WEBVTT - We Do This Every Night 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:07.240 Police grow do not interfere with the officer instructions, he 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:11.360 will be sus A four scud embatations and riottral agents 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:22.360 stay back. By the time protests kicked off in Portland, 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:25.480 protesters in Minneapolis had burned down the Third Precinct and 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:28.520 several other buildings. But as it turns out, Portland was 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:30.880 actually the first city in the country to declare a 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:34.920 riot over the protests after George Floyd's death. This has 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:37.240 more to do with the way that Portland police declare 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:41.120 riots than the objective standard of unrest, and now many 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:44.160 months later, Portland police still declare riots on a fairly 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:47.400 regular basis. It seems that Portland is set on having 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:51.800 the first and last riot of the protests. So what 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:56.200 happened that turned relatively normal BLM actions in Portland, which 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:59.480 were happening in every major American city into a movement 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:03.280 that still draws out crowds today. I'm Robert Evans and 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:07.039 this is Uprising, a guide from Portland. My partners in 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:10.920 this series are a team of local Portland journalists Garrison Davis, 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:14.800 Donovan Smith, b Lake, and Elaine Kitchen. We wrote this 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:17.680 series together and they'll be handling most of the narration. 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:20.520 For this episode, you'll be hearing more from me too, 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:22.959 as we've embedded audio from several of the live streams 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:26.200 I recorded during cop riots. Right now, I'm going to 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:29.200 hand the mic off to Donovan Smith. He's reported on 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:33.000 politics and social justice for a wide variety of local publications, 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:37.080 and he helped produce a documentary on gentrification. Here's Donovan. 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:40.400 After the first night of quote unquote rioting in Portland's, 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:43.440 a state of emergency was declared and a curfew was 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:47.119 imposed from eight pm to six am, with the express 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:50.920 interests of cracking down all mass gatherings of protesters. When 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:53.160 asked if the curfew will be enforced if someone was, 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:56.880 for example, to go grocery shopping, the Mayor's office replied, quote, 0:01:57.400 --> 0:01:59.920 the city is not interested in citing people who are 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:03.120 lying about their business, causing no harm and uninvolved in 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:07.800 criminal conduct. Quote. But it didn't require property destruction or 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:10.760 criminal conduct for the police to start attacking and arresting 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:16.359 protesters on Saturday. Even before the curfew. That Saturday, thousands 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:19.240 gathered outside the Justice Center, which had to become tradition 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:23.080 in Portland. People march around downtown and occupied the street 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:25.480 in front of the j C, the casual name given 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:28.120 to the Justice Center. Police came out a few times 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:30.160 throughout the day to try and get people off the street, 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:33.919 with mixed results. This culminated with the police and riot 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:36.960 gear tear gassing the streets and city parks around the 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:40.000 j C while bashing people in the head with truncheons, 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:42.919 all in broad daylight, hours before the curfew was said 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:54.360 to begin. Look at this top hitting with this. Look 0:02:54.360 --> 0:03:00.720 at the look at this. Throughout downtown, some white vans 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:03.920 targeted the largest crowd of protesters they could find, launching 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:06.480 tear gas and stunt grenades into the crowd of people. 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:09.760 Regular city traffic was engulfed in clouds of gas on 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:13.240 streets which had not even been closed. Houses Portland are 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:17.640 sleeping intents were woken by flashbangs, gas and impact grounds. 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:21.200 As a clock struck eight pm. After telling and gassing 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:24.200 protesters for the better part of two hours, cops kettle 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:27.840 protesters onto a bridge, surrounding and arresting the entire crowd 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:30.600 for being out past curfew. A total of forty eight 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:34.000 arrests were made that night. Portland Mayor Tet Wheeler, upon 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:37.040 his return from visiting his sick mother extended the curfew 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:40.440 for yet another day. On Sunday, May one, the largest 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:43.880 crowd yet, ten thousand strong, marched across the burn Side 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:46.800 Bridge into downtown. As the marchers approached the end of 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:49.280 the bridge, cops were waiting on the other end, blocking 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:52.480 their path. Once the sheer size of the crowd became apparent, 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:55.320 the police turned tail and ran high, telling