The protests in Portland have continued for more than 50 days. This is how they started

07/20/2020 World


Over the weekend, protesters tore down barricades, took them to the streets, and attempted to set fire to a building. Sunday’s protests ended with protesters dispersed with gas by federal police, Portland police said in a tweet.

While protests are now receiving national attention, accusations of racism and calls for reform have long been part of the city.

George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers in May was the spark that ignited protests across the country, with tens of thousands demanding police reform, accountability, and most of all, reestablishing that Black Lives Matter affair.
In Portland, as in many cities across the country, protests call for justice for the deaths of Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Elijah McClain and many other black lives that ended in violence.
A Navy veteran says he was hit and pepper-sprayed by authorities while attending his first protest in Portland.

But what started as a call for justice and accountability has given way to a melting pot of protests.

Protests have ranged from peaceful Black Lives Matter marches during the day to unidentified protesters participating in violent protests that turn into arson and vandalism. President Trump and other federal officials have characterized some of these events as the actions of “anarchists and agitators.”

Now weeks have passed with clashes of officers and protesters, resulting in injuries on both sides, vandalism, arson, and allegations of brutality.

In the past week alone, at least 40 protesters have been arrested on charges ranging from resisting arrest to disorderly conduct, according to PPB press releases.

A history of racism.

Portland has long been a place where tensions between opposing protesters have been a source of conflict.

In recent years, some protests have become a target for hate groups seeking to antagonize other people who come out to defend the rights of marginalized communities, such as immigrants, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community.

“History will tell you that it is a racist city, that it is and has been,” said Sam Sachs, a community member who spoke at a press conference held Sunday by the Portland Police Association. “Oregon was created as a white utopia.”
Oregon’s complicated racial tensions begin in the 1800s, with laws in place to keep people of color out of state. The fourteenth amendment was not approved there until 1868, which granted citizenship to blacks.

In the early 1900s, the city’s Board of Real Estate approved a “code of ethics” that prohibited real estate agents from selling houses in white neighborhoods to black people.

Demonstrations have been filling the streets every night.
This has not been lost in the community. Sachs, whose family has been in the area since the 1940s, founded the No Hate Zone, an organization that focuses on ending hate and racism through education, commitment and advocacy.

While he said Portland is now known as a “hotbed of violence,” it is also “a city of opportunity.”

“(It is) a city of love. A city of growth. A city that cares about its police. A city that cares about its members of the black and indigenous, gay, lesbian, transgender community, cares about everyone. Portland it is a city of love and hope. “

Many other community members who spoke echoed their feelings and denounced the violence that comes with claims for justice.

Pastor JW Matt Hennessee, who was also present during the press conference, said that while he understands that citizens are tired of the brutality they see at the hands of the police, he is tired of violence, division and racism. He continued that he and his community have clashed.

“You want to know what tiredness looks like, ask us what tiredness looks like. Because it is us who could not buy a house or rent a place near a certain place because nobody wanted people like us to be in it. We could not go to this or that school or we couldn’t do several different things, “said the pastor.

“It is very important that we come together, and I am not so worried about what we are tired, I am very concerned about the world we can do together.”

Fight over federal agents arresting protesters

As protests increased in recent weeks, the Trump administration dispatched federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security to respond to the city.
The United States Customs and Border Protection Service (CBP) has admitted to being one of the agencies involved in the arrest of protesters and said in a statement that they were called because “violent anarchists have organized events in Portland in recent weeks with the deliberate intention to damage and destroy federal property, as well as, injure federal officials and agents. “
Federal law enforcement officers have been deployed under the new executive order of the Trump administration to protect federal monuments and buildings.

“These criminal actions will not be tolerated,” the statement said.

They have not been well received, as the mayor, governor, and several other state and local officials called for federal involvement to end, saying he is only throwing gas into the fire.

“People are literally being taken off the street in unmarked vans, rental cars,” Mayor Ted Wheeler told CNN on Sunday. “Apparently, they are denied probable cause, and they are denied due process. They don’t even know who is pushing them into the trucks.”

There are “dozens, if not hundreds, of federal troops descending on our city, and what they are doing is intensifying the situation,” added the mayor. “Your presence here is actually leading to more violence and more vandalism.”

After federal individuals were taken unmarked and placed in unidentified vans, U.S. District Attorney Oregon J. Billy J. Williams requested a federal investigation, and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum filed suit in federal court against DHS on Friday.

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