I realize that the anger over Trump and Barr’s militarized goons detaining protestors has given a new impetus to the Oregon street protests, but what kept these protests going before the goon troops arrived?

The coast-to-coast incendies of late May and early June have obviously chilled. BLM-ers in major cities across the nation have decided to downshift for the time being and take a breather.

But not in Portland. Or, to go by today’s reporting, Seattle. So what needs to happen before somebody calls a time out? Or is this a new and permanent way of life?

Do Portland protestors want some sort of no-confidence election? Mass resignations from local white officials? Resignations of the entire Portland police force so the city can be Camden-ized?


Demonstrators marching recently in Portland. [Photo credit: Dave Killen/The Oregonian, via Associated Press.]

Two days ago N.Y. Times opinion writer Charlie Warzel noted that the Portland street demonstrations, ignited by the Minneapolis murder of George Floyd on 5.25, have been happening for 50 days straight. (53 as of today.) Warzel wrote about the stress of being in constant combat, and of likely PTSD down the road. Will the Portland actions still be going after 75 days? 100?

Posted on 6.3.20: “Terrible convulsive traumas have sadly happened to this country from time to time. But they’ve never been long-term. A few days or a week, and then everyone began to gradually emerge and resume basic routines.

“JFK was shot on Friday, 11.22.63 and buried on Monday, 11.25. Four days of emotional gloom and devastation. And on Tuesday, 11.26, the world slowly started again. The grief never went away, of course, but the wheels of commerce and culture began to turn.

“John Lennon was murdered on 12.8.80. The shockwaves of anguish were devastating. Everyone wept. But after a few days or a week, the clouds began to dissipate.

“The Los Angeles Rodney King riots lasted for six days (4.29.92 to 5.4.92). The aftermath seeped and simmered. Nobody ever forgot what happened. But on the seventh day the world began to move on.

“The 9/11 recovery took a lot longer. The shuddering trauma aspects, I mean. But that was a first-ever attack on U.S. soil, and of course mass murder.

“George Floyd was killed by four Minneapolis cops on Monday, 5.25. That was 9 or 10 days ago. The protests are still going on, and there’s another one happening in Los Angeles a few days hence (Hollywood to West Hollywood to Santa Monica). The curfew is still on, and a high percentage of stores in WeHo are boarded up.

“So how much longer? The mindset and makeup of big-city police departments aren’t going to change overnight. Will the protests and demonstrations keep going for days to come? Weeks? Indefinitely?”

July 19, 2020by Jeffrey Wells62 Comments