Ally Action Project Week 6: Portland Protests

Black Lives Matter protests sprang up in Portland on 5/26/20, like many cities in the US, after the death of George Floyd by a police officer. On 6/26/20 the president signed an executive order to send federal police to protect federal property, a performative authoritarian move to sent 114 federal police to Portland to quell the largely peaceful protests. The protests in Portland occupy just 2 city blocks around the county Justice Center and a federal courthouse. Once the federal police arrived, they began using extreme tactics and force to combat protesters. The federal police in Portland were operating without identification and were not held to the same rules as police by the courts. They were using teargas repeatedly, beating and seizing non-violent protesters, and holding them without due process. The federal police force in Portland had been told to leave by the Oregon Governor, Attorney General, and Portland Mayor.

On 7/29/20, the Oregon Governor Kate Brown negotiated the leave of the federal police and stated, “They have acted as an occupying force & brought violence.” She then released a video with a message of hope and peace outlining how she will continue to protect the protesters and echoed their concerns about ending police violence towards minorities. On 7/30/20, the Oregon State Police took over guarding the federal courthouse in Portland amid peaceful protests and no incidents of violence.

While the federal police were expelled from Portland, the president also sent them to Albuquerque, Chicago, Baltimore, and Philadelphia with plans to expand to Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee within 2 weeks. We must reject these authoritarian actions that are intended to excite the president’s supporters and bolster his claims of law and order. Instead, we can donate and support the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), who were on the streets in Portland to record the illegal policing and represent the victims who were kidnapped by federal police. We can also call our local governors to urge them to resist federal police in our states, and put an end to this unconstitutional act.