So on Saturday I went to a local BLM protest organized by a couple of high school kids. I only knew about it from a facebook group, (Indivisible Hillsboro-OR), but it compelled me more than heading downtown Portland.
Because it was in Hillsboro, which had a large hispanic population, I wanted to create a sign that could work for both BLM and the hispanics and I chose “Racism is the Real Cancer”. My sign had two sides, so on the other side, I had “El Racismo es el verdadero virus”.
A couple of thoughts emerged from my time at the protest. I arrived far too early - 30 minutes before it’s planned start, and there were maybe 20 people in the parking lot at the high school football field. I only saw perhaps 2 or 3 blacks and this felt so small. Our family (wife / 17yr old son) made up perhaps 15% of the crowd at that point and I was a little sad. I really hoped to be a part of something that showed we cared.
Over the next 30 minutes, hundreds of people showed up, with huge streams of people coming in at 5:30 from all directions. Emotionally, I couldn’t help but think that what I felt at the beginning was how black people felt with no one on their side - fighting the fight, but the support wasn’t there. But I was proud of how many people we had. I would estimate the crowd somewhere between 600-800 people based on the crowd at the end when we reached the Civic Center plaza.
During the walk, it was very respectful and mostly quiet. People by the side of the street were clapping and taking pictures. I noticed several hispanics in the march, holding up signs that said “Tu Lucha es mi Lucha” which means “Your fight is My fight” and I couldn’t help but think that is is such an awesome slogan - acknowledging that what blacks are experiencing, they are experiencing as well, and they want to fight it alongside of them. I hoped my sign, from an old white guy, showed them that I cared about their plight as well.
The speakers were good. I think we had between 12-15 who spoke and they varied between personal and messages of what we could all do as supporters. The mayor was about the 3rd or 4th person to speak, and while it was a good speech, someone from the crowd yelled “But what are YOU going to do about it Steve?” and kept at this for several minutes, driving the point home that action needs to occur.
I didn’t take any pictures. There were a few photographers around and I was hoping more pictures would surface later in the paper, but we’re just not portland and without any real violence or conflict, I guess we’re not a story.
Which echos something I’m seeing on twitter - the marches and protests go on, but because they have turned largely peaceful, the media is not covering them except for the paper, which has a blurb everyday describing the Portland marches. And the final parable I have is that I don’t think peaceful marches are going to work if we want to keep this in people’s faces. The people who care - they are watching, but people who are on the sidelines aren’t seeing the continued presence and pressure.
I’ll be out there again this coming weekend, finding another place to show my support.
