Okay, folks, it’s time for your (S)PM (S)Portland (S)Protest Spam! Or maybe PM Portland Protest ‘Pam, whatever seems actually clever to you. Because I desperate to be seen as clever.
First up? Videos!
Just a picture of two BFFs snuggling each other and recharging so as to be ready for protest duty tomorrow night:
It’s a lazy afternoon just now.
Nothing better than hanging with your BoozeFriendForever.
You’ve likely already read the thread I posted about the personal experience of being exposed to tear gas, how your body responds, how your mind panics. But of course that doesn’t tell people much about what actually happened – the narrative that one might get in a newspaper. This post is more about that: the story of late July 21st and the earliest bit of July 22nd and the rally that happened in front of the Federal Services Building [Correction:] Justice Center and the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse in downtown Portland.
The nightly protests themselves are a sort of jamboree. There are people who take it upon themselves to be leaders. They speak and initiate chanting. But they’re mostly limited to use of bullhorns, which simply aren’t loud enough to reach the whole crowd. So if you don’t work your way to the front, it takes you several rounds of a chant before you can pick it up – except the obvious and most frequent chant, “Black Lives Matter”. That one gets started a lot.
Okay, folks.
This is 2:42 seconds of a critical time in last night’s protests, taken around 11:30pm Pacific time on the night of July 21st in front of the Hatfield courthouse. My BFF and I are in the front rank, the only people in front of us are a couple of press people who walk briefly in front of us. You won’t see it, but about halfway through someone with a shield comes up and kneels in front of me to protect me (though I didn’t want it or ask for it). I didn’t tell the shield carrier to buzz off and find someone who actually wanted protection, but if this is ever you, please ask permission before you actually touch someone’s body. My shield carrier actually grabbed my arthritic knees in what they thought was a reassuring gesture just before the tear gas was fired. Don’t be that person, okay? Okay.
Now the video:
99% of Portland Moms “Not angry, just disappointed”
Portland’s wall of mothers has gotten a large amount of attention and their motivation to protect their own and others’ children has generated high praise. However, most Portland mothers have not attended any of the demonstrations that have occurred nightly in the city since the death of George Floyd. The reasons for this seeming lack of enthusiasm appear to have a common thread.
Marriott is reportedly housing the violent, lawless federal agents who are acting to diminish democratic rights in the USA even as I type this.
Enterprise is supplying the minivans used to disappear protestors, activists, and possibly even bystanders.
We should not let them profit off such crimes without scrutiny. (Indeed, I would like to make sure that they don’t profit off such crimes at all, but rather pay the normal capitalist penalties for abhorrent behavior: loss of customers and loss of money.
One model letter, written by me and sent to Care@Enterprise.com:
I have received what i consider to be credible reports that your rental vehicles are being used in the process of transporting people detained by federal law enforcement officers in Portland, Oregon.
Although LEOs do indeed have broad powers, these powers are constrained by both the constitution and federal statute. As it happens, respected experts in this area of law, including the Attorney General for the State of Oregon believe that these detentions are unlawful and unconstitutional.Should their analysis be correct, then federal criminal statutes 18 USC § 242 would apply and this behavior would be a felony known as deprivation of right under color of law. Not only is this a very serious crime in its own right, but as the behavior gives every appearance of being planned, and again assuming that the Oregon AG understands and is accurately stating the law involved, further felonies of conspiracy would also have been committed.Acts of this grievous nature not only injure the rights of individuals, but also degrade the ability of the public to participate in the democratic process. This is why the penalty for such crimes is so harsh: up to 10 years in a federal prison.My questions to Enterprise.com, then, are these:1. to what extent were you aware that your vehicles would be used in the commission of a string of multiple felonies?2. When did you first gain that awareness?3. What action is your corporation now taking to limit your involvement with this felonious criminal conspiracy and the erosion of democratic rights?Thank you for your prompt attention.
Some lunatic was running around with this on hir back:
Transsexual Perverts 4 Peace
Must have been someone itchin’ for a chance to rumble with the feds is my guess.
There’s a LOT of graffiti. I’m told by multiple people that it’s power washed and/or painted over every single day. I specifically asked if they take weekends off. They replied that the graffiti is erased Every. Single. Day.
Some of the graffiti is artistic. The most artistic, by the way, is also the most long lasting since the people that enjoy doing art enough to become talented at it have saved their better works for boarded up buildings other than the courthouse so as to avoid the daily purge. This graphic is one of those, and may have been up longer than 24 hours because it was on private property two blocks from the courthouse:
Anarchy & Peace are sitting in a Tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.
I found myself particularly affected by this one. The image is attractive and friendly. It was also found in many places downtown. But then there’s the statement, “Blue lives murder.” Of course that’s unquestionably true, and the point of the protests, but it can be jarring immediately below the more upbeat image of anarchic, peaceful love. That image of anthropomorphized anarchy & peace, by the way, was not generally accompanied by the words blue lives murder when painted elsewhere in Portland.
Of all the graffiti I saw, this is the single one that stood out the most. I felt this one. I still feel it when merely looking at the photo.
The federal courthouse itself is a site of more chaotic expressions:
Less than 12 hours worth of graffiti.
You can see that there’s some pretty angry, hateful stuff there (“kill all cops”), some humor (“yum, bacon!”), and some much more hopeful thoughts expressed (“I love you mama, papa, babies, but no one taught me how to love you”).
So my first night protesting in Portland in a while. Brings back memories.
Here are a couple photos, though there should be more coming later when I have a friend’s phone available to me:
An EMT in a Tree.
Turns out, being an EMT at the protests can wear you out talking to people. Sometimes you just have to get away from all the people clamoring for your attention, so….
Next up, a Star Wars reference!
An organizer and medic wears a white cross-on-red with the word “Ewoks” filling the crossbar.
I spoke to this person about their shirt. She said she was part of a group of people that was doing the networking and connecting for the protests. In Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, the ewoks did tons of organizing as evidenced by their log traps and whatnot, and were absolutely necessary for eliminating the shield generator to make the raid on the 2nd Death Star possible, but the humans and the ship pilots got all the credit. She said their aim was to be like the Ewoks: worry about the organizing, not about the credit.
The purpose of the shirt, then? She said it wasn’t about getting notice or credit either. The purpose of the shirt was because it allowed people to recognize them and ask them for whatever they might need. The Ewoks wouldn’t necessarily provide it, of course, but because they’re the networkers, they know exactly where to go and whom to ask to get what you need.
There were things to dislike about the protests, of course. It was chaotic, as protests tend to me, and far from homogenous. As a result there were some people who were, shall we say, not my cup of tea. But there were lots of good things as well, and I’ll provide more on both another time. I must get some sleep.
The plan is not much, but I’ve reached Portland and expect to be downtown near the federal building at some point this evening.
Where are you? What are you doing to preserve democracy in your neck of the woods? And if you’re in Portland and willing to come downtown, sound off!
Many millennia ago, a full 275 years BT, an insightful composer once wrote the immortal words,
All we like sheep.
And as true as it is that we all find delight in ovine innocence and playfulness, it is perhaps time to update this ancient sentiment to something more of our moment. I suggest
All we like Janelle Shane.
Should you doubt, you have only to read her new short story in the online science fiction magazine, Strange Horizons.
A short story in such times as ours may seem insufficient. To that notion, I say, Beep. And yet more unexpectedly, Beep.