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Police Violence Is Hate Violence POLICE VIOLENCE IS HATE VIOLENCE Testimonies of Police Brutality from the Streets of Portland From May 31through July 20, 2020 Coalition of PORTLAND UNITED Communities of AGAINST HATE Color Portland United Against Hate & the Coalition of Communities of Color Present: POLICE VIOLENCE IS HATE VIOLENCE: Testimonies of Police Brutality from the Streets of Portland Authored by: Dr. Mira Mohsini Susan Halverson Fonseca, M.S. Rabbi Debra Kolodny Dr. Andres Lopez Photo credit cover photo: Dana Buhl This Photo, credit: Ernesto Fonseca Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary 3 2. Taking Stock of Portland Police Violence 5 3. Testimonies of Police Violence in Portland 6 4. Appendix A: The National and Local Uprisings 14 5. Appendix B: Data on Police Accountability 17 6. Appendix C: ReportHatePDX Database and Methodology 18 7. Appendix D: Advocating for Change 20 8. Appendix E: About Portland United Against Hate and the Coalition of Communities of Color 23 Notes This report is a joint effort by Portland United Against Hate (PUAH) and The Coalition of Communities of Color (CCC). CCC and the authors listed on Page 1 were responsible for analyzing the data in the ReportHatePDX tool, writing this report, and styling it. For more information about these organizations and this collaboration see Appendix E. Content Warning: This report includes graphic images of people wounded by police munitions in Portland. These photos were submitted to PUAH during the timeframe when data for this report were collected. We welcome further visual evidence of the harm caused by police brutality on bodies. Photo Credit: Ernesto Fonseca Executive Summary The murder of George Floyd by police on May 25, 2020, sparked what may be the largest uprising in the history of the United States. In Portland, protesters have been out on the streets every day since May 30, 2020, supporting Black Lives Matter and an end to police brutality, particularly the disproportionate brutality against Black men. The Portland Police Bureau’s (PPB) response has been to physically assault these protesters with rubber bullets, tear gas, pepper spray, batons, and flashbangs. This report presents first-hand testimonials from Portlanders who have been targets of or witnesses to police violence and hate. These testimonials were reported to Portland United Against Hate (PUAH) through its crowdsourced tool called ReportHatePDX, where members of the public can submit hate incident reports. This tool has been critical for capturing reports on incidents of hate reported by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) people. For data collected up to March 31, 2020, incidents of hate reported by Black folks make up 22% of all reporters; Latinx folks make up 29% of reporters; and all people of color make up 83% of the databases’ incident reports. Between May 31 and July 20, 2020, 35 incidents reported law enforcement officers as perpetrators of violence. These 35 reports represent the experiences of thousands of protesters and demonstrate that the PPB was engaging in the violent suppression of protests long before federal law enforcement officers arrived. This report is a snapshot in time. We continue to receive daily reports of new incidents of police brutality. We hope this data is useful for advancing Black-led organizing that advocates for the dismantling of systemic racism and an end to police violence. We invite Black leaders and organizations to work with us on future analysis and uses of these data in service to the movement. Eleven of the targets of police violence (31%) are BIPOC, twenty-one (60%) are white, and three (9%) did not include their race/ethnicity. We are mindful that the majority of incidents reported on ReportHatePDX are from white protesters, and yet the prevalence of incidents from BIPOC people exceeds their proportion of the general Portland population. We are also aware that the experiences of Black protesters are less represented in this report, even though Black people are impacted by police violence in numbers vastly disproportionate to their percentage of the population. Reports from the ground and our data confirm that “less lethal” munitions are indiscriminately used as a crowd control measure, resulting in a preponderance of bodily injuries. The data presented shows that police officers are using aggressive crowd control measures in response to nonviolent demonstrations that leave many with lasting injuries and trauma. The data also demonstrates that the police are targeting journalists, legal observers, and medics. POLICE VIOLENCE IS HATE VIOLENCE Testimonies of Police Brutality from the Streets of Portland -3- Executive Summary (Continued) • Indiscriminate use of force by the PPB: Reports from ReportHatePDX describe, sometimes in great detail, the grotesque measures used as crowd control on protests. Despite compelling evidence that the use of force on protesters does not keep police or protesters safer, police respond with force daily. The ReportHatePDX reports include 10 reports of flashbangs; 20 reports of chemical agents (tear gas, pepper