At Bernie's Portland rally, Don't Shoot PDX was invited to stand on the arena floor with their banner.
A blog post in the
Portland Mercury Blogtown PDX by Shelby R. King reports on the meeting that Bernie had after the rally with Don't Shoot PDX activists.
Portland activists are smart, organized and committed. They believe in direct action because they have seen it work in their city, recently pushing Mayor Hale to embrace a Climate Action Coalition Plan they have agitated for which he now claims was his plan all along.
...Hales is ready to start pushing three climate change-related initiatives that he says were already part of his agenda.
One, Hales says, is the adoption of a policy against the export of fossil fuels through the city. Hales sparked the ire of many in the business community when he single-handedly derailed the propane export terminal proposed by the Pembina Pipeline Corp. at the City Council.
Although he originally supported it, Hales says he now opposes exporting fossil fuels through the city and believes most Portlanders do, too. He says the Planning and Sustainability Commission appears eager to take up the drafting of such a policy.
“The next time a situation like Pembina comes up, the city should have a policy on it,” says Hales.
These activists are also routinely arrested at lawful protests by Portland police for no cause such as the arrests reported in this blog post.
[Marcus] Cooper—the same activist who was arrested in May when a teen opened fire at an unsanctioned Last Thursday celebration and later had his charges dropped—reports the group spoke with Sanders, his wife, and Sanders' newly-hired press secretary, Symone Sanders.
"We asked how much time he had, and he said he had a flight to catch early... So I said OK," Cooper writes. "Then he said, 'What's your solutions'... I said first and foremost we are not here to attack or protest against you nor are we here to say we support you. I am here to speak out and educate you as much as I can with the platform of privilege that I have, and this is what I would like you to do as well."
Bernie listened and that is what makes him different from any other candidate out there.
I know it is uncomfortable for Bernie supporters to see protesters show up and agitate for more even though he is the best candidate on these issues we have had ever. It may be hard to accept that the reason that they push for more from Bernie is because he is the most accessible and the most likely to listen and act upon these issues.
Early in Occupy as I marched the streets of my town, I realized that direct action was as essential to change as the political process. We need both. If protesters like these did not do direct action, these issues and the people who advocate for them would be invisible. As painful as it is, Bernie needs these protesters as an essential part of the political revolution he has called for.
As we have seen activists push the Mayor of Portland into acting on Climate Change, we will continue to see activists assail Bernie about the issues that matter to them. Mayor Hales still falls short as he did not emulate Seattle's Mayor, who stood with the Greenpeace protesters, but had reportedly signed off on the action and was reported by kayaktivists as being on the St Johns Bridge as the protest was dismantled.
Revolutions--even political ones--are messy. The American people are not used to being united because we have been divided so very long. This is going to be a very long road back.
Look below the orange police barricade for more information on Don't Shoot PDX and their activism in Portland.
Here is an article written in January of this year by Mike Bivins, Behind the Scenes of Don't Shoot PDX, after attending meetings of this interesting grassroots group.
In Portland, a group of activists going by the name of Don’t Shoot PDX has emerged as one of the leading voices in the cause. After attending one of their recent meetings, I have a better understanding of how far too many Americans get it wrong by looking at the struggle for justice from the Hollywood perspective. We have not come as far as we should have from the days of Selma.
Don’t Shoot PDX is more than a group of people who are concerned about police brutality, poverty and the root causes of both and how they disproportionately affect the black community. Don’t Shoot PDX is a movement that brings people of all colors, and from different community organizations, together to fight for change in the city of Portland.