Here's some footage I got at the BLM march here in Portland last night. The march started on the other side of town, went east down the interstate for a couple miles, then north up town, then down Alberta (the most gentrified street in town - all black business 15 years ago - 1 or 2 left.)
There were easily 5000 people, probably far more. It was shoulder to shoulder across the street, each row 2-3 feet apart, plus folks on the sidewalks, for more than 10 city blocks. I only heard one person make a comment about being 6' apart, and they were pretty well ignored.
The most interesting thing to me was the fact that there were 0 police anywhere. These folks had Alberta (a major road) blocked off from 15th to 33rd, a block in each direction, with cars blocking all the intersections. 3-4 blocks where both sides of the road already had pop-up tents with vendors and such and such at 15th (where it turned - and where the talk was)... didn't see the freeway portion.
I can tell you, from decades in Portland and MANY protests/rallies/marches here, this is literally the first time I've been to an event that didn't have any police presence. For small events, they always outnumber us 2or3 : 1 as a show of force, for larger events they bring out their horse cops (I've almost been stepped on by them), the yellow jackets (40+ bike cops who swarm in and kidnap people from the crowd), and the IScream Truck (a big crowd dispersal weapon in what looks like an ice cream truck), as well as all the standard motorcycle & car cops.
I don't know how they did it, but this really blew me away.
I'm interested in other people's take on the video. I felt resonance with the first 3 presenters, I could feel it in my body, the connection, grounded-ness, and power. WHen the last guy started, that all changed pretty quickly. I've never heard someone saying things like "If you're not with us, you're against us" and seen that go in any kind of positive direction.
Also, when did the chant:
No Justice, No Peace
Fuck the Police
Which was a slightly odd way of saying that until there was justice for the road pirates, there would be no peace... turn into this:
No justice, no peace, no racist police
The message in those words is clearly that the people chanting them want NO justice, NO peace, and NO racist police... This march was the first time I've heard the new version, and it instantly made me a little sick to my stomach.
▶️ 3Speak