Here’s some context: The State of Oregon has a racist past. When the State Constitution was adopted in 1856, Oregonians decided to include a provision specifically excluding blacks (free or slave) from the State. That law may have been vitiated by the outcome of the Civil War and the post-Civil War amendments, but its impact endured. Oregon remained a very white state. The first black resident did not move to Eugene — home of the University of Oregon — until the 1890s, and the first black families did not live in the city until the 1930s or 1940s. Today the African American population in Oregon is around 2.2%, multiples less than Latinos and Asians, and barely above Native Americans.
But, the other night there was a riot in Eugene, Oregon.
A riot that arose out of protests regarding the killing of Floyd George. That there were protests is not surprising to those of us who grew up in Eugene. It is a very liberal town. It has its share of radicals, and is a birthplace of the anarchist movement that led to the 1999 WTO incidents in Seattle. So it is also not surprising that the protests evolved into vandalism. It was, to quote the Clash, a White Riot. And one scene in that riot, relayed in the Facebook posts of a black Eugene woman, teaches a lot of lessons that we should be all be learning.
You can watch that scene here: Black Man Tries To Quell White Riot. But, I’d suggest you read the posts below first. The poster’s voice is powerful and persuasive, so I’ll step out of the way:
I am all for meaningful direct action, but I fail to see how an overwhelmingly white group of people in Eugene, Oregon, acting out in destructive and dangerously disorganized ways in the name of black lives (when a rally was already labored into existence and thoughtfully organized by a local young sister with a great deal of input, guidance and constructive feedback from the local black community—which will now, almost certainly be canceled) demonstrates any real interest in the project of black liberation. I fail to see how this group of predominantly white agitators (that appears to have erupted largely independently of the huge amount of black-led local organizing that has taken place in the few days) demonstrates any real commitment to the black folks HERE. You know... us. The ones who also live in this community that you are senselessly destroying in the name of something you so clearly do not understand.
To be clear: hijacking our names, our mourning, our dead to embolden white recklessness only puts black lives in greater degrees of danger than those already posed by white supremacy.
I have to say, the single most “Eugene” thing I’ve seen yet—something that made my stomach flip as I watched a livestream covering downtown tonight—was a 29 year old, brown brother in a neon green jacket, repeatedly and exhaustively trying to level with the (almost exclusively white) frontline of the sweeping crowd as fire began to break out. He plead, passionately, with the group, pointing out how what is happening in our town tonight is so clearly not for us (presumably, the local black community). And that crowd of (almost exclusively) white folks just slowly but steadily DROWN THE BROTHER OUT with chants of “I can’t breathe.”
Those few minutes captured so candidly and unironically via livestream. That scene: the predominantly white crowd, destroying our city in the name of George Floyd, while burying the voice of that young, LOCAL brother with George’s dying words, AS HE WAS LITERALLY TELLING THEM THIS IS NOT WHAT WE (presumably, local black folks) WANT.
This is peak white liberalism.
And no doubt, the aftermath of this too, will hit us hardest.
I just woke up because I was up early into the morning, transfixed by hours of on the ground livestream footage and the rage I’m feeling at the spectacle reactionary white people made of black death HERE, in MY town, as NUMEROUS black voices and bodies put themselves on the scene to stop and deescalate the situation.
When I finally fell asleep as the birds started singing, I was sick to my core over what I know will be made of this—over who will be blamed and how we’ll be punished. I knew that by the time I awoke this morning, I’d be living in a town that would be changed by this. A town that I know doesn’t have the capacity, nuance, and self-awareness to understand that what happened last night was not for us, and in fact, was yet another demonstration against us.
Carelessly and recklessly using our words and our pain without us and AGAINST us isn’t allyship, it just another, more insidious incarnation of white violence.
In response to the requests I’ve received, I have made this post public and would appreciate it being shared—especially by local white folks.
A powerful lesson on non-violence, the repercussions of violence, and being good allies.
I’d like to blame this on “false flag” elements, but I grew up in Eugene and am familiar enough with the mentality of some of the more radical leftists in town that it would be very hard for me to blame this on anyone other than Eugene’s anarchist element and the young folks who played along for the fun of it. So too, apparently, is the wise author of the above posts.
You can watch the scene the above posts describe here: