1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: A year before his death, and one of his most 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:05,720 Speaker 1: revered speeches, Martin Luther King Jr. Named three main evils 3 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:10,879 Speaker 1: plaguing America racism, poverty, and war. Decades later, the fight 4 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: for Black Lives unfolded into Portland streets in a fashion 5 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: few could have imagined, transforming small city blocks into daily 6 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:21,759 Speaker 1: battle grounds. As the fed wars continued, protesters, fortified numbers 7 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:25,119 Speaker 1: swelt in Portland grabbed the nation's attention. Out of state 8 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 1: media flew into town searching for juicy headlines. Likewise, a 9 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:32,720 Speaker 1: network of opportunists live streamers traveled to Portland, hoping to 10 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: capture what many activists dubbed riot porn video of police gassing, snatching, rushing, beating, berating, 11 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: and arresting Portlanders. And alongside all this less obvious but 12 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:47,560 Speaker 1: much more impressive, an infrastructure of resistance began to grow. Angry, 13 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:51,160 Speaker 1: chanting signs and tearful demands were augmented by mutual aid. 14 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 1: More than a month then, Portlanders learned that if they 15 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: were going to last against the paramilitaries of both the 16 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 1: president and the mayor, they were going to have to 17 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: take better care of each other. For the cops, things 18 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: had gotten pretty routine at this point, stop criminal activity, 19 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 1: protect property, but federal escalation begged the question would Portland's 20 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: back down? Despite grievous bodily harm, unmarked federal snatch fans, 21 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: and overwhelming use of riot munitions, Portlanders continued to fill 22 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:21,640 Speaker 1: the streets past the fiftieth straight day of protests, and 23 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:24,839 Speaker 1: the answer to the question will Portland back down became 24 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:36,200 Speaker 1: increasingly clear. No, here's my colleague in getting exposed to 25 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 1: chemical weapons Elaine Kinchen to continue the story. The battle 26 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:44,039 Speaker 1: against Trump's Feds gained Portland nationwide notoriety in the summer 27 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:47,800 Speaker 1: of but many longtime activists on the scene, like Max Smith, 28 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 1: considered the whole fight to be at best something of 29 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 1: a distraction, a fight and fence that wasn't what we 30 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: were here for. You know. The fence was like some 31 00:01:57,000 --> 00:01:59,360 Speaker 1: ship that kind of it was like to call at 32 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: the Grand Theft autos aside mission like this is, this 33 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 1: has nothing to do with what we're supposed to be 34 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 1: doing right now, but we have to complete this to 35 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 1: get back in the game, you know. And it was 36 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:13,360 Speaker 1: really weird, and I think at that moment I really 37 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: realized that the distraction was intentional and that this was 38 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:20,800 Speaker 1: all getting just diverted to become like a like a 39 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 1: Trump campaign at you know, he's gonna come through and 40 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 1: support these police unions and this is his big commercial 41 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: for it. So it was a very uh, I felt 42 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:35,640 Speaker 1: like it was a frustrating part of the protest because 43 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:37,800 Speaker 1: a it was really a dangerous and people were really 44 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:39,919 Speaker 1: getting hurt and kidnapped and all that kind of weird stuff. 45 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:42,799 Speaker 1: And then on top of that, it wasn't the fight 46 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 1: that I wanted to, you know, to be fighting, but 47 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:47,840 Speaker 1: it was. But it's the fight that brings out a 48 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:52,519 Speaker 1: lot of people. So a very contrasting and confusing time. 49 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: For sure. Thousands would attend each night, and the atmosphere 50 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 1: began to resemble a strange nightly festival, ending in the 51 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:00,640 Speaker 1: wee hours of the morning with a halts by federal 52 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: officers and clouds of poison gas. A man with a 53 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:05,679 Speaker 1: gas mask and hockey stick showed up one night to 54 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: knock canisters away. Teams of people with lacrosse sticks followed. 55 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 1: When lines of federal agents pushed forward, launching gas grenades, 56 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:17,119 Speaker 1: walls of protesters would now regularly toss the rounds back 57 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,839 Speaker 1: into and behind the fedlines. As protesters behind them used 58 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 1: leafblowers to direct the gas back at the courthouse, and 59 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:25,840 Speaker 1: squads of medics and the re retreated people as they 60 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: rotated in out of the front lines. The Federal Courthouse 61 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,400 Speaker 1: had many of the windows of its facade destroyed by 62 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:35,480 Speaker 1: fireworks and projectiles, and the clouds of gas rendered the 63 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,360 Speaker 1: bottom seven stories of the building uninhabitable. Assaults on the 64 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 1: fence were an integral part of nightly protests. Erected at 65 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:45,839 Speaker 1: a cost of two hundred thousand dollars and later reinforced 66 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: with concrete barriers, it was repeatedly dismantled by protesters and 67 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 1: piled in front of courthouse doors. The city, too wanted 68 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: the fence gone. It was blocking a bike lane without permits. 69 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: City attorneys sent a cease and desist letter to the 70 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:03,360 Speaker 1: federal government. Portland's City Commissioner, Chloe you Daily, stated the 71 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: fence is an abuse of public space and the threat 72 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 1: to the traveling public, and that this illegal action will 73 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: not be tolerated in our community. You Daily leveled the 74 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 1: fine of five hundred dollars against the federal government for 75 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,839 Speaker 1: every fifteen minutes that the fence remained on city property, 76 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: or forty thousand dollars a day. By August, the fines 77 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:27,280 Speaker 1: topped five hundred thousand dollars. Protest regular cramberly describes the 78 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: new turn in the protests as resembling a festival. I 79 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:34,839 Speaker 1: think like night is what it made it go from 80 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:37,720 Speaker 1: life this is interesting to like, this is a full 81 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 1: blown night, the actual spectacle um, the actual spectaclog. But 82 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:51,719 Speaker 1: it was huge, and I don't know it was I 83 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:56,719 Speaker 1: about all the stuff having much fun. It was so 84 00:04:56,839 --> 00:05:01,720 Speaker 1: much fun, honestly, the nice like it was no there 85 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: was some scary traumatic ship that happened, and I was 86 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:09,280 Speaker 1: genuinely scary for my whole last life a couple of times. 