truthout--2020-07-27--Employers Require Liability Waivers as Conflict Mounts Over Workplace Safety

After spending a May day preparing her classroom to reopen for preschoolers , Ana Aguilar was informed that the tots would not have to wear face masks when they came back .
What ’ s more , she had to sign a form agreeing not to sue the school if she caught COVID-19 or suffered any injury from it while working there .
Other teachers signed the form distributed by the Montessori Schools of Irvine , but Aguilar said she felt uncomfortable , although it stipulated that staff members would be masked .
At 23 , she has a compromised @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she could pass the coronavirus on to her fiancé and other family members .
Aguilar refused to sign , and a week later she was fired .
“ They said it was my choice to sign the paper , but it wasn ’ t really my choice , ” said Aguilar , who ’ s currently jobless and receiving $ 276 a week in unemployment benefits .
“ I felt so bullied.
” As employers in California and across the country ask employees to return to the workplace , many have considered and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ waivers , employment lawyers say .
And many employees , mostly lower-wage and minority workers in essential jobs , are calling lawyers to complain about the waivers .
“ These are illegal agreements that are totally unfair to workers , ” said Christian Schreiber , a San Francisco lawyer who represents Aguilar and other employees .
The California State Legislature last year passed a law , AB-51 , prohibiting employers from requiring employees or job applicants to sign away their right to pursue legal claims or benefits under state law .
The law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for refusing to sign , is being challenged in court by business groups .
Only a few employers have forced employees to sign liability waivers , at least partly because these waivers likely would be held unenforceable by courts , lawyers who represent employers say .
“ Courts don ’ t recognize them because of the unequal bargaining power between employers and employees , ” said Isaac Mamaysky , a partner at the Potomac Law Group in New York City .
“ With so many unemployed , people would sign just about anything @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they are considered unenforceable : Workers who get sick or injured on the job generally are compensated through state workers ’ compensation systems rather than through the courts , and state laws don ’ t allow employers to force employees to sign away their right to pursue workers ’ comp claims , Mamaysky said .
Companies may have the right to require nonemployees working on their premises to sign COVID waivers .
When the New York Stock Exchange reopened in late May , it made floor traders sign a form clearing the exchange @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That was legally permissible because the traders were not exchange employees , an NYSE spokesman said .
He declined to say whether any traders have become infected with the virus .
The Las Vegas-based restaurant chain Nacho Daddy , which did require employees to surrender their right to sue over COVID-19 , reportedly fired some who refused .
Following negative media coverage , Nacho Daddy removed the language that waived legal rights and instead had employees agree to follow safety rules such as masking and social distancing .
The company did not respond @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employees agree to comply with safety rules is a more common and legally acceptable approach than waivers .
“ I suggest my clients go to this reasonable middle ground : Here ’ s what we promise to you , here ’ s what we want you to promise to us , ” said David Barron , an employment lawyer with Cozen O ’ Connor in Houston .
Business groups hope Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will make liability waivers unnecessary .
He has proposed a Senate bill with broad liability protection for employers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus-related claims , and says he won ’ t back any COVID relief bill that doesn ’ t include such protections .
President Donald Trump has said he supports the liability protection .
At least 10 states already have enacted laws providing some form of immunity for businesses from lawsuits brought by employees and others who contract COVID-19 .
Similar bills are pending in about 10 more states , according to the National Employment Law Project .
The California Assembly is considering a liability protection bill for public K-12 schools .
Federal legislation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should protect only those that follow applicable health and safety guidelines , said John Abegg , executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform , which supports McConnell ’ s proposal .
But even if McConnell is able to overcome Democratic opposition and pass liability protection as part of a new pandemic economic relief bill , that still wouldn ’ t shield employers from lawsuits claiming gross negligence or reckless or intentional conduct in failing to implement COVID-19 safety precautions .
Across the country , hospitals and nursing homes , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s , Walmart and Safeway , have been hit with wrongful death lawsuits filed by families of employees who died from the virus .
They typically cite egregious conduct that goes beyond ordinary negligence , potentially erasing any statutory liability relief .
Nearly 50 COVID-related lawsuits have been filed relating to conditions of employment , including exposure to the coronavirus or the lack of protective equipment , according to data collected by the law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth .
In many states , alleging intentional misconduct also may allow workers harmed by COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lawsuits rather than go through the workers ’ compensation system , and thus seek bigger damage awards .
For instance , a suit filed in Alameda County Superior Court in June by the widow of a longtime employee of Safeway ’ s distribution center in Tracy , California , alleged that the company had concealed a COVID-19 outbreak from workers and informed them that personal protective equipment was not recommended , contrary to guidelines from federal and state authorities .
“ I don ’ t know of any jurisdiction that would allow a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Louis DiLorenzo , head of the labor and employment practice for Bond Schoeneck & King in New York , who represents employers .
“ That would encourage misconduct.
” Worker advocates argue that lawsuits like the one against Safeway should be encouraged — rather than blocked by waivers or immunity laws — to bring to light serious public safety problems .
Cases against McDonald ’ s in Oakland and Chicago — in which workers claimed the restaurants had created a “ public nuisance ” by not taking steps to adequately protect workers and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ orders in late June for those McDonald ’ s restaurants to implement safety measures such as masks , social distancing and temperature checks .
“ A very tiny number of cases are being filed by workers , and those cases are valuable , ” said Hugh Baran , a staff lawyer at the National Employment Law Project .
“ These are the kinds of claims we should want workers to bring.
” Schreiber said he contacted the Montessori school about Aguilar ’ s firing , and it offered to reinstate her without having @ @ @ @ @ @ @ declined , saying the school was putting teachers at risk by not requiring pupils to wear masks .
The school then offered her six weeks of severance pay , which she is considering .
By refusing to sign the waiver or accept her job back , she said , she was standing up for all the teachers at the school , many of whom have children and can ’ t afford to lose their job .
“ I liked my job and I needed the paycheck , ” Aguilar said .
“ But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you that whatever happens , they really don ’ t care.
” This KHN story first published on California Healthline , a service of the California Health Care Foundation .

After spending a May day preparing her classroom to reopen for preschoolers, Ana Aguilar was informed that the tots would not have to wear face masks when they came back. What’s more, she had to sign a form agreeing not to sue the school if she caught COVID-19 or suffered any injury from it while working there.
Other teachers signed the form distributed by the Montessori Schools of Irvine, but Aguilar said she felt uncomfortable, although it stipulated that staff members would be masked. At 23, she has a compromised immune system and was also worried that she could pass the coronavirus on to her fiancé and other family members.
Aguilar refused to sign, and a week later she was fired. “They said it was my choice to sign the paper, but it wasn’t really my choice,” said Aguilar, who’s currently jobless and receiving $276 a week in unemployment benefits. “I felt so bullied.”
As employers in California and across the country ask employees to return to the workplace, many have considered and some are requiring employees to sign similar waivers, employment lawyers say. And many employees, mostly lower-wage and minority workers in essential jobs, are calling lawyers to complain about the waivers.
“These are illegal agreements that are totally unfair to workers,” said Christian Schreiber, a San Francisco lawyer who represents Aguilar and other employees.
The California State Legislature last year passed a law, AB-51, prohibiting employers from requiring employees or job applicants to sign away their right to pursue legal claims or benefits under state law. The law, which also prohibits firing any employee for refusing to sign, is being challenged in court by business groups.
Only a few employers have forced employees to sign liability waivers, at least partly because these waivers likely would be held unenforceable by courts, lawyers who represent employers say.
“Courts don’t recognize them because of the unequal bargaining power between employers and employees,” said Isaac Mamaysky, a partner at the Potomac Law Group in New York City. “With so many unemployed, people would sign just about anything to get a job.”
Another reason they are considered unenforceable: Workers who get sick or injured on the job generally are compensated through state workers’ compensation systems rather than through the courts, and state laws don’t allow employers to force employees to sign away their right to pursue workers’ comp claims, Mamaysky said.
Companies may have the right to require nonemployees working on their premises to sign COVID waivers. When the New York Stock Exchange reopened in late May, it made floor traders sign a form clearing the exchange of liability if they contracted COVID-19. That was legally permissible because the traders were not exchange employees, an NYSE spokesman said. He declined to say whether any traders have become infected with the virus.
The Las Vegas-based restaurant chain Nacho Daddy, which did require employees to surrender their right to sue over COVID-19, reportedly fired some who refused. Following negative media coverage, Nacho Daddy removed the language that waived legal rights and instead had employees agree to follow safety rules such as masking and social distancing. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Having employees agree to comply with safety rules is a more common and legally acceptable approach than waivers.
“I suggest my clients go to this reasonable middle ground: Here’s what we promise to you, here’s what we want you to promise to us,” said David Barron, an employment lawyer with Cozen O’Connor in Houston.
