I'm at Kenton Park covering today's march organized by PDX Black Youth Movement, which is calling for prison abolition.

The park has about ~30 people, mostly teenagers, along with a supply table by PDX Resistance Assistance and Frontline Drumline drummers.

PDXBYM is a group of 16-18 year old Black Portlanders who have been leading demonstrations throughout the city since the death of George Floyd. 

(For more context on PDXBYM and coverage of a previous rally, check out this thread:  https://twitter.com/catalinagaitan_/status/1287490668936302592)

On Aug. 7, PDXBYM released these four specific sets of demands, encompassing policing and jail; healthcare; housing and property; and education.

Their demands are as follows:

PDXBYM's police/jail demands:

- Abolish the police system as we know it and provide law enforcement through more trained and specific professions such as social work, medical help, counselors, etc.
- Encourage rehabilitation facilities as a first option at sentencing. (1/2)

- Abolish capitol punishment in the state of Oregon.
- Defund and demilitarize the police in an effort to restructure the entire policing system with the final goal of abolishing Portland Police. 
- Do not allow police at Portland Public School high school sporting events. (2/2)

PDXBYM's healthcare demands:

- Allow 12 free therapy sessions annually for Black people.
- Access to health and wellness resources that are culturally specific for BIPOC where microaggressions and proper care is given to address the health concern. (1/3)

- Food health resources -- provide healthy food options in Black neighborhoods to promote the longevity of Black people in our city.
- Require diversity training by BIPOC for every healthcare professional before they are allowed to work with any patient. (2/3)

- Lower the cost of emergency healthcare such as ambulance and emergency room visits. (3/3)

PDXBYM's housing/property demands:

- Create a grant or fund program specifically for Black-owned businesses.
- Increase affordable rental units to create more opportunities.
- Provide subsidies for Black residents to purchase homes. (1/3)

- Remove federal lending guidelines that have restrictive or discriminatory language that prevent Black Portlanders from being about to purchase homes. (2/3)

- Reserve MLK Blvd. and Alberta for Black-owned businesses and give those businesses the same treatment when it comes to owning that property. That means not being overly strict on Black owners when it comes to the timing of when they pay rent, etc. (3/3)

PDXBYM's education demands:

- Rename every Portland Public School to represent that Native land that it occupies or a historically significant Black figure. (1/4)

- Restructure & reword Portland Public Schools' curriculum to accurately reflect African American history and include more of it. 
- Include 1 semester of Black history and 1 semester of Indigenous history as well as more Oregon history to highlight is racist origins (2/4)

- Spend the same amount of time on African history as European history. 
- Require at least one staff for every school that specifically is equipped for diversity, equity, and fair treatment of BIPOC students. (3/4)

- Make the budget for every school the same regardless of property taxes/value. 
- Put strict, clear, consistent consequences in for racist behaviors in school such as using slurs, violence and harassment. (4/4)

Today's BDXBYM march is walking from Kenton Park in North Portland to the Portland Police Association building on N. Portland, where protesters held a Direct Action March on Monday, Aug. 17.

(For coverage of that event, see this thread:  https://twitter.com/catalinagaitan_/status/1295567272564543488)

(Sidenote: when I was preparing to head out, I looked and my helmet and respirator and thought: “Surely, Portland police would not use tear gas and impact munitions on teenagers.” Then I stared at them for another 2 more seconds and packed them in my bag.)

A yellow van is here from Portland United Against Hate, a local nonprofit that facilitates anonymous reporting of police violence and hate crimes ( http://reporthatepdx.com ).

While not a medic van, the van is offering first aid supplies to anyone who needs them.

The crowd has swelled to about ~100 people and is preparing to follow a truck east on N. Kilpatrick St.

A teenager on a megaphone, accompanied by drummers, is leading the crowd in chanting “Black lives matter!”

Crowd is moving and the numbers are closer to 200. It’s raining lightly and children and older folks are mixed into the crowd, which continues chanting “Black lives matter!”

Crowd moving toward the Portland Police Association building on N. Lombard:

“Get frustrated! Remember where that pain and that hurt is coming from! It’s coming from Sandra Bland. Breonna Taylor. George Floyd. All of Portland seems to be forgetting about those names.” (1/2)

“To the people watching from their porch. You will not support my life by posting a black square on Instagram ... Quit taking away our culture. This shit is important to all the little Black girls and boys.” (1/2)

“Our culture means everything to us ... I’m tired of being looked at funny in stores. Of little white girls in Jordans.” (2/2)

Crowd is chanting: “Everybody wanna be Black until the cops come!”

Crowd has arrived outside the Portland Police Association building on N. Lombard.

“We should be thinking about prom. We should be worried about graduating. We should not be out here fighting for our fucking lives!”

“When we say ‘all cops are bastards:’ when a cop is sitting and watching and turning a blind eye, you’re part of the problem. Silence is violence. We’re not raising awareness - the whole country is fucking aware. You are the problem.”

“I noticed when we were marching we got quieter. Why did you get quieter? Are cops still killing us? ... I need you to feel that pain and scream it with your chest, because that’s what Black people feel every day ... We’re fighting! we’re screaming! And you should be screaming!”

“A - C - A - B!”
“All cops are bastards!”

Crowd has begun marching east down N. Lombard toward N. Interstate.

“Hey hey! Ho hi! Racist Trump has got to go!”