87 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:14,719 Speaker 1: But like I don't know, if I tell everybody felt 88 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:18,279 Speaker 1: like a succestival where you also thought cops. Did that 89 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: make sense because if you were just like at the 90 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:24,800 Speaker 1: j C, you could see the fact the j C 91 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:30,599 Speaker 1: courtous like el right, ever is you know something? You 92 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 1: know what I mean? You walk by you just send 93 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:37,920 Speaker 1: people do oh? Ship? Is that I was drugs? So 94 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:40,280 Speaker 1: it really felt like a music festival and there was 95 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,480 Speaker 1: a lot of fun um you know, I guess it's 96 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 1: also scary the energy and the tension, you know, super 97 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:51,920 Speaker 1: high as a fence. The fence period is like early 98 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: fence days were like we're shaking the fence. That specifically 99 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:59,040 Speaker 1: my favorite serious just because everyone which is so I 100 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:01,480 Speaker 1: raid at that point, like why of a fence? And 101 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 1: it came back to like lawnmower or not more sleep flowers. 102 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:08,720 Speaker 1: They came back to leaf blowers and knows what night 103 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: I saw like multiple people of circular songs and I 104 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:19,200 Speaker 1: just really loved the enginuity of great type of shield 105 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:22,720 Speaker 1: walls of a great time someone through Uh do a 106 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:27,920 Speaker 1: cheer gap and answer back across. Yeah, Uh, it's gonna 107 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:30,160 Speaker 1: be me talking to my kids in that fifty years. 108 00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:33,680 Speaker 1: One of the things that became clear early into the protests, 109 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:36,040 Speaker 1: even before the Feds came, is that if you didn't 110 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:38,320 Speaker 1: have a gas mask, you were going to need one. 111 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:40,800 Speaker 1: COVID had already given the world a bit of a 112 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:43,919 Speaker 1: post apocalyptic feel between the looming danger of the virus 113 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:46,920 Speaker 1: and everyone being behind masks, but the growing number of 114 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:51,279 Speaker 1: respirators that actions accentuated that the immense quantity of gas 115 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 1: that the federal forces used made respirators and gas masks 116 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: unnecessary piece of equipment, and as the summer dragged on, 117 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:00,400 Speaker 1: protesters began mobilizing to get respirators into the hands of 118 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:04,159 Speaker 1: all that needed them. Sixteen year old Ariana Moorehead says 119 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:06,480 Speaker 1: that she's got her first gas mask over the summer, 120 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:10,160 Speaker 1: I just died through mutual aid, you know, the community, 121 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:15,200 Speaker 1: bringing everything, everybody together. Um, we probably from Freedom actually 122 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 1: had a couple gas masks donated to them, so that's 123 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:22,880 Speaker 1: where I got mine from. Uh. The helmet I got 124 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: from another group by organized with which is our Streets PDX, 125 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: And then I forgot working on my goggles from but yeah, 126 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:33,920 Speaker 1: just you know, the community. After a few bouts with 127 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 1: police and right Ring militiaman, her uniform had graduated. Now 128 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: every night she went out, she was ready from head 129 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 1: to toe in an outfit she never expected she would need. 130 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: The first couple of nights was really bad tear gas 131 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 1: and I'm like, okay, mom, mune system can't do this. 132 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: Like I just had milk to save my eyes from 133 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: you your gas. But now I had goggles, a helmet, 134 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:58,680 Speaker 1: a gas mask. Uh, and a lot of people have 135 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: been wanted to get me a bullet for the but 136 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:03,280 Speaker 1: I haven't gotten one yet, you know, just in case, 137 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:07,400 Speaker 1: because I'm pretty known by a lot of white supremacis. 138 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 1: So it's kind of triggering for me. Um, Like I said, 139 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 1: I've got not sent to my house, like God, We're 140 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:16,520 Speaker 1: not like God like still like I'm gott to be 141 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:18,200 Speaker 1: sent to my house. But I've gotten some through my 142 00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:20,640 Speaker 1: go fund me. I've had some sent to my number. 143 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:23,200 Speaker 1: I had to change my number and everything. I've had 144 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 1: some saying over email, social media. It's crazy. So I 145 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:32,760 Speaker 1: just need to be you know, safe at all times. 146 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:37,240 Speaker 1: But yeah, right, it gives like helmet goggles, face masks. 147 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:40,480 Speaker 1: Max Smith describes needing to get better gear as the 148 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: violence from federal forces grew more intense. The first thing 149 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:49,080 Speaker 1: was like, oh, ship, I need equipment. I got a 150 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:50,680 Speaker 1: helmet in the face shield and got shot in the 151 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:53,520 Speaker 1: face like a day later. So you know, I saw 152 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: on video I was watching a Dre's when he got 153 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: hit in the head um with a gas canister. H 154 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:03,000 Speaker 1: at last ready to skull. So I started seeing like, oh, 155 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:05,839 Speaker 1: people are getting hurt out here. I had actually saw 156 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:08,920 Speaker 1: I was his name of Chris the taser face. I 157 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:12,199 Speaker 1: had seen him the day before he got beat and 158 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 1: I was with the buddy of my world that that 159 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:15,679 Speaker 1: guy is huge who was this guy over here? We 160 00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:17,560 Speaker 1: were like just talking about how big this guy was. 161 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:19,319 Speaker 1: And the next day I see him on the news 162 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:22,240 Speaker 1: getting his ass bet, you know, and I'm like, wow, 163 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:24,640 Speaker 1: Like they're really beating everybody up out here. And there 164 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 1: were thousands of people out there, and people were like 165 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:31,679 Speaker 1: just being massively, just beat in mass and that's the thing. 166 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:33,920 Speaker 1: And people didn't have masks or anything. We were just 167 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:36,280 Speaker 1: getting tear gas and going to the corner and walking 168 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:39,400 Speaker 1: to sixth Avenue and getting our faces flushed out and 169 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:43,280 Speaker 1: walking back down again. You know, I remember the solid 170 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:46,920 Speaker 1: at Deity being crazy, but I also remember thinking, this 171 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 1: is not what the hell we're here for. Another activist 172 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:53,280 Speaker 1: also describes the process of gearing up. The first night 173 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:56,040 Speaker 1: that I went up to the Justice Center at you know, 174 00:09:56,120 --> 00:10:01,480 Speaker 1: the original fence, I had on a her jeans, boots, 175 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:07,080 Speaker 1: a sweatshirt, and a hat. And you know, that went 176 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:11,280 Speaker 1: from that night when it was raining, and then on 177 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:16,520 Speaker 1: my birthday actually, which is June, um my dad texted 178 00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 1: me and said that he spotted me on a live 179 00:10:19,559 --> 00:10:22,320 Speaker 1: stream because I was wearing like a plaid shirt and 180 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 1: a pair of light colored jeans. And then that was 181 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:27,120 Speaker 1: kind of when it clicked for me. They're like, Okay, 182 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:29,640 Speaker 1: this is why people are consistently wearing black down here, 183 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:32,920 