it back 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:58.080 to the Justice Center. The crowd followed them there and 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:02.120 attends hours long standoff allowed. Eventually, the crowd thinned out 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:04.520 enough that police were able to tear gas and flash 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:08.360 band grenade protesters into dispersing. That night was one of 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:12.000 the most terrifying evenings of the entire uprising, with the 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:15.800 officers hanging off of riot evans and grenading passers by 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:19.880 seemingly at random. Mayor Wheeler extended the curfew for yet 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:24.120 another day. At a press conference announcing his ascension, Wheeler 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:26.760 doubled down on his law and order stance, this time 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:29.080 with the help of Governor Kate Brown. I want to 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:33.120 be very clear that there are open lines of communications 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:36.560 between myself and the Governor personally, as well as between 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:42.360 our offices. There is coordination with the Superintendent of State 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:47.520 Police as well as the leadership of the National Guard UM. 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:50.880 I spoke to the Governor three or four times yesterday. 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.800 I did make the request on all three of those 0:04:55.120 --> 0:05:02.440 occasions for support from the National Guard. The Governor had 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:09.280 alternative strategies that she suggested, including deploying more state police resources. 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:13.279 We subsequently asked for additional tools that could be used 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:17.760 in the field. That was agreed to by the Governor 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:22.760 and supported UM Based on last night, however, I agree 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:25.479 with what the U. S. Attorney has said, and I 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:28.560 agree with what my colleagues in the Portland Police Borough 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:31.920 have just confirmed with me, which is we do need 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:36.040 more resources. Come Monday, June one, there was a shift 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:39.559 in Portland protests. Instead of meeting at the Justice Center, 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:42.279 another crowd of thousands gather on the east side of 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:45.800 Portland's across from the river downtown at an aptly named 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:50.480 concert venue Revolution Hall. After some speeches, the crowd began 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:54.359 to march west toward downtown. The crowd near Defense with 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:56.960 a line of riot cotts behind the chain link. A 0:05:57.040 --> 0:05:59.039 young black woman at the head of the march asked 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:02.120 an officer of the march to the j C. The 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:05.279 police said no, Eventually, the huge march headed back to 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:09.640 Revolution Hall and no tear gas was used. Now you 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:12.000 have to understand at this point a lot of the 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:15.400 crowd had just been the last three days getting horribly 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:19.280 tear gas, beat up and chased by the police. The 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:22.120 thought of doing a protest and march without being assaulted 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:24.800 by the cops felt like a nice change compared to 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:28.840 the last three nights. But that all changed the next day, 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:33.600 the day that would become infamously known as tear gas Tuesday. 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:38.080 Tear gas Tuesday sucked. Well. I had a full asthma attack. Um. 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:42.240 I had never been subjected to tear gas before, and 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:44.400 so I saw a cloud of tear gas, and I 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:47.560 saw a man fall down in the cloud of tear gas, 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:50.720 and he was struggling to get up, and so I 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:53.320 ran in and I kind of picked him up by 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:55.640 his shirt and then grabbed my eyes on and pulled 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:58.400 him out of there. And then I immediately had an 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:03.839 asthma attack. Um, and my buddy picked me up and yeah, 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:07.560 that's both out of there. That's Chris, a volunteer protests 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:11.040 medic and tear Gas Tuesday was actually his second night 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:14.520 out the brutality. He witnesses what got him to decide 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:17.640 to dedicate his whole summer to helping people in the streets. 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:19.640 I saw a girl get hit in the face with 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:23.920 trapnel and that was not okay. And then everybody's getting 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:25.440 tear gas and it was a mess. And it was 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:29.040 the infamous tear Gast Tuesday. And after that, I just 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:32.080 kind of decided that I needed to start coming out 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:36.880 with medical supplies because how that was handled, what people 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:42.760 were doing to provide medicine in that moment wasn't up 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:44.679 to a standard that I knew that I could provide. 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:47.560 But let's take a step back. Tear Gast Tuesday was 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:50.640 a noteworthy shift for Portland protests for a multitude of reasons. 