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Volume XLVIII • Number 28
See story, page 2
See Local News, page 3
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • July 31, 2019
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Masked Up for Protest
Do concealed identities embolden the violence?
AP Photo /D Ave K illen
Mask-clad people on the political spectrum, from the extreme left such as Rose City Antifa or the far right like the Proud Boys, have become routine during protests in
downtown Portland, including the demonstration on June 29 (above) that later turned violent. Police Chief Danielle Outlaw has raised the issue of the concealed identities
as emboldening some of the violence that has been occurring, but would banning masks violate constitutional protections? The Portland Observer looks at the issues.
by D Anny P eterson
t he P ortlAnD o bserver
Would the elimination of masks at Portland protests
make demonstrations more peaceful? That was the sug-
gestion of Police Chief Danielle Outlaw in response to
violence that has been occurring at political rallies and
demonstrations in recent years, in which right-wing par-
ticipants, and left-wing counter-demonstrators, have been
engaging in bloody street brawls.
Mask-bans are nothing new in the United States, with
around 15 states and some counties and cities having
some kind of regulation on the hiding of faces during a
protest. Many of the anti-mask laws around the country
were passed in response to a wave of violence perpetrated
by Ku Klux Klan members wearing hoods between 1920
and 1950.
Dr. Leroy Haynes, a black pastor and the chair of the
Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Po-
lice Reform, pointed out the stark contrast between the
peaceful, non-violent heyday protests of the 1960s civil
rights era he’d participated in since he was 13, in the tra-
dition of the philosophies of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
compared to today’s both right-wing and left-wing count-
er protestors having been documented wearing masks and
occasionally engaging in violence with each other.
“We were willing to be beaten if it was needed…we
never wore masks, we wanted people to see that we were
willing to take an open stance and see our face in those
situations,” Haynes said.
When multiple groups, including the right-wing Proud
Boys, a designated hate group by the Southern Pover-
C ontinueD on P Age 5