Speaker 1: Like you don't want to be recognizable, even though I've 184 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:35,480 Speaker 1: never you know, thrown anything or let anything on fire, 185 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:39,280 Speaker 1: tagged anything, like, you know, just not being able to 186 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:43,720 Speaker 1: spot someone is you know, it has its values, um 187 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:48,800 Speaker 1: and it went from you know, jeans and a sweatshirt 188 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:53,000 Speaker 1: to needing a respirator and goggles, and then to needing 189 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:58,360 Speaker 1: a vest, a bulletproof vest, helmet, you know, all the 190 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:00,240 Speaker 1: different gear that we've needed to make sure that we 191 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:06,400 Speaker 1: just protect ourselves. It's not about us weaponizing. It's not 192 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:10,760 Speaker 1: about us buying a bunch of guns when we're you know, 193 00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:12,960 Speaker 1: to carry around when we're down at the protests. It's 194 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:15,560 Speaker 1: not about that. It's about making sure that we don't 195 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:18,760 Speaker 1: die and then we don't get hurt. And I was 196 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 1: there the night that Donovan was shot, Like I was 197 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:24,400 Speaker 1: the person that ran across the park to go get 198 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:28,200 Speaker 1: the medics. And that was a huge awakening moment, Like 199 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:30,280 Speaker 1: I saw a brain fluid come out of his nose, 200 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:35,360 Speaker 1: you know, like that's a that's a big moment to know, like, Okay, 201 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:37,440 Speaker 1: we should probably make sure that that doesn't happen to 202 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:41,720 Speaker 1: a bunch more of us. Keeping people breathing became integral 203 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:43,840 Speaker 1: to the protesting and at the end of July, as 204 00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:46,880 Speaker 1: the gas intensified, Team Raccoon work to get filters to 205 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:50,600 Speaker 1: the protesters that needed them. We got a little bit 206 00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:57,160 Speaker 1: of money from mutually donations and we were wondering what 207 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:01,960 Speaker 1: because part cleans are pretty low cost, you know, trash bags, 208 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:05,000 Speaker 1: trash grabbers, doesn't cost a lot of money to maintain that. 209 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:07,840 Speaker 1: So we were wondering, like, what do we do with 210 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:10,920 Speaker 1: this money that will really help our community. And we 211 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:14,240 Speaker 1: were noticing the air quality and Loudsdale and Chapman getting 212 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:16,760 Speaker 1: worse and worse and worse because of the tear gas 213 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:19,439 Speaker 1: and the chemical munitions every night. Even just walking through 214 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:22,160 Speaker 1: there during the day, you wanted to put your respirator on. 215 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:27,760 Speaker 1: At the end of July, so we we're connected to 216 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:33,400 Speaker 1: some researchers who wanted to keep a certain level of anonymity, 217 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:36,760 Speaker 1: and we decided the best way to do that was 218 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:41,040 Speaker 1: through us. We could accept filters from the protest community 219 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:44,160 Speaker 1: and we could give them to the researchers. The researchers 220 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:46,880 Speaker 1: could conduct their studies and the privacy that they want 221 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:51,880 Speaker 1: and we could use mutual aid money to facilitate that. 222 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:56,040 Speaker 1: So that's how it started. UM. We were able to 223 00:12:56,280 --> 00:13:02,360 Speaker 1: locally sourced respirators through a local company UM and to start, 224 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:07,000 Speaker 1: I think we got about four cases of filters and 225 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:10,280 Speaker 1: then started getting respirators after the fact to kind of 226 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: like both keep people safe and promote like the Filter Exchange. 227 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:17,720 Speaker 1: If you don't have a respirator, now you do. Now 228 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:19,920 Speaker 1: you can participate in the filter Exchange later on, and 229 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:24,360 Speaker 1: then there's another data point for our scientists. So we 230 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:28,040 Speaker 1: were already set up doing the respirators, doing the Filter 231 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:33,200 Speaker 1: Exchange program. We had a lot sitting around and on 232 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:38,000 Speaker 1: the hundred Days and Ventura Park. It was a big 233 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:42,000 Speaker 1: event and I was not there that night, but I 234 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:46,640 Speaker 1: did watch it from the live streams and it was horrifying. 235 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:50,880 Speaker 1: As Trump's troops catapulted Portland into the national spotlight, cameras 236 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:53,360 Speaker 1: descended on the city. For more than a month, the 237 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:56,160 Speaker 1: protests had been covered by a small group of local reporters. 238 00:13:56,800 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 1: Suddenly the New York Times, the Washington Post, and every 239 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 1: major news network were crowding around the Federal courthouse on 240 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:06,120 Speaker 1: a nightly basis. Right Around the time the Fed War started, 241 00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:09,959 Speaker 1: a federal judge passed the temporary Restraining Order banning federal 242 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:13,840 Speaker 1: agents from attacking marked press. Whether this stopped any brutality 243 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:17,000 Speaker 1: is up for debate. The press freedom trackers statistics suggests 244 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 1: the Portland press were assaulted more often than press in 245 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:23,080 Speaker 1: any other city in What the restraining order did was 246 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:25,520 Speaker 1: explode the number of people who went out with cameras 247 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:28,480 Speaker 1: to live stream and film. The sheer number of people 248 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:31,840 Speaker 1: with cameras became an issue for many activists. At times, 249 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:34,840 Speaker 1: it was physically challenging just to maneuver around the courthouse, 250 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:37,800 Speaker 1: so much space was being taken up by people marked press. 251 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:41,800 Speaker 1: All this documentation also caused a problem for protesters taking 252 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:45,120 Speaker 1: a legal direct action against federal agents and property. The 253 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 1: flood of cameras amounted to constant live surveillance from every 254 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:52,160 Speaker 1: conceivable angle. Black block and umbrellas helped to shield people, 255 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:55,320 Speaker 1: but there was no perfect solution. Direct action was hampered. 256 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:58,640 Speaker 1: Midway through the Fed War, The Oragonian, a local paper, 257 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:02,000 Speaker 1: was able to get a journalists inside the Federal courthouse. 258 00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: They took a picture inside the command center, which featured 259 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:08,480 Speaker 1: a large computer monitor showing numerous live stream feeds of 260 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:12,240 Speaker 1: the protests. This convinced many committed activists that streamers were 261 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:14,640 Speaker 1: their enemy, and the fact that live stream footage was 262 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:18,120 Speaker 1: used in federal charging documents seemed to support that. However, 263 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:21,160 Speaker 1: the matter was not that simple. Early live streams of 264 00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:23,600 Speaker 1: police violence had played a major role in getting thousands 265 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: of Portlander's out into the streets. Over and over again, 266 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:28,680 Speaker 1: we heard stories from activists who first learned how to 267 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:31,240 Speaker 1: handle tear gas or who were radicalized to start coming 268 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:35,360 Speaker 1: out because they watched streams. Federal law enforcement clearly used 269 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:38,400 Speaker 1: live streams for intelligence as well, but it's also very 270 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:41,360 Speaker 1: possible they made certainly Oregonian took a picture of their 271 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:44,000 Speaker 1: wall of live streams because they saw the streams as 272 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:46,960 Speaker 1: a major avenue by which protesters recruited more numbers and 273 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:51,440 Speaker 1: built public sympathy. Whatever the truth, that Oregonian article convinced 274 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:53,640 Speaker 1: several members of the press to stop live streaming and 275 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:56,400 Speaker 1: to move to more carefully posting short videos of the action. 