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:54.280 It was the first day since Riot Night with no curfew, 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:57.440 with city officials even publicly admitting to the curfew being 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:00.720 in effective now, and it was the first day that 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:04.400 the protests noticeably began to splinter. Just like Monday the 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:08.520 day before, thousands sparks from Revolution Hall towards the fence, 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:11.880 which at this point surrounded several city blocks, including the 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:16.360 Justice Center, the Federal Courthouse, and Chapman in Loudesdale, the 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:20.560 two city parts which faced those buildings, only this time 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.040 just have the crowd turned back to Rev Hall, but 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.640 the other half set on chanting at the police behind 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.840 the chain link fence. The Portland Police issue repeated warnings 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:31.760 over louds because that protesters were not to touch defense 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:36.120 under threat of right munitions as might be predicted. The 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:40.160 santity of PPB sacred fence became an immediate source of ridicule. 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:43.720 Even as police followed through on their threats and as 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:46.440 members of the crowd dared to touch the fence, the 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:50.440 PPB once again deployed an outrageous amounted tear gas. And 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:53.080 it wasn't even the mounted teer gas that was fired 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:55.800 off that night, but how they fired it. Several times 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:59.200 Police rushed in multiple directions, all while firing off more 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.880 tear gas, eating a massive cage of poison. Police are 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:06.280 boxing and crowded on several sides and deploying munitions into 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:10.960 the crowd, flashbags and gas to see the antashes flag here. 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:15.520 Two other things stick out from tear gas susan, the 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:18.480 first of which was just how many motorists driving through 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:24.120 downtown were tear gas by Portland police them everywhere from 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:32.240 the rooftops hall side pump gas in County gas into 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:36.960 the crowd, shooting gas. Look, there's fucking tear gas. They're 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:40.600 sucking tear gas in the middle of traffic. That was 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:44.160 just fired from someone up on a rooftop into the 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:47.439 middle of traffic. Multiple times, people who are blinded by 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:50.720 gas while driving panic and lost control of their vehicles, 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:55.040 nearly hit people as they drove into crowds. Protesters were 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:57.960 water bottles and medical supplies render aid to drivers who 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:00.480 had crashed into the curves. Here, we have how many 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:03.559 cards there are here? All of these people are about 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:08.679 to get tear gas. Oh boy, they're just started arcing 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:10.480 them down at us from God and us where baby 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:13.480 on the roofs. They're just coming down from the sky. 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:16.520 People was trying to traffic coming them, trying to pick 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:19.960 them away, trying to stop them from gassing traffic. The 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:22.720 other thing that sticks out is the crowd's resilience was growing. 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:26.679 Protesters started adopting Tati scene in the Hong Kong Uprising, 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:30.480 like placing traffic cones over tear gas canisters and pouring 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:32.599 water through the top of the cone to get the 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:36.160 Bernie caranister out. We see people actually very effectively to 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:40.360 polling on tactics here to stop these tear gas grenades 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:44.439 from dropping brock Co tusters and from gassing vehicles. A 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:46.680 chance that became popular in the Whist to Come was 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:50.920 walked don't run, reminding people in times of panic often 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:56.240 the safest way out. It's just by walking calmly. More 0:10:56.280 --> 0:11:00.000 experienced organizers are walking calmly through the crowd, putting hands 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:03.200 on people and saying do not run. Do not run, 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:06.360 because the thing that hurts people in situations like this 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:10.960 is panic. It's scary, but it probably won't seriously harm 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:13.920 you if you don't panic, and the police aren't going 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:16.840 to take any steps to try to avoid a stampede, 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:20.520 so the only way to avoid a stampede is again 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:23.839 for the crowd to take care of itself. We have 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:28.120 seen people get so much better at reforming the crowd 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:32.880 after being gassed. That started to really improve on Sunday night. 