To the shock of no one, the “Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage” in Portland, OR, took a violent and chaotic turn.
The rioters targeted statues of President Teddy Roosevelt and…President Abe Lincoln. Oh, they also damaged the Oregon Historical Society building and Portland State University.
This is absolutely disgusting. It proves once again that these people just want to cause chaos and damage.
Destroying the statues suck, but why target the museums and university? From Oregon Live:
During a news conference on Monday — Indigenous Peoples’ Day —Wheeler, State Rep. Tawna Sanchez, the only Indigenous member of the state Legislature, and Police Chief Chuck Lovell called damages to the Oregon Historical Society as well as several downtown businesses and Portland State University buildings “obscene”, “inappropriate” and “unconscionable,” particularly because the museum has worked to help people understand Oregon’s history of racism.“To destroy that is to destroy the past,” said Sanchez, who represents North and Northeast Portland. “We have to grow and learn from the past. We cannot just dismiss it and make it go away and act as if something is going to be better afterwards. We have to learn from the past in order to make things better.”
The vandalism ticked off Native leaders as well:
A group of Native leaders from Portland, the Indian Leaders Roundtable, said they denounced the property damage from the night before. The damage to the Oregon Historical Society building was disappointing, particularly because of recent exhibits that displayed accurate depictions of Native American history, the group said.“We understand that there is justifiable righteous indignation over the unconscionable mistreatment of our people and communities over centuries, and that Indigenous People’s Day its a time to reflect and speak out against these injustices,” The Portland Indian Leaders Roundtable said. “Yet, we cannot condone pointless acts of vandalism and the brandishing of weapons that serve only to detract from the real message that must be heard.”
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler condemned the vandalism, but I have one question. What will he do to stop all of this? Every night for over 100 nights Portland has seen violence and riots.
Wheeler claimed his administration has “‘the road map’ to address the destructive actions of some protesters during demonstrations.”
Portland, like a few other cities, took $15 million from the police budget when officials adopted the budget in June.
But the amount could go as high as “$27 million by the end of fall, due to coronavirus-related cuts and other reductions.”
Wheeler does not think officials will strip more money from the police department “due to concerns he’s heard from the public on long delays in the time it takes officers to respond to emergency calls.”
Gee, who would have thunk?!
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