Crowd is preparing to take a right onto N. Interstate, chanting “Fuck Ted Wheeler!”

Crowd heading slowly down N. Interstate, chanting: “No cops! No KKK! No racist USA!”

“Who streets?”
“Our streets!”

Crowd is chanting the names of Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Emmett Till, Tete Gulley, Michael Brown and Elijah McClain.

A TriMet MAX train heads down the tracks feet away.

“Tamir Rice didn’t get it!”
“Shut it down!”

“I’m Black! She’s brown! I’ll say it loud and I’m proud!”

“Take it the streets and fuck the police! No justice, no peace! Fuck 12!”

Rain is coming down harder but people in the crowd, mostly dressed in t shirts, are dancing while they chant.

Across the street, a group of Black neighborhood residents cheer and dance, waving at the passing crowd. A man runs across the street to pass the group of marchers an acoustic guitar.

“Play that guitar!” he says.

Two Black families wave from their balconies on N. Interstate and the crowd raises their fists up toward them.

Dance party, part 1:

Dance party, part 2:

Crowd has pulled a u-turn and is marching north down Interstate. The truck pauses in front of the Viking Motel on Dekum, chanting “Fuck Trump!”

PDXBYM leaders ask white marchers to move to the edges of the crowd, as mentions of approaching police are being heard. Black marchers are encouraged to move to the center.

“If you’re white, you are here to protect Black bodies. Because you know police sure as hell won’t.”

“Take it to the streets and fuck the police! No justice, no peace!”

Crowd is marching north and neighborhood residents yell “Black lives matter!” down from their balconies.

Black neighborhood residents come out in the rain to wave to the crowd:

More residents waving as the crowd passes by:

Neighborhood resident comes out in the rain to hold up a sign reading “BLACK LIVES MATTER”

Crowd has taken a left on N. Lombard and is moving back toward the Portland Police Association building, chanting “No good cops in a racist system!”

“Say his name!”
“George Floyd!”
“Say her name!”
“Breonna Taylor!”

Vehicles are parked on N. Denver and Elmore avenues blocking traffic onto the stretch of Lombard in front of the Portland Police Association building.

The crowd is sitting and listening as PDXBYM leaders take turns speaking into a megaphone.

One speaker, a Grant High School student, speaks to the crowd:

“I can’t change who I am. I can’t change being Black ... I have to wake up every day in fear of my life. Am I going to get shot for fighting for my life? For going to the grocery store? In this white ass city?”

A speaker from Frontline Drumline:

“I see a lot of white faces tonight and I have to think of what is behind bringing white people here. Because I think it’s clear y’all have never owned slave. You’ve move never been to a lynching. And people use that as an excuse.” (1/2)

“‘I didn’t start this shit, so I don’t have responsibility.’ But just by being born into the power — being a benefactor of the oppression of my people, you have a duty ... So I want to thank you for being here. For showing empathy. Because that’s what I would do.” (2/2)

The next speaker talking about Portland Public Schools:

“I don’t know how I’m going to get shit done, how I’m going to learn, with 40 people in a class ... PPS overworks and underpays teachers. Where is all your money going to? The police. What do they need? Guns? Riot gear?”

The crowd is marching back toward Kenton Park and listening quietly to a PDXBYM leader speaking into a megaphone from the bed of the truck:

After seeing a white man watching the march from his window, one speaker demanded he come outside.

The crowd is now holding their phone flashlights in the air and chanting “Wake up! Wake up! Wake up mother fucker, wake up!”

“I don’t get no sleep cause of y’all! Y’all never gonna sleep cause of me!”

White neighborhood residents stand on their porches and look out of their windows. PDXBYM leaders tell them to come outside and join the march.

“I don’t like it when white people watch us and take videos of us from their porches. We’re out here and sweating,” a speaker says.

The crowd has arrived back at Kenton Park. Standing in the rain, a PDXBYM leader gives everyone homework to do until the next event: research defunding the police and watch as many educational videos on the topic as possible.

“Being a black woman in portland feels like having the worst experience of your life sometimes ... So thank you allies, but still, fuck your white feelings. We can still be friends, but your job isn’t to speak. It’s to protect us.”

Interview with Oria, a 16-year-old leader of PDX Black Youth Movement:

“I want people to take away from tonight that Black lives still matter and we’re still angry. We’re still out here in these streets showing people what it feels like to be a Black person. (1/2)

“What it feels like to have to be uncomfortable every day. Being in these streets, it’s uncomfortable. Being in the rain, walking miles, it’s uncomfortable. But we’re still out here fighting, no matter what. We’re still out here showing people that Black lives still matter.”(2/2)

Interview with Marz, a 20-year-old leader of PDX Black Youth Movement:

“I think it’s imperative that people know in order for there to be change, there needs to be consistency, and that’s why we’re out here every day. That’s why we’re putting in work behind the scenes.” (1/3)

“It’s why we’re trying to restructure the system, rebuild the system, because to say to ‘retrain cops’ — that’s impossible. That’s why we’re marching today. We want to abolish the police.“ (2/3)

“We want people to understand what our demands are as an organization and why we are out here. We’re not the blind leading the blind. We’re out here for a reason and we have demands that we want to be met.” (3/3)

Signing off for tonight with this video of Frontline Drumline showing their skills.

(There are some additional speeches from today that I didn’t have time to transcribe on the spot, so I’ll be sharing those tomorrow.) Night!