Pay attention to the Portland protests.
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Pausing our Sunday series on COVID-19 to address the urgent protests rising across the country. It feels important to address the historical context and implications of what’s unfolding on the ground right now. Especially since this newsletter was started as a "work in protest" in response to the death of George Floyd. Get updated on the latest news and its historical context.
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Nicole
TAKE ACTION
1. Support the Black Portland Youth Movement raising funds to support protestors on the ground.
2. U.S. Residents: Get clear on your city's stance on federal agents, and contact your local representatives to discourage egregious intervention by federal agents.
GET EDUCATED
Protests swelled across the country last night in support of Black Lives Matter and against federal policing. Local Portland police called last night’s protests a riot, deploying tear gas (KGW8). An intense protest in Seattle resulted in 45 arrests and 21 wounded officers (Seattle Times). An Austin protestor was shot and killed (Statesman). A police station in Oakland was vandalized (ABC News). Meanwhile, Trump is sending more federal agents to Seattle and D.C. (Business Insider). Although the Trump administration aimed to quell protests by adding police, there are more people on the street in Portland now than ever before (Vox). And this rise in activity nationwide may indicate that there is much more tension to come.
The administration is also planning on sending federal agents to Chicago, Kansas City, Albuquerque, and possibly other major cities, including New York and Philadelphia, to deal with increases in gun violence (The Nation). Chicago, for example, is now on track to have its deadliest year regarding gun deaths since 2016, and local organizers believe the compilation of the protests, COVID-19, increasing unemployment rates, and distrust in police are all contributing factors (NYTimes). Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot initially expressed concern over the presence of “secret, federal agents,” but, after speaking to Trump, invited them to come, pending that they work in conjunction with local law enforcement (Time). This program, called “Operation Legend,” has been criticized as ineffective, and considered more of a publicity stunt that comprehensive change (Washington Post).
The protests in Portland have been fueled by its people still grappling with the city’s dark history of racism. The mid-1800s were a divisive time for the region, as settlers traveled west on the Oregon Trail, dissatisfied with the tensions over slavery on the East Coast. Although some brought freed Black people and liberal views, most were committed to creating an all-white society. Consequently, laws passed to prohibit slavery. Black people were ordered to leave the region. And those that didn’t were to be “severely whipped by not less than twenty or more than thirty-nine stripes” every six months until they left (Oregon Secretary of State). The KKK thrived here, becoming major voices in the local government and ensuring further racial discrimination. In 1923, the state passed the Alien Land Law that banned Japanese land ownership, despite the fact that Japanese Americans already only held less than one percent of Oregon land in 1920 (Oregon Secretary of State).
Although these laws have since been reversed, their lasting impact is still seen in Oregon’s capital. Portland is currently the whitest city in the country (out of the country’s largest 30 cities) with 72% of its population classified as non-Hispanic white (NYTimes). Today the average income level for Black families in Portland is nearly half that of white residents (NYTimes).
“The xenophobia, the racism, the caustic narrative that has been fomented at the national level are also having an impact here and adding to that legacy here in Oregon”.
Dani Ledezma, the interim executive director of the Coalition of Communities of Color, for the NYTimes
Critics note that this historical exclusion of Black people and other people of color has made it difficult for the state population to recognize and act against racial discrimination (University of Oregon). And even now, as the Trump administration plays out a political agenda on the streets of Portland, Black leaders worry that these protests, with overwhelmingly white crowds, may co-opt the conversation around race, leaving the needs of the Black community and other people of color behind (The Guardian).
Before federal agent intervention, protests in Portland were steady, but diminishing in scale. After weeks of protests and political action by citizens, sparked by the death of George Floyd, the City Council passed a budget that cut $15 million from the police budget for the upcoming fiscal year (Oregon Live). The head of the Portland Police Bureau stepped down, and a federal judge enacted a ban against tear gas used by local law enforcement, except when life or safety was at risk (NYTimes).
Some of these federal agents are from the Federal Protective Service, a uniformed security police division of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The agency is designed to provide security at federal properties, and agents have been sent to Portland, Seattle, and D.C., to guard statues, monuments, and federal property as protestors topple them (that we reviewed in a previous newsletter). But the Border Patrol Tactical Unit, a subset of the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, was seen in their camouflage uniforms beating and detaining protestors (Business Insider). And their tactics of brutal force, lack of identification, and appearing and dragging people into unmarked vans, is disproportionately targeting immigrant communities and communities of color (NYTimes).
Federal policing is against the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, which states that “powers not granted to the United States were reserved to the States or to the people” (JUSTIA). But the Department of Homeland Security does have the right to assist local law enforcement, and since the Trump administration passed an executive order protecting American monuments, there is legal ground. The DHS authorized this initiative themselves in a document published on July 20 (Lawfare). And if this weekend’s protests are any indication, we can only expect tensions to increase. Learn more about the legality of this intervention in this New Yorker interview with Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a CNN contributor.
Beyond the demonstrators on the ground, many people are calling for justice. The Oregon state attorney general sued on behalf of the protestors, U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman said the state “lacked standing” because the lawsuit was a “highly unusual one with a particular set of rules’ (Time). But the U.S. District Judge Michael Simon blocked federal agents in Portland from dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, or targeting force against journalists or legal observers at protests, in response to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Oregon (ACLU).
It’s clearly unsettling that a movement founded in advocating for equitable law enforcement has led to federal agents patrolling cities with little oversight. And protests are a critical component of how a democracy advocates for change. If it weren’t for protests, we wouldn’t have made as much progression the critical issues of race in our time. It’s critical we protect our right to protest in this unprecedented time.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Protests are rising because of the federal agents the Trump administration is sending to major cities
The forefront of this conversation is happening in Portland, a city with a dark history of racism
Federal policing is against the Tenth Amendment
Protests are a key component to change
RELATED ISSUES
June 23 | Defund the police – beyond the slogan.
June 22 | Talk about our right to protest.
June 18 | Take down Confederate symbols.
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