Portland protests draw thousands, intense federal response, gas Friday

[riversedge]

Source: The Oregonian

Updated Jul 25, 2020; Posted Jul 24, 2020


Portland protests continue for 58th day

..................................

The Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse has been the site of repeated overnight confrontations between federal officers embedded inside and demonstrators gathered outside. Many people pushed the fence and some protesters threw objects over it, and at one point early Saturday, a successive series of fireworks sent from the crowd exploded past the courthouse fence.

The tactics federal officers have used to defend government buildings — and the repeated praise of those actions from President Donald Trump — have brought national attention to Portland. The heightened federal response arrived weeks after nightly protests against police violence and systemic racism.

The looming predictability of tear gas deployed by federal officers has prompted protesters to prepare more each night, in part by bringing leaf blowers to deflect the gas toward officers and stop it from spreading.

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At least 4,000 people poured Friday night into the city’s core. It was the largest crowd since early weeks of the protests that started 58 days ago. ..............................................

Read more: https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/07/protesters-in-portland-prepared-friday-for-looming-confrontation-with-federal-officers-live-updates.html

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"Portland are you scared?"

"Hell no!"

#PortlandProtest #PDXprotest

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@JulesBoykoff
·
5h
Wall of Moms are four deep tonight, forming a bad-ass barrier in front of the speakers #BlackLivesMatter
#PDXprotests #PortlandProtests #Momtifa

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Tonight, in addition to the "Wall of Moms", Portland has a "Wall of Vets" lined up to protest outside the federal courthouse. (photos by @killendave
)

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Video view of the "Wall of Vets" that has lined up outside the federal courthouse in downtown Portland Friday night.

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A sea of illuminated cell phones as Black Lives Matter protests continue for Day 58 in Portland.

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[truthisfreedom]

1. Man, that's gotta make orange thumper's nose twitch!

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

2. More like his trigger finger.

Well, those of his Prince-provided gestapo.

[paleotn]

4. It's only a matter of time...

before this gets out of hand and someone gets killed. Barr and company may think this stokes fear, inciting the reich wing base for the Fall election. Donnie trying to prove how "tough" he is. But I think they're totally misreading the situation. In general, Americans aren't terribly fond of thugs beating up protesters. And when (not if) someone gets killed by these thugs, it will be a complete disaster for Donnie's administration. Then again, acting stupidly and royally fucking things up is their strong suit.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

6. Right. People have already been seriously wounded by the feds in Portland.

While I'm strongly behind the protesters emotionally, I'm not sure their strategy is sound. I wonder if they should stay away from the feds. Protest somewhere else. But I don't know.

I was trying to find what the general consensus is about the effect of the Kent State Shootings or the police overreach in Chicago during the '68 DNC. Some claim these events turned public opinion to support the protesters, but others say not.

[Thekaspervote]

10. Agree this is not peaceful protest. They are playing right into the dotard shit show

He wants a violent clash.

He will declare martial law if it continues and it’s just what he wants

[JonLP24]

24. Not true

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213806088

He will declare martial law and it will backfire. Jesus christ look at the polling.

[Lonestarblue]

13. Yes. I wish they would find an area not near any federal building.

They can still protest for George Floyd as well as the arrival of Trump’s goon squad. The mayor needs to be more proactive in getting the real protesters out of the area, leaving those who are just there to cause trouble near the feds. They can arrest them, some of whom are probably far right extremists.

[Bengus81]

19. Yep...move to a different location and see if those Feds follow them just to stir up shit....

That will PROVE it's not about Fed buildings, it's about arrests for nothing more than to please the Fuehrer and busting heads.

[JonLP24]

26. Don't look at 1968

Donald Trump's suburban horror show

That polling reflects a dramatic swing from 2016, when Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the suburbs by 4 percentage points. Trump’s erosion in the suburbs is a major reason the electoral map this year has expanded for Democrats in recent weeks — with Trump in danger not only of losing, but of taking the Senate down with him. And demographic shifts are only becoming more favorable to Democrats. The suburbs are rapidly growing, and by 2018, according to Pew, people of color made up nearly a third of suburban population.

