series. 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:47.680 After more than two months in the streets, protesters in 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:51.080 Portland were exhausted and traumatized but ready to return to 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:54.280 the real fight of defunding the police. But the enormous 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:57.840 protests of early June were now months passed, and after 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:01.880 the wild circus of violence that was fed occupation, people 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.560 were tired and there were questions about how to direct 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:07.520 the attention of the city back from Trump to the 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:11.360 violence of Portland Police Bureau. Jacob Burrow's of Direct Action 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:15.280 Alliance talks about organizing exhaustion. Well, to be honest with you, 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:18.680 it doesn't really like everyone. Everyone falls off. Everyone gets 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:21.680 tired and falls off, and it's it's the solidarity that 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:25.279 comes into play at that point. So I mean, I'll 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:28.160 take month off where I just can't anymore, where I'm 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:31.359 I'm just exhausted to the bone, where I literally have 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:35.400 nothing left to give. And during those times is when 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:41.200 my comrade come in and do what they need to do. 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:43.120 And then when they're tired, that's when I come in 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:45.480 and do what I need to do. And that's how 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:48.760 we kind of keep it perpetually going. Is that you've 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:50.840 got to be there for folks. When you see someone 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:56.000 who's you know you people, that's the problem, it's it's fatiguing. 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:59.799 It caused there's a huge toll. Organizing takes a huge 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:02.520 to along people. Even just organizing one event, it takes 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:05.480 three days of my life away from my kids, from 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:07.880 my responsibilities at home, from what I need to do, 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:11.279 and it's it's exhausting. And that's that's just the organizing part. 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:14.120 You know, you still have to consider the emotional toll 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:16.560 that it takes to go out and do this and 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:18.600 put yourself on the line. You have to take into 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:20.599 account the threats that you get from the right, You 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:22.520 have to take into account the threats that you get 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:25.560 from the government. So there's all of these things and 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:29.120 no one is just a superperson that can go and 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:32.400 power through it. And that's that's a big thing. A 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:35.520 big misconception I think is people think that the faith 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:38.240 is you know, there's some people who who their face 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:40.599 has become prominent or their name has become prominent, and 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:42.640 people think that it's all them, and it's not. There's 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:48.960 there's a huge, huge effort behind everything of support of 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:52.280 mutual aid that keeps everything going. So the reason it's 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.000 been able to go for ten years isn't because there's 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:57.560 people who have been able to keep going for ten 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:01.400 years straight. It's because every time someone falls back and 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.000 can't do it and need to break someone else were 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:06.960 we are lucky enough to be in a community. And 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:10.160 that's how it keeps ongoing, is that every time, every 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:12.719 time there's a hole in the line, we have comrades 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:14.560 who are willing to step back in and fill it up. 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.120 And that's how that's how we've been able to kind 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:21.320 of keep this momentum going, is because there's always someone 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:24.360 who's willing to step up when someone has when another 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:27.720 person has kind of reached their limit. And that's that's 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.400 how you keep it going is by building those connections, 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:36.080 those trust bonds, and those those solidarity connections and mutual 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:39.200 aid connections where we're all helping each other out. We 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:41.279 all have to be there for each other. And using 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:44.840 social media and telegram, the community stepped out to fill 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:49.000 holes in the line. Nightly actions began to be organized 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:54.040 autonomously anonymous calls. The action will post locations mostly of 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:57.680 different police precincts for the Portland Ice facility, and people 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:00.400 would show up to the protests. If the police were 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.880 going to continue to brutalize people, then protesters planned on 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:07.240 wearing them down and exhausting their budget. Every night of 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:10.360 the week, people assembled at some park around the city 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:14.200 and would march to a different precincts, yelling, chanting, and 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:16.960 standing in the street for hours until the police would charge, 