PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Chaotic and often violent protests against racial injustice have had headlines for days, but lost in the writing are the voices of many Black Portland residents themselves – and their feelings about the unrest are nuanced and diverse.
Some feel that the overwhelming white crowd of Protestants – and in particular those who commit vandalism – are cooperating with the Black Lives Matter movement. Others blame white protesters because, with their larger numbers, they can draw attention to the racial inequality of the city in ways that Black protesters alone cannot.
Some deeply believe that there can be no Black Lives Matter movement without defusing the police. Others say a recent vote to cut a special unit for gun reduction is behind a sharp spike in shootings that destroyed their community.
Primarily, there is a continuing concern that a critical opportunity for achieving racial justice could be lost in the small Black community of Portland. Many cite competing voices and the harsh glare of a national spotlight, which has reduced the situation to a culture war when the reality is much more complex.
‘It happens so much that the things we care about are cut and put on the back burner. And that’s just put in a big barrel with everything, “said Neil Anderson, an owner of Black Company.” We all want the same thing. But so often we drown. “
Protests by the city’s Black Lives Matter hit the national consciousness in mid-July, when President Donald Trump sent agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to protect a federal court that was increasingly becoming a target for Protestants.
The action galvanized the city and united protesters, but it also exposed intense tension between Black protesters and their white allies, as well as similarities between Black residents themselves along the way.
The Wall of Moms, a group of mostly white women and self-described parents, gather at night to form a human chain between Protestants and federal agents. Within two weeks, the group had imploded, with some Black community leaders accusing their leadership of trying to monetize their movement. The group reformed under black leadership and a new name.
Demetria Hester, a Black woman who leads the new Moms United for Black Lives, said the departure of federal agents and the dissolution of the Wall of Moms had re-directed the protests.
‘These are the mothers who really want to … make our repairs. Make this revolution happen, ‘she said.
Seneca Cayson, who helped lead peaceful meetings in downtown Portland, has mixed feelings. He feels that white Protestants who plead vandalism and seek revenge are distractions from his message, but he also acknowledges that they are drawing attention to racial injustice in a way he could never do.
“What the white people have is something we do not have, and that is rights,” Cayson said as he prepared to lead another peaceful rally with several other Black men. “We fight alongside them to … be equal.”
The Portland Police Bureau, with its newly appointed Black police officer, is for many Black residents just as polarizing as the protests.
For many, part of breaking down racial barriers means defusing the police completely. The urban population is less than 6% Black, but people of color were disproportionately stopped by the violence reduction team. An analysis of police use of violence published last month found that in 2019 officers were much more likely to use violence against Black people – and especially young Black men – than other groups despite general trends towards less use of violence .
“It’s the whole culture of the Portland Police Bureau that is fundamentally unmanageable and needs to change,” said Jo Ann Hardesty, the city’s first Black councilwoman and an activist who has been pushing for police reform for 30 years. “Thirty years is a long time to ask for exactly the same reforms. The difference now is that there are tens of thousands of Portlanders who want the same thing. ”
In June, the city council cut nearly $ 16 million from the Police Bureau’s budget. The cuts shook programs such as the Weight Loss Unit, a youth services program and ended the presence of school source officials in three school districts.
In July, the city experienced a sharp rise in gun violence that overwhelmingly hurt Black people. There were 99 shootings – more than three times the amount of the previous July – and the city counted 366 non-suicide bombings this year compared to 388 in the whole of 2019. Roughly two-thirds of the victims in July were black, said police Sgt. Derrick Foxworth.
Kimberly Dixon, who lost her son to gun violence in 2013, said the disbandment of the gun reduction team has hurt the Black community. Mayor Ted Wheeler said he is working on a solution that will be made public soon.
“You removed the expertise that was there, the relationships that were there,” Dixon said. “That connectivity is important, historical context is important. When you unlocked it, did you rebuild it? … This is the massacre left in the community. ”
However, some Black residents say they cannot propose racial justice in their city without removing the police. Vandalism, and even violence, during protests to increase Black grievances after hundreds of years of oppression is appropriate, they say.
Teressa Raiford, head of Don’t Shoot Portland and a former mayoral candidate, said people who question the legitimacy of protests through so-called “direct action” against police are on the wrong side of history. ‘
“There are people who are great at protecting the status quo and the system as it is, even if the outcomes do not serve us,” she said. “The politicization of Black people is not only evil, it is violent and we are not being heard.”
Raiford said: “The weary people, in my opinion, are the people with guns and tasers attacking people who are protesting. When we talk about anarchy … you know we stole people who brought them to steel land where they were used as slaves. And I think people realize that – including white people. ”
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