“The movement of suburban voters, particularly educated women and millennials being so progressive in their politics, increased voting participating among Latinos, African Americans,” said Bill Carrick, a Democratic strategist who managed Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt’s 1988 presidential campaign. “That all contributes to this geography: Suddenly, we’ve got Georgia and Texas and Florida and Arizona, Iowa. There’s a lot of places in play.”

Trump’s damage in the suburbs has come primarily, as it has elsewhere, from his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. But Trump’s response to the George Floyd protests also appears to have hurt him in the suburbs — his militant reaction crashing into an electorate that is less white and insular than it was half a century ago, when Richard Nixon made “law and order” rhetoric work.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/25/trumps-suburban-nightmare-376823

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

27. Good. I hope this continues to grow. I made the mistake of clicking on a RW thread on Twitter

in which the topic was that CDC and the hospitals, Fauci, etc. should be prosecuted for making up these virus statistics.

I knew people out there believed this nonsense, and I know propaganda is powerful, but for people to believe something so unfathomably ridiculous as the RW narrative about COVID-19 is ludicrous. Reading that thread and seeing them so thoroughly brainwashed to believe this is a Dem plot to bring down Trump just blew a fuse in my brain and broke my heart.

I used to teach in public schools, and I worked so hard because (for one reason) I could see ignorance leading to a Trump-like leader.

[olegramps]

11. I am encouraged by a growing number of political commentators calling it what it is: Fascism

Many of us have been warning since his election that the Republican Party has been pursuing to establish a dictatorial presidency dominated by the plutocracy. The Federal Troops being used in Portland indisputable testimony of the Republican Parties determination to establish a fascist government. It is the reincarnation of the Brown Shirts that Hitler used to suppress the opposition. We can either choose to stop this atrocity or allow our apathy to enslave us.

[Lonestarblue]

17. I agree that it needs to be called what it is, but how many Americans even know its meaning?

I spent most of my career in the education arena, and with some exceptions, I do not think highly of US education. Most curriculum is like a waterfall covering everything with little time spent developing deep understanding. As a result, much of the same material gets repeated every year because students didn’t get it the first time. For example, many students fail to master the four arithmetical operations for fractions by 6th grade because they do not develop full understanding in the lower grade. The teaching of history and government are the same—surface coverage without true understanding and context.

If we do not somehow change our education system, we will truly be putting the future of the country in jeopardy.

[olegramps]

28. It will not take place until we show respect for the invaluable contribution of teachers.

Time and time again when people reply to the key of their success, they respond it was the example of their parents and often a single parent and especially a teacher who sent them on the correct path.

[paleotn]

3. That was expected...

Folks aren't going to stand idly by while their right to peaceful protest is taken away by uniformed thugs. Possibly that's what Barr wanted to happen. Stir up more trouble to deflect from the complete disaster of Covid-19. We will see.

But on another point, those on the right truly are strange, unthinking creatures. From their political hacks to their minions in their easy chairs. Bar owners defying a shutdown order in TX in the face of a deadly pandemic is exercising freedom in their minds, but protesting racism and police brutality is terrorism and anarchy? Refusing to wear a mask in a private business where such things are mandated by the owners, thus violating someones private property rights is exercising freedom, yet protesting systemic violence against people of color is not?

[KY_EnviroGuy]

5. K&R. Truth!

KY...........

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

7. Right Wing Logic

is an oxymoron.

[jaxexpat]

9. People generally tend to thoughtlessness outside of a regulated environment.

Some more so than others. There are leaders and followers. Actors and planners. Those stimulated by crowds and others who thrive in reclusiveness.

The Black Lives Matter movement is a referendum in process. The public plainly sees the point just as with gun proliferation. It's core issue should be in legislative process already. It is not and that is a clear statement by some within the government who are not prepared to do the will of the people for the improvement of the nation.

The whole restive thing is a partisan issue. Observed from that angle, it's likely protests will proceed until there is a change in government. Every indicator is that this is a contest of will. Between the people and Trump Inc. Winner take all.

Never have I so desperately needed to be certain that my vote will be counted.