276 00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 1: As a result, live streaming was increasingly done by new 277 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:03,320 Speaker 1: bees who had flooded into Portland's seeking easy cash. The 278 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:07,000 Speaker 1: streamer apocalypse would continue as people brought gimbals and started 279 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,720 Speaker 1: plugging their cash app every five minutes on stream. It 280 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 1: should be noted there were also a number of Portlanders 281 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:14,120 Speaker 1: who slapped press onto their helmet in the hope that 282 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:16,440 Speaker 1: they wouldn't get beat up as much, which some might 283 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:18,680 Speaker 1: call a damning indictment of the state's use of force 284 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:35,880 Speaker 1: as the FED war raged on. One local critic was 285 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,680 Speaker 1: especially vocal about the optics of the protests. In double 286 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:43,680 Speaker 1: A CP Portland's chapter president, Pastor E. D. Mondane, described 287 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:47,120 Speaker 1: the protests as devolving into white spectacle. In a widely 288 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:51,760 Speaker 1: circulated Washington Post op ed quote from the article what 289 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:54,880 Speaker 1: are Antifa another leftist agitators achieving for the cause of 290 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:58,440 Speaker 1: black equality? The mall of Moms, while perhaps well intentioned, 291 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:01,360 Speaker 1: ends up redirecting attention away from the urgent issue of 292 00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:04,960 Speaker 1: murdered black bodies, he stated, before asking Portlanders to vacate 293 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:08,400 Speaker 1: the streets and instead to begin fighting at schools, city councils, 294 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:12,119 Speaker 1: and other governments now. While he also called for the 295 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:15,160 Speaker 1: Feds to leave, Pastor Mondane's call for Portlanders to pull 296 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:17,840 Speaker 1: out of the streets drew the ire of many organizers 297 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:21,080 Speaker 1: on the ground. It also earned Mondane airtime on national 298 00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:24,400 Speaker 1: news outlets, which only ended when a lengthy expose later 299 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:27,520 Speaker 1: that fall revealed that he had been alleged of engaging 300 00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 1: in sexual, mental, and emotional abuse by nearly a dozen 301 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:33,400 Speaker 1: members of his church. Now since the fourth of July, 302 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:35,560 Speaker 1: one of the regular and most revered sites at the 303 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:39,080 Speaker 1: protests was Riot Ribs, a free pop up barbecue food cart. 304 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:42,199 Speaker 1: Riot Ribbs was so beloved in Portland that even local 305 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:44,960 Speaker 1: politicians who had been negative about the protests were hard 306 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:48,280 Speaker 1: pressed to say a single bad word about them. The 307 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:51,480 Speaker 1: restaurant had started operations the night of July four, thanks 308 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 1: to a former Black panther named Lorenzo, Riot Ribbs quickly 309 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:57,879 Speaker 1: became a large scale operation, feeding protesters and helping the 310 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:01,200 Speaker 1: local homeless population. After a couple of weeks, the operation 311 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:05,240 Speaker 1: expanded into clothing donations, a large medical tent, resume help, 312 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:09,040 Speaker 1: and haircuts. The Ribs made local dining news, and protesters 313 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:11,240 Speaker 1: would often wait in line through clouds of tear gas 314 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:14,600 Speaker 1: to get them. They were pretty darn good. Volunteers cleaned 315 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:17,240 Speaker 1: the park and supplied equipment to protesters and again to 316 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:21,200 Speaker 1: the local house. Was Population Morgan, currently with Team Raccoon, 317 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:23,880 Speaker 1: who volunteered at Riot Ribs describes some of the work 318 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:26,600 Speaker 1: that they would do well. So the park clean itself 319 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:32,840 Speaker 1: m for volunteers was basically just UM show up. We 320 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:34,919 Speaker 1: have trash grabbers. You get to keep a pair of 321 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:38,320 Speaker 1: gardening gloves, UM, so you have something to protect your hands. 322 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:42,800 Speaker 1: We have sanitizer masks, anything that anybody would need, and 323 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:45,159 Speaker 1: that would just focus on picking up litter around the park. 324 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:50,200 Speaker 1: But myself and a couple of UM people that were 325 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:56,920 Speaker 1: doing with Riot Ribs every day we took the the 326 00:18:56,920 --> 00:19:02,199 Speaker 1: biggest hits on the bathrooms. UM. Even at one point 327 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:05,440 Speaker 1: UM like during cart cleans, I would have volunteers picking 328 00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:08,040 Speaker 1: up litter and picking up trash. But one thing I 329 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:12,040 Speaker 1: would go and do is I would get cat litter 330 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:15,840 Speaker 1: and put cat litter down behind the bathrooms, which is 331 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:19,080 Speaker 1: where people were peeing usually. UM. It was getting to 332 00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:21,840 Speaker 1: be a sanitation issue. So what we were doing was 333 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:23,960 Speaker 1: we were putting cat litter down and then scooping it 334 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:27,000 Speaker 1: away when I got used, and then putting fresh litter down. 335 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:31,679 Speaker 1: So myself in a couple of people from Riot Ribs 336 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:37,600 Speaker 1: were really doing the majority of that dirty work UM 337 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:44,400 Speaker 1: and volunteers were UM doing basically litter clean up and 338 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:47,399 Speaker 1: just general maintenance beds, however, had a different view of 339 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:50,120 Speaker 1: the operation well. The rain of tear gas and munition 340 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:54,080 Speaker 1: seemed largely indiscriminate. Volunteers at Riot Ribs were regularly pelted 341 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:57,520 Speaker 1: with rubber bullets and even arrested. An early morning sweep 342 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:01,200 Speaker 1: at Chapman and Loundesdale Squares even saw least booting houseless 343 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:04,600 Speaker 1: people from the respective parks, seizing all of Riot Ribbs equipment, 344 00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:07,320 Speaker 1: and arresting nine people, some of whom had helped run 345 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:10,440 Speaker 1: the cart. During the raids, Federal forces would pepper spray 346 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:14,440 Speaker 1: the grills and ruined donated equipment. In response, volunteers would 347 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:17,320 Speaker 1: dutifully take the ruined lit grills and dump them over 348 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:20,480 Speaker 1: the fence around the Federal Courthouse. One night, during a 349 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:23,760 Speaker 1: federal rush, all of the donated medical supplies were sprayed 350 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:27,280 Speaker 1: with mace, as of course, ruined them. Every time Riot 351 00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:30,480 Speaker 1: Ribbs was targeted and its crew arrested, its equipment destroyed, 352 00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:33,160 Speaker 1: more donations would come in, new people would come over 353 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:36,359 Speaker 1: to volunteer, and new equipment would be you know, provided. 