By
The Oregonian Editorial Board
It’s a good thing there was photographic evidence establishing that acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf actually visited Portland last week. Because based on his florid statement about our city “under siege,” a reasonable person would assume the entire city is in flames and no one can go outside safely at night.
In Wolf’s Portland, a mob that “escalates violence day after day” has been terrorizing the city. He paints a picture of the Wild West or a future dystopia where lawlessness abounds, and local authorities sanction criminality. And in go-for-broke hyperbole, Wolf equates vandalism of the federal courthouse with an attack on America itself.
Yes, parts of downtown have been trashed. Many public and private buildings have been shuttered to protect them from further damage. But let’s call Wolf’s visit what it is: A political play by a Trump appointee using Portland as the backdrop. He is seizing the opportunity to create a false narrative of the federal government saving the day.
In truth, federal intervention has only made things worse. It’s telling that in Wolf’s extensive listing of incidents over the past several weeks, he neglects to mention the most violent act of these protests – a deputy U.S. marshal’s shooting of Donavan La Bella in the face with an impact munition. Video shows nothing suggesting that La Bella, 26, who was standing across the street from the federal courthouse holding a speaker over his head, was a threat to anyone. Yet a federal law enforcement officer fired, fracturing La Bella’s skull and critically injuring him. That Wolf would fail to even acknowledge such a severe injury exposes how suspect his definition of “violence” is.
But while state and local officials are right to demand that federal officers stand down, they also must take responsibility for allowing turmoil in downtown Portland’s conflict zone to persist as long as it has. While the apocalyptic picture described by Wolf belongs in a novel, four blocks in the city’s core shows the scars of the after-hours destruction that has followed protests over the past several weeks. Elsewhere, plywood now covers storefronts and office buildings, casting a pall of desertion over our normally vibrant downtown.
And the protests, now in their eighth week, have taken their toll on a police force vital to the community in ways ranging from stopping reckless drivers to responding to a spate of shootings in recent weeks.
Portland needs its leaders – the city council, county leaders, Portland-area state legislators and the governor – to say with a unified voice that protests that devolve into destruction have no place in our city. Unfortunately, it’s been easier for most of them to keep silent, weighing in only to condemn police tactics as opposed to embracing their responsibility as leaders to bring the community together.
It’s understandable why politicians would prefer to duck the issue or leave it to Mayor Ted Wheeler, as police commissioner, and City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, as a longtime police reformer, to address. Policing protests – particularly demonstrations in which police themselves are the entity being protested – is an exceedingly difficult responsibility to execute and a politically fraught issue to navigate. The nationwide scourge of police brutality, particularly against Black people, is entrenched and abhorrent. And the shared certainty that something, somehow must change makes it politically risky to stand for any semblance – real or perceived – of supporting the status quo.
thought you should see a different perspective,.. wish I could duck the issue too
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