Thousands of people marched in and around Portland Friday to call for an end to systemic racism and to commemorate Juneteenth, a holiday also known as Emancipation Day.
The marches filled streets in Portland’s core and suburbs and shut down the Interstate Bridge to traffic from Washington for an hour. The demonstrations shared a common message: “Black lives matter.”
“This gives me hope that we can make a change,” said Marche Black, speaking to a crowd of hundreds gathered at an event in Northeast Portland. “To all Black lives, I love you, I see you and we are here.”
Portland and Multnomah County officials recently declared Juneteenth a paid holiday for people who work for the local government agencies. Gov. Kate Brown pledged to introduce a bill next year to make Juneteenth an annual state holiday commemorating emancipation.
Friday’s demonstrations continued into the night and fell on the 23rd straight day of protests in Portland after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. Floyd, who was Black, died in late May after a white police officer knelt on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
Hundreds of people gathered Friday night outside the downtown Portland jail and at a city-owned lot in Southeast Portland, two places that have emerged as nightly gathering spots for protesters demanding changes to the criminal justice system.
The global calls for police reform have led Portland city leaders to cut three police units and millions of dollars from the police bureau’s budget. City public safety workers, including employees in police and fire departments, recognized 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence at noon Friday in honor of Floyd.
Daryl Turner, who leads the union that represents Portland Police Bureau officers, said he views the remembrance as a “unified message” that some things need to be changed.
“We need to evolve to be able to continue — and I use the word ‘continue’ — to gain trust in our communities,” Turner said.
During Friday’s demonstrations, calls for change were paired with celebrations of Black life.
Miss Juneteenth Oregon Sierra Boyne, 19, spoke to a crowd of 500 people gathered Friday afternoon for a Black Futures Rally at Terry Schrunk Plaza near Portland City Hall.
“I’m going to be happy today,” Boyne told those gathered. “I want to celebrate. Being happy on Juneteenth is a fight. It’s a protest. It’s an act of revolution.”
Boyne and her friend Kaleb Wheeler later said they had both attended the nightly protests that have filled parts of Portland every night since May 28.
“It’d be weird to not celebrate the happy parts of our history and to just only look at the grim death of George Floyd,” Wheeler, 19, said. “It’s more in celebration of Blackness. It’s fun to see the Black people of Portland.”
Tamea Mitchell, 18, led the crowd in “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” often referred to as the Black national anthem.
“It was really nice to learn more about my heritage and my culture, and the stuff we’ve gone through,” said Mitchell, who recently graduated from St. Mary’s Academy in Portland. “But a part of me is upset that it’s taken this long for this to become a national holiday and for people to finally understand what Juneteenth is about. But it’s better to start somewhere than nowhere.”
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At the same time as the downtown rally, more than 1,000 people gathered at a Juneteenth Block Party in North Portland. The group marched from Peninsula park to nearby Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School. Several Black business owners, including sisters Brianna Miller and Whitney Burnett, set up booths to sell their products.
“We just wanted to be here to support our community,” Miller said. “Our art centers around inspiring Black figures, so we just thought this would be an awesome opportunity.”
Mar Preston, 33, said she has attended Juneteenth events since she was a kid to commerate the end of slavery and to celebrate being a person of color. This year, however, she said there were many more people.
“There have always been white people at the celebration, just nowhere near this size,” Preston said. “I feel like we finally have the support we have been begging for.”
Many gatherings Friday were geared toward teens and young children. Don’t Shoot Portland organized several events that culminated in a children’s march.
Tai Carpenter, a spokesperson for the group, said children understand what’s going on and are an important part of the movement.
“This is their world, and they’re going to inherit it,” she said.
One march that started in Vancouver’s Esther Short Park moved on to Interstate 5 and shut down the Interstate Bridge to southbound traffic between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.
The group of about 200 marchers paused at the south end of the bridge, where several speakers addressed the crowd. Three cars trailed the marchers and blocked oncoming traffic. Cars and trucks driving north often honked as they passed.
At one point, a motorcyclist drove past the car barrier and navigated through the crowd. A police officer chased the motorcycle on foot. No one was hurt. Many people in the crowd thanked the officer for trying to help.
Throughout the three weeks of protests, demonstrators have at times clashed with police, often in downtown Portland. No one was arrested during Thursday’s demonstrations. That day’s protests were defined in part by the late-night toppling of a George Washington statue along Northeast Sandy Boulevard.
Washington, the first president of the U.S., was an active slave holder for 56 years. His statue became the second depicting a historical figure to fall in Portland.
Mark Graves of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report, which will be updated.
-- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015
-- Alex Hardgrave, ahardgrave@oregonian.com
-- Ryan Nguyen, rnguyen@oregonian.com
-- Madison Smalstig, msmalstig@oregonian.com
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