Business groups hope Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will make liability waivers unnecessary. He has proposed a Senate bill with broad liability protection for employers for five years against a range of coronavirus-related claims, and says he won’t back any COVID relief bill that doesn’t include such protections. President Donald Trump has said he supports the liability protection.
At least 10 states already have enacted laws providing some form of immunity for businesses from lawsuits brought by employees and others who contract COVID-19. Similar bills are pending in about 10 more states, according to the National Employment Law Project. The California Assembly is considering a liability protection bill for public K-12 schools.
Federal legislation to provide COVID liability relief for employers should protect only those that follow applicable health and safety guidelines, said John Abegg, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, which supports McConnell’s proposal.
But even if McConnell is able to overcome Democratic opposition and pass liability protection as part of a new pandemic economic relief bill, that still wouldn’t shield employers from lawsuits claiming gross negligence or reckless or intentional conduct in failing to implement COVID-19 safety precautions.
Across the country, hospitals and nursing homes, as well as companies like McDonald’s, Walmart and Safeway, have been hit with wrongful death lawsuits filed by families of employees who died from the virus. They typically cite egregious conduct that goes beyond ordinary negligence, potentially erasing any statutory liability relief.
Nearly 50 COVID-related lawsuits have been filed relating to conditions of employment, including exposure to the coronavirus or the lack of protective equipment, according to data collected by the law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth.
In many states, alleging intentional misconduct also may allow workers harmed by COVID-19, and their families, to file lawsuits rather than go through the workers’ compensation system, and thus seek bigger damage awards.
For instance, a suit filed in Alameda County Superior Court in June by the widow of a longtime employee of Safeway’s distribution center in Tracy, California, alleged that the company had concealed a COVID-19 outbreak from workers and informed them that personal protective equipment was not recommended, contrary to guidelines from federal and state authorities.
“I don’t know of any jurisdiction that would allow a waiver against intentional misconduct,” said Louis DiLorenzo, head of the labor and employment practice for Bond Schoeneck & King in New York, who represents employers. “That would encourage misconduct.”
Worker advocates argue that lawsuits like the one against Safeway should be encouraged — rather than blocked by waivers or immunity laws — to bring to light serious public safety problems. Cases against McDonald’s in Oakland and Chicago — in which workers claimed the restaurants had created a “public nuisance” by not taking steps to adequately protect workers and customers from COVID-19 — resulted in court orders in late June for those McDonald’s restaurants to implement safety measures such as masks, social distancing and temperature checks.
“A very tiny number of cases are being filed by workers, and those cases are valuable,” said Hugh Baran, a staff lawyer at the National Employment Law Project. “These are the kinds of claims we should want workers to bring.”
Schreiber said he contacted the Montessori school about Aguilar’s firing, and it offered to reinstate her without having her sign the waiver. But Aguilar declined, saying the school was putting teachers at risk by not requiring pupils to wear masks. The school then offered her six weeks of severance pay, which she is considering.
By refusing to sign the waiver or accept her job back, she said, she was standing up for all the teachers at the school, many of whom have children and can’t afford to lose their job.
“I liked my job and I needed the paycheck,” Aguilar said. “But making you sign these papers is telling you that whatever happens, they really don’t care.”
This KHN story first published on California Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation.
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truthout--2020-07-27--If We Don’t Want Armed Feds Occupying Our Cities, We Must Hit the Streets

On July 25 , Day 58 of the continuous Portland , Oregon , Black Lives Matter protests , thousands of protesters swarmed the Justice Center located in the city ’ s downtown area .
This was a crushing number of people , and they were joined by solidarity marches in other cities .
Protesters pushed up against a fence that was raised around the federal buildings and anchored in cement blocks in an attempt to stop demonstrators from getting into the building as they had during previous nights .
The vast majority of the crowd were wearing helmets , goggles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the violence these federal officers have become famous for using .
Some were holding up umbrellas or shields to block the MK-9 pepper spray that the officers had been using against the demonstrators .
The police began firing off teargas canisters into the crowd as protesters shot back fireworks and blew the gas back toward the building with industrial kitchen fans and leaf blowers .
Eventually , at 1:15 am , federal officers , in conjunction with the Portland Police , rushed the crowds as protesters breached the fence , blanketing the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that sent hundreds of protesters scrambling through the street of downtown Portland .
The violence against protesters only continued to escalate , but they were largely unmoved , regrouping after the attacks only to continue the protests that have drawn international attention .
Nearly two months have come and gone as the Portland protests continue night after night .
Starting at the end of May in the wake of George Floyd ’ s death , the demonstrations have completely altered the city and have set in a permanent protest culture , and demonstrations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the city .
They eventually all descend on the federal Justice Center in downtown Portland , which is now boarded up like a fortress after nearly 60 days of sustained confrontations .
While demonstrations are still certainly happening around the country , what is occurring in Portland is unique in that it has had an unbroken string of demonstrations that have maintained their energy even after the initial surge has died .
One of the most obvious reasons is that the city has not matched the kind of solutions that protesters are demanding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Defunded Defunding the police has become the dominant demand from the broad confederations of organizations involved in the protests , and this has become explicit from groups like Rose City Justice , which emerged as a Black-led organization from these initial demonstrations .
They are asking for Portland to defund the police department by $ 50 million each year and divert that to programs that can help the communities that need it .
“ I think that Portland is unique in its openness to progressive ideas and I think once it was given @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people have maybe had the privilege to not face … I don ’ t think the government has given us any reason to stop getting out there , ” says Devin Boss , a founding member of Rose City Justice .
Instead of policing as a solution , organizers want to beef up resources for kids in crisis , for people with mental health issues , and to treat the problems that often result in a police call as issues that need social support to be addressed rather than a baton and a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of $ 50 million , the city is offering much smaller cuts , closer to $ 15 million ( which would eliminate 84 positions with the Portland Police Bureau ) and the elimination of particularly unpopular units such as the Gun Violence Reduction Team ( formerly the Gang Enforcement Team ) and the Transit Division .
These two proposals are still worlds apart for a community set on abolitionism as an ideological principle .
“ I think that Portland is a beast of its own , a different type of beast — we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who have it in our heart and soul to sustain a movement like this .
Also , I think that the cause is so worthy and just that there are so many organizations and individuals who have sprung up as a result just within the last 50 days , ” says Nusheen Bakhtiar , another member of Rose City Justice .
“ They ’ re all strategizing and organizing and talking and trying to get as creative and powerful that we can , to spread the message and spread the voice .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to go away when you have innocent people shot in the face with rubber bullets and tear gas .
It makes you want to keep getting out there , doesn ’ t it ?
” The first few weeks of protest were handled with incredible violence by the Portland Police Bureau , which leveled crowd control munitions and tear gas at protests and journalists alike .
This led to lawsuits and injunctions that changed the approach that the police were able to take , but when Donald Trump ordered federal agents into the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hostile .
“ It is simple : people are witnessing police brutality firsthand .
With the government ’ s inaction against the coronavirus pandemic , people are [ becoming ] more aware of the failing system , ” says Jeremy Smith , a member of the activist media collective DefendPDX .
“ I believe the people are starting to realize the joke we call our representative government and learning that it only benefits a select few .
Our representatives are silent , and their inactions echo with each ‘ non-lethal ’ munition fired @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had enough.
” The purpose of the officers is confusing to many ; they move in and out of the space and offer little communication to protesters or press .
Instead , they use crowd-control dispersal tools that are known to cause incredible injury .
One protester , Donavan LaBella , was hit in the head by munition and ended up in critical condition with a skull fracture , his life permanently altered .
Street medics , who are civilians trained to give emergency triage care at protests , are poised around the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people from what feels like a war zone .
“ I believe that protesters participating in direct action downtown understand that their role is essential to the movement , even if the specific demands remain unclear .
If demonstrations were ineffective in threatening state power , law enforcement wouldn ’ t respond with tear gas and rubber bullets , ” says Gabby Albano , also of the DefendPDX collective .
“ People continue to fight because of police retaliation .
It certainly speaks to the resiliency of the protesters and the gravity of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ begun in Portland as Trump keeps what amounts to federal troops on the streets of the city against the wishes of local officials , maintaining a “ law and order ” message as he ramps up his campaign .
For a party that is built on trumping up the message of “ states ’ rights , ” the Trump administration has decided to forgo the authority of the state and impose something akin to military street authorities .
The officers , and right-wing journalists and politicians have argued that this is an ongoing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that these protests have been largely peaceful .
On the evening of July 17 , there was no provocation that was visible , and on many nights , the excuse federal agents give for attacking the crowds are that people are throwing empty water bottles or insults at the police .
On July 22 , Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler , who has been heavily denounced by protesters for his apparent unwillingness to stop the police , was hit by teargas and told reporters he saw no provocation and called the federal officers ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 25 , while protesters had increased their militancy and commitment to pushing back on barriers like the fence , these actions amounted to little more than loud protest tactics , yet were met by crushing force .
