Oct 20, 2022·edited Oct 20, 2022Liked by Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em
Great response. I was intentionally not reading the news in summer 2020, but judging by my FB page (and Portland Reddit, which my husband was reading), it’s super disingenuous to frame it as “rioters were innocent, and then the feds showed up.” The city was freakin’ scary that summer. By the time there was talk of vans kidnapping people off the streets, things were in such chaos that it was barely surprising.
Also, totally tangential, but the “I took a CRT class at Reed and it completely changed my life” statement in the original article made me snort-laugh.
I am at a loss to understand why the fact that Deputy US Marshals (in uniform) were driving rental vans somehow deprives them of their expansive legal authority to investigate federal crime and make arrests. The breathless headlines of "unmarked vans" taking urban terrorists into custody, somehow implying that each federal officer has been personally commissioned by the Orange One himself, presumably on the theory that if you go far up along the federal chain of command, eventually all federal law enforcement officers do ultimately report yo the President.
Apparently none of OPB or OREGONIAN reporters have knowledge of, or access to professional law enforcement personnel; in a violent riot where many of the crowd are deliberately engaging in street theater in an effort to create drama or incite/entertain the larger "mostly peaceful" rioters, the only safe way to arrest and detain rioters is to approach them AWAY from large groups of people, who will be encouraged to engage in more violence or street theater. Federal law enforcement have the same requirements to establish probable cause or to be sued for excessive use of violence.
I recognize that the crowd dynamics include everything from lookie-loos, with virtually no ideological dog in the fight, to urban hipsters, who think they are earning their "battle stripes" by screaming personal threats at local cops (who are forbidden to respond) all the way to full-on anarchists, who are thrilled they can riot, assault, and burn with virtual impunity.
This goes beyond coarsening the public debate. It creates a situation where one group, willing to use violence, can turn an entire inner-city core into a no-go zone. Maybe there are still a few people claiming Portland's downtown is fundamentally unchanged, and all this is just "healthy dissent," but what we are witnessing is the unraveling of a civil society, in ways disturbingly similar to what happened on January 6th, 2021 in Washington, DC.
I first became aware of you and your reporting when I saw a YouTube video posted by Zaid Jilani where you were interviewed about what you had seen on the ground during the riots in Portland.
What you were reporting was much different from what I was seeing in my hometown paper (WAPO).
I thought Portland reporting was nuanced and enlightening.
From that interview I found Reason, Make More Pie, The Bridge, Paloma media and finally Smoke Em.
Your reporting on US media has also been cutting but empathetic by looking at incidents of media malpractice from multiple sides.
I'd already read this days ago, but just listened to your reading of this posted on Paloma Media, which just reinforced the message (plus it was fun to hear about all the upcoming recording activity at the Paloma Media studio!)
I'm sad about what is happening to Portland and in parallel what I mostly guess is happening in Seattle, a "big sister" city in so many ways, where I lived for many years, perhaps not as well reported as what's happened in Portland.
In 2005 I left Seattle somewhat reluctantly and was trying to decide whether to sell my condo or rent it, for possibly coming back many years later. Finally decided that it was too complicated and that I would likely want to try something else, so sold. And now I'm so glad I did, as I would never choose to come back, no matter how wonderful the natural surroundings are, which, of course they are.
Thank you for your coverage of Portland, a city I don't know well but would wish for much better outcomes.
Great response. I was intentionally not reading the news in summer 2020, but judging by my FB page (and Portland Reddit, which my husband was reading), it’s super disingenuous to frame it as “rioters were innocent, and then the feds showed up.” The city was freakin’ scary that summer. By the time there was talk of vans kidnapping people off the streets, things were in such chaos that it was barely surprising.
Also, totally tangential, but the “I took a CRT class at Reed and it completely changed my life” statement in the original article made me snort-laugh.
I am at a loss to understand why the fact that Deputy US Marshals (in uniform) were driving rental vans somehow deprives them of their expansive legal authority to investigate federal crime and make arrests. The breathless headlines of "unmarked vans" taking urban terrorists into custody, somehow implying that each federal officer has been personally commissioned by the Orange One himself, presumably on the theory that if you go far up along the federal chain of command, eventually all federal law enforcement officers do ultimately report yo the President.
Apparently none of OPB or OREGONIAN reporters have knowledge of, or access to professional law enforcement personnel; in a violent riot where many of the crowd are deliberately engaging in street theater in an effort to create drama or incite/entertain the larger "mostly peaceful" rioters, the only safe way to arrest and detain rioters is to approach them AWAY from large groups of people, who will be encouraged to engage in more violence or street theater. Federal law enforcement have the same requirements to establish probable cause or to be sued for excessive use of violence.
I recognize that the crowd dynamics include everything from lookie-loos, with virtually no ideological dog in the fight, to urban hipsters, who think they are earning their "battle stripes" by screaming personal threats at local cops (who are forbidden to respond) all the way to full-on anarchists, who are thrilled they can riot, assault, and burn with virtual impunity.
This goes beyond coarsening the public debate. It creates a situation where one group, willing to use violence, can turn an entire inner-city core into a no-go zone. Maybe there are still a few people claiming Portland's downtown is fundamentally unchanged, and all this is just "healthy dissent," but what we are witnessing is the unraveling of a civil society, in ways disturbingly similar to what happened on January 6th, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Nancy,
I first became aware of you and your reporting when I saw a YouTube video posted by Zaid Jilani where you were interviewed about what you had seen on the ground during the riots in Portland.
What you were reporting was much different from what I was seeing in my hometown paper (WAPO).
I thought Portland reporting was nuanced and enlightening.
From that interview I found Reason, Make More Pie, The Bridge, Paloma media and finally Smoke Em.
Your reporting on US media has also been cutting but empathetic by looking at incidents of media malpractice from multiple sides.
I feel that your point of view is important.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much, I love this comment x
I'd already read this days ago, but just listened to your reading of this posted on Paloma Media, which just reinforced the message (plus it was fun to hear about all the upcoming recording activity at the Paloma Media studio!)
I'm sad about what is happening to Portland and in parallel what I mostly guess is happening in Seattle, a "big sister" city in so many ways, where I lived for many years, perhaps not as well reported as what's happened in Portland.
In 2005 I left Seattle somewhat reluctantly and was trying to decide whether to sell my condo or rent it, for possibly coming back many years later. Finally decided that it was too complicated and that I would likely want to try something else, so sold. And now I'm so glad I did, as I would never choose to come back, no matter how wonderful the natural surroundings are, which, of course they are.
Thank you for your coverage of Portland, a city I don't know well but would wish for much better outcomes.