More Portland Police Bureau Bullshit

In a SHOCKING (lol) article this week, the Portland Mercury stated that the latest data from the Portland Police Bureau on all traffic stops in 2010 shows that officers pulled over and searched Blacks and Latinos TWICE as much as they did to White Portlanders.

Now the 2010 census reported that Portland is 72.2% White and only 7.8 and 9.4% Black and Latino respectively. Theoretically more White people would be pulled over because of numbers, right?

Even more outrageous numbers in the Mercury article indicate that despite this trend, White Portlanders had a higher percentage (32%) of having contraband than  Latinos (23%) or Blacks (26%).

So what does that say about the PPB that we didn't already know? Despite the bureau's surprising admission that racism is playing a factor, it doesn't sound like they're doing much to curb it.

(Ed. note: You can read the full article here.)

UPDATE: Protest at City Hall (4/2/2012)

This morning I walked down from my flat to city hall in downtown Portland to attend the protest/rally against the ruling to reinstate Ron Frashour, a Portland police officer who shot an unarmed man in the back with an assault rifle in January of 2010. Frashour had already been fired by the department but an arbitrator recently made the recommendation that he did nothing wrong after an almost two-year battle. 

The protest was fairly well-attended and there were multiple keynote speakerings including the very eloquent Rev. LeRoy Haynes of the Albina Ministerial Alliance, representatives from the Urban League of Portland and many local lawmakers. Haynes urged us on and demanded that we never give up this fight for justice. 


Unfortunately, I noticed some people milling around with signs that had the faces of various members of Socialist groups "for president" pasted on the placards and not one but two people from different so-called Socialist groups came up to me and tried to give me their literature. For the record, I lean Socialist, but their obvious co-opting of the event to spread their propaganda kind of pissed me off. Especially when a super-blonde milktoast beardie guy was trying to explain to me the connection of racial profiling. I've been racially profiled, more than once. I don't need a straight White man to tell me what it is. Another representative that spoke to me was from the Bread and Roses Center, a location of the Freedom Socialist Party, and I have had dealings with them when working for the Portland Queer People of Color group and Las Mujeres de La Raza (associated with M.E.Ch.A.). Basically they wanted our support as tokenism, which of course none of us were okay with. Shockingly, all these people with their magical flyers disappeared as the keynote speakers began, which I felt really spoke to their true agenda. Thanks guys.

I know I am digressing, but that really set the tone for my day and was really disappointing. I am, however, very grateful for the White allies and allies from other communities of colour that were truly present. I only hope that as we continue to protest this ruling, more people can join us in our demand for justice and racial equality in Portland. 
Signing off, 
Fuck la policia! 

I want JUSTICE

I want justice for victims of racial violence. The world has gone mad. It is disgusting. 

Everyone has been talking about the Trayvon Martin (learn about it here) case...frankly I am glad it is getting so much press. It has brought up a lot of strong feelings in my community here and I want to touch on how it relates to the injustice of the system here in Portland.

It's been about a month since the shooting of Trayvon Martin, and on March 13th a local Latino man (link: Alberto Flores-Haro) was shot in the stomach by our notorious police force when he came out into his yard to check for intruders late in the evening.

On top of that, I discovered today that the Portland Police Bureau is considering reinstating Ron Frashour (AFTER HE WAS FIRED!), the officer who shot a mentally-unstable, unarmed Black man in the back with an assault rifle (Jason Campbell) last January. An arbitrator for the case states that "it was reasonable to believe that he could be armed" (Portland Mercury, 2012). What was the justification for this? Was it reasonable because he was Black and upset? The record states that it "appeared" he was reaching for a gun as he ran away but many local citizens are unsatisfied by that idea. I am one of them.

The Trayvon Martin case stirs up a lot of feelings for those of us living here in Portland because of the nature of the crime: An unarmed young Black man being shot to death. The Portland Police Bureau has a sordid history (google Portland Copwatch) of shooting unarmed homeless, disabled and/or people of color. With the possible reinstating of Frashour,it appears that we cannot control the police and we have no voice for justice in our city.

Is there justice anywhere?