Hi Daily Kos!
I am writing this diary about the protesters being abducted in Portland,OR. I have written a comment to three diaries and someone suggested I make a Diary. So here goes.
First,“The Nation” has a stunning story by reporter KenKlippenstein revealing a leaked memo showing that the Customs and Border Patrol received authority from the Department of Homeland Security, acting on an Executive Order from Trump, that they help “protect American monuments, statues and memorials”. So, apparently these are Border Patrol agents.
https://thenation.com/article/society/border-patrol-portland-arrest/
Prior to finding out about this, my advice to protesters was to take a break and do some organizing. Get with about 8-10 friends and friends of friends. Get to know each other. Find strengths (Medic? Combat Experience? Other?) and weaknesses (Medical Conditions? Sole Head of Household/Can’t Be Arrested? Other?) Print some maps of the area. Familiarize everyone with the area. What is our goal? Where should we be? Where should we avoid being pushed into? Practice moving as a group. Should we leave at curfew regardless of meeting our goal? Are people comfortable with graffiti, our people throwing stuff, obscenities, other things?(Note: don’t have me in your group if you want to do this stuff. I don’t believe in doing stuff the opposition can focus on to distract people I want to reach with my message. Do you want a TV video of your group telling people about Black Lives Mattering or do you want TV video of your group screaming obscenities and throwing stuff? If there’s a choice, which is the video the TV people will air?) Role-play being arrested. Who do we call if you are arrested? We will keep a confidential file of everyone’s contact information. Have Observers who stay back and video the protest. Be Prepared.
Honest to Pete! No one should be yelling “What’s your name?” to someone as they are being hustled into an unmarked van by armed unidentified people.
So that was my first advice. I also posted, though, that if the police were acting as a hit squad, people shouldn’t go protesting at all. There’s a lot of things to do instead. Do phone calling. Hold a Bake Sale and send the money to a candidate. Offer to drive people to the polling place. Be a poll worker. Keep yourself freed so you can VOTE! Eventually we will vote in Biden. We may have to tough it out.
Ah! If your group wants to do an action, become Freeway Bloggers! Much less chance of getting arrested. Instructions athttp://www.freewayblogger.com/index.htm
My advice now is even more urgent now that we know this was not a rogue action. It came from an Executive Order. Please do not make yourself available as a victim. Demand that people who have the power to do something, do something. Let the Oregon State Police be brought out to defend the public.
That’s.their. job.
Family History (optional): My mom was born in Brooklyn, went to college, and became a Dental Hygienist. Before she married, she lived at home in Brooklyn. Up and down the street there were Jewish neighbors. In the lead up to WW2, the neighbors would tell her that they were getting letters from family still in “the old country” (Germany) and that “people were disappearing.” They knew it was Hitler abducting people. When war was declared, Mom joined the Navy in the WAVES (Women Accepted into Volunteer Emergency Service) because she had a needed medical skill and she understood that Hitler was moving to subjugate the world as a conqueror. She met my Dad while he was in the Army and she was in the WAVES.
I stayed at home before I was married. One night in 1978 my mom and I watched on the news that a Neo-Nazi group wanted to march in the mostly Jewish suburb of Chicago, Skokie, IL. Their spokesman said the Holocaust was a Jewish Hoax, a lie.
My mom turned to me and said, “If you get married and have kids, and I’m not around, and these Nazis come around again, saying to my grandchildren, “The Holocaust is a lie”, tell my grandchildren, “It happened. Your Grandmother said so.”
Germany was a civilized country full of educated, decent people and yet... it happened. I have obeyed my mother’s instruction and have told my sons. (End Family History.)
Stay safe. We need your vote. We need you.