The issue of “ protester violence ” is largely one of a right-wing construct , taking things like vandalism and defensive strategies and reframing them as aggression .
The violence of the federal officers , ranging from sending protesters to the hospital to running “ snatch and grab ” operations on them without charge , feels @ @ @ @ @ @ @ freedom of speech ” is tossed around regularly as a rhetorical tactic , these protests should be a hallmark of the concept , and would be welcome if this was even close to being a functioning democracy .
The federal officers stationed in Portland seem determined to treat them as an enemy army , a combination of fear and threat , but it is the federal authorities who are the outside occupying force .
The approach is a “ shock and awe ” combination of military-style attacks whose only function appears to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ home .
This violates the most basic precepts of how law enforcement is supposed to deal with political demonstrations : their ostensible function is not to intimidate the demonstrators into ending their protected protest activity .
“ Maybe there are people who won ’ t go out because of this intimidation tactic or are looking over their shoulder .
The police ’ s ability to sow paranoia in activist circles is pretty well known .
COINTELPRO doesn ’ t need to actually exist for them to use the specter to scare people , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vice president of the National Lawyers Guild .
“ The same can be said of federal troopers ; they only have to do it a few times to get the point across .
That said , people aren ’ t going to back down , either.
” When a political mercenary like Trump is at the helm , the conventional rules of engagement are being torched .
Black Lives Matter protests are vastly unpopular in Trump ’ s base , and right-wing social media is filled with reactionary demands to tamp down the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ decision to use a narrow executive order to keep militarized federal officers in Portland appears as a cynical campaign move , a show to his supporters that he can keep civil unrest under control .
This weakens the autonomy of the state , the freedom of protesters to voice opposition without retaliation and the ability of the press to cover the biggest story of the year .
Now Trump is sending officers to Chicago and is promising more to be sent to other liberal cities , owning up to his promise to intervene @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in .
This escalation has been seen by many as connected to the issue of police brutality and the far right usurpation of human rights that is in progress .
This is likely the greatest reason why the demonstrations are growing again , because this has become a dire situation where the expansion of state power has to be confronted .
If this siege is allowed to continue in Portland , it will come at the cost of every political freedom that the residents depend on , and will be evidence that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Security as a private “ secret police ” to make political attacks in advance of an election .
Without any threat to “ homeland security ” from protests that rarely surpass a few hundred , this neglects the basic precepts that would justify the use of federal authorities .
If Trump is going to treat federal law enforcement as a work-around for establishing veritable martial law in liberal cities he dislikes , then the civil liberties of dissenting voices in the U.S. have been torched .
The opposition filed in courts will likely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ days , but the problem is that these lawsuits still rely on the idea that the courts and the government are neutral .
If Trump is using federal mandates to suppress speech and go around procedure , there is no guarantee a favorable ruling will have any profound effect for those being tear gassed on the ground .
The only solution is for a movement around the country to stand in solidarity with those in Portland , and to use the same “ people power ” that Trump finds so threatening .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and if we do not want this to become the standard , we are going to have to hit the streets ourselves .
The solidarity actions are starting to pick up steam , and in the adjoining demonstration in Seattle on July 25 , police declared a riot and dozens of arrests were made , matching the intensity that has marked Portland ’ s responses .
A reflexive dynamic is emerging , as cities surge in militant street confrontations and Trump sends in federal officers to show that he can take control .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ guarantee the protests continue to escalate .
If anything pushes these protests to a radical direction , it will be the repeated assaults from officers dressed in military fatigues with their weapons of urban warfare .
The only option for protesters is to put as much pressure as possible to end these occupations , and with the tensions raised they have the possibility of pushing political concerns with the deployment of federal agents and into the very idea of policing itself .
This cauldron may be what is required for an abolitionist politic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The only thing that will determine the course of this situation is whether the protests can continue and bring the situation to a head .
The reality is that radical change is determined primarily by social movements , and the people have decided that they are going to stay in the streets rather than accept a new normal of Trump ’ s military occupation .

On July 25, Day 58 of the continuous Portland, Oregon, Black Lives Matter protests, thousands of protesters swarmed the Justice Center located in the city’s downtown area. This was a crushing number of people, and they were joined by solidarity marches in other cities. Protesters pushed up against a fence that was raised around the federal buildings and anchored in cement blocks in an attempt to stop demonstrators from getting into the building as they had during previous nights. The vast majority of the crowd were wearing helmets, goggles and gas masks or respirators in anticipation of the violence these federal officers have become famous for using. Some were holding up umbrellas or shields to block the MK-9 pepper spray that the officers had been using against the demonstrators.
The police began firing off teargas canisters into the crowd as protesters shot back fireworks and blew the gas back toward the building with industrial kitchen fans and leaf blowers. Eventually, at 1:15 am, federal officers, in conjunction with the Portland Police, rushed the crowds as protesters breached the fence, blanketing the area with teargas and firing impact munitions that sent hundreds of protesters scrambling through the street of downtown Portland. The violence against protesters only continued to escalate, but they were largely unmoved, regrouping after the attacks only to continue the protests that have drawn international attention.
Nearly two months have come and gone as the Portland protests continue night after night. Starting at the end of May in the wake of George Floyd’s death, the demonstrations have completely altered the city and have set in a permanent protest culture, and demonstrations regularly pop up at different places throughout the city. They eventually all descend on the federal Justice Center in downtown Portland, which is now boarded up like a fortress after nearly 60 days of sustained confrontations.
While demonstrations are still certainly happening around the country, what is occurring in Portland is unique in that it has had an unbroken string of demonstrations that have maintained their energy even after the initial surge has died. One of the most obvious reasons is that the city has not matched the kind of solutions that protesters are demanding.
The Police Have Not Yet Been Defunded
Defunding the police has become the dominant demand from the broad confederations of organizations involved in the protests, and this has become explicit from groups like Rose City Justice, which emerged as a Black-led organization from these initial demonstrations. They are asking for Portland to defund the police department by $50 million each year and divert that to programs that can help the communities that need it.
“I think that Portland is unique in its openness to progressive ideas and I think once it was given the opportunity to open its eyes that people have maybe had the privilege to not face … I don’t think the government has given us any reason to stop getting out there,” says Devin Boss, a founding member of Rose City Justice. Instead of policing as a solution, organizers want to beef up resources for kids in crisis, for people with mental health issues, and to treat the problems that often result in a police call as issues that need social support to be addressed rather than a baton and a gun.
“It’s really hard to go away when you have innocent people shot in the face with rubber bullets and tear gas. It makes you want to keep getting out there, doesn’t it?”
Instead of hearing the demand of $50 million, the city is offering much smaller cuts, closer to $15 million (which would eliminate 84 positions with the Portland Police Bureau) and the elimination of particularly unpopular units such as the Gun Violence Reduction Team (formerly the Gang Enforcement Team) and the Transit Division. These two proposals are still worlds apart for a community set on abolitionism as an ideological principle.
“I think that Portland is a beast of its own, a different type of beast — we have always been a type of peoples who have it in our heart and soul to sustain a movement like this. Also, I think that the cause is so worthy and just that there are so many organizations and individuals who have sprung up as a result just within the last 50 days,” says Nusheen Bakhtiar, another member of Rose City Justice. “They’re all strategizing and organizing and talking and trying to get as creative and powerful that we can, to spread the message and spread the voice. I also think it’s really hard to go away when you have innocent people shot in the face with rubber bullets and tear gas. It makes you want to keep getting out there, doesn’t it?”
The Police Are Openly Brutalizing People
The first few weeks of protest were handled with incredible violence by the Portland Police Bureau, which leveled crowd control munitions and tear gas at protests and journalists alike. This led to lawsuits and injunctions that changed the approach that the police were able to take, but when Donald Trump ordered federal agents into the city, the dynamic became even more hostile.
“It is simple: people are witnessing police brutality firsthand. With the government’s inaction against the coronavirus pandemic, people are [becoming] more aware of the failing system,” says Jeremy Smith, a member of the activist media collective DefendPDX. “I believe the people are starting to realize the joke we call our representative government and learning that it only benefits a select few. Our representatives are silent, and their inactions echo with each ‘non-lethal’ munition fired into a crowd. The people have had enough.”
“If demonstrations were ineffective in threatening state power, law enforcement wouldn’t respond with tear gas and rubber bullets.”
The purpose of the officers is confusing to many; they move in and out of the space and offer little communication to protesters or press. Instead, they use crowd-control dispersal tools that are known to cause incredible injury. One protester, Donavan LaBella, was hit in the head by munition and ended up in critical condition with a skull fracture, his life permanently altered. Street medics, who are civilians trained to give emergency triage care at protests, are poised around the demonstrations, often having to drag injured people from what feels like a war zone.
“I believe that protesters participating in direct action downtown understand that their role is essential to the movement, even if the specific demands remain unclear. If demonstrations were ineffective in threatening state power, law enforcement wouldn’t respond with tear gas and rubber bullets,” says Gabby Albano, also of the DefendPDX collective. “People continue to fight because of police retaliation. It certainly speaks to the resiliency of the protesters and the gravity of this cause.”
Trump’s War on the Left
A standoff has now begun in Portland as Trump keeps what amounts to federal troops on the streets of the city against the wishes of local officials, maintaining a “law and order” message as he ramps up his campaign. For a party that is built on trumping up the message of “states’ rights,” the Trump administration has decided to forgo the authority of the state and impose something akin to military street authorities.
The officers, and right-wing journalists and politicians have argued that this is an ongoing violent riot, but the reality is that these protests have been largely peaceful. On the evening of July 17, there was no provocation that was visible, and on many nights, the excuse federal agents give for attacking the crowds are that people are throwing empty water bottles or insults at the police. On July 22, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, who has been heavily denounced by protesters for his apparent unwillingness to stop the police, was hit by teargas and told reporters he saw no provocation and called the federal officers’ behavior “urban warfare.” On July 25, while protesters had increased their militancy and commitment to pushing back on barriers like the fence, these actions amounted to little more than loud protest tactics, yet were met by crushing force. The issue of “protester violence” is largely one of a right-wing construct, taking things like vandalism and defensive strategies and reframing them as aggression. The violence of the federal officers, ranging from sending protesters to the hospital to running “snatch and grab” operations on them without charge, feels like a false equivalency.
If this siege is allowed to continue in Portland, it will come at the cost of every political freedom that the residents depend on.
While “freedom of speech” is tossed around regularly as a rhetorical tactic, these protests should be a hallmark of the concept, and would be welcome if this was even close to being a functioning democracy. The federal officers stationed in Portland seem determined to treat them as an enemy army, a combination of fear and threat, but it is the federal authorities who are the outside occupying force. The approach is a “shock and awe” combination of military-style attacks whose only function appears to be to frighten the protesters into staying at home. This violates the most basic precepts of how law enforcement is supposed to deal with political demonstrations: their ostensible function is not to intimidate the demonstrators into ending their protected protest activity.
“Maybe there are people who won’t go out because of this intimidation tactic or are looking over their shoulder. The police’s ability to sow paranoia in activist circles is pretty well known. COINTELPRO doesn’t need to actually exist for them to use the specter to scare people,” says Juan Chavez, Northwest regional vice president of the National Lawyers Guild. “The same can be said of federal troopers; they only have to do it a few times to get the point across. That said, people aren’t going to back down, either.”
When a political mercenary like Trump is at the helm, the conventional rules of engagement are being torched. Black Lives Matter protests are vastly unpopular in Trump’s base, and right-wing social media is filled with reactionary demands to tamp down the protests with force. Trump’s decision to use a narrow executive order to keep militarized federal officers in Portland appears as a cynical campaign move, a show to his supporters that he can keep civil unrest under control. This weakens the autonomy of the state, the freedom of protesters to voice opposition without retaliation and the ability of the press to cover the biggest story of the year.
Now Trump is sending officers to Chicago and is promising more to be sent to other liberal cities, owning up to his promise to intervene on Democratic strongholds he has expressed displeasure in. This escalation has been seen by many as connected to the issue of police brutality and the far right usurpation of human rights that is in progress. This is likely the greatest reason why the demonstrations are growing again, because this has become a dire situation where the expansion of state power has to be confronted.
The only solution is for a movement around the country to stand in solidarity with those in Portland, and to use the same “people power” that Trump finds so threatening.
If this siege is allowed to continue in Portland, it will come at the cost of every political freedom that the residents depend on, and will be evidence that the president can use the Department of Homeland Security as a private “secret police” to make political attacks in advance of an election. Without any threat to “homeland security” from protests that rarely surpass a few hundred, this neglects the basic precepts that would justify the use of federal authorities. If Trump is going to treat federal law enforcement as a work-around for establishing veritable martial law in liberal cities he dislikes, then the civil liberties of dissenting voices in the U.S. have been torched.
The opposition filed in courts will likely come to a head in the coming days, but the problem is that these lawsuits still rely on the idea that the courts and the government are neutral. If Trump is using federal mandates to suppress speech and go around procedure, there is no guarantee a favorable ruling will have any profound effect for those being tear gassed on the ground. The only solution is for a movement around the country to stand in solidarity with those in Portland, and to use the same “people power” that Trump finds so threatening. He has armed troops patrolling a U.S. city and if we do not want this to become the standard, we are going to have to hit the streets ourselves. The solidarity actions are starting to pick up steam, and in the adjoining demonstration in Seattle on July 25, police declared a riot and dozens of arrests were made, matching the intensity that has marked Portland’s responses. A reflexive dynamic is emerging, as cities surge in militant street confrontations and Trump sends in federal officers to show that he can take control. This is a self-reinforcing cycle that will guarantee the protests continue to escalate. If anything pushes these protests to a radical direction, it will be the repeated assaults from officers dressed in military fatigues with their weapons of urban warfare. The only option for protesters is to put as much pressure as possible to end these occupations, and with the tensions raised they have the possibility of pushing political concerns with the deployment of federal agents and into the very idea of policing itself. This cauldron may be what is required for an abolitionist politic to take hold and make gains.
The only thing that will determine the course of this situation is whether the protests can continue and bring the situation to a head. The reality is that radical change is determined primarily by social movements, and the people have decided that they are going to stay in the streets rather than accept a new normal of Trump’s military occupation.
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truthout--2020-07-27--Protesters Keep Focus on BLM Agenda as Feds Send Tactical Teams Into Seattle

As nationwide protests against systemic racism and police violence stretch into their second month , President Trump has sent a team of federal agents to Seattle , following a controversial deployment of federal forces in Portland , Oregon .
“ We don ’ t know exactly what the federal officers are doing .
What we do know is we are in a situation where local police are welcoming those federal agents into our cities , ” says Seattle community organizer Nikkita Oliver , co-executive director of Creative Justice .
We also speak with Pastor E.D .
Mondainé , president of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the NAACP .
This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : For the 60th day in a row , demonstrators rallied in Portland , Oregon , Sunday to protest against police brutality and racism , as well as the deployment of federal forces to the city .
Shortly after midnight this morning , federal officers fired tear gas and other so-called less-than-lethal weapons to disperse a crowd that gathered outside the federal courthouse , which has become a flashpoint of the nightly protests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ days after the Portland City Council unanimously voted to bar Portland police officers from cooperating with federal authorities .
On Saturday , federal authorities revealed they had arrested or detained 60 people since being deployed to Portland in early July .
Meanwhile , Oregon Congressmembers Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici and about a dozen other lawmakers are demanding the resignation of Chad Wolf , the acting head of the Department of Homeland Security , over his handling of the protests .
President Trump ’ s deployment of federal officers to Portland and other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around the country this weekend .
On Thursday , the Trump administration sent a team of federal tactical border officers to Seattle , Washington .
In a statement , the Federal Protective Service said , quote , “ The CBP team will be on standby in the area , should they be required.
” It remains unclear what role the agents played this weekend as Seattle police arrested dozens of protesters and fired flash grenades and pepper spray into crowds .
Protesters also took to the streets in other cities , including Oakland @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Louisville , Kentucky ; Omaha , Nebraska ; Richmond , Virginia ; Aurora , Colorado ; and Austin , Texas , where a protester named Garrett Foster was shot dead .
Foster ’ s mother said her son was pushing his fiancée ’ s wheelchair when a car drove into the crowd and opened fire .
We begin today ’ s show in Seattle and Portland .
In Portland , we ’ re joined by Pastor E.D .
Mondainé , a civil rights activist , president of the Portland , Oregon , branch @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Washington , Nikkita Oliver is with us , co-executive director of Creative Justice .
She ’ s also an artist , attorney and community organizer with Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now .
We welcome you both to Democracy Now !
Nikkita Oliver , let ’ s begin with you .
Can you explain what ’ s happening in Seattle right now , with President Trump saying , as part of this “ surge , ” they ’ ve brought federal agents in on , quote , “ standby ” ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ what this means .
NIKKITA OLIVER : Yeah .
So , this weekend , many people took to the streets .
And I want to make sure that we keep the focus on Black lives .
You know , ultimately , people are in the streets in defense of Black lives ; however , it can not be ignored that Trump sending federal officers to our city has certainly further emboldened the protests .
That being said , we don ’ t know exactly what the federal officers are doing .
What we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a situation where local police are welcoming those federal agents into our city .
The head of the local police union , the Seattle Police Officers Guild , went on conservative radio about a week ago , praising the federal arrests of protesters in Portland and saying it might be time for the feds to come to Seattle .
You know , this past weekend , we also saw a renewed violence by Seattle Police Department against protesters .
And they actively had been fighting against a ban on tear gas and rubber @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And the Trump Department of Justice essentially backed the Seattle Police Department in lifting that ban .