354 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:38,639 Speaker 1: In just a couple of weeks, the effort, which had 355 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 1: started as just a one man operation, had raised more 356 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:44,760 Speaker 1: than three hundred thousand dollars to keep going. But just 357 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:47,440 Speaker 1: as quickly as the love came, there were new questions 358 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:50,960 Speaker 1: about the group's operations. In fact, both Wall of Moms 359 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:54,200 Speaker 1: and Riot Ribs soon faced sharp growing pains as new 360 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:58,080 Speaker 1: money and spotlights of attentions bred creeping suspicion among some 361 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:02,120 Speaker 1: in the activist community, and even doubts about safety. Courtney, 362 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:05,119 Speaker 1: who had started out protesting with Mall of Moms, described 363 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:07,280 Speaker 1: the night out with them that convinced her to quit. 364 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:13,720 Speaker 1: So um. That night, in particular, I know that that 365 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:17,200 Speaker 1: was the first night that actually mom got arrested. There 366 00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:20,520 Speaker 1: was one mom in particular that like she got arrested, 367 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:23,040 Speaker 1: but then she also got her head Like I don't 368 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:25,000 Speaker 1: know if they shot her directly in the head, but 369 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:30,000 Speaker 1: that's when she had her head busted open. So throughout 370 00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:32,920 Speaker 1: that night I was like, this is just not that, 371 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:35,840 Speaker 1: this is just not right. Like I don't understand they 372 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:39,280 Speaker 1: have like this these Facebook pages and these twitters and 373 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:42,440 Speaker 1: all this kind of stuff to like communicate things with people, 374 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 1: and nothing was communicated in a way for like to 375 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:50,399 Speaker 1: mentally prepare these women when they show us UM. And 376 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:52,320 Speaker 1: so that just throughout the night I was just so 377 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:53,840 Speaker 1: annoyed with all of that, and I was like, you 378 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:57,879 Speaker 1: know what, Like I'm not gonna wear out. Towards the 379 00:21:57,960 --> 00:21:59,680 Speaker 1: end of the night, my friends and I actually had 380 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:02,760 Speaker 1: shirts on underneath, and we like literally took our shirts, 381 00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 1: our yellow shirts off, and we're like, we're not doing 382 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:09,439 Speaker 1: this anymore. Most fed war nights followed a similar pattern. 383 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:12,200 Speaker 1: Huge crowds would gather. They would yell and throw things 384 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:14,520 Speaker 1: over the fence or damage the fence until the Feds 385 00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:16,959 Speaker 1: came out and force and pushed the crowd back. Then 386 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:19,360 Speaker 1: the Feds would go back inside, the crowd would reform, 387 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:21,600 Speaker 1: and the cycle would repeat itself until there was no 388 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:24,800 Speaker 1: one left. Midway through all of this, Portland Mayor Ted 389 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:28,200 Speaker 1: Wheeler went out and stood in the tear gas with protesters. 390 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:31,280 Speaker 1: On national media, his tear gassing was portrayed as bravely 391 00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:35,080 Speaker 1: standing with his city against federal overreach. The people actually 392 00:22:35,119 --> 00:22:39,520 Speaker 1: protesting in downtown Portland felt very different. Ted was heckled constantly, 393 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,440 Speaker 1: his bodyguard had to keep people away from him, and 394 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:45,720 Speaker 1: as he was leaving, horribly tear gassed activists dumped bags 395 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:48,840 Speaker 1: of spent riot munitions that Wheeler's cops had fired at them. 396 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:51,640 Speaker 1: Onto the ground in front of him. More than anything, 397 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:55,159 Speaker 1: Most protesters seemed to enjoy watching Ted suffer after he 398 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:58,440 Speaker 1: had caused such pain for all of them. Courtney continues 399 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:01,440 Speaker 1: on about that night. So the next night was the 400 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:05,760 Speaker 1: night that Ted came out, and we ended up deciding 401 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:07,480 Speaker 1: like we weren't going to come with Wall of Months 402 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:11,399 Speaker 1: anymore because there had been already like some in fighting 403 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:16,880 Speaker 1: on their pages or whatever, and so um, we just 404 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:19,080 Speaker 1: wanted nothing to do with it anymore at that point 405 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:22,640 Speaker 1: because of the miscommunication or I mean lacks of communication 406 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:27,320 Speaker 1: that there was. And so when Ted came out, that's 407 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:30,679 Speaker 1: when like it's definitely the numbers had multiply multiplied from 408 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:35,280 Speaker 1: Wall of Moms. And again I don't think that they've 409 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,520 Speaker 1: prepared anyone for what was going on. I mean I can't, 410 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:42,399 Speaker 1: you can't, like that's not probably as I don't know 411 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:44,919 Speaker 1: how accurate I am with that. But I had still 412 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:47,879 Speaker 1: remained on the Facebook pages and has been like looking 413 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:50,520 Speaker 1: at things and checking to see if anybody was like 414 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:54,160 Speaker 1: communicating what to expect. So then when they showed up, 415 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:57,040 Speaker 1: there was like so many of them, and then Ted 416 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:01,680 Speaker 1: was there and then throughout like the are the speeches 417 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:04,439 Speaker 1: that were going on and things like that. They I 418 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:07,960 Speaker 1: guess somebody that was speaking on the night had told 419 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:13,280 Speaker 1: of to tell the moms to go home because they 420 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:16,520 Speaker 1: didn't want to have a photo opportunity to or opportunity 421 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:21,720 Speaker 1: with Ted, So it wasn't communicated enough to the hundreds 422 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:24,760 Speaker 1: of moms that were there. And then while Ted was out, 423 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:29,679 Speaker 1: that's when they started gassing everybody. Well, apparently they had 424 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:32,320 Speaker 1: told the moms to leave, but there were like hundreds 425 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:36,960 Speaker 1: of moms left behind, had like no nothing. They had 426 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,080 Speaker 1: like things from like hydration station and the medics and 427 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:45,240 Speaker 1: like you know, some swimming goggles and you know, paper 428 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:47,359 Speaker 1: masks and things like that they didn't have, like they 429 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:50,800 Speaker 1: weren't prepared obviously for like with full face like gas masks, 430 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:55,280 Speaker 1: the respirators and things like that. And so she basically 431 00:24:55,480 --> 00:25:01,159 Speaker 1: had abandoned all of these moms and had posted a 432 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:04,920 Speaker 1: video on the Facebook things saying while of momsinique to leave, 433 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:07,720 Speaker 1: like we're not giving Ted Wheeler the opportunity to take 434 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:12,760 Speaker 1: a photo of us. Immediately after that's when they started gassing. 