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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 19, 2020)
Page 12 August 19, 2020 Black Lives Matter STAND DOWN Stop the Violence The Committee of Congressional District #3 committee members approved and sent this to Elected Officials of State of Oregon and Congressional Delegation. Resolution for a permanent end to local and federal aggression against Black Lives Matter protesters and for systemic redress of harms from historic and ongoing institutionalized racism and state-sanctioned violence against Black People and other People of Color in the City of Portland, the State of Oregon and the United States of America. Whereas it is unacceptable that we as a nation have failed to con- front our long history of systemic oppression, enslavement, sup- pression, disenfranchisement and dispossession of Black people and other people of color for the financial enrichment of white people in the United States, and our equally long history of bru- talization and murder of Black people and people of color at the hands of police and soldiers in the enforcement of local, state and federal laws; Whereas the state of Oregon has a history of blatant discrimina- tion, exclusion, segregation, dispossession, and state-sanctioned violence against Black people and other people of color codified in our state constitution, laws, and policies; Whereas the City of Portland has a history of oppressing, disen- franchising, and dispossessing Black people and other people of color in our codes, policies and practices; Whereas the Portland Police Bureau has a history of police mis- conduct, violence and unequal enforcement of laws against Black people and other people of color, of protecting and promoting white supremacists within their ranks, and of working closely with known white supremacist individuals and groups in their law enforcement, reinforcing old paradigms present since the founding of our state and making Portland a fertile ground for continued overt racism, Whereas it is unacceptable that there has been a lack of a united anti-racist response by our local political leaders as demonstrated by the tacit approval of the soft response of our police and police leadership to recent white supremacist rallies and the harsh, dis- proportionate show of force and brutality to their protesters and against the current Black Lives Matter protests; Whereas members of the 3rd Congressional District Democrats have proudly called our party the “Party of Jefferson and Jack- son,” men whose accomplishments must be weighed in relation to their own histories as racist slaveholders and mass-murderers of indigenous peoples, histories that we as institutional heirs rarely contemplate or fully comprehend; Whereas there is little awareness among most white people in the United States regarding the breadth, depth and cruelty of in- stitutionalized racism and white supremacist history in the United States at the local, state and national level; Whereas Martin Luther King said “we are caught in an inescapable net- work of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny,” and we under- stand how violence against, murder and exploitation of Black people and other people of color primarily enriches the most powerful while divid- ing and distracting and weakening us, thereby making other populations more vulnerable to attack; Whereas, the murder of George Floyd focused the attention of the na- tion on the brutality regularly carried out by police against Black people and other people of color in implementing laws that keep them in an oppressed state, and sparked national and international outrage not only among people of color but peoples from all walks of life in this country and around the world despite the limited understanding most people have regarding the full history of institutionalized racism in the United States; Whereas the societal impact and social weight of Geoge Floyd’s murder is compounded in our collective consciousness by an incomprehensibly long list of brutalization and murder with impunity of innocent Black people and other people of color over hundreds of years, and this impact has resulted in a genuine uprising of protest and demand for changes both in Portland and across the United States, particularly regarding the routine unconstitutional and extra-legal/illegal federal and local police oppression and brutalization of Black people and other people of color; Whereas the recent federal violence against Black Lives Matter protes- tors in Portland, including the use of secret, unmarked police and border patrol exceeding their federal authority in beating and gassing Ameri- cans with military-grade weapons banned in modern warfare, plays out a long history of murder, brutality and oppression visited upon Black people and other people of color which the majority of white people have often remained ignorant about and avoided accountability for; Whereas the Black Lives Matter movement is part of a long and sacred history of outspoken and courageous protest to advance fair and equal treatment under the law for all peoples from colonists seeking equal rep- resentation in the making of laws that govern them, to the abolition of slavery, the expansion of the vote to women, the establishment of labor unions and fair labor practices, and the civil rights movement; Whereas we stand now at a moment of national reckoning and hold our- selves accountable to work tirelessly to bring an end to institutionalized racism in Oregon; And Whereas the cause of Black people and other people of color in this country is just, and warrants redress and remembrance of their plight to help restore our dignity as a people and keep us and our children from engaging in such barbarous behavior in the future; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED… That we, the 3rd Congressional District Democrats, hereby acknowledge the dark histories of the founders of our party and country, our leaders and people, over the long arc of American history regarding the treat- ment of Black people and other people of color both inside the United States and around the world; We call for the immediate cessation of all hostilities against Black people and all people of color, and their allies, in their just cause of protests that have drawn attention to our racist history and the need for funda- mental change in our society. In particular, we condemn the use of violent intimidation tactics used by Federal troops without ac- countability against their fellow Americans, we support our Gov- ernor’s demand for the removal of Federal troops from the City of Portland, and we demand an immediate cessation of plans to deploy federal troops for the purposes of suppressing civil rights in other cities throughout the United States. We call for the cessation of hostile activities of the Portland Police Bureau, and police departments across this country, toward Black people and all people of color and their allies in the constitutional- ly protected exercise of their free speech to draw attention to our history and current-day repercussions of racist laws, policies, and practices; We call for the dismissal, censure, arrest, impeachment, defeat and/or removal from office of racist individuals in positions of power, and their white supremacist enablers, on every rung of po- litical and economic power in our country, including the current acting president and attorney general of the United States; We call for ending qualified immunity, an end to the use of tear gas and similar chemical agents, and divestment from institutions steeped in racist law enforcement and their replacement with in- stitutions committed to the implementation of fair and equitable laws in a fair and equitable manner, in particular the dismantling of the Department of Homeland Security, dismantling of the private prison industry and emptying of prisons of all non-violent offend- ers locked up due to harsh sentencing policies disproportionately carried out against people of color, and divestment from and demil- itarization of the Portland Police Bureau; We call on our state officials to pass policy proposals recommended by the Joint Committee on Transparent Policing and Use of Police Reform in the August 2020 Special Session. Specifically, LC 742 regarding the regulation of tear gas & munition, LC 743 requiring police identification, LC 745 prohibiting the use of chokeholds, LC 761 requiring officers and peacekeepers to give warning before us- ing force, LC 762 regarding the creation of a statewide misconduct database, and LC 763 regarding the creation of a statewide use of force database. We call upon our representatives at the local, state and national lev- el to create and fund Truth & Reconciliation Commissions for the City of Portland, the State of Ore- Sponsored By: gon, and the United States to study the depth and breadth of our white supremacist history in its historic and ongoing manifestations, and to create educational institution and programs so that we do not forget our racist history, and we en- courage other states and localities to do the same. 971-225-2835 • CCB#204220 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/opinion/john-lewis-civil-rights-america.html • https://katu.com/news/local/reimagine-oregon-project-works-to-dismantle-racism-in-the-state