- denis c. theriault
- Two marches met up in Northeast Portland and descended upon the Moda Center last night.
Community advocate and two-time political candidate Teressa Raiford says Hales' office phoned her today in hopes of having a sitdown with the mayor later this afternoon. But it was unclear, according to both Raiford and Hales' office, which confirmed the entreaty, whether scheduling conflicts on such short notice might get in the way.
Raiford says she told Hales' office that she'd be available to meet at the Urban League's headquarters until 3 this afternoon, when family responsibilities would make her unavailable. The mayor's office, she said, had initially invited her to come to city hall after 4 today.
"I advocate in the community," Raiford told the Mercury. "Instead of coming to city hall, he could come to where I'm at."
She also said she gave Hales another option if today doesn't work out: "You can come to our protest on Saturday." (That protest is supposed to start at 1pm, outside the federal building at SW 3rd and Madison.)
Hales' spokesman, Dana Haynes, says he gave Raiford his card on Wednesday to try to start a dialog. Raiford had come to city council to speak after a group of outside police accountability consultants presented their third report in three years detailing how Portland investigates police shootings and deaths in custody. The most recent report documented instances in which police investigators failed to punish or even question officers over the tactical mistakes that might put a cop in a position where deadly force suddenly becomes necessary.
"We absolutely understand that she's in the middle of organizing these events. That's no small thing," says Haynes. "If it works today: great. If she can't, we understand."
Raiford—who has been calling for the creation of a citizen-led body with the power to discipline officers and compel policy and training changes—says she gave Hales' office a taste of what she'd like to discuss: "We need laws that work," she says. And when shootings and deaths happen and require investigation, "we can't have [the police bureau] accounting for their own outcomes."
The calls came after two marches last night, one from downtown and another from North Portland, met up in the Rose Quarter for a rally outside the Moda Center last night. The marches were in honor of Eric Garner, who died after a New York cop put him in a chokehold, and Lloyd Stevenson, a Portland man who was killed by a cop in similar fashion in 1985.
After a march Saturday that saw riot cops closing bridges pre-emptively and lobbing flash bang grenades and threatening mass arrests, the bureau's presence last night seemed to considerably lighten up.
That changed, a bit, at the Moda Center. Riot cops, but fewer than other nights, stood inside the south entrance and came out only after the crowd, finished making moving speeches, began reacting to what was looking like a growing crackdown with several non-riot-armed cops showing up with zipties around their belts. Modest tension followed the riot cops' arrival, as it always does. But organizers kept the crowd apart from the riot cops, even as they chanted "I can't breathe" in their direction.
The riot cops fell back, and even ordered snacks from concession stands, once the Blazers fans came pouring into the plaza after the game and no actual disturbances went down. No dispersal or arrest orders ever came down. The march was always peaceful—and this time the cops seemed to do a better, savvier job in managing tensions and then practicing de-escalation when they did briefly flare.
Raiford hinted that the city's fatigue with protests and marches, and how to manage disruptions to traffic and public transportation, might be motivating Hales. "They're scared or something," she says.
Haynes offered another explanation when asked about his boss's agenda: It's to "listen (mostly) and answer questions."