435 00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:19,240 Speaker 1: And there were hundreds of months screening running around Chapman 436 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:25,280 Speaker 1: Square and they're like leader Bed just left them, and 437 00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:28,480 Speaker 1: so the rest of the protesters were there like taking 438 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:31,479 Speaker 1: care of the women that were frontlining it, while like 439 00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:34,920 Speaker 1: that had dipped out and had gone. And so that's 440 00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:37,680 Speaker 1: when it kind of like started. The downfall of Wall 441 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:43,080 Speaker 1: of Moms was because later on people didn't realize because 442 00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:45,760 Speaker 1: nobody's like checking their Facebook while they're out there like 443 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:49,199 Speaker 1: waiting to get gasped by the Feds, and like the 444 00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:51,080 Speaker 1: next when they get home, they see that like that 445 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:55,320 Speaker 1: had told everyone to leave. Dmitria Hester started taking to 446 00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:58,840 Speaker 1: the streets during the FED War. She explains her perspective 447 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:01,520 Speaker 1: on what happened with the all of moms. Um, it 448 00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:07,400 Speaker 1: was beautiful. Um it was with the um Wall of Moms. 449 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:11,359 Speaker 1: But um, the person who created Wall of Mom she 450 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:16,080 Speaker 1: was a white privileged um mom and she tried to 451 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:22,440 Speaker 1: use black women to um to pro right on our 452 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:26,320 Speaker 1: backs about promoting herself and for it to be some 453 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:30,119 Speaker 1: kind of promotion and not for Black lives matter. It 454 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:33,720 Speaker 1: was all for a photo shoots and to be popular. 455 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:38,760 Speaker 1: And the moms were so disgusted by how she was 456 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:44,919 Speaker 1: trying to create them instead of being down there to 457 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:48,520 Speaker 1: fight for Black lives matter. And the moms saw that. 458 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:54,320 Speaker 1: So when they saw that she was trying to capitalize 459 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 1: on Black lives matter. Also they were disgusted. So me, 460 00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:02,680 Speaker 1: being a part of who I am, I took all 461 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:08,800 Speaker 1: the moms that we're not white supremacy moms trying to 462 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:14,200 Speaker 1: be the saviors and made moms united for Black Lives 463 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:20,920 Speaker 1: um because of the fact that the person betom she 464 00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:25,520 Speaker 1: was trying to capitalize on black lives she didn't care 465 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:28,639 Speaker 1: about black lives or the mom. She just wanted to 466 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:31,119 Speaker 1: do it for a photo of She thought she was 467 00:27:31,119 --> 00:27:35,240 Speaker 1: gonna come down there and save the day. So it 468 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:39,439 Speaker 1: was beautiful um for me to see so many people 469 00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:42,720 Speaker 1: out for black lives better, But it was so disgusting 470 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:47,240 Speaker 1: to see that what we've been fighting for that um 471 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:50,520 Speaker 1: their vitam came in and try to capitalize on that. 472 00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:53,520 Speaker 1: But we had to quickly turn that around. The Wall 473 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:56,440 Speaker 1: of Mom's founder Beth Barnum claimed to have the blessings 474 00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:59,640 Speaker 1: of the seasoned activist group Don't Shoot Portland's her early 475 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:02,120 Speaker 1: from lings lead Don't Shoot to step in and help 476 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:05,000 Speaker 1: guide both Wall of Moms and Riot Ribs in mid July. 477 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:09,920 Speaker 1: Almost immediately, what had been purely positive stories nose dived 478 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:14,800 Speaker 1: into something more muddled. Riot Ribbs disbanded before a full 479 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:17,560 Speaker 1: transfer of leadership could even happen, and the story of 480 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:20,840 Speaker 1: this is very complicated. There were allegations from of abuse 481 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:23,680 Speaker 1: from a former member of Riot Ribs, one of the 482 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:26,600 Speaker 1: people who helped cook there, and the whole situation left 483 00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:28,679 Speaker 1: a lot of people scratching their heads. The center of 484 00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:31,560 Speaker 1: the rift seems to have focused around an impostor who 485 00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:34,760 Speaker 1: started claiming to represent Riot Ribs in order to draw 486 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:38,880 Speaker 1: donations to himself. This person reportedly threatened several members of 487 00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:42,400 Speaker 1: Riot Ribs and several other protesters with a firearm on 488 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:46,520 Speaker 1: multiple occasions. The situation grew so messy and so violent 489 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:49,440 Speaker 1: that the old Riot Ribs staff departed, using the money 490 00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:51,479 Speaker 1: that they had raised to buy several vans and go 491 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:55,040 Speaker 1: deliver Ribs to protests around the country. The impostor Riot 492 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:58,000 Speaker 1: Ribs continued to operate and continued to threaten people with 493 00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:01,480 Speaker 1: deadly weapons on occasion. The situation with Wall of Moms was, 494 00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:04,000 Speaker 1: if not a little more normal than at least involved 495 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:07,080 Speaker 1: less of an armed coup. After Don't Shoot was given 496 00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:10,680 Speaker 1: control of the group, they gave Dimitria hester Admin control 497 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:14,200 Speaker 1: of the organization's now massive Facebook page and Don't Shoot. 498 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:17,400 Speaker 1: Portland's Wall of Moms even entered into a joint lawsuit 499 00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:19,920 Speaker 1: against the Department of Homeland Security for their use of 500 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:23,080 Speaker 1: excessive force, their violations of free speech, all of the 501 00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:26,280 Speaker 1: terrible stuff that they'd been doing. Shortly after this suit 502 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:29,120 Speaker 1: was announced, what had seemed to be a strong united 503 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:32,160 Speaker 1: front fell apart. Wall of Mom's founder Bev Barnum began 504 00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:35,640 Speaker 1: filing paperwork to register the group as a nonprofit. This 505 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:38,160 Speaker 1: move set up a series of alarms, leading Don't Shoot 506 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 1: to question if the move was to profit off of 507 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:43,320 Speaker 1: the Black Lives Matter movement. Bev pushed back Her goal, 508 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:46,760 Speaker 1: she said was to protect protesters from federal agents, not 509 00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:50,320 Speaker 1: the BLM movement. For her, while of Moms was something 510 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:53,760 Speaker 1: of a business, a line was drawn. Don't Shoot split 511 00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:55,720 Speaker 1: from the two week old Wall of Moms and founded 512 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:59,160 Speaker 1: a new black lead group called Moms United for Black Lives, 513 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:02,360 Speaker 1: this one led by Demitria Hester. We know the whole 514 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:04,800 Speaker 1: situation is very confusing, and trust us, no one who 515 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:07,840 Speaker 1: was there at the time had a super great understanding 516 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:09,960 Speaker 1: of what was actually happening with either the Wall of 517 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:13,360 Speaker 1: Moms or with Riot Ribs. It was a confusing time, 518 00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:17,160 Speaker 1: and everything that happened there was was very muddled, not 519 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:19,800 Speaker 1: just by all of the different people involved, but by 520 00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:22,920 Speaker 1: the constant clouds of tear gas and trauma that enveloped everything. 