[llashram]

16. this

[bucolic_frolic]

20. Defending courthouses, symbols of Federal Justice

with thuggery against citizens supporting civil rights.

Yes, sadly protests get out of hand into destruction. And the Federal presence is being perceived as more of a provocation than anything else. A real politician could talk both sides through this. We're not getting that anytime soon.

[zentrum]

8. "If we fail...

...Democracy is doomed.

Wow.

Please keep it up Portland!

[calimary]

12. We ARE. And we WILL.

Count on it.

[llashram]

18. this

[zentrum]

29. Wish we were there with you!

You're all great. Thank you for your courage and work!

[llashram]

14. see this JCOS

vets against trump. Trump is allowing Putin to kill us in Afghanistan with goddamn bounties on active duty American military personnel and probably elsewhere and now his nameless, tagless, face covered assassins are in portland, Chicago, Detroit ready to kill in American streets. If you follow any trump order that Yoo says is okay, with federal army troops, then full-on dictatorship is in place. Trump's brownshirts in Portland.

It's never too late. All against the loss of American democracy must keep fighting all the way up to Jan 20th, 2021 and beyond if necessary.

[Polybius]

15. Does anyone know why the protests in Portland lasted longer than any others?

Even before Trump's SS were sent in, their crowds were larger than any other city. Most had stopped by then.

[JonLP24]

25. They often protest before George Floyd

This article has some background

The Racist History of Portland, the Whitest City in America
It’s known as a modern-day hub of progressivism, but its past is one of exclusion.

(snip)

The allegations may seem at odds with the reputation of this city known for its progressivism. But many African Americans in Portland say they’re not surprised when they hear about racial incidents in this city and state. That’s because racism has been entrenched in Oregon, maybe more than any state in the north, for nearly two centuries. When the state entered the union in 1859, for example, Oregon explicitly forbade black people from living in its borders, the only state to do so. In more recent times, the city repeatedly undertook “urban renewal” projects (such as the construction of Legacy Emanuel Hospital) that decimated the small black community that existed here. And racism persists today. A 2011 audit found that landlords and leasing agents here discriminated against black and Latino renters 64 percent of the time, citing them higher rents or deposits and adding on additional fees. In area schools, African American students are suspended and expelled at a rate four to five times higher than that of their white peers.

All in all, historians and residents say, Oregon has never been particularly welcoming to minorities. Perhaps that’s why there have never been very many. Portland is the whitest big city in America, with a population that is 72.2 percent white and only 6.3 percent African American.

“I think that Portland has, in many ways, perfected neoliberal racism,” Walidah Imarisha, an African American educator and expert on black history in Oregon, told me. Yes, the city is politically progressive, she said, but its government has facilitated the dominance of whites in business, housing, and culture. And white-supremacist sentiment is not uncommon in the state. Imarisha travels around Oregon teaching about black history, and she says neo-Nazis and others spewing sexually explicit comments or death threats frequently protest her events.

Violence is not the only obstacle faced by black people in Oregon. A 2014 report by Portland State University and the Coalition of Communities of Color, a Portland non-profit, shows black families lag far behind whites in the Portland region in employment, health outcomes, and high-school graduation rates. They also lag behind black families nationally. While annual incomes for whites nationally and in Multnomah County, where Portland is located, were around $70,000 in 2009, blacks in Multnomah County made just $34,000, compared to $41,000 for blacks nationally. Almost two-thirds of black single mothers in Multnomah County with kids under five lived in poverty in 2010, compared to half of black single mothers with kids under five nationally. And just 32 percent of African Americans in Multnomah County owned homes in 2010, compared to 60 percent of whites in the county and 45 percent of blacks nationally.

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/racist-history-portland/492035/

Understanding the history of the city & the state I understand the protests.

[VA_Jill]

21. ABC News

claimed that it was "rowdy". Who makes it "rowdy", the protesters or tRump's hired thugs, which Jeh Johnson said on MSNBC *are* hired mercenaries? I tend to question the MSM here.

[onecent]

23. If trump is paying the bill.....HE CAN groan and groan......NO ONE WILL BE PAID FOR THIS CRAP.

[Steelrolled]

22. Pissing contest