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:21.360 clearing them out with gas, batons and brute force. While 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:25.840 these actions were referred to as d a's or direct actions, 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:29.840 the nights often consisted of protesters hurling more insults than 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:33.480 anything else, adding in an occasional dumpster fire to mix 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:37.480 it up. Despite the nightly actions beginning to follow up 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:40.960 predictable pattern that usually ended with police role rushing people 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:44.400 down unlit neighborhood streets for the crimes of yelling in 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:48.440 the road. PPB press releases portrayed each evening as an 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:52.600 intense battle with dangerous radicals. These claims were not borne 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:55.559 out by the arrest that they made. The charges leveled 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:59.600 at protesters arrested were almost all I p O are 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:03.120 in farence with the police officer. The charge that they 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:05.560 could file if you did not move fast enough when 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:08.840 they bull rushed I PO was one of the charges 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:11.640 that d A. Mike Schmidt had announced on August eighth 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:16.040 that his office would decline to prosecute thereafter nearly all 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:20.040 protester charges were dropped, possibly to compensate for the loss 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:24.120 of legal cloud, Portland police ramped up on the brutality. 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:27.640 Acts of minor vandalism will be answered by baton charges, 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:30.720 and any protesters are unable to outrun the bull rush 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:34.880 would be knocked to the ground, body slammed or beaten, 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:37.959 and then often left lying on the pavement with no 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:41.880 attempt made to arrest. Police made it very clear that 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.040 their intent was to punish protesters whether or not they 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:50.040 had legal recourse. It was an exhausting period, however, and 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:54.280 start contrast to the brutality of the nighttime actions, by August, 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:57.600 protesters were spending the days building on the mutual aid 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:01.439 networks that had already existed in port and expanding them 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:04.280 in new ways to support the community. But what is 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:07.920 mutual aid? To answer that, I'm going to turn this 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:10.440 over to activists on the ground who are implementing it. 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:14.120 PDX treat Medics formed during the summer, and we'll talk 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:17.360 more about their work later. But here's their definition of 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:21.120 mutual aide. It's bringing some amount of equity where there 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:23.800 is none, you know, in this very small sense of 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:27.600 like the street mix if someone can't afford repairs, um 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:29.880 usually they would have to go into debt to get 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:33.560 that repaired at an auto shop where um, usually they 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:36.080 would be up sold several thousand dollars in repairs they 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:39.600 don't need. So where we step in, we are saving 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:43.560 them that bill and then being able to make sure 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:47.280 they're able to keep other needs meant and through that 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:51.080 action is a small amount of equity where there would 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:54.480 be none. I was just gonna say, kind of piggybacking 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:59.760 off cyperusus point. Um I I kind of see, you know, 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:05.280 what we're doing as a you know, I think it's it. 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:09.080 It's kind of it's trying to challenge the current system, 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:11.839 you know, and in this system is a system that 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:16.280 has so many, so many flaws, and I think that 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:22.560 mutual aid is kind of trying to uh address some 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:25.160 of those flaws or try to mitigate some of those 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:29.400 flaws in the sense that you know, kind of living this. 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:32.800 We live under capitalism, you know, we live under in 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:37.400 a system that tolerates you know, homelessness. Um uh, you 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:41.600 know we live under yeah, I mean a system that 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:49.320 oppresses so many minorities and stuff like that. Um So 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:54.120 I think that just what mutual aid is and you know, specifically, 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:56.920 maybe our role is kind of at least the way 0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:00.439 I see it, is challenging that system of capitals and 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:03.360 challenging you know, being like, hey, like you know, you 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:08.240 don't you know, We're going to try to just help people, 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:12.720 not based on you know, gaining anything out of it. 