521 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:25,840 Speaker 1: As the city tried to present a united front against 522 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:29,160 Speaker 1: Trump's agents and the Portland Police Bureau, the growing rifts 523 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:33,560 Speaker 1: internally among protesters threatened to derail resistance altogether. A question 524 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:36,440 Speaker 1: began to loom above the clouds of gas. Had the 525 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:39,200 Speaker 1: fight become more about Donald Trump and his agents than 526 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:42,640 Speaker 1: the movement for Black lives? The answer would become critical 527 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:58,120 Speaker 1: in the unfolding days of the protest. The FED War 528 00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:00,600 Speaker 1: reached its conclusion. In the closing day days of July, 529 00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:03,800 Speaker 1: Oregon Governor Kate Brown entered talks with the White House 530 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:07,040 Speaker 1: to negotiate reducing the presence of federal troops on the ground. 531 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:10,320 Speaker 1: Things had fallen into yet another pattern. In the afternoon, 532 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:12,840 Speaker 1: a crowd would gather around the Justice Center and court 533 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:15,360 Speaker 1: House to sing and listen to speeches. As night fell, 534 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:17,880 Speaker 1: thousands would surround the court House waiting for the Feds 535 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:21,560 Speaker 1: to inevitably begin shooting people. One of the last really 536 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:25,360 Speaker 1: big FED Nights was July. Over a thousand people marched 537 00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:27,680 Speaker 1: all the way from North Portland to the courthouse, where 538 00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:30,840 Speaker 1: there were already thousands of people gathered. The site upon 539 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:34,400 Speaker 1: arrival was a familiar one. Moms and yellows standing behind, 540 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:38,080 Speaker 1: people with shields deflecting canisters and pepper balls, leafblowers pushing 541 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:40,800 Speaker 1: gas back behind the fence, and people with heat resistant 542 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:53,560 Speaker 1: gloves tossing canisters over the barrier like a sport. At 543 00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:56,640 Speaker 1: this point, Portland was getting very good at counteracting tear gas. 544 00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:59,280 Speaker 1: In fact, they'd almost perfected the art. Some Feds got 545 00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:01,239 Speaker 1: dumped with pink paint early in the night and they 546 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:03,800 Speaker 1: retreated back into the courthouse, and with the absence of 547 00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:06,480 Speaker 1: the Feds, people were more free to tamper with the fence. 548 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:09,600 Speaker 1: Occasionally there would be sparks from an angle grinder slowly 549 00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:12,959 Speaker 1: removing supports on the steel barricade. While the Feds were inside, 550 00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,080 Speaker 1: they'd shoot tear gas from the roof and pepper balls 551 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:17,720 Speaker 1: out of murder holes as people shook the fence back 552 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,840 Speaker 1: and forth. Fireworks were launched up at the roof, but 553 00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:23,240 Speaker 1: the Feds would not stay on the roof for the 554 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:25,920 Speaker 1: rest of the night, with a mix of vigorous shaking 555 00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:28,840 Speaker 1: rope ties and liberal use of angle grinders. Port leaders 556 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:33,560 Speaker 1: finally toppled over the concrete reinforced steel fence. The Feds 557 00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:36,520 Speaker 1: were not happy, as they continued to shower the streets 558 00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:39,240 Speaker 1: with tear gas fired from the roof. Squads of federal 559 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:42,400 Speaker 1: agents busted out of the courthouse door, launching Stunn grenades 560 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 1: and taking aim within four rifles. Protesters shield walls quickly 561 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:48,400 Speaker 1: surrounded a large portion of the fence that had been 562 00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:51,800 Speaker 1: knocked over. Fed shot more and more munitions into the crowd, 563 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:55,080 Speaker 1: and protesters tossed back canisters of tear gas and fireworks 564 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:58,240 Speaker 1: into the federal lines. All the while the red laser 565 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:01,280 Speaker 1: sight on an automatic rifle burned through the clouds of 566 00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:04,400 Speaker 1: smoke and gas, swiveling across the chests of people in 567 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:22,040 Speaker 1: the crowd. Eventually, the gas was too much, even for 568 00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:25,040 Speaker 1: more than a dozen leafblowers. Some in the crowd of 569 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:28,080 Speaker 1: protesters around the fallen fence had to pull back or suffocate. 570 00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:31,160 Speaker 1: At this point, our old friends, the Portland Police Bureau 571 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:33,920 Speaker 1: arrived to declare a riot and warn everyone that tear 572 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:36,640 Speaker 1: gas was about to be used, which it had been 573 00:33:36,760 --> 00:34:09,359 Speaker 1: used for hours at that point. As thousands of people 574 00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:12,160 Speaker 1: started to retreat west under heavy grenade fire. The FEDS 575 00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:14,920 Speaker 1: in the Portland police took the streets to inflict violence 576 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:18,040 Speaker 1: on the sidewalk. Medics treated people with giant gashes on 577 00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:21,080 Speaker 1: their face from metal canisters and foam tipped riot rounds. 578 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:24,160 Speaker 1: Multiple people were shot in the face, just like Donovan 579 00:34:24,200 --> 00:34:27,719 Speaker 1: Labeland in all those weeks prior. On July twenty nine, 580 00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:31,120 Speaker 1: Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced that the White House, DHS 581 00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:34,279 Speaker 1: and her office had come to a deal. The next day, July, 582 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:38,080 Speaker 1: the Feds were leaving Portland. Of course, that was something 583 00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:40,640 Speaker 1: of a lie. The same day that Kate made her announcement, 584 00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:45,360 Speaker 1: Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf contradicted her claim, saying on Twitter, 585 00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:48,239 Speaker 1: as I told the governor yesterday, federal law enforcement will 586 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:51,080 Speaker 1: remain in Portland until the violent activity towards our federal 587 00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:54,399 Speaker 1: facilities ends. We are not removing any law enforcement while 588 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:58,000 Speaker 1: our facilities and law enforcement remain under attack now. Trump 589 00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:01,200 Speaker 1: also challenged Brown's announcement, tweet that she must clear out 590 00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:04,080 Speaker 1: the anarchists and agitators and that if she doesn't, the 591 00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:06,200 Speaker 1: federal government will do it for her. We will not 592 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:09,600 Speaker 1: be leaving until there is safety cape Brown then clarified 593 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:12,520 Speaker 1: that the federal removal would be instead a phased withdrawal 594 00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:15,920 Speaker 1: of federal agents from the Portland downtown area. Their presence 595 00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:19,400 Speaker 1: would be replaced by Oregon State Police. Brown tweeted that 596 00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:22,320 Speaker 1: our local Oregon State Police officers will be downtown to 597 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:25,360 Speaker 1: protect Oregonians right to free speech and to keep the peace. 598 00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:29,240 Speaker 1: The number of Feds were reduced, but they never actually 599 00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:32,480 Speaker 1: left Portland. Into August, there were still hundreds of additional 600 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:36,120 Speaker 1: federal agents from Customs and Borders Patrol, the Federal Protective Service, 601 00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:39,640 Speaker 1: and the U S Marshals. One law enforcement official told 602 00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:43,120 Speaker 1: op B Oregon Public Broadcasting there has been a small 603 00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:46,520 Speaker 1: army in Portland, and multiple law enforcement sources told op 604 00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:49,480 Speaker 1: B that they expected additional federal forces to remain in 605 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:52,279 Speaker 1: the city up and through the general election, with the 606 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:55,360 Speaker 1: DHS officials saying to O p B, my guess is 607 00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:57,760 Speaker 1: that the protest climate isn't going to change much between 608 00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,239 Speaker 1: now and the election. The department is reluctant to wrought 609 00:36:00,239 --> 00:36:02,520 Speaker 1: down drastically in a way that would leave us vulnerable. 