Some see opportunities for local police reform as protests and perseverance open doors to court battles and police bureau budget cuts
Historic uprisings are sweeping the country in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. While protests against state-sanctioned violence and racism are taking place in every state, Oregon’s are significant, as they continue to swell well beyond the Portland metro region, and in unprecedented numbers.
Now, a state whose constitution once banned Black people from living within its borders is seeing its largest demonstrations calling for their liberty. And some Black Oregonians are seeing opportunities for reform.
Jah’di Levvi, 30, has been marching in the streets every night since the demonstrations began. He said that he hadn’t been to a protest in about five years — the last time was following “another murder” — but after witnessing Floyd’s execution online, he was moved into action.
“That image of the knee on his neck sent me over the edge. I was like, there’s no way I’m not going to protest,” he said. Now he finds himself organizing with the newly formed Portland Civil Rights Collective, helping lead the group he estimates to be around 150 strong take to the city’s streets, parks and bridges each night in the name of justice.
After nationwide unrest, all four officers on the scene of Floyd’s death have been charged. However, protests are now continuing into their second week. And while Levvi expressed concerns over people losing momentum, he said he and his collective do not plan on stopping for the foreseeable future.
Since the protests began, Portland police have arrested more than 100 people, bringing charges against some. While early unrest resulted in millions of dollars’ worth of property damage, mostly in downtown Portland and the historically Black Albina district, marchers have remained largely non-violent.
Police, meanwhile, have dispersed tear gas and pepper spray during the protests, including against members of the media, and have deployed long-range sound weapons. Jami Resch resigned as police chief on Monday, replaced immediately by Chuck Lovell, a Black veteran of the Portland Police Bureau. The new chief made no declaration against the police’s tactics during the protests.
PROTESTS: Police response shakes houseless Portlanders
Advocacy group Don’t Shoot Portland launched a class-action lawsuit against the city last week, alleging that law enforcement has indiscriminately used tear gas against civilians, further compromising the health of the public during the current global health crisis.
Jaizion Propps has been one of those subjected to the gas. The 19-year-old Portland native said he’s been motivated by the uprisings that have emerged from Minneapolis. He is also a member of Word is Bond, an organization building relationships between law enforcement and young Black men
Propps invoked the name of Quanice Hayes, a teenager killed on his knees surrounded by Portland police three years ago, in describing the connection he feels to the tragedy in Minneapolis. In a wrongful-death suit launched by Hayes’ family, a city attorney responded by blaming Hayes for his own death. Andrew Hearst, the officer who shot and killed Hayes, was not indicted.
“We’ve come too far as people, as a community, meaning the whole city … marching for a day or two about it, and see nothing happen,” Propps said. “So at this point, we’re not going to stop until we see stuff happen.”
He’d like to see reforms, including more racial sensitivity training.
Human rights advocate and rapper Glenn Waco was involved in early Black Lives Matter actions with Don’t Shoot Portland.
And while the 28-year-old emcee isn’t joining the protests now because of a compromised immune system, he said the coronavirus provided the “perfect storm” to help spark the nationwide unrest, noting stay-home orders and the spike in unemployment.
“So if something happens, you’re going to see it. Everyone is going to be talking about it on your timeline,” he said. “So COVID actually sat everyone down and forced us to deal with it, ironically.”
He joins a growing chorus of voices calling for the defunding of the police, a message he’s amplifying in anticipation of the expiration of the police union contract on June 30.
“We’re talking about a different form of public safety. We’re talking about social programming for these kids,” Waco said. “I mean, the only solution for gun violence can’t just be prison because at the end of the day, they’re making money preying off of our trauma.”
EDITORIAL: The people are speaking – the time to begin dismantling the police is now
This afternoon, Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty is asking City Council to cut police funding from the city’s proposed 2020-21 budget. The amendments Hardesty is asking the council to consider at its 2 p.m. meeting would: eliminate the Portland Police Bureau's Special Emergency Reaction Team, which responds to protests; stop the use of marijuana tax dollars to partially fund the Police Bureau’s traffic division; redirect $4.8 million of the bureau’s budget to Portland Street Response, a non-police response to crises on the streets; and the elimination of two special units that yesterday, ahead of the meeting, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler announced he will dissolve. Those units are the bureau's Gun Violence Reduction Team, which critics say disproportionately targets Black people, and the Transite Division, which polices TriMet. Wheeler's proposed cuts equate to slightly less than 3% of the bureau's $246 million budget — an amount many demonstrators say is not enough.
Amid the calls for reform, however, Leroy Haynes cautioned demonstrators against losing focus.
Haynes, a pastor and longtime co-chair of the Albina Ministerial Alliance’s Coalition for Justice and Police Reform, has his eyes focused on the police union contract.
“The contract restricts the mayor and the council from doing certain things. Like in Minneapolis, when the chief fired the four police officers in George Floyd’s case, that couldn’t be done here in Portland because of the union contract,” he said. “We need to transform that contract.”
Disclosure: Donovan Scribes, the writer of this article, has helped Don’t Shoot Portland with editing work.
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