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:15.960 We're just helping people because that's what we're supposed to 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:19.120 do as humans. I think that's something that we really 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:22.559 need to keep in the center of reminds me to 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:27.120 thinking about mitchill aid is that the people who lose 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:30.440 the most in our current system have the tend to 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:35.200 have the least ability to change anything UM. And that 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:38.760 is one of the core print like motivating factors behind 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:43.199 mutually UM. Where it is people who are really like 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:47.240 living truly paycheck to paycheck, or don't even have any 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.560 stable income and are living in a car and it's 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:53.720 like slowly, slowly breakaking down and there's just nothing to 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:57.240 do about it. Um. These are the kind of situations 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:00.000 in which that little bit of extra help can really 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.199 mean that that person can continue to have a life, 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:05.640 and that life can continue to be good, and that 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:07.880 life can continue to be Sometimes it's worth fighting for, 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:12.040 and that way those people can continue to fight for 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:16.280 their own lives. Um. If community support doesn't really happen, 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:18.400 and mutually it is really just a fancy word for 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:22.000 community support. If that doesn't actually happen, those people aren't 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:24.199 going to be able to fight because they're trying to survive. 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:27.480 And we need to be able to get a little 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:30.160 bit beyond survival in order to really organize and fight 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:33.680 and resist on the scale that is necessary for dealing 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:36.559 with the problem that we're facing. Something that I've talked 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:39.720 about a bunch in this ort in this group is 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:43.439 that I actually sometimes don't think that organizations can provide 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:47.680 mutual aid um. That instead people have to provide mutualate 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:54.480 and that because that principle isn't about like usually it 0:12:54.559 --> 0:13:00.120 is about seeing activity and women like acting within com um, 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:04.640 whereas charity is all about like creating this other I 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:08.520 think you're providing, and there's like a lot of citying 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:11.480 and a lot of like apologizing that happens in that 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:18.079 relationship mutually. Some mutual A groups existed in Portland prior 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.920 to the George Floyd uprising. As COVID swept the country 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:26.520 in spring, New mutualay organizations popped up all over the city, 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:29.079 and some groups that were already active look for new 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:32.640 ways to help. Rose Hips a Medic collective has been 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:36.960 around for eleven years. They began making hand sanitizer and 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:40.199 distributing it around the city at the beginning of the pandemic. 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:45.120 As protests intensified, they worked to reverse engineer chemical wives 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:49.120 to help with tear gas and pepper spray. Medics loaded 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:52.680 with carts filled with water, energy, drinks, and I cleaning 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:56.160 kids were a common sight every night. James, a rose 0:13:56.240 --> 0:14:00.559 Hip Street Medic describes the early days of the uprisings. Yeah, 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:03.240 I remember the first time that I went to a 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:09.480 protest um after the pandemic. Uh suprising began to happen 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:12.400 at the same time, I think the Peninsula Park and 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:15.520 like we just brought a bunch of hand sanitizer and 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:17.400 we're like, I don't know, let's walk around and hands 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:19.720 hand sanitizer out to people. And we also have these masks, 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:22.920 so let's hand these things out and like all of 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:26.160 our supply was was gone within like half an hour, 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:30.000 and there was a large a whole park full of 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:35.760 people at that time, and so you know, initially it 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:38.120 was just handing things out to people before the marching 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:43.680 began UM. And then once the protests really picked up 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:48.360 steam and started to be responded to with more repression, 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:52.320 we started to ask ourselves, like, what else can we distribute? Basically, 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:56.400 and one thing that treatments usually do, or or the 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:58.520 streament is really trained to do, is to flush out 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:01.640 people's eyes if they need a pepper spray or tear gas. 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:08.600 But that necessarily creates aerosolized particles from people's eyeballs because 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:13.840 you're squirting water into people's eyes high velocity. And so 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:16.360 we're like, this doesn't feel like a safe activity anymore. 