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:37.320 And look, most of the people are still here, still organized, 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:40.640 still marching, still many thousands of people. This is the 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:43.120 first time we've seen the best job of the crowd 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:48.000 staying together and really showing commitment and endurance uh in 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:51.280 the face of police brutality. So this has been a 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:56.079 very important and a very impressive night from the activists 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:59.600 and the citizens of Portland, Oregon. Chris will acquire a 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:02.240 gas asked the very next day sums of his feelings 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:05.400 about tear gas Tuesday like this. It was such an 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:09.360 odd response to see the police respond to a protest 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:27.160 about um police violence and brutality with police violence and brutality. 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:32.439 After tear gas Tuesday, things in Portland started to fall 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:35.880 into a pattern. During the day, there'll be massive peaceful 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:38.600 marches starting from Revolution Hall led by a new group 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:43.000 called Royal City Justice. At night, about a thousand protesters 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.880 would gather at the Sacred Fence, which now only surrounded 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:49.800 the Justice Center and the adjacent federal buildings, to inevitably 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:53.199 get tear gas and attacked by police for quote tapering 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:57.200 with the fence. Photo journalists and photographer Mariah says some 0:12:57.280 --> 0:12:59.320 of her favorite moments of the protests were at the 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:02.800 massive march is organized by Royal City Justice in early June. 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:05.920 I would say, like in the early days, UM really 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:10.160 is some stuff that really is memorable to me, especially 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:13.480 with a lot of my UM favorite photos from this 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:18.040 whole um UM movement has come from the earlier days, 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:19.720 Like there was a moment I want to say it 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:23.880 was that Burnside Bridge when everyone was like laying down 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:26.720 for eight minutes and forty six seconds, and Um, I 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:29.360 got some good pictures of that, and it was just 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:32.720 really great to capture. UM. I think that the moment 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:35.000 when Damian Lillard came out, you know, everyone like you know, 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:37.120 had like this slub moment in this and I got it. 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:38.920 And at the moment actually when he came out, I 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.600 didn't even know he was out there, and so I 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:44.040 checked my photos later and I was like, oh, snap, 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:47.720 UM got him and stuff. Activists and live streamer Max 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:50.600 Smith attended both the larger daytime protests on the East 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:54.160 Side and the night protests at the j C. Here 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:56.640 he explains how he became a popular speaker at the 0:13:56.640 --> 0:13:59.920 Portland protests and the interesting effect of having both the 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:03.160 daytime march and a nighttime action on the public. I 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:05.240 want to say it was the second or the third 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:09.160 that I actually got out in the streets um doing 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:11.559 the work with the security stuff and helping out with 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:15.360 the larger marches on the East Side, the Revolution Hall 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:17.520 things and all that. So I was kind of doing 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:20.120 playing a couple of rolls over there with helping with 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:24.120 the Guardian folks and doing some you know, political education 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:26.280 at the same time, and it's it kind of just 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:28.480 came natural. I just started talking to people and people 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:31.720 started listening to what I'm saying, and um, on the 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:37.040 night of the five, I got arrested downtown at the 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:41.040 j C um or near the around the area of 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:43.320 the j C. At least I got arrested down there. 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:48.400 And so that weekend I ended up giving a speech 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:53.320 at Irving Park and that's kind of where things started 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.680 ended up being like streamed on the news locally. So 0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:00.600 that's where things kind of started changing for me at 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:04.200 that point. And can you talk to me about the 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:07.280 night you were arrested? Yeah, just kind of as much 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:09.600 detail as you're because you're interested in going in. Yeah, 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:14.000 that's fun my, you know, it was just a basic arrest. Um. 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:16.520 I was actually out there with a couple of people. 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:18.400 We had been going down a couple of nights to 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:20.760 see what was going on at the Justice Center because 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:22.200 you know, I have been you know, if you're just 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:24.720 watching the news, all you see is, you know, it 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:27.720 looks like one big march, right, Like it's one huge march. 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:29.160 It starts in the daytime and all of a sudden 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:33.000 it descends into madness at night. But quickly I realized 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:35.360 that there's there's multiple things that are going on. If 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:36.920 you leave your house, you know, you get the TV, 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:38.920 it's a lot that's going on in the streets. So 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:41.280 I started, you know, going out to see different things. 