spray); 8 reports of being shoved, tackled, or grabbed by the neck; 4 reports of being hit with batons; 16 reports of the use of rubber bullets; 6 reports of the use of munitions other than rubber bullets (or when the projectiles were unknown); 4 reports of threats, intimidation, or verbal harassment. • Lasting injury and trauma on innocent civilians: Though law enforcement uses “less lethal” weapons against protesters and others at or near the protests, these weapons can and do have lasting effects. Tear gas can cause pulmonary edema, permanent eye damage, and increases the risk of contracting a respiratory illness. Rubber bullets permanently disable about 15% of those struck with them. ReportHatePDX includes accounts of serious physical injuries and trauma. • Illegal and unethical targeting of media, legal observers, and medics: Our data show that the police are targeting specific groups of protesters. Journalists and medics are protected in war by international humanitarian law, but this does not apply to domestic protest or civil unrest. On July 23, 2020, a federal judge prohibited federal officers from arresting or using physical force on journalists and legal observers. Medics do not have any specific protections. It is unknown if this restraining order will impact the targeting of the press and legal observers. We call on city and elected officials to end the use of indiscriminate force by law enforcement against all protesters exercising their First Amendment rights. The specifics of this call are in Appendix D. June 15, 2020. Portland Police stationed in riot gear in front of the Justice Center in Downtown. Shortly after the gathering of non-violent protesters was declared an “unlawful assembly,” police dispersed protesters with crowd control munitions. Photo Credit: Rabbi Benjamin Barnett -4- Taking Stock of Portland Police Violence The police response to the national uprising following the murder of George Floyd has been brutally violent. Social media platforms have widely documented police brutality against protesters across the country. Militarized police forces have perpetrated violence against protesters, using chemical weapons, long-range acoustic devices, and so-called “less lethal” munitions against protesters to disperse crowds and protect property. More information about the local and national uprisings can be found in Appendix A. The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) has responded to the ongoing uprising by using indiscriminate and unchecked force against protesters. The PPB’s response is not an anomaly; instead, it is a continuation of aggressive policing that the city’s Black residents have experienced for decades. Oregon’s history as a white separatist state excluded Black people from living in Oregon, making contracts, and owning land until 1926. The language of the exclusion law was not removed from Oregon’s constitution until 2001. This construction of Oregon as a racist white utopia has shaped the nature of police violence in Portland. While the data on police violence presented in this report focus on the experiences of protesters in downtown Portland, we acknowledge that there have been many other actions in support of Black Lives Matter led by BIPOC organizers in the tri-county area. Examples include vigils, car parades, movement building, protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and memorials for Black folks who have been killed by Portland police. These actions, while not represented by first-hand testimonials here, are nonetheless framed by the broader context discussed in this report. The bulk of the reports submitted to ReportHatePDX describe the excessive crowd control measures used by the PPB. A subset of these reports also describes the lasting injury and trauma caused by the use of so-called “less lethal” weapons. A testimonial submitted to ReportHatePDX describes this use of force: “I joined the Portland community at the waterfront park and Justice Center in downtown Portland to protect and be in solidarity with my Black friends, family, and neighbors against police brutality. As the night went on the officers started mobilizing and announcing that the protest was deemed illegal, they then proceeded to shoot pepper balls and tear gas into the crowd…” (June 6, 2020) There is no shortage of evidence that the PPB has targeted and attacked journalists, legal observers, and medics. A testimonial submitted to ReportHatePDX describes the targeting of members of the press: “Perhaps the most disturbing part of the night was that at least three members of the press were arrested. I saw a tweet earlier of the charges against one of them and they are an absolute lie. There was at least one felony count of assaulting an officer, but there is video of him being arrested and it is crystal clear that none of that happened.” (June 30, 2020) POLICE VIOLENCE IS HATE VIOLENCE Testimonies of Police Brutality from the Streets of Portland -5- The deployment of federal officers to Portland, while deeply disturbing, must not negate the violence perpetrated by the Portland Police Bureau against protesters.
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