Life in Portland, OR in Summer 2020
Living through this historic marker of time, I have felt many things. This year began hopeful. I had finally gotten my life together and then everything was cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Somehow, I have managed to keep a positive attitude through it all, with the “This too shall pass” mentality. However, at the end of May George Floyd was killed in police custody on video, and a the Black Lives Matter movement reached a new level.
Something I thought had been a part of American history’s past was brought to light. I felt helpless as a white woman to speak out, but people told me that was part of my white privilege. It was my voice that could lend power to others words!
My friend Andrea Hope wrote a short poetic book titled “Will You Break the Silence?” and recorded the following video:
I then decided to educate myself about what our Public School System left out of our History Books. I purchased Deray McKesson’s book On the Other Side of Freedom. It is full of facts from the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement that began in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. I highly recommend you pick up a copy! Be sure you are ready to feel disgusted by the injustice that continues to happen in this country. There is hope though, which is why holding our justice system accountable is ever-present in the current protests.
I have had many family members and friends living across the USA ask me if I am safe in Portland, Oregon during these times. Sure the pandemic has everyone reaching out to their loved ones more often, and Oregon has been one of the States with low case numbers compared to the rest of the country (Thank You Gov. Kate Brown), but the news outlets are making it seem like a war zone. I am not doubting the fear that is occurring as “Federal Officers use unmarked vehicles to grab people in Portland,” stated by NPR, but I am still going to work everyday and have not attended protests myself*.
However, please know that the Federal Government is the aggressor here. Friends of mine who have attended the protests, shared that the people of Portland were peacefully protesting.
*See articles I’ve written regarding being a Highly Sensitive Person to understand why I cannot handle the energy of such. #healthyboundaries
When people talk about “going back to normal” after all of this, many people say this is our new normal. I agree. We have been “hitting the snooze button” (as said by someone else…cannot recall the source) for too long. Time to WAKE UP! Pull that wool from your eyes and see the truth. We cannot go back. I will not go back. Speak up for injustice.