And so , we know that in addition to fighting police in our own city , we are also fighting at the federal level against federal enforcements being sent to our city .
AMY GOODMAN : Can you talk about how you ’ re protecting yourselves ?
You tweeted , “ Police are snatching up umbrellas , traffic cones and gas masks from protestors .
These are literally protective gear to keeps protestors safe from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
You know , a lot of new tactics are being developed in the streets to keep people safe , such as umbrellas , mutual aid networks to disperse protective goggles .
People are wearing bike helmets and construction helmets as a way of protecting ourselves from the debris of flashbangs .
Even this weekend , we saw Seattle police dropping flashbangs from the top of private roofs .
And so , people are developing many tactics within the streets to keep each other safe .
And I think that is really the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other the way that we always have , knowing that when it comes to police violence , we , as a community , are really what we have as our safety .
Street medics are playing a key role and often putting theirselves at great personal risk to take care of people on site .
But we know that ultimately , you know , the best protection that we ’ re looking for isn ’ t just these tactics that we ’ re developing right now in this moment , but it is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where we have less police .
You know , people are staying in the streets in defense of Black lives , and the demand currently on the ground here is to defund SPD by 50 % in both the rebalancing package of our city , as COVID-19 has caused a $ 300 million shortfall , but also in the next upcoming budget , as a tactic for decreasing police violence across the board .
So , while we are developing many tactics on the ground and the street to keep people safe from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flashbangs , there ’ s also an overarching work that ’ s happening to how do we keep people safe from police violence across the board .
AMY GOODMAN : So , Nikkita Oliver , some 5,000 protesters stopped at a youth detention center .
Can you talk about the history of that place ?
NIKKITA OLIVER : The protests that we ’ re seeing right now are literally built on years of a growing abolitionist movement in the Seattle-King County region .
One of the fights that began in 2012 was to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 244 million youth jail and a new court complex .
There was an entire generation of young people , or there is an entire generation of young people , since 2012 , who have literally come of age fighting the construction of this new youth jail .
And it opened earlier this year .
And a part of combating state-sanctioned violence , overpolicing , police brutality in our city is also acknowledging that the criminal punishment system is deeply attached to policing in Black , Indigenous and people of color neighborhoods .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ King County executive , Dow Constantine , who was the biggest cheerleader of building the youth jail , announced that in 2025 they will attempt to close the youth jail .
There are presently somewhere between 19 and 21 young people being held in cages in that facility .
We know that without the groundwork that Black and Native folks have led in our city to stop the building of the youth jail , to stop the building of police bunkers , that the work we ’ re presently doing right now around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ foundation that it has .
When the uprising began this summer , we already had demands ready , because we have been , for an extended period of time , fighting this new youth jail .
And so , two coalitions — Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now — really rose out of that work .
So , keeping our sights on that movement of no new youth jail , of closing down youth prisons but also closing down adult prisons within our region , has been a significant part of laying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black lives .
AMY GOODMAN : I wanted to go to a Portland Black Lives Matter protester addressing the crowd last week .
AMY GOODMAN : That ’ s a scene from the streets of Portland , Oregon .
In addition to Nikkita Oliver , we ’ re joined by Pastor E.D .
Mondainé , who is a civil rights activist , president of the Portland , Oregon , branch of the NAACP , recently wrote a piece for The Washington Post titled “ Portland ’ s protests were supposed to be about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re white spectacle.
” Can you explain , Pastor ?
PASTOR E.D .
MONDAINÉ : Well , we ’ re right now in the era that is very serious .
We have to embrace the civil rights era with seriousness , and more seriousness than we ’ ve done in the 60 years since we ’ ve seen it , since its inception .
The shallow graves of our clarion criers for justice have now reached the streets of Portland through the stench of tear gas and rubber bullets .
At the core @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Portland are a deception .
We ’ re at war .
The federal government ’ s response is no display of strength ; rather , it ’ s a deliberate cover-up for Trump ’ s weakness .
The president and his allies want to be — want this to be a spectacle , be it a naked yogi or the next display of shocking force in force .
They need to be a distraction to the country by engaging our movement into empty battles where there is no advantage .
When we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , most definitely , lose .
But we ’ ve got to be able to keep the focus on Black lives .
This is not a war .
We ’ re not in Beirut .
We are in the United States of America , the most powerful country in the world .
And we need to understand that this revolution has brought us here to the streets , and it ’ s going to keep us into the streets until we see great movement .
AMY GOODMAN : Oregon Senator Ron Wyden , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has deployed to Portland as essentially fascist , he said , “ If a line is not drawn in the sand right now , America may be staring down the barrel of martial law in the middle of a presidential election.
” Do you share that assessment , Pastor Mondainé ?
PASTOR E.D .
MONDAINÉ : Yes .
And we can ’ t fall for that deception .
We can ’ t settle for martial law .
We know where that ’ s going to take us .
Listen , it is time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ known and voices heard in the halls of justice .
We welcome the protesters .
We don ’ t necessarily — we ’ re not attracted to the violence , but that ’ s all a part of the game .
War is deception .
And deception is what kills our nation when we ’ re not settled in understanding what truth is and how to divine that truth .
We need to be able to march forward with the power that revolution brings and that tells us that it ’ s time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we ’ re seeking .
AMY GOODMAN : Can you talk — I mean , the scenes in the streets of Portland , thousands of people , you have a wall of moms and now a wall of dads .
You ’ ve got that wall of veterans that have lined up , as well .
Can you talk about the various movements that have come together , and what you think is the critical agenda of the Black Lives Matter movement right now ?
PASTOR E.D .
MONDAINÉ : Well , everyone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they ’ re facing great danger .
And I want to be clear : We welcome our white allies in the street .
We welcome the wall of moms .
We welcome the leaf-blowing dads .
Right now there are unmarked , unarmed federal forces kidnapping our citizens off the streets without justification or authority .
The mayor of Portland and the governor of Oregon have both asked them to leave , and it ’ s all to no avail .
We know that this is a violation of our Constitution .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in more cities , we ignore this risk at our peril .
You know , at their core , the Trump administration ’ s actions are really hurting America , and not bringing America closer together .
But again , the focus has to be on Black lives and Black Lives Matter .
It is Black lives and Black Lives Matter that took us to the streets .
It is Black lives and Black Lives Matter that keep us in the streets .
It ’ s a Black lives issue that keep us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and trouble .
AMY GOODMAN : Nikkita Oliver , what are you demanding of the state right now in Seattle , Washington ?
And I ’ ll ask the same question of the pastor .
I mean , you have , interestingly , the authorities in Oregon , from the governor to the senators to the mayor , Ted Wheeler , who ’ s also the police commissioner , who was tear-gassed himself , vehemently protesting the presence of federal agents .
But you also have the local police tear-gassing people .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Portland City Council , last week , voted not to cooperate with the federal agents , explain the situation in Seattle right now .
NIKKITA OLIVER : You know , I want to be very clear that while certainly we are against federal agents being in our city and our county , we are not fighting for a local monopoly on police violence .
We are fighting , and , you know , a huge focus of our movement is we ’ re fighting to defund the police .
And very specifically , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are fighting to defund the Seattle Police Department .
We know that there is no instance in which police actually keep us safe , that very often when police are called in to any situation , they tend to escalate it , or people involved in that situation are sent into the criminal punishment system , which is disproportionately made of Black , Indigenous and people of color .
And so , there are three key demands that have remained at the forefront of our movement and in this fight to defend Black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Seattle Police Department by 50 % , starting first with the rebalancing package .
And Seattle City Council will have an historical vote on either August 3rd or August 10th , depending on how the process goes , where councilmembers will vote on that 50 % package first with the 2020 rebalancing .
We have seven of nine councilmembers , so this is a veto-proof vote , that have committed to defunding Seattle Police Department by 50 % .
And there is a strong chance that we will see some defunding on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is also very much on the 2021 budget , and those councilmembers are committed to finding those cuts within the Seattle Police Department .
But that ’ s only one strategy .
The next strategy is knowing that we need a community-based , community-led community safety and public health infrastructure .
And so , part of the first defund dollars from this 2020 package , from the rebalancing package , should be and will be invested in a participatory budgeting project that will be led by those communities most affected by police terrorism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lead us into 2021 to determine how those 50 % investments of the current $ 410 million , the Seattle police budget — so that ’ s about $ 205 million — will be invested in community-based public health and public safety , and will invest as soon as possible $ 10 million in scaling up the current community-based infrastructure .
So we have kept a very strong focus on understanding that defunding the police , shrinking the police , is a really important strategy to getting to the place where we don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public health or public safety infrastructure .
And then , finally , since May 29 , hundreds of protesters have been arrested .
And so our movement is calling for all protesters to be freed .
No one should be taking a case or a charge by exercising their First Amendment right , especially as it comes to defending Black lives and fighting against state-sanctioned violence .
