PORTLAND PROTEST SCORECARD FOR THOSE PLAYING AT HOME

Portland Mayor Image via boing boing

Portland protest review: Last night Portland mayor Ted Wheeler hit the streets.

How did it go? He got heckled and gassed for his effort. In short, it didn’t go well.

What the hell, Portland, if the mayor joins in, where’s the welcome mat? Would past mayors fare as well as Wheeler?

For selfish reasons, I’m including the mayors of Portland since I’ve lived here, beginning with Neil Goldschmidt.

He was a man destined for big things after leading the city, including serving in the Carter Cabinet as Secretary of Transportation, and Oregon governor. Goldschmidt was a big deal for a long time, then he wasn’t.

I met him during his governor time, then met his wife when she came to the Oregon Historical Society collections warehouse. As the collection manager at the time, I assisted.

I’ve been accused of being sensitive, a big old sensitive man, and it kicked in when I met of them on separate occasions. I got a creepy sensation from Neil in Salem, and his wife’s driver when she visited the warehouse to pick decorations for Mahonia Hall, and the capital.

Turns out the creep factor was well founded, eventually. Goldschmidt’s closet rattled with skeletons, and after their divorce, his wife dated her driver. Messy as hell, right? But during his mayor days, Neil was young enough to survive a cloud of tear gas. Would he have gone to the Portland protest?

Connie McCready was appointed mayor to fill out the rest of Goldschmidt’s term after he left for Washington. Her year in office coincided with the Mt. St. Helen’s eruption, so she’s had experience in bad air. If she could stand up to a volcano, she’d do fine with tear gas.

Portland Protest Possums

Frank Ivancie took the reins after McCready and steered Portland through the early to mid-80’s. A former teacher with ten children, he was a busy man of the people.

He didn’t have to contend with skeletons in his closet; if he did they were quiet skeletons. And no volcano dust covered the city. But he did have the possum incident on his watch. From Willamette Week:

You’re two young police officers working the Northeast Precinct. Between radio calls, duty can get pretty dull. So what do you do? Toss four dead opossums in front of the Burger Barn, a black-owned restaurant in Northeast Portland.

With this stupid prank, officers Craig Ward and Jim Galloway unwittingly touched off one of the most contentious disputes between the police force, the city and the public in years.

Sure, the Burger Barn was a known hangout for shady citizens. But four maggoty critters on an African-American business’s front stoop evoked ugly Ku Klux Klan imagery: Portland’s black and liberal activist communities marched through downtown and swamped the Police Bureau with protests.

Portland Mayor Bud Clark

A local legend followed Ivancie. Bud Clark was tuned into Portland from the bar he owned and ran, and it showed. From wiki:

Upon taking office, Clark found that the previous mayor had reduced the city’s reserves of $27 million down to a few thousand dollars. Firefighters and police had just received a 10% wage increase, which meant the budget had to be redone in his first months in office.

As mayor, Clark created the nationally recognized 12-Point Homeless Plan, supported the growth of mass transit, including the MAX Light Rail line to Gresham, Oregon, aided downtown development, and initiated and led the campaign to build the Oregon Convention Center.

Early in Clark’s first term, this happened. From Willamette Week:

Lloyd “Tony” Stevenson was 31 years old when a Portland police officer killed him. It’s been 31 years since he died.

Stevenson, an off-duty security guard, father to five and a former Marine, was in a 7-Eleven store in Northeast Portland when it was robbed April 20, 1985. He helped two employees stop the thief, but then got into a fight with a witness in the parking lot.

Portland police Officer Gary L. Barbour put Stevenson in a “sleeper hold” that rendered him unconscious. Barbour chose not to perform CPR when Stevenson collapsed, and 45 minutes later, in a Portland hospital, Stevenson died. Barbour was white. Stevenson was black.

For people wondering about Black Lives Matter protests, this may help clear up the confusion.

From koin.com:

A brief history of African-Americans killed by PPB

Protests in Portland and in cities around the nation go deeper than the death of George Floyd. Nearly every major American city and many smaller communities have stories of African-Americans killed by police.

How would the mayors following Bud Clark do in today’s climate? Stay tuned.

In the meantime, wear a mask, do what you can, and be strong in your circle of friends and family. If someone asks if Portland has joined the roll call of shithole cities, show them this.