Interviews with Portland protesters
THE DAILY MOTH:
There have been very tense protests and clashes in Portland, Oregon between Black Lives Matter demonstrators and Portland police. It has become more intense lately because President Donald Trump sent in federal agents who wear military-like outfits. They used tear gas and rubber bullets. I’ve interviewed three people: a couple and an individual on their experiences.
AMBER GRAY:
During the first protest on June 2nd, it was my first day marching. It was very peaceful. It was relaxed and there were good presentations. There were a lot of people. But at night, when my transgender friend who went did not respond to my messages, I became worried. I decided after I took a shower (I wasn’t doing anything, not protesting) that I would go to downtown Portland near the Pioneer Square area. I wanted to look for them and I didn’t know where they were. About 11:30 pm, all hell broke loose.
[Video from Amber Gray’s Instagram page]
LONI FRIEDMANN:
I also went, but I decided to stay in the car because I knew I couldn’t see. I’m also blind so I was nervous. I stayed in the car for a good 30 minutes. I was wondering where they were and I got a text that they were fine, but it turned into chaos. I saw maybe 6 or 8 police vehicles rush by and some almost hit my car. One officer shone their flashlight in my face. I was shocked because I was just sitting, doing nothing. So imagine if I was Black? I’d be finished.
[Video from Amber Gray’s Instagram page]
AMBER GRAY:
After Trump sent in the feds here, it’s a completely different life. Yes, federal cops. It’s a different life, it feels like a war everyday, honestly.
[Video from Amber & Loni]
AMBER GRAY:
Here is what I found yesterday, this is only from yesterday. They said they are not lethal, okay? I’ll show you what a rubber bullet looks like.
LONI FRIEDMANN:
It’s this big.
Imagine it going at 250 mph. It just blasts out. One person got shot in the head and is in the hospital.
[Image of OregonLive article showing Donavan La Bella in a hospital bed with a large wound between his eyes]
AMBER GRAY:
Suppose she went to the protests and if she got shot in her cochlear implant area, she’d be dead. If she went and couldn’t hear the gunshots, she’d be gone. If she can’t hear what the feds say, she’d be gone. I can’t do nothing, I have to protect myself. It’s not fair.
[Video from Amber & Loni]
AMBER GRAY:
This is some of what I found. It’s expired, they used expired weapons on people. This one says “MFG 2019.” It might not have expired.
It says military style, yes. That. They are using it on citizens. That’s not okay.
I can’t get this out or I will cough and be unable to breathe.
LONI FRIEDMANN:
It’s been sitting there.
AMBER GRAY:
They are pepper balls with paint on it. If they shoot at you, it feels like a paintball hit. It doesn’t hurt that bad, but when the pepper hits you, you can’t breathe or see. The color on it is to identify you. Look at it, it’s half paint and half pepper.
[Video from Amber & Loni]
THE DAILY MOTH:
What are the protesters’ demands? What do you want to be changed?
AMBER GRAY:
We are trying to defund the police, for sure. We want to ban the use of tear gas. We want Ted Wheeler (the mayor) out.
LONI FRIEDMANN:
Invest in the community. Focus on them.
AMBER GRAY:
If Trump is so worried about the destruction of property or the surrounding area, he should think of the people being destroyed. They are more important than buildings. You can rebuild buildings. You can prop up new statues or whatever. But you can’t bring back a Black person’s life. You can’t. You can’t rebuild a life. You can’t rebuild 400 years of persecution.
We want radical changes. Martin Luther King, Jr. said you have to (coughs). Whoa, the gas here.
LONI FRIEDMANN:
That’s from last night. So, yeah. She just got home at 5 a.m. this morning. I’ve been awake too. Every time she goes out, I can’t sleep. I’m just so worried. I check her Instagram all the time. It’s too much for me because I don’t know if she is safe. I know she is not safe, obviously, but will she…? So I stay awake all night until she gets home. It’s been like that every night. It’s a new thing for me now.
[Sponsored Video from Convo: https://bit.ly/2RyMogR]
RIAN GAYLE:
Hello, my name is Rian Gayle. This is my sign name. I live here in Salem, Oregon. It’s 40 minutes away from Portland. I have interpreted different protests that have happened here. I was involved mostly as an interpreter. Most are peaceful. There are instances of those who are on the opposing side, such as Trump supporters, “Blue Line” / police supporters, who come and verbally spar with our interpreters. We do interpret for them. But in Portland, it’s much bigger. It’s more intense. This started a while back ago. Naturally with all protests, there will be some property damage with buildings or other things. But most of the damage is in the city, specifically where the police department building is at. This happened at the Multnomah Justice Center, or “JC” for short. Protesters have tried to go in and damage it because that’s where the police bureau is. I’ve seen a lot of graffiti on walls and a lot of gas being tossed back and forth. I brought my mask, but it’s still very strong. My eyes burned.