AMY GOODMAN : And what is the role you see of white allies , of other people of color , in a Black lives-led movement ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ co-conspirators are an essential part of this movement , especially in a region like Seattle-King County .
We are about 4 % Black community within our city , and so having good , strong allyship — and I use “ co-conspirator ” very intentionally .
You know , allies are people who may look at your struggle and say , “ We align with you .
We see the value of your life.
” But that ’ s not necessarily folks who will join you in the streets , who will join you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a risk of their own lives or their own wealth or their own property in order to join your movement .
So , in a city like ours , where the Black community has been displaced and gentrified out of the neighborhoods that we have made strong and popular — and , in many ways , the Black community has not had access to the immense wealth that has grown in our region — having those co-conspirators is essential in the streets , but also in many of our political strategies .
What @ @ @ @ @ @ @ uprising is the first time that we have seen a considerable amount of our white allies and white co-conspirators take to the streets in a sustained movement .
For the past 60 days , we have seen thousands upon thousands of people in Seattle consistently protesting , consistently rallying and consistently focusing on the three demands that the Black liberation movement here in our city and our region has brought to the surface .
And so , it really is essential that we have that co-conspirator movement happening at the same time , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ successful without a diversity of tactics .
We know historically we ’ ve had to see a diversity of tactics put in place in order to win , in order for movements to remain strong , and so we are also seeing that happening on the ground here , from movements in the streets to movements in council chambers to movements of educators and people all over our city , in order to ensure that the movement in defense of Black lives is present in every aspect of our movement work .
AMY @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mondainé , you have this massive , sustained protest movement in Portland , which is the whitest large city in this country , the whitest of the 35 largest cities .
The New York Times wrote , “ The state was founded on principles of white supremacy .
A 19th-century lash law called for whipping any Black person found in the state .
In the early part of the 20th century Oregon ’ s Legislature was dominated by members of the Ku Klux Klan.
” And you have a very interesting piece in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about the 13th , the — “ With the passage of the 13th , 14th , and 15th amendments , Oregon ’ s laws preventing black people from living in the state and owning property were superseded by national law .
But Oregon itself didn ’ t ratify the 14th Amendment — the Equal Protection Clause — until 1973.
” This history , to say the least , resulting in a very white state .
What you want to see happen now ?
PASTOR E.D .
MONDAINÉ : Well , I am thrilled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new members come out to join us as allies .
And just as my sister spoke , the allies will go with you to the gate , but they become accomplices when they go out into the streets with us , when they join us in our fight .
In the fight for restorative racial justice , in our different roles , we ’ ll walk together through this battlefield , wherever it goes and wherever it takes us , and however it fulfills those efforts that we are trying to obtain : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ human .
In this battle , some of us will find our greatest call to service in helping open the gates and guard those perimeters that Black people deserve to live in .
Again , this is the only state in the nation that was incepted in racism .
There is a place for all of us here .
We are in a historic time in America , a time that we ’ ll never see again .
And the reality of the everyday Black existence has been promoted to the greater public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up in this country .
We are wakened now .
And we ’ re wakened by the sound of , again , those clarion criers that were killed in the ’ 60s .
Their blood is calling from the mud , and they ’ re saying it ’ s time for justice , it ’ s time for change .
AMY GOODMAN : Pastor E.D .
Mondainé , I want to thank you for being with us , president of the Portland , Oregon , NAACP , joining us from Portland , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Seattle , joining us from Seattle .
Next up , as John Lewis is buried this week , we remember the civil rights icon and speak with Princeton University professor Eddie Glaude about his legacy , about Black Lives Matter and about his new book , Begin Again : James Baldwin ’ s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own .
AMY GOODMAN : Music from Congressmember John Lewis ’ s memorial service in Selma , Alabama , over the weekend .

As nationwide protests against systemic racism and police violence stretch into their second month, President Trump has sent a team of federal agents to Seattle, following a controversial deployment of federal forces in Portland, Oregon. “We don’t know exactly what the federal officers are doing. What we do know is we are in a situation where local police are welcoming those federal agents into our cities,” says Seattle community organizer Nikkita Oliver, co-executive director of Creative Justice. We also speak with Pastor E.D. Mondainé, president of the Portland, Oregon, branch of the NAACP.
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: For the 60th day in a row, demonstrators rallied in Portland, Oregon, Sunday to protest against police brutality and racism, as well as the deployment of federal forces to the city. Shortly after midnight this morning, federal officers fired tear gas and other so-called less-than-lethal weapons to disperse a crowd that gathered outside the federal courthouse, which has become a flashpoint of the nightly protests.
The weekend demonstrations in Portland came days after the Portland City Council unanimously voted to bar Portland police officers from cooperating with federal authorities. On Saturday, federal authorities revealed they had arrested or detained 60 people since being deployed to Portland in early July. Meanwhile, Oregon Congressmembers Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici and about a dozen other lawmakers are demanding the resignation of Chad Wolf, the acting head of the Department of Homeland Security, over his handling of the protests.
President Trump’s deployment of federal officers to Portland and other cities sparked a new round of protests around the country this weekend. On Thursday, the Trump administration sent a team of federal tactical border officers to Seattle, Washington. In a statement, the Federal Protective Service said, quote, “The CBP team will be on standby in the area, should they be required.” It remains unclear what role the agents played this weekend as Seattle police arrested dozens of protesters and fired flash grenades and pepper spray into crowds.
Protesters also took to the streets in other cities, including Oakland; New York; Los Angeles; Louisville, Kentucky; Omaha, Nebraska; Richmond, Virginia; Aurora, Colorado; and Austin, Texas, where a protester named Garrett Foster was shot dead. Foster’s mother said her son was pushing his fiancée’s wheelchair when a car drove into the crowd and opened fire.
We begin today’s show in Seattle and Portland. In Portland, we’re joined by Pastor E.D. Mondainé, a civil rights activist, president of the Portland, Oregon, branch of the NAACP. And in Seattle, Washington, Nikkita Oliver is with us, co-executive director of Creative Justice. She’s also an artist, attorney and community organizer with Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Nikkita Oliver, let’s begin with you. Can you explain what’s happening in Seattle right now, with President Trump saying, as part of this “surge,” they’ve brought federal agents in on, quote, “standby”? Talk about the protests this week and what this means.
NIKKITA OLIVER: Yeah. So, this weekend, many people took to the streets. And I want to make sure that we keep the focus on Black lives. You know, ultimately, people are in the streets in defense of Black lives; however, it cannot be ignored that Trump sending federal officers to our city has certainly further emboldened the protests.
That being said, we don’t know exactly what the federal officers are doing. What we do know is that we are in a situation where local police are welcoming those federal agents into our city. The head of the local police union, the Seattle Police Officers Guild, went on conservative radio about a week ago, praising the federal arrests of protesters in Portland and saying it might be time for the feds to come to Seattle.
You know, this past weekend, we also saw a renewed violence by Seattle Police Department against protesters. And they actively had been fighting against a ban on tear gas and rubber bullets that the Seattle City Council imposed. And the Trump Department of Justice essentially backed the Seattle Police Department in lifting that ban. And so, we know that in addition to fighting police in our own city, we are also fighting at the federal level against federal enforcements being sent to our city.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about how you’re protecting yourselves? You tweeted, “Police are snatching up umbrellas, traffic cones and gas masks from protestors. These are literally protective gear to keeps protestors safe from police violence.”
NIKKITA OLIVER: Absolutely. You know, a lot of new tactics are being developed in the streets to keep people safe, such as umbrellas, mutual aid networks to disperse protective goggles. People are wearing bike helmets and construction helmets as a way of protecting ourselves from the debris of flashbangs. Even this weekend, we saw Seattle police dropping flashbangs from the top of private roofs. And so, people are developing many tactics within the streets to keep each other safe. And I think that is really the important part. People are protecting each other the way that we always have, knowing that when it comes to police violence, we, as a community, are really what we have as our safety. Street medics are playing a key role and often putting theirselves at great personal risk to take care of people on site.
But we know that ultimately, you know, the best protection that we’re looking for isn’t just these tactics that we’re developing right now in this moment, but it is an overarching protection against police violence, where we have less police. You know, people are staying in the streets in defense of Black lives, and the demand currently on the ground here is to defund SPD by 50% in both the rebalancing package of our city, as COVID-19 has caused a $300 million shortfall, but also in the next upcoming budget, as a tactic for decreasing police violence across the board. So, while we are developing many tactics on the ground and the street to keep people safe from pepper spray, various CO gas, flashbangs, there’s also an overarching work that’s happening to how do we keep people safe from police violence across the board.
AMY GOODMAN: So, Nikkita Oliver, some 5,000 protesters stopped at a youth detention center. Can you talk about the history of that place?