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:21.680 Can we hand out preportioned bottles of our preferred eye 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:25.400 wash solution? Yes, we have all these bottles lying around, 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:29.680 and so like, let's do that. And then someone asked, 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:34.760 you know these these chemical weapons removing wipes, Like what's 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:37.040 in these? Can we make our own? And then some 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:39.680 very smart people who are not me like figured out 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:45.640 the recipe and created a whole manufacturing apparatus to produce 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:50.400 and distribute huge numbers of chemical weapons wipes UM every 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:53.360 day and so and then, because the demand kept increasing, 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:58.840 particularly as the violence and increased, UM and people use 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:01.320 the products, and then we're like, we really need these, 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:03.440 these are great and people, you know, they saw us 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.000 around maybe who we were. We started to put our 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:07.880 name on things, just that it was clear that like 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:11.280 it's us building up this trust community and not some 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:15.720 other rendom group. UM. Then people started so just sort 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:19.840 of like the demand created the whole chain of events. 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:22.640 And because people already knew us from distributing hand sanitizer, 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:26.920 we had a lot of goodwill with UM. I would 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:30.560 say community groups who wouldn't ordinarily think to themselves radical 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:35.800 leftist street protesters are our people, UM, but like churches 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:38.400 and whatnot who do a lot of work with people 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:42.120 living on side, we're like, okay, you seem to be 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:44.760 more or less on the same page with us. So 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:49.160 that's how those distribution networks happened. Other groups that were 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:53.160 already on the ground were the PDX General Defense Committee 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:56.960 and Defense Fund PDX, who raised bail money and helped 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:01.360 make sure that protesters made it home and support waited 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:05.439 outside the central precinct every night with food, hot drinks, 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:09.320 and support. The Witches had already been present before the summer, 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:13.200 handing out water bottles and supplies somebody Else's PDX had 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:18.360 begun as a coalition of mutual aid groups. However, when 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:22.760 COVID hit, the work connecting communities and mutual aid expanded. 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:27.200 So yeah, at the beginning of before COVID hit, UH 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:32.520 Symbiosis was mostly focused on UM. At the time, our 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:38.760 our project merk or Municipalist Eco Resiliency project, where we 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:42.840 were working on kind of UM connect again and with 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:48.640 that dual power lens, trying to UM consolidate uh like 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:54.480 food access and production infrastructure for the community UM as 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:59.240 well as like doing some housing rights work UM. When 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:04.159 COVID hit, we're really small organization UM and immediately just 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:09.280 kind of like called this sixty sixty organ wide coalition 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:12.960 call to be like, hey, Radical Left, this is a 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:15.320 big fucking deal. What do we want to do about it? 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:17.400 How can we support each other in doing that? And 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:20.000 through that work we were able to kind of UM 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:24.480 more succinctly find what gaps in the radical Left infrastructure 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:28.560 there was, so that we could work on filling that need. 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:33.720 Part of that was UM creating UH hubs around town. 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:37.760 UH there there was a few already existing and stuff. 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:42.200 So that's where we created share or the Symbiosis Hub 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:45.439 and Resource Exchange program where we were able to be 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:49.280 some of the first UH first on the ground responders 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:53.280 to making sure that our communities have the PPE they 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:55.919 needed when we were being told that we that we 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:59.280 shouldn't have PPE because we should save it for other people. 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:05.200 So we we were distributing PPE. We'd organized the Solidarity Stitchers, 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:08.760 which we're both producing their own masks and kind of 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:12.560 teaching each other how to sew and learning basic organizing 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:15.560 skills and how to interact with one another in this 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:20.119 directly democratic way. But we're also activating the community by 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:24.119 creating these groups UH the Solidarity Stitchers group online that 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:28.920 allowed us to then increase our production to being able 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:33.080 to basically hand make masks that nobody could find anywhere, 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:39.000 UH numbering in the thousands, UM and and getting and partnering. 