Hi this terrifies me but I wrote a thing about press coverage of protests, especially Red House. Hopefully this won't matter too much soon and the Kinney's will get to keep their house. The racial justice movement in portland will continue though, so here we go

Dear Press,

I am not a journalist but I have thoughts on how to cover the Portland protests and the Red House eviction defense and this is twitter so here we go. Prepare for a lot of assumptions on my part. This is not a validation of anyone's behavior,

it is certainly not an approval of violence against the press, or approval of press filming faces, or anything like that. This is an analysis on why things are happening the way they are. This is primarily directed at white press as your presence is inherently more suspicious.

I understand that the traditional press often (certainly not always) truly do want to help. Some just feel entitled to cover whatever they want, and are seeking their own success. This thread is directed at the well intentioned. You probably want to shine a light on oppression,

to use your skills and experience to tell the wider public this story, in order to gain wider support.

You may be used to covering people who want to talk to you, who want you to tell people their story.

You are also probably used to getting praise for capturing pictures of pain and emotion to help/force the world to empathize with your subjects. Coverage and national attention can be extremely beneficial in achieving systemic change.

In this case many of these actions taken by protesters are technically illegal, and even when individuals commit no crimes, they are charged seemingly for simply being present when others commit minor crimes, such as graffiti.

Police announce “riots” and “unlawful assembly” at arbitrary times and arrest people for being present. Regardless of any of this, police and the system that is being protested are above the law. Property can be seized without cause,

“Interfering with a Police Officer” or “IPO” can land protesters in jail where they face continued state sanctioned abuse including many reports of sexual assault.

These people may have previous arrests, they may already be being monitored by the police (the corrupt police)

who want to punish protestors for daring to demand change. There is a difference between legal and just, and in this case, justice is very unlikely to save them.

When covering a teachers strike, or a save the whales protest, it is unlikely the participants will face violent repercussions for their free speech. Protesting the police can get you killed and it has. This is well documented history.

By treating this like a regular news story you are, inadvertently or not, antagonizing the participants. You, and especially your camera, are a threat, whether you believe that to be true or not. The fear your camera inspires in people who have been brutalized and arrested

all summer, is very real and in my opinion incredibly valid. Not only are the protesters rightly afraid of retribution, they are also traumatized. Many of them may be triggered by your presence. If you want the story, right or wrong, you need to make allowances for that fact.

Rule 1: Don’t be scary. (spoilee: you’re scary)

People have made the point that all these participants should be your sources rather than your subject. How would you communicate with a whistleblower from a government agency, or famous corporation? I don’t know, I’m asking you.

The Red House has a website and a contact email [email protected]

Have you tried to organize an interview with a family member or representative via that email? If not, probably start there.

A phone call or video chat allows the interviewee the freedom to end the interview at any time without the perceived or actual threat of facing your frustration in person.

If you want to interview protesters other than representatives of the Kinney family, you must be aware of

the scale and organization of these protests. Long story short, anarchists reject hierarchy and leadership. This is partially political but it is also a safety measure. Civil rights leaders have historically been murdered. Figureheads hold too much emotional value to be safe.

Not having leaders keeps everyone safe in this regard. Because of this it is basically impossible to speak to a protester who truly represents the movement or even knows everything that is going on.

This is obviously a difficult story to cover. IF IT WERE ME (it’s very not me, it’s you) I would interview as many neighbors as possible to capture the real mood of the neighborhood. Who can you interview that will agree to be identified? What data can you collect?

Can you do a survey of local businesses?

Can you hire a Black or indigenous photographer or interviewer, can you offer to buy images or writing from protesters rather than take your own. Can you contact press members who have been embedded with protesters before and earned the

trust of the community for advice or information?

Ultimately you are simply not able to conceive the scope and context of this situation if you are not Black or indigenous.

Hire Black journalists, hire Black writers who have not been journalists before and value their life experience over their resume.

You are a part of the system these people seek to change. You are inherently threatening, and you do not know how not to be.

That is what we must accept as white people. We are scary and we are capable of enormous damage even without intending to harm anyone.

That’s all i’ve got, thanks for reading, I hope i have said something worthwhile.