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Thank you all for making 2020 a monumental year for social change. We’ve witnessed community support and engagement on a level not witnessed in generations. Bold youth organizing has influenced the social landscape of our nation.
You all did this!
Portland was on the map for uplifting the movement for Black Lives and we know this is a direct result of an ongoing commitment to education and the intentional centering of Black voices.
Continue to say #BlackLivesMatter, continue to show up and most importantly, please continue to Do The Work!
This is only the beginning.
A message to all of our Reclaim MLK volunteers - if you have signed up to volunteer with us during the march, we have your shirts ready for distribution! Please sign up here if you haven’t already, bring your masks and a friend and family member - we can’t wait to see you.
Please read on for our end of year recap/statement! We are so grateful for all of your support over the years and especially through what has been an unparalleled year for all of us. Thank you for showing up in solidarity, whether it was on the ground or from afar. This work can’t happen without all of you.
See you in 2021.
End of Year Recap:
On the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday, January 15th, 2019, we opened our own location at 18 NE Killingsworth, Center for Advocacy and Community Involvement. Housed within the former Albina Arts Center in Portland’s historic Albina neighborhood, we looked at this occupation as reclaiming space in a now heavily gentrified area. We are grateful to have hosted a community expungement clinic as well as our liberated archives workshops before the coronavirus pandemic turned our programming virtual in February. Over the three month course of isolation, we were able to connect families with essential items such as PPE, groceries, hygiene items and more. With resources becoming increasingly scarce as uncertainty with the coronavirus lockdown continued, we were thankful to be in a position to provide aid and services to those without access.
On May 25th, the wrongful murder of George Floyd at the hands of police went viral - protests became organized around the world within 24 hours. As Black America sprung into action stirred by the collective trauma caused by George Floyd’s killing, an emphasis on sharing information and resources needed to happen. Our weekly online rallies were implemented in order to build mutual aid nationwide. Our way of making this accessible was through our Mutual Aid for Black Lives Matter spreadsheet, a stockpile of family-run fundraisers, community bail funds, street medic support, legal representation, phone scripts and more.
We are thankful to our team of community health professionals and researchers Arya Morman, Dr. Anita Randolph, ZaDora Williams and Donovan Smith. The collaborative research they produced for DSP served as proof of the detrimental effects caused by riot control agents on our physical, mental and environmental health. It also supported the educational and awareness of activists, court systems and health administrators in building frameworks for social equity. This scientific evidence is what propelled our lawsuit against the city of Portland forward - this hearing is a historical win as it marks the first time protestors have testified in court against police while providing in-depth accounts of the assault. This was not a pro-bono lawsuit - this happened due to the direct backing of our donors and community members, which is an extreme victory in itself! We could not do our advocacy without each and every one of you; through this network of support we have been able to continue serving the communities that need it through this tumultuous year together.
It is now our bittersweet announcement that we will no longer have a home at the DCBC nor the space next door which we opened on Dr. King’s Birthday earlier this year. When we initially moved in, we had high hopes of acquiring and rehabilating the building to provide resources for our Black community as it’s intended use, but were not granted that opportunity. With so many communities currently being displaced or facing displacement, we are simply grateful to have occupied the space for as long as we did. The educational outreach and civic engagement we cultivated at the former Albina Arts Center will serve as a cornerstone in the last ten years of Don’t Shoot Portland’s journey. We will continue to search for our permanent home in the city of Roses.