NIKKITA OLIVER: The protests that we’re seeing right now are literally built on years of a growing abolitionist movement in the Seattle-King County region. One of the fights that began in 2012 was to stop King County from building a new $244 million youth jail and a new court complex. There was an entire generation of young people, or there is an entire generation of young people, since 2012, who have literally come of age fighting the construction of this new youth jail. And it opened earlier this year. And a part of combating state-sanctioned violence, overpolicing, police brutality in our city is also acknowledging that the criminal punishment system is deeply attached to policing in Black, Indigenous and people of color neighborhoods. Last week, very significantly, the King County executive, Dow Constantine, who was the biggest cheerleader of building the youth jail, announced that in 2025 they will attempt to close the youth jail. There are presently somewhere between 19 and 21 young people being held in cages in that facility.
We know that without the groundwork that Black and Native folks have led in our city to stop the building of the youth jail, to stop the building of police bunkers, that the work we’re presently doing right now around defunding the police would not have the foundation that it has. When the uprising began this summer, we already had demands ready, because we have been, for an extended period of time, fighting this new youth jail. And so, two coalitions — Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now — really rose out of that work. So, keeping our sights on that movement of no new youth jail, of closing down youth prisons but also closing down adult prisons within our region, has been a significant part of laying the foundation for this present uprising for Black lives.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to a Portland Black Lives Matter protester addressing the crowd last week.
PROTESTER 1: We pose no threat! The only threat that we pose is sealing the deal on being divided. We will not be divided ever again! We are one nation under God!
PROTESTER 2: God bless America!
PROTESTER 1: We are the human race! Black Lives Matter!
PROSTERS: Black Lives Matter!
AMY GOODMAN: That’s a scene from the streets of Portland, Oregon. In addition to Nikkita Oliver, we’re joined by Pastor E.D. Mondainé, who is a civil rights activist, president of the Portland, Oregon, branch of the NAACP, recently wrote a piece for The Washington Post titled “Portland’s protests were supposed to be about black lives. Now, they’re white spectacle.” Can you explain, Pastor?
PASTOR E.D. MONDAINÉ: Well, we’re right now in the era that is very serious. We have to embrace the civil rights era with seriousness, and more seriousness than we’ve done in the 60 years since we’ve seen it, since its inception. The shallow graves of our clarion criers for justice have now reached the streets of Portland through the stench of tear gas and rubber bullets.
At the core of the Trump administration’s actions in Portland are a deception. We’re at war. The federal government’s response is no display of strength; rather, it’s a deliberate cover-up for Trump’s weakness. The president and his allies want to be — want this to be a spectacle, be it a naked yogi or the next display of shocking force in force. They need to be a distraction to the country by engaging our movement into empty battles where there is no advantage. When we engage on their terms, we certainly, most definitely, lose.
But we’ve got to be able to keep the focus on Black lives. This is not a war. We’re not in Beirut. We are in the United States of America, the most powerful country in the world. And we need to understand that this revolution has brought us here to the streets, and it’s going to keep us into the streets until we see great movement.
AMY GOODMAN: Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, talking about the federal agents that Trump has deployed to Portland as essentially fascist, he said, “If a line is not drawn in the sand right now, America may be staring down the barrel of martial law in the middle of a presidential election.” Do you share that assessment, Pastor Mondainé?
PASTOR E.D. MONDAINÉ: Yes. And we can’t fall for that deception. We can’t settle for martial law. We know where that’s going to take us. Listen, it is time now for us to make our voices known and voices heard in the halls of justice. We welcome the protesters. We don’t necessarily — we’re not attracted to the violence, but that’s all a part of the game. War is deception. And deception is what kills our nation when we’re not settled in understanding what truth is and how to divine that truth. We need to be able to march forward with the power that revolution brings and that tells us that it’s time right now for the social change that we’re seeking.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk — I mean, the scenes in the streets of Portland, thousands of people, you have a wall of moms and now a wall of dads. You’ve got that wall of veterans that have lined up, as well. Can you talk about the various movements that have come together, and what you think is the critical agenda of the Black Lives Matter movement right now?
PASTOR E.D. MONDAINÉ: Well, everyone seeking to advance justice in Portland, they’re facing great danger. And I want to be clear: We welcome our white allies in the street. We welcome the wall of moms. We welcome the leaf-blowing dads. Right now there are unmarked, unarmed federal forces kidnapping our citizens off the streets without justification or authority. The mayor of Portland and the governor of Oregon have both asked them to leave, and it’s all to no avail. We know that this is a violation of our Constitution. But with President Trump promising only more occupations in more cities, we ignore this risk at our peril. You know, at their core, the Trump administration’s actions are really hurting America, and not bringing America closer together.
But again, the focus has to be on Black lives and Black Lives Matter. It is Black lives and Black Lives Matter that took us to the streets. It is Black lives and Black Lives Matter that keep us in the streets. It’s a Black lives issue that keep us downtown nightly in the face of peril and trouble.
AMY GOODMAN: Nikkita Oliver, what are you demanding of the state right now in Seattle, Washington? And I’ll ask the same question of the pastor. I mean, you have, interestingly, the authorities in Oregon, from the governor to the senators to the mayor, Ted Wheeler, who’s also the police commissioner, who was tear-gassed himself, vehemently protesting the presence of federal agents. But you also have the local police tear-gassing people. And explain — although they recently, the Portland City Council, last week, voted not to cooperate with the federal agents, explain the situation in Seattle right now.
NIKKITA OLIVER: You know, I want to be very clear that while certainly we are against federal agents being in our city and our county, we are not fighting for a local monopoly on police violence. We are fighting, and, you know, a huge focus of our movement is we’re fighting to defund the police. And very specifically, King County Equity Now and Decriminalize Seattle are fighting to defund the Seattle Police Department. We know that there is no instance in which police actually keep us safe, that very often when police are called in to any situation, they tend to escalate it, or people involved in that situation are sent into the criminal punishment system, which is disproportionately made of Black, Indigenous and people of color.
And so, there are three key demands that have remained at the forefront of our movement and in this fight to defend Black lives. The first is to defund the Seattle Police Department by 50%, starting first with the rebalancing package. And Seattle City Council will have an historical vote on either August 3rd or August 10th, depending on how the process goes, where councilmembers will vote on that 50% package first with the 2020 rebalancing. We have seven of nine councilmembers, so this is a veto-proof vote, that have committed to defunding Seattle Police Department by 50%. And there is a strong chance that we will see some defunding on this rebalancing package, but our focus is also very much on the 2021 budget, and those councilmembers are committed to finding those cuts within the Seattle Police Department. But that’s only one strategy.
The next strategy is knowing that we need a community-based, community-led community safety and public health infrastructure. And so, part of the first defund dollars from this 2020 package, from the rebalancing package, should be and will be invested in a participatory budgeting project that will be led by those communities most affected by police terrorism. And that participatory budgeting process will lead us into 2021 to determine how those 50% investments of the current $410 million, the Seattle police budget — so that’s about $205 million — will be invested in community-based public health and public safety, and will invest as soon as possible $10 million in scaling up the current community-based infrastructure. So we have kept a very strong focus on understanding that defunding the police, shrinking the police, is a really important strategy to getting to the place where we don’t have police involved in our public health or public safety infrastructure.
And then, finally, since May 29, hundreds of protesters have been arrested. And so our movement is calling for all protesters to be freed. No one should be taking a case or a charge by exercising their First Amendment right, especially as it comes to defending Black lives and fighting against state-sanctioned violence.
AMY GOODMAN: And what is the role you see of white allies, of other people of color, in a Black lives-led movement?
NIKKITA OLIVER: I believe that our co-conspirators are an essential part of this movement, especially in a region like Seattle-King County. We are about 4% Black community within our city, and so having good, strong allyship — and I use “co-conspirator” very intentionally. You know, allies are people who may look at your struggle and say, “We align with you. We see the value of your life.” But that’s not necessarily folks who will join you in the streets, who will join you in council chambers, who will take a risk of their own lives or their own wealth or their own property in order to join your movement. So, in a city like ours, where the Black community has been displaced and gentrified out of the neighborhoods that we have made strong and popular — and, in many ways, the Black community has not had access to the immense wealth that has grown in our region — having those co-conspirators is essential in the streets, but also in many of our political strategies.
What I will say is, this current uprising is the first time that we have seen a considerable amount of our white allies and white co-conspirators take to the streets in a sustained movement. For the past 60 days, we have seen thousands upon thousands of people in Seattle consistently protesting, consistently rallying and consistently focusing on the three demands that the Black liberation movement here in our city and our region has brought to the surface.