610 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:06,239 Speaker 1: All the Feds really did was become less visible. They 611 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:09,440 Speaker 1: did temporarily stop responding to protesters, leaving that job to 612 00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:11,920 Speaker 1: the Oregon State Police and the Portland police, but they 613 00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:14,520 Speaker 1: were still in town, and smaller groups of Portland protesters 614 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:17,400 Speaker 1: would occasionally meet these Feds whenever a protest was held 615 00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:21,239 Speaker 1: at the local ice facility. The night of July was 616 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:23,680 Speaker 1: the first night without tear gas and weeks with both 617 00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:27,160 Speaker 1: FEDS and Oregon State Police just watching from inside the courthouse. 618 00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:31,040 Speaker 1: This convinced many exhausted Portland's that the Feds had actually left, 619 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:34,600 Speaker 1: and the following days numbers started to dwindle. The mass 620 00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:37,239 Speaker 1: of liberals that assembled to fight off Trump's Feds called 621 00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:40,400 Speaker 1: the effort of victory, putting their newly acquired gas masks 622 00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:43,200 Speaker 1: in the closet and moving on. This turn of events 623 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:47,000 Speaker 1: was predictable for some of the more seasoned activists. Here's coolca. 624 00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:50,960 Speaker 1: I saw so many patterns I saw, and Sandy Rock 625 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:54,800 Speaker 1: has been repeated not just here but in other pipeline 626 00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:57,719 Speaker 1: movements and in other other movements. And I thought the 627 00:36:57,719 --> 00:37:01,520 Speaker 1: exact same same thing happening in Portland. And so I 628 00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:04,360 Speaker 1: was telling how I kept saying that it's going to 629 00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:06,600 Speaker 1: turn it into burning Man in like ten more days, 630 00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:09,200 Speaker 1: and and then it kind of was a little bit 631 00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:14,200 Speaker 1: circusy for a while. But it sucks that, um that 632 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:18,520 Speaker 1: all the you know, mainstream Americans or mainstream people in 633 00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:21,200 Speaker 1: the United States thought it was just the Feds doing 634 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:23,000 Speaker 1: that to us, and if we just get rid of 635 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:25,719 Speaker 1: the feeds, everything will be fine. But they didn't get 636 00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:28,319 Speaker 1: rid of the FITS. They only got rid of that unit. 637 00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:31,520 Speaker 1: The rest of the FITS stayed, and we're still suffering 638 00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:35,279 Speaker 1: the same amount of the same amount of violence. It's 639 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:40,279 Speaker 1: just not covered. And and it was also disgusting to 640 00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:44,960 Speaker 1: me because, um, you know, there were all these um, 641 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:48,480 Speaker 1: you know, hearings about it and and press about it, 642 00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:51,759 Speaker 1: about this extreme violence from these federal lobsters. But we were, 643 00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:56,759 Speaker 1: like Portland's police were using the exact same tactics and 644 00:37:56,880 --> 00:38:00,359 Speaker 1: violence on us. You know, for years they've in doing 645 00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:04,600 Speaker 1: that same thing. The disappearance of the liberal majority suggested 646 00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:06,520 Speaker 1: that many who showed up for the Fed War were 647 00:38:06,560 --> 00:38:09,960 Speaker 1: more interested in standing up against Trump than four black lives. 648 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:13,040 Speaker 1: Olivia Cutty Smith, co chair of the Portland d s A, 649 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:15,719 Speaker 1: gives her feelings on the subject. I mean, it's like 650 00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:19,440 Speaker 1: how we see a lot of other struggles that because 651 00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:25,000 Speaker 1: Trump is the face of it, Uh, liberals will turn 652 00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:29,520 Speaker 1: out to protest these things in ways that they wouldn't before. Um, 653 00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:33,200 Speaker 1: you know, keeping kids in cages at the border. The 654 00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:39,360 Speaker 1: vomited that. UM. I think that it's actually beneficial to 655 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:45,440 Speaker 1: our movement that Trump is now so visibly violence and hateful, 656 00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:51,400 Speaker 1: because it's it takes the mask off UM and it 657 00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:57,000 Speaker 1: radicalizes a lot of people. UM. I think that. Yeah, 658 00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:01,280 Speaker 1: we saw an incredible amount of people. UM, Mom's dad 659 00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:06,120 Speaker 1: labor and amazing labor contingent showed up to protests against 660 00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:09,920 Speaker 1: the federal officers being here. Um because Trump sent them. 661 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:13,680 Speaker 1: I mean Obama sent federal officers to Baltimore to fergusons 662 00:39:13,719 --> 00:39:16,799 Speaker 1: the Standing Rock. We did not see this same sort 663 00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:20,760 Speaker 1: of mobilization from liberals that we are now seeing because 664 00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:23,440 Speaker 1: it was Trump. The Fed War was a tremendous story 665 00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:26,799 Speaker 1: of tragedy and hope. Thousands of liberal moderates took to 666 00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:29,360 Speaker 1: the streets in a semi militant way for the first time. 667 00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:32,640 Speaker 1: Huge numbers of people were directly exposed to the concept 668 00:39:32,680 --> 00:39:35,080 Speaker 1: of mutual aid and got a glimpse of the power 669 00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:38,799 Speaker 1: that thousands of assembled human beings can hold. But most 670 00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:41,520 Speaker 1: of that power and potential disappeared when the Feds did 671 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:45,160 Speaker 1: the spectacle of federal violence, the military body armor and 672 00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:47,799 Speaker 1: the tear gas clouds, the size of buildings that all 673 00:39:47,840 --> 00:39:52,120 Speaker 1: overshadowed the original purpose of the BLM movement. But it 674 00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:54,680 Speaker 1: was not all as hopeless as it might seem. For 675 00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:57,680 Speaker 1: every protester who stopped going out because the Feds left, 676 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:00,239 Speaker 1: there was another person who had grown more commit into 677 00:40:00,239 --> 00:40:02,680 Speaker 1: the cause than ever before. Many of them were only 678 00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:05,560 Speaker 1: halted and continuing to show up due to physical injury 679 00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:08,680 Speaker 1: or emotional trauma. The end of the Fed war would 680 00:40:08,680 --> 00:40:12,200 Speaker 1: bring the last of Portland's truly massive twenty twenty protests, 681 00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:14,759 Speaker 1: but it did not mark the end of the uprising. 682 00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:18,600 Speaker 1: For Portland's committed activists, the fight was far from over. 683 00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:24,960 Speaker 1: Uh where the grand pops who couldn't fathom the obamasist, 684 00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:27,200 Speaker 1: I don't hate America just to me, and she keeps 685 00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:31,680 Speaker 1: a promisess looking like the sixties. It's crazy, a nationwide 686 00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:34,520 Speaker 1: dejah pu what my people post to do go to 687 00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:37,840 Speaker 1: schools named after the clan founder were around town? Is 688 00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:41,120 Speaker 1: I don't see why we're frowning Native American students forced 689 00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:44,560 Speaker 1: to learn about when o'para Sarah? How is that fair? Bro? 690 00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:49,000 Speaker 1: Some Euros unsung in some monster's get monuments built for them. 691 00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:51,160 Speaker 1: But ain't be all a little bit of monster. We 692 00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:51,759 Speaker 1: crug you