Not only have the protesters for Black lives in Portland been consistent in showing up, but they are demonstrating effective ways for people to come together and resist authoritarian clampdowns on free speech as well as how White people can be good allies, showing up and using White privilege to protect protesters of color and center their voices. They’re not the first, of course, and many of the strategies they’ve been using—including using leaf blowers to return tear gas to the senders—have come from Hong Kong, in particular, where pro-democracy protesters have been demonstrating in recent years against the might of China.
Portland is a very white city (about 80% White, 3% Black, 5% Asian), which makes their consistent showing up, resisting injustices committed against Black people by police and other actors in our justice system most especially, more noteworthy in a country where White people have mostly failed to stand in solidarity with Black family, friends, and neighbors. Three months of ongoing resistance in the face of nightly violent responses from law enforcement, especially the federal agents deployed by the Clown Prince of Darkness, have not dampened enthusiasm at all, but rather steeled their resolve.
The Wall of Moms group, formed recently to protect protesters by standing on the front lines in yellow shirts and bicycle helmets to protect against “less lethal” weapons used by law enforcement while shaming those who would attack them and other protesters, were the first group formed in response to the violent attacks on protesters. Then came the Dads Bloc, wearing orange shirts and carrying leaf blowers to send tear gas and any other chemical weapons used against protesters back to where it came from, or at least away from protesters. Now they’re joined by the Wall of Vets at the front line with the Moms, green-shirted Teachers Against Tyrants, pizza-box carrying ChefBloc, health-care workers in scrubs, and Lawyers for Black Lives wearing suits and ties.
Portland is one of the few American cities where protests are relatively common—along with Oakland, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York City—so it’s unremarkable that they would be actively protesting injustice. It’s more remarkable that they would sustain those protests as long and as effectively as they have. This is what being an ally looks like, most especially when the voices and experiences of Black people are centered, as the Moms group has repeatedly reminded the media to do.
Yes, I’m aware that I am centering largely White protesters in a largely White city here, when I could be centering Black people speaking on their experiences with our justice system. Please trust that I will be doing so in future posts. My point here is to say to White people reading this that the protesters in Portland are giving you a master class in how to be a good ally, and I hope you will absorb what they have to teach. Not everyone can be on site at the protests—I haven’t, because my disability could put others in danger if they tried to help my slow ass walking with a cane to escape projectiles, gas, or a wall of cops—but we can all do something, and we should, not to perform allyship but because it’s the right thing to do.