No one who has watched the online video clips of the nightly violence and rioting in Portland over the last two months can continue to claim that what we are watching are “peaceful protests.”

State Representatives Karin Power (D-Milwaukie) and Janelle Bynum (D-Happy Valley) have issued a statement in which the motives of law enforcement are again called into question, and no recognition of the damage done by the rioters is acknowledged.

Despite the fact that most law enforcement activity has been directed at white persons, Bynum insists that this activity is “designed” to work against people of color. Many observers have pointed out that the only “design” present is that of the rioters, who seem intent to provoke law enforcement at all costs.

The statement says:

“These acts of violence perpetrated by federal law enforcement are designed to pass down a legacy of fear and further the interminable control of the movements of Black and Brown bodies since the days of American slavery,” said Rep. Bynum. “I will not let my children, or any of our children, inherit paranoia and mistrust of the people we commission to protect us. I am showing them the way of non-violent protest against oppression and government overreach. I am teaching them the true meaning of good trouble, necessary trouble.”

Does anyone remember George Floyd? Or do we not need to talk about him?


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2020-07-21 13:13:10