[Image and video clip from Rian Gayle]
I saw a lot of smoke around me. Most of the protests were peaceful until the police came out of the building, and that’s when we verbally spar. That’s what I have seen, and it’s horrible.
[Video from Rian Gayle]
Most hearing protesters are very alert with noises. If they hear something, they will swerve in that direction quickly. I have to depend on them to look to see what’s wrong. Sometimes people will run out of somewhere but there’s no emergency and I would wonder why they were running. It causes anxiety. I have to be mentally alert. In a conversation with an interpreter, I said, “As a Deaf Black person, I feel more targeted because police will look at me and think, ‘That’s a Black person. They are causing more trouble.’ They might want to detain me rather than someone else. So I lean back against a wall or a tree. It’s because I can’t see what’s going on behind me so I lean back. It helps with protecting myself and I can have a wide field of vision for safety reasons.
[Image from Rian Gayle]
Before the federal agents came, most of the protests were peaceful. There was some dialogue with law enforcement authorities. Before they came, things were going pretty good. But Donald Trump was critical of Portland, saying the leaders couldn’t take care of the city. He called for law and order and threatened to send the feds. When they did come, things took a turn for the worse again. It became hot. The mayor here said he doesn’t want the feds here. The federal agents said they wanted to protect federal property, but they didn’t stay inside but came out on the streets and chased people down. That’s when it’s unacceptable. I saw that they had many masks and armor. They used rubber bullet guns. They threw smoke bombs. My eyes burned.
[Video from Rian Gayle]
Many people think that the protesters are causing trouble or destroying places or things. So when people see me as a Black person involved with Black Lives Matter issues, they look at me as one of those who cause property damage. They just judge me immediately. But those buildings that are damaged are extremely minimal, it is just 2 or 3 percent of the city. It doesn’t mean that I agree to go ahead and destroy things, but like I said before, during some Trump rallies, people did destroy things or hurt people. Or if a sports team won a competition, some fans would destroy property. People didn’t complain and just excused the damage as their excitement. But if it’s about Black Lives Matter, it’s just horrible! Awful! But we haven’t talked about police brutality. They just say “horrible!” But they don’t care about the “why.” That’s why we are frustrated.
[Video from Rian Gayle]
THE DAILY MOTH:
Now with the protests, what are your demands? What do you want to see changed?
RIAN GAYLE:
We want to see more investment in Black and diverse communities, for Black and Brown people. Like I said before we want to see a $50 million cut from the police budget. They have so much funds. They have a gang protection budget, but that is used primarily against Black communities. So, is that actually used on gangs or just to arrest them in an abuse of power? So I want these funds cut and for that to be redirected to community development. Resource development for Black and Brown people. Job opportunities. Housing. It’s awful with red lining. It’s clearly there with a divide between poor, Black and Brown communities, and those in white and wealthy communities. We want that to be changed, for the funds to support them. We want a stop to police brutality. We want justice for those who died in the past. Many Black and Brown people died with no justice. Some transgender people, such as Titi Gurley
[Image from a publication called “Out” with a headline and image of Tete Gulley]
a transgender Black woman, who was killed — she was found hanged and it was ruled a suicide and the case was dropped — but it was not fully investigated. Authorities just said they would investigate it again, but it should have been done long ago. It’s too late, the evidence is gone. We want more accountability on that. When Black and Brown die, the investigations should be taken very seriously rather than dismissed or minimized with an assumption that they were involved with gangs or drugs. That kind of attitude needs to change.
THE DAILY MOTH:
I get it. That’s what the Black Lives Matter movement is about, it’s about justice. Some people think that you’re trying to become superior or something. But it’s not about that, you want equality.
RIAN GAYLE:
Right. It is never about being superior or about being better than others. We’ve been saying it for a long time, and we’ve always been ignored. Also, from the deaf side, here in Salem (not Portland), I’ve been involved with dialogue with law enforcement on developing better policies on working with deaf or disabled people. They sent us some papers from before in which they still use outdated terminology such as “hearing impaired” or providing a TTY if a deaf person needs it. We are trying to tell them that those are outdated things, and to show them the appropriate ways to communicate, where the resources are, who the interpreting agencies are. There have been some good training sessions. A deaf guy named Chad Ludwig has helped with setting up a budget to train police officers. We do have some activity happening, but we want more action. It is the same in Portland, they have outdated things. We want them to develop better policies as well.
THE DAILY MOTH:
Thank you three for explaining things. It does help us with understanding the situation in Portland. What are your thoughts? Is it okay to use federal agents? How should community leaders respond to what Black Lives Matter protesters are demanding? Is there a good solution? How can we move forward in unity to have equality for all?