What on Earth is Happening in Portland, Oregon?
Post updated below with a report from last night’s (massive) protest.
You may have seen Portland in the news recently. Not for beer—you can skip this post if you’re looking for notes on the latest Breakside IPA release. No, our small, remote city has become a culture war flashpoint because Donald Trump decided to label it was a “war zone” to which “anarchists, people who hate our country” have laid “siege.” He lies that local officials are “physically afraid” of the protesters. In response to these invented horrors, he sent federal officers into our streets with no identifying information, in camo, to “protect federal facilities.” The acting head of the Department of Homeland Security echoed Trump’s lies when he visited, announcing, “The city of Portland has been under siege by a violent mob.”
There’s been violence all right—by those feds. They have been filmed grabbing peaceful protesters off the streets and rushing them away in unmarked vans. They attacked a Navy vet who was just standing on the street, beating him until they crushed his hand. They shot a man in the face (the linked video is very graphic). They have attacked local press even after the reporters identified themselves. And all of this has been done not because the streets of Portland have turned into an unmanageable hellscape, but because a scared little man has decided to attack the citizens he’s sworn to protect so he can cling to power.
I hate that the world is so crazy that I have to use my beer blog to refute the President of the United States, but this is the world we have, not the world we want.
A recent local report.
The protests began in the wake of the killing of George Floyd fifty-odd days ago and have continued every night. The large, multi-site protests had lately dwindled down to a small group who assembled in a two-block section of downtown. The “siege,” such as it is, involves largely peaceful protesters being assaulted by the police, and now federal officers. Over the course of those weeks a few protesters have tagged buildings—particularly government buildings—and there have been isolated cases of vandalism and arson. At no point, however, have the protesters caused violence. (In order to make any claims against Portland at all, Trump and right-wing media have been forced to transmute vandalism into “violence,” since the protestors are at worse committing minor property damage.) The rest of Portland outside those lively blocks downtown? Quiet and peaceful. It would be very difficult to mistake it for Fallujah 2004.
If you’d like to see all this for yourself, I highly recommend this report by Alex Zielinski of the Portland Mercury. She is the lead reporter covering the protests and has been there most nights they’ve gone on. If you think I’m exaggerating about the situation, check out her attached videos. They are harrowing.
In selecting a poster-city for left-wing protest, Portland was probably not chosen at random. Yet it was chosen unwisely. The city has a long history of protest and although it is not well-known, has citizens who are quicker to protest, who protest in larger numbers, and who protest longer than perhaps any city in America. Following a protest (I’m proud to say I attended) in 1991, President Bush called it “Little Beirut.” In 2003, we had massive Iraq War protests that made national news. And of course, Portland joined the nation after Trump was elected in the great “pussy-hat” protests of 2017. We gather for positive reasons as well—in 2008, 75,000 people turned up to see presidential hopeful Barack Obama. (Fifty thousand turned out to see John Kerry four years earlier.) We protest for things happy and objectionable at the drop of a hat.
Importantly, the governor, both senators, the Portland mayor, and most of our US representatives have all condemned this. Politicians have supported (and often joined) the protests.
After the video of the gestapo-like federal abductions, the crowds started to grow again. Memorably, a group of mothers, some pregnant, others middle-aged, a few elderly, have recently joined the protests, forming a “wall of moms” A group of Buddhists for peace will join to meditate for Black lives tomorrow night. It will take a lot more federal goons than Trump sent to Portland—and ones who are willing to beat women and meditators—if this “siege” is to be put down. We are a city that knows how to protest, and the least surprising thing is that these tactics have only roused our ire.
I am also pissed off. This is our city, our state. We are good Americans who are exercising our constitutional rights to protest racial injustice on our streets. I’m pissed off my fellow citizens have been injured. I’m pissed off that a president would use these thuggish tactics to impress his base. I’m pissed at the latent racism of the act. I’m pissed that he would lie about what’s happening here and slander this city. I’m pissed that an entire right-wing media infrastructure has joined in to defame the good citizens in a part of very “real America.” When you hear these stories, don’t believe them. Things are fine here. We just have a little democracy happening, and the real issue is that some people can’t handle that.
Update, 7/21.
Right on cue, Portlanders turned out in massive force last night. The Mom Corps has grown exponentially (there are dads now, too.) Speeches started at 9 pm, protesters went on a march through the streets, and then a portion returned to the Federal Courthouse around 11:30. Estimates placed the crowd at 2,000 and it looks like at least that to me.
Things did escalate in the wee hours. Each night, federal troops hide inside the courthouse, peeking out until a moment when the crowd shrinks enough so that they can boldly pour into the streets firing impact munitions, flash-bangs, wielding batons, and releasing tear gas.
The police/federal escalation has not quieted the situation—it has made it far worse. Many Portlanders are outraged by the federal presence. Some want to drive them out. Over the evening, protesters threw stuff into the peephole behind which they cower. Officials had put a wall around the base of the building, and by 1am part of it had been torn down. At one point, someone handed out these little rubber pigs that squeak when squeezed, and the air was filled with the sounds of little piggies mocking the feds. This was perhaps the gentlest form of mocking they received. Then, at 1 am the feds did rush out and conducted their usual routine. (Portland police were apparently not on the scene at all by this time—which isn’t usual.)
I want to be very clear here. These scenes are a result of federal violence. Causality starts with the jackboots, not the people here. Yes, protesters were attacking the courthouse, but that is a rational response to an unconstitutional invasion. (And it is unconstitutional—the Oregon AG, Ellen Rosenblum, has filed a suit alleging exactly that.) Violence begets violence, and the federal goons initiated the confrontation with all their shadowy firepower. Expect this to continue, and expect the protests to grow.
Finally, if you want a moment-by-moment account via short videos, have a look at Sergio Olmos’ Twitter feed (@MrOlmos). He’s out there every night, and his coverage is meticulous and comprehensive. It’s really amazing to see and hear the scenes. If you want to see the truth for your own eyes, have a look.