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:44.320 We also created the Solidarity UH Fund UM the Cebiosis 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:50.080 Solidarity Fund, which basically was not only UM giving individuals 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:54.159 in the Portland area who were experiencing economic hardship and 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:58.320 response to the COVID pandemic UM directly. We were giving 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:01.800 them funds like people who needed medical expenses covered, people 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:06.760 who needed transportation needs, covered people, et cetera, but as 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:10.040 well as well as grassroots organizations that needed money to 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:15.040 continue their vital programming. For example, UH Courtland Action Medics 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:18.879 and UH Slash the rose Hip Medic Collective. UH we 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:22.280 were able to make sure to get them multiple thousands 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:25.240 of dollars to continue the hand sanitizer project that they 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:29.359 were doing. From there, we were able to slowly grow 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:33.720 through our our mutual aid program through share and solidarity stitchers, 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:38.800 this solidarity fund into UM also UH expanding within ourselves 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:42.000 sort of this education and outreach work that we were 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:46.960 doing to further further within our organization and out in 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:51.480 in the general public, educate about communalism, mutual aid, what 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:54.199 it means to be an accomplice, things about the the 0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:59.080 radical left movement that have been forgotten or never learned. 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:03.040 This grew to encompass connections with the Warrant Springs Reservation, 0:21:03.600 --> 0:21:08.800 distributing supplies PPE and clean water with fires igniting the 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:13.200 spirit when the water main for the reservation broke when 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:17.119 the protests began, Symbios's moved to make sure that PPE 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:20.400 and resources were available there as well. We were printing 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:24.240 zines and showing up at protests. UM. At the protests, 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:27.200 we were also the first group on the ground essentially 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:32.239 to provide ppe, recognizing that, yes, this uprising is going 0:21:32.280 --> 0:21:35.679 to happen regardless of the risk, because the need is 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:38.280 that great. But we're gonna do that and see a 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:42.600 culture of taking care of each other. Um. So yeah, 0:21:42.720 --> 0:21:47.440 in distributing zines and uh and educational material of other 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:50.840 sorts and stuff and getting people plugged into organizing other 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:53.400 much way formed in the early days of the protests, 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:56.919 fueled by the desire to help out however possible. Early on, 0:21:57.080 --> 0:21:59.639 snack Mom was realized that they were not interested in 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:02.159 run from the police, but they can make sure that 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:05.920 the people in the streets had food and supplies. Uh. 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:09.760 I'm snack Mama number one. I go by shiba um 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:15.000 where I guess we're mutual aid. Yeah. Yeah, we hand 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:18.000 out snacks and waters and things that nature. Anything you 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:22.720 know anybody would need, uh poto things like that, stash 0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:29.000 medical supplies, any like extra like masks or gas masks 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:33.840 or protective gear that we can possibly get our hands on. UM, 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:36.399 lots of stuff. I mean, there's been a lot of 0:22:36.480 --> 0:22:39.119 random stuff that we put out there is whatever the 0:22:39.119 --> 0:22:42.960 needs are. But mainly just snacks and drinks. UM, And 0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:45.720 I'm snack mama too. I've already been docks, so I'm 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:48.120 not even worried about my name. I go by Amanda, 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:53.040 And yeah, that's pretty much what will we do? Mutual aid? Yeah, 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:57.480 how did you get started? Like? When when did you 0:22:57.520 --> 0:22:59.520 first start coming to the out to the protests? Like 0:22:59.560 --> 0:23:02.120 how did you get started coming out to the protests? Um? 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:06.119 What was thet for you to come out? Well? UM, 0:23:06.119 --> 0:23:09.400 when the whole George Floyd video was released and I've 0:23:09.400 --> 0:23:14.920 seen that it was, it was mortified. I cried because 0:23:14.960 --> 0:23:17.040 it was it was definitely just hard to watch UM 0:23:17.440 --> 0:23:20.879 again again and again and again and again. And this 0:23:21.080 --> 0:23:23.280 was just kind of the last draw for everyone, you know, 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:26.680 I feel like UM. And then there were protests going 0:23:26.680 --> 0:23:29.600 on down town. UM, so we went and checked him 0:23:29.600 --> 0:23:33.080 out and then after that we started going out pretty 0:23:33.160 --> 0:23:37.959 much every night after that and just checking him out. UM. 0:23:38.080 --> 0:23:40.600 I don't exactly remember when it was, but we have 0:23:40.720 --> 0:23:44.160 started up with UM. The next partner of mine now 0:23:44.480 --> 0:23:47.320 he started. I remember it was the beginning of June. 0:23:47.320 --> 0:23:50.240 I drugged them with me. We wouldn't check it out, 0:23:50.840 --> 0:23:54.920 you know. UM. So then after that we had started 0:23:54.960 --> 0:23:59.000 cooking where we were cooking downtown. UM. We did that 0:23:59.080 --> 0:24:02.440 for like maybe a month, two or two. UM. We're 0:24:02.600 --> 0:24:08.000 what we're called Don't Starve PDX Yeah, don't Start p UM. Yeah. 0:24:08.119 --> 0:24:11.880 So that was us UM and then August fifteen, there 0:24:12.000 --> 0:24:16.399 was a domestic dispute between me and my partner UM 0:24:16.480 --> 0:24:18.800 who was part of Don't Start who was part of 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:23.880 Don't Start x UM. And then after that, I mean 0:24:23.960 --> 0:24:26.400 the the original snack van he was supposed to get 0:24:26.440 --> 0:24:30.639 that UM. And then after the domestic dispute, UM, the 0:24:31.000 --> 0:24:33.359 owner of the van pulled out from underneath him was like, 0:24:33.400 --> 0:24:37.280 you know, I can't support this. UM. Then he offered 0:24:37.280 --> 0:24:41.880 me the van, and then me and her UM had 0:24:41.880 --> 0:24:43.960 this van and we're like, okay, what can we do 0:24:44.040 --> 0:24:48.040 with this? UM. So then that's when we started doing 0:24:48.280 --> 0:24:50.040 snack Mamas. It took us a minute to come up 0:24:50.040 --> 0:24:53.359