Our ministry commits to staying connected with the congregation through weekly spiritual reflections, and today’s comes in the form of a report on the experience of public witness by Dana Buhl, Director of Social Justice, and several First Unitarian congregants who have taken part in the protests at the Justice Center. I met with those congregants yesterday to hear their testimony directly. There are links to videos in these reports which may be disturbing to some. The police response to these protests has been militarized and aggressive, spilling out even as far as the front of our now empty Sanctuary.
These protests are in witness to the police violence against Black bodies and moral demand to live in a world in which Black Lives finally Matter.
The demand for change is clear. The community is still shaping the specific program of change that will move us forward. For today, we and the rest of the religious community are called to be present to the truth of these times. We offer these reports in the spirit of that presence. Dana begins with her witness.
Blessings,
Reverend Bill
Report from Dana Buhl
Sunday evening, June 7, I accompanied a group of clergy and people of faith who went to the Justice Center to show our solidarity in a belief in the Beloved Community. We stood at the fence on SW 3rd Avenue that separates the people protesting in the park from the police standing across the road in the shadows of the Justice Center. The clergy were united in a belief in nonviolence, the denunciation of racism, and demilitarizing the police. Several congregants were a part of Sunday night’s protest, staying late into the night as they have for several nights in a row.
The majority of protesters are not violent but rather exercising their rights to freedom of speech and assembly. They represent a range of ages, races, ethnicities, religious belief and political ideologies. They come with water and pizza and first aid kits. Volunteer medics set up stations to hand out ear plugs for the flash bang grenades, goggles and a solution to clean your eyes after tear gas or pepper spray are fired, they hand out flyers to tell you about your rights. There are ACLU observers with blue vests. Some of the protesters come for as long as they still feel “safe”. Others commit to staying till the very end to witness what may happen and to be support for each other.
Yes, a few shake the fence. Yes, a few throw water bottles. Yes, some yell profanities. But none of that merits the tactics of war that are mounted by the police in the early hours of the morning. Every night, between 11pm and midnight, the police mount an attack on protesters that is well-coordinated throughout the city. You can watch this 11 minute video to see the police form ranks and escalate the tension with announcements over the LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device). If you listen to the LRAD announcements, you’ll hear they begin with warnings of “arrest or use of force” and quickly escalate to threat of “arrest and use of force.”
The attacks on the protesters happen long after the rest of the city is asleep. And for those of us who leave before the end of the protest and try to monitor through the news, it gets scary when the cameras go dark. That happens at about the same time that the police declare the gathering a civil disturbance. They send riot trucks around downtown. They use flash bang grenades, pepper spray, batons, and hunt protesters. Watch this short video to see the explosive devices launched by the police police and the subsequent chase of protesters through the city right in front of First Unitarian Church.
It is unconscionable.
Remember that this began, and continues to be, protest about the use of deadly and excessive force on black bodies in Minneapolis, in Portland, in Louisville, and across the country.
Congregants Present in Witness: Statements from First Unitarian
“It is no surprise that police who kill unarmed Black people with impunity also use excessive force on unarmed people who protest and expose their violence and murder. Do not be distracted by the lies that it is the people who are causing disturbance. I am witnessing. Pay close attention to the tactics of war.””The Justice Center, after dark, has earned itself a reputation as the place for the “bad and violent” protesters but what we have witnessed these past two nights has been an incredible show of Reverend Bill’s call to live as if the beloved community were already here. At the Justice Center, what you will find are people caring for each other with free food and safety gear, nurses, medics, and folks bringing whatever other skills they have to offer to support and care. The protesters continue their work in love even when met with aggression and violence from the police. As we are chased through the city with flash bangs, rubber bullets, and pepper balls we are pushed right past the front steps of our own church sanctuary. The crowd shouts “stay together, stay tight” and gathers the beloved community again to continue marching through the city, shouting the names of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd and caring for each other as violence pursues us.”
“This week I’ve seen how frightening it is to be attacked by police. I thought I had some idea of what to expect. But I had no lived context for natural disaster and war. While witnessing at the Justice Center, non-violent protesters were advised criminal acts were taking place. We had to leave or we would be criminals. We thought, “Why do we need to leave? Nothing feels violent.” But too many ignored warnings about shaking a fence and throwing water bottles onto concrete and time was up. And then my body tensed seeing police cars come with police in riot gear come towards us holding various weapons. We walked at a reasonable pace (no panicking – we aren’t bad people – we are “good people!”), and the police start hitting at us with flashbangs. Are we getting bombed? How can I listen and respond while I’m being bombed? Is the gas coming? The rubber encased metal bullets? I’m crying, even though I don’t want to cry. I’m screaming because I can’t help but scream. But I feel like my deepest clarity was when I understood that there wasn’t a good enough I could be for these police to see me as a person instead of a criminal. Violence is dehumanizing and traumatic. It is unacceptable for police to use these tactics to kill unarmed Black people or silence protesters who will change this system for the better.”
“Tonight I witnessed police violence unleashed on nonviolent protesters. Through multiple live-streams, Twitter feeds, and eye witness accounts, I saw the brutality and felt the terror. I witnessed heavily armed forces turn downtown Portland, including the block where our Sanctuary resides, into a war zone. I sat frozen, while my friends hid from the police. What if I lived in that fear every day? What if my loved ones were regularly hunted by the police? What if that trauma had accumulated over 400 years?”