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:44.320 And we were down at the j C and things 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:47.120 got really gassy. It was one of the nights. So 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:49.240 again it was the first like you know, a few 0:15:49.320 --> 0:16:10.800 days of gassing, and I had been down there before, 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:12.640 and this time I brought a couple different people that 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:13.800 were like, you know, I'm trying to see it, but 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:15.120 I'm scared. I was like, just come with me. I'll 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:17.440 show you what's going on. It's not that big of 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:20.440 a deal. But we ended up um catching up with 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:22.760 some other people down there and kind of had like 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:25.200 a little group and we were and there were a 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:28.320 lot of like teenagers down there, and so we were 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:30.920 actually making sure a lot of people got out because 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:33.680 there were cops everywhere, like circling and pulling people over 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:35.720 and stopping people and arresting him. So we were like 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:40.440 kind of helping folks navigate their way out and then um, 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:42.400 as it got late, there were a bunch of people 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:44.720 that were suffering from tear gas. And so myself in 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:47.040 a medic and I have like a first day to 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:50.120 training basic stuff, and so that those first nights I 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:51.800 was out there with like you know, milk or the 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:54.760 baking soda and water solutions and whatever else, just helping 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:57.840 folks out. And so we were following the groans of people, 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:00.800 you know, coughing and and being into tear gas, and 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:04.200 the cops just rolled up with like four cars and 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:08.720 eight officers hopped out and I got snatched up and 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:10.439 it's got snatched up by that. I got grabbed by 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:13.680 the hair, got young to the ground, bruised my elbow. 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:16.240 You know, I had to creeck on my neck for 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:19.760 a few days. But they arrested me. They drove me 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.679 around a squad car for like fifteen twenty minutes. They 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:27.199 picked up some other guy, Um, you know, they accused 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:30.760 him of drawing on a drawing on a window with 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:33.399 a sharpie or something, and he's like what and they 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:35.439 were like, you know, they were trying to charge him 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:38.199 with a felony. All of our charges got dropped. No 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:40.800 one got charged with anything. I got charged with obstructing 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:43.880 the police. He got charged with something else. As Mac 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:46.199 was inside the police car, he was also able to 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:48.840 get a sneak peek of how the police were targeting 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:51.439 people for a rest behind the scenes. I thought it 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:54.040 was crazy because they had this like thing in their car, 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:56.840 like this like a heads up display like a HUT 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.960 and it it it had like it had an airy 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:03.600 o view of this of the downtown grid and it 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:08.159 had like it was able to track people. And I 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:09.720 thought that was it was like a call of duty 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:11.600 to display like when you're like using like you know, 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:14.040 the helicopter or whatever. It was like that, and like 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:15.920 you could see like the people and they were like 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:18.560 I represented like as lights a kind of there was 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:20.639 like a light on them. It was like a it 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:23.680 was like a black and white display and you could 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:26.000 see the things that are moving. But then like with people, 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:29.080 it basically lit them up with like lights and circles. 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:32.160 It would a circle us um if we were in groups, 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:35.560 and when the group's got small enough and they would 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:37.399 like a turn green and the cops were just to 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:40.040 go and rest people. The group of protesters gathered at 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:43.000 the fence were quick to make a distinction between quote 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:47.360 peaceful protests and non violent protests. While the massive Rose 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:50.720 City justice marches remained peaceful, the crowds have to j 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:55.120 C would engage in nonviolent actions such as shaking, tearing down, 0:18:55.160 --> 0:19:05.840 and cutting apart the chain link fence. Most of what 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:07.879 people did at the j C was just standing in 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:11.119 the street in parks while channey demands and slogans. But 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:13.320 it didn't require people to tamper with the fence or 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:15.359 throw a half drunk water bottles for the police to 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:18.960 respond with force. As this protester can attest, I was 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:22.119 downtown and it was back at the original fence, and 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:26.400 you know, there was probably I probably estimate like five 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:31.080 people there and everyone was really spread out, and um, 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:33.240 there was no police on the ground. It was raining 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:39.080 that night, and they had their floodlights like pointed at us. Um. 