Portland's Doing Just Fine, Thank You

You can stuff those "Portland is Dead" memes up your [censored]

For some time now, it’s been fashionable in certain (usually Conservative) circles to bash my adopted hometown. Granted, Portland hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory since Memorial Day weekend 2020, when it erupted in violence over the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

It began as a legitimate effort by Black Lives Matter protesters of all colors (but mostly White, ‘cuz Portland is just about the Whitest city you’re ever going to come across) to raise consciousness. Like the Minneapolis Police Department, the Portland Police Bureau has a rather checkered history regarding race relations.

As with all too many things initially good and worthwhile, though, the BLM protests degraded into a textbook case of “no good deed goes unpunished.” By mid-summer, anarchists and Right-wingers had attached themselves to the protests with one all-encompassing goal- to raise Hell, kick ass, and break shit up.

By the end of June and into July, the legitimate protests devolved into full-on rioting. Downtown Portland began to resemble a war zone (I’ve seen a couple, and the resemblance was uncanny). City Hall was boarded up, and businesses quickly followed suit. Before long, downtown became a ghost town (the pandemic also played a role). Before long, few Portlanders wanted to take what felt like a significant risk in going into the downtown core.

The protests began to migrate into parts of north, northeast, and east Portland, but the rioting in downtown continued for just over 100 straight days, interrupted only by inclement weather. During this period, when it began to appear as if there might be hope for a respite, Donald Trump ordered federal law enforcement personnel into Portland to protect the federal courthouse.

(photo credit- Willamette Week)

None of the federal personnel had been trained in riot de-escalation…but they did excel at cracking skulls, which meant that they succeeded only in ramping up the mayhem. Instead of helping to reduce violence and tamping down tensions, the feds managed to piss off everyone- the mayor, the city council, the governor, the protestors, AND the chief of police.

At least Trump could claim to have “pacified” Portland, which he certainly wasted no time in doing. His boasts were false, of course, but their veracity (or lack of same) were far less important than his desire to burnish his “law and order” credentials.

By the time the feds left (with Trump claiming victory), it seemed as if everyone had forgotten why the protests had begun in the first place. It was no longer about George Floyd and police misconduct. It was just an opportunity for those who wanted to fight and do damage to indulge themselves.

It was Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys on the Right squaring off against Antifa on the Left. Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys brought the bear spray…and Antifa broke windows and set fires. There were legitimate BLM protestors mixed in who were still trying to make themselves heard, but they’d long since ceased being the story.

The Portland Police Bureau, few of whose personnel had been trained in riot control, tried to separate the two sides. Some nights it worked…and on others, it didn’t work well at all. As the conflict dragged on, many officers were accruing significant overtime and were frankly exhausted and traumatized by the nightly clashes and the risks they faced.

Lost in the Sturm und Drang were the BLM protestors who were still trying to find a way to make themselves heard over the din.

(photo credit- Black News Channel…the above photo was taken approximately two miles from where I live)

America became familiar with terms like “Antifa” and “Proud Boys” and “Patriot Prayer,” and before long, each would be politicized and imbued with all manner of political baggage. Donald Trump would invoke the Proud Boys during a Presidential debate. Antifa would be blamed for everything from the Portland riots to the Dodgers winning the World Series. And “Portland” would become less a place that people like me call home than a synonym for everything bad, awful, and out of control in America today.

(Even my brother in Albuquerque said, “Portland isn’t a place I’d want to travel now.” I bit my tongue and chose not to tell him he had no idea what he was talking about.)

This seems a good time to remind my gentle reader that Portland was hardly the only city experiencing violent social unrest in 2020. Sure, the Rose City was the most notable in terms of sheer excess. (How many of y’all outside of Montana or Alaska had even heard of bear spray until the Proud Boys drove through downtown Portland dousing those they suspected of being “Antifa?”)

Despite what you might have heard about Portland, it’s not a smoking relic of a once-great metropolis destroyed and rendered impotent by Antifa. Certainly, between BLM, COVID-19, Antifa, Patriot Prayer, and the Proud Boys, downtown Portland took a beating…but most of that’s been repaired. Yes, it still looks a bit rough around the edges, and the occasional riot still erupts, as it did on the anniversary of George Floyd’s murder. All is not rose water, shortbread biscuits, and chamomile tea…and it may not be for some time.

That said, there were never bodies hanging from lampposts nor Antifa protestors roaring through the streets proudly displaying the freshly severed, ironically bearded heads of Proud Boys foot soldiers. Nor had the Proud Boys ever lashed the disemboweled corpses of long-haired, granola-encrusted Antifa protestors to the fences surrounding Pioneer Courthouse Square.

I live in the University Park neighborhood of north Portland, about five miles as the crow flies from downtown Portland. Some of the protests have taken place as close as a mile from our house at the Portland Police Union headquarters. Even with all of that, though, we’ve never felt threatened or unsafe. Call it luck, White privilege, or whatever you choose, but the Rose City is hardly burning.

I still love Portland, and I’m proud to call it home. Sure, this city has its problems- expensive housing, an exploding homelessness crisis, and a few other hot-button issues. Puddletown’s not that much different from other cities in that respect. We struggle, we overcome, we do the best we can…and we wake up the next morning and do it all over again. That makes Portland pretty much like any other major city.

Just don’t tell me that the city I love is burning when you have no idea what’s actually going on here.