And so, it really is essential that we have that co-conspirator movement happening at the same time, while simultaneously recognizing that no movement is successful without a diversity of tactics. We know historically we’ve had to see a diversity of tactics put in place in order to win, in order for movements to remain strong, and so we are also seeing that happening on the ground here, from movements in the streets to movements in council chambers to movements of educators and people all over our city, in order to ensure that the movement in defense of Black lives is present in every aspect of our movement work.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Pastor E.D. Mondainé, you have this massive, sustained protest movement in Portland, which is the whitest large city in this country, the whitest of the 35 largest cities. The New York Times wrote, “The state was founded on principles of white supremacy. A 19th-century lash law called for whipping any Black person found in the state. In the early part of the 20th century Oregon’s Legislature was dominated by members of the Ku Klux Klan.” And you have a very interesting piece in The Atlantic that said — that talks about the 13th, the — “With the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, Oregon’s laws preventing black people from living in the state and owning property were superseded by national law. But Oregon itself didn’t ratify the 14th Amendment — the Equal Protection Clause — until 1973.” This history, to say the least, resulting in a very white state. What you want to see happen now?
PASTOR E.D. MONDAINÉ: Well, I am thrilled that we’re seeing so many new members come out to join us as allies. And just as my sister spoke, the allies will go with you to the gate, but they become accomplices when they go out into the streets with us, when they join us in our fight. In the fight for restorative racial justice, in our different roles, we’ll walk together through this battlefield, wherever it goes and wherever it takes us, and however it fulfills those efforts that we are trying to obtain: Black lives mattering and not being three-fifths human. In this battle, some of us will find our greatest call to service in helping open the gates and guard those perimeters that Black people deserve to live in. Again, this is the only state in the nation that was incepted in racism. There is a place for all of us here.
We are in a historic time in America, a time that we’ll never see again. And the reality of the everyday Black existence has been promoted to the greater public’s consciousness. We have woke up in this country. We are wakened now. And we’re wakened by the sound of, again, those clarion criers that were killed in the ’60s. Their blood is calling from the mud, and they’re saying it’s time for justice, it’s time for change.
AMY GOODMAN: Pastor E.D. Mondainé, I want to thank you for being with us, president of the Portland, Oregon, NAACP, joining us from Portland, and Nikkita Oliver of Creative Justice and Decriminalize Seattle, joining us from Seattle.
Next up, as John Lewis is buried this week, we remember the civil rights icon and speak with Princeton University professor Eddie Glaude about his legacy, about Black Lives Matter and about his new book, Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: Music from Congressmember John Lewis’s memorial service in Selma, Alabama, over the weekend.


truthout--2020-07-27--Memo Warns GOP Unemployment Benefit Formula Would Take Months to Implement

A Republican proposal to pare back enhanced unemployment benefits to about 70 % of what a worker earned prior to losing their job — as opposed to the previous weekly payment of $ 600 across the board — would take most states between two to five months to implement , likely causing delays in relief for tens of millions of people .
That ’ s according to a memo ( pdf ) presented to Congress last week by the National Association of State Workforce Agencies ( NASWA ) , an organization representing state agencies that administer unemployment benefits and other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ NPR over the weekend , warned that replacing the flat weekly payment with a more complicated individualized benefit based on prior income “ would take 8 to 20 weeks or more ” for most states to fully implement , depending on the formula the White House and GOP ultimately propose .
Such an implementation delay “ could mean a huge gap in payments and a bigger backlog for millions , ” noted NPR correspondent Kelsey Snell .
As NPR reported Saturday , “ the potential delays are so significant that the U.S. Department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ‘ strongly ’ opposed such a change because states would find it ‘ exceedingly difficult if not impossible to implement . '
” The Labor Department , according to a document obtained by NPR , told the House Ways and Means Committee that “ states would find it exceedingly difficult , if not impossible to implement a unique payment amount in addition to the various benefit payments to which the [ Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation ] applies.
” Sen. Ron Wyden ( D-Ore. ) , one of the architects of the $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , tweeted Saturday that “ you know Republicans are in pretty bad shape when they have to go with a plan based on rough ideas that Donald Trump ’ s own Secretary of Labor says are unworkable.
” The last weekly unemployment check with the flat $ 600 boost went out in 49 states on Saturday and in New York on Sunday as Congress failed to approve an extension before leaving town for the weekend .
Unemployment benefits are set to revert to pre-pandemic levels starting August 1 if Congress does not act @ @ @ @ @ @ @ facing a massive drop in income in mere days , White House officials on Sunday floated the possibility of quickly passing a narrow bill extending boosted unemployment benefits and granting liability protections to corporations , a top priority of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( R-Ky. ) and the business lobby .
“ Honestly I see us being able to provide unemployment insurance , maybe a retention credit to keep people from being displaced or brought back into the workplace , helping with our schools — if we can do that along with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , get that passed as we negotiate on the rest of the bill in the weeks to come , ” White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said in an interview Sunday on ABC .
McConnell is expected to unveil the GOP ’ s full coronavirus stimulus package on Monday after delaying release of the legislation due to intraparty disagreements over unemployment benefits and other key issues .
The Washington Post reported Sunday that instead of simply extending the $ 600-per-week boost in unemployment benefits , Republicans have “ discussed a formula that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the salary a worker was getting paid before getting laid off.
” “ Some economists say the new formula would effectively take the $ 600 weekly payment to around $ 200 a week , ” the Post noted , “ though [ Treasury Secretary Steve ] Mnuchin stressed on Sunday it would vary from person to person.
” Josh Bivens , research director for the Economic Policy Institute , estimates that reducing the enhanced unemployment payments to $ 200 per week would cost the United States 3.4 million jobs over the next @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Friday , Rep. Don Beyer ( D-Va. ) warned that “ the damage from a lapse in unemployment benefits will radiate throughout the economy.
” “ Any future extension will come too late to help those who are evicted , who lose their jobs , businesses , or health coverage , and those who go hungry , ” said Beyer .
“ This is a dark moment for our country .
”

A Republican proposal to pare back enhanced unemployment benefits to about 70% of what a worker earned prior to losing their job — as opposed to the previous weekly payment of $600 across the board — would take most states between two to five months to implement, likely causing delays in relief for tens of millions of people.
That’s according to a memo (pdf) presented to Congress last week by the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA), an organization representing state agencies that administer unemployment benefits and other programs.
The memo, obtained by NPR over the weekend, warned that replacing the flat weekly payment with a more complicated individualized benefit based on prior income “would take 8 to 20 weeks or more” for most states to fully implement, depending on the formula the White House and GOP ultimately propose.
Such an implementation delay “could mean a huge gap in payments and a bigger backlog for millions,” noted NPR correspondent Kelsey Snell.
As NPR reported Saturday, “the potential delays are so significant that the U.S. Department of Labor told Congress in May that it ‘strongly’ opposed such a change because states would find it ‘exceedingly difficult if not impossible to implement.'”
The Labor Department, according to a document obtained by NPR, told the House Ways and Means Committee that “states would find it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible to implement a unique payment amount in addition to the various benefit payments to which the [Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation] applies.”
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), one of the architects of the $600-per-week benefit provided under the CARES Act, tweeted Saturday that “you know Republicans are in pretty bad shape when they have to go with a plan based on rough ideas that Donald Trump’s own Secretary of Labor says are unworkable.”
You know Republicans are in pretty bad shape when they have to go with a plan based on rough ideas that Donald Trump’s own Secretary of Labor says are unworkable. https://t.co/1jpIM5cuAo — Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) July 25, 2020
The last weekly unemployment check with the flat $600 boost went out in 49 states on Saturday and in New York on Sunday as Congress failed to approve an extension before leaving town for the weekend. Unemployment benefits are set to revert to pre-pandemic levels starting August 1 if Congress does not act.
With tens of millions of Americans facing a massive drop in income in mere days, White House officials on Sunday floated the possibility of quickly passing a narrow bill extending boosted unemployment benefits and granting liability protections to corporations, a top priority of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and the business lobby.
“Honestly I see us being able to provide unemployment insurance, maybe a retention credit to keep people from being displaced or brought back into the workplace, helping with our schools — if we can do that along with liability protections perhaps we put that forward, get that passed as we negotiate on the rest of the bill in the weeks to come,” White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said in an interview Sunday on ABC.
McConnell is expected to unveil the GOP’s full coronavirus stimulus package on Monday after delaying release of the legislation due to intraparty disagreements over unemployment benefits and other key issues.
The Washington Post reported Sunday that instead of simply extending the $600-per-week boost in unemployment benefits, Republicans have “discussed a formula that would amount to 70 percent wage replacement of the salary a worker was getting paid before getting laid off.”
“Some economists say the new formula would effectively take the $600 weekly payment to around $200 a week,” the Post noted, “though [Treasury Secretary Steve] Mnuchin stressed on Sunday it would vary from person to person.”
Josh Bivens, research director for the Economic Policy Institute, estimates that reducing the enhanced unemployment payments to $200 per week would cost the United States 3.4 million jobs over the next year.
In a series of tweets on Friday, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) warned that “the damage from a lapse in unemployment benefits will radiate throughout the economy.”
“Any future extension will come too late to help those who are evicted, who lose their jobs, businesses, or health coverage, and those who go hungry,” said Beyer. “This is a dark moment for our country.”
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