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:44.480 And one shot got fired from one of the like 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.280 the little balcony areas, the one that's farther to the right, 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:50.879 and it hit me in the leg. It was just 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:54.120 one shot and it hit me at the like the 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:58.119 very top of my left thigh. And I was just 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:01.400 standing there with a group of ends like I had. 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:03.120 There was a beach ball in the crowd that night 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:05.080 and it said don't gas me bro, And I picked 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:07.120 it up and I started writing on it, and one 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:08.840 shot got fired and it hit me in the leg. 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:11.880 And that was what I would consider to be at 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:16.399 least like protests related my first encounter with the Portland 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:18.560 Police Bureau. No one was doing anything, No one was, 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:21.000 you know, pushing on the fence or knocking on it, 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:22.600 and they just fired a shot into the crowd and 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:39.600 it hit me. Next you're going to hear from Garrison Davis. 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:42.800 He was just seventeen in Portland's vehle and protests started, 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:45.840 and for weeks he was out virtually every night, filming 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:48.439 some of the most intense police violence and posting some 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:52.280 of the most viral videos of the entire uprising. Here's Garrison. 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:55.320 Every night. The fence at the Justice Center seemed to 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:58.600 grow larger. The city doubled up some sections of the 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:02.280 chain link and stacked pieces offense on top of one another. Eventually, 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:04.960 concrete barriers were added to make it harder to knock 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:08.400 over the fence. The divides between protesters began to widen 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:12.199 as well. Some of the more radical leftist BLM activists 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:16.280 in Portland criticized Rosity Justice and their insistence on quote 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:20.160 peaceful protest over direct action that might damage police property. 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:24.040 Gregory McKelvey, vice chair of organ DEM's Black Caucus and 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:27.800 former organizer, pushed back on some of that criticism. Gregory 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:30.679 was also organizing on a new front, now as Protest 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:33.120 Gain Steam. He was in the home stretch of leading 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:36.760 a grassroots style campaign for political newcomer Sarah I on 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:40.480 our Own to take down incumbent Mayor Ted Wheeler. Many 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:43.359 Portlanders felt Wheeler had failed on his promise to deliver 0:21:43.440 --> 0:21:47.160 fundamental change on issues of housing and please reform. Instead, 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:50.680 Wheeler became a symbol of big money in politics more 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:53.159 of the same. Gregory's candidate I on our Own ran 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:56.400 to the left of Wheeler, dubbing herself and quote everyday 0:21:56.440 --> 0:22:01.480 anti fascist. So you know, uh, we had a situation 0:22:01.520 --> 0:22:03.719 where tens of thousands of people were marching every day. 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:06.760 And if you're at those events, they're just beautiful, and yeah, 0:22:06.800 --> 0:22:10.359 they're way more liberal, they're way more moderate. Um, but 0:22:10.480 --> 0:22:14.080 those people are being marched along pun intended towards a 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:17.800 more radical place. And you know, Malcolm X said more 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:21.720 eloquently than me that basically, UM, you know everything, you know, 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:25.600 there was a point where you didn't UM. And so 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:28.400 these people are on their journey just as everybody else. 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:30.840 And just because they're not anarchists yet does not make 0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:33.840 them agents of the state. UM. And I really think 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:38.159 that those protests are what effectively got us the UM 0:22:39.080 --> 0:22:42.159 the twenty million defunded from the police. I mean, we 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:45.320 had a moment where they were mass protests and Damian 0:22:45.400 --> 0:22:48.560 Lillard was at the front of a protest UM that 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:51.600 was in capturing the entire city. Now, if you're wondering, 0:22:51.960 --> 0:22:55.879 yes he's talking about that, Davian Lillard, five time NBA 0:22:56.040 --> 0:23:01.439 l Star and Portland's Trailblazers superstar point guard day mean Lillard, Yeah, 0:23:01.480 --> 0:23:05.760 he was out there too. Yeah. They weren't burning stuff down, um. 0:23:05.800 --> 0:23:08.440 And also some of their rhetoric was not, you know, 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:10.960 as far left as maybe I would like or and 0:23:10.960 --> 0:23:13.280 and certainly that some people at the Justice Center would like. 0:23:13.560 --> 0:23:16.160 But I actually do think those protests were more effective 0:23:16.520 --> 0:23:19.680