By Isabella Garcia for Yes!
Broadcast version by Eric Tegethoff for Public News Service
Reporting for the YES! Magazine Media - Oregon News Service Collaboration

PORTLAND, Oregon, August 20 - It's the 84th day of consecutive protest against police brutality and systemic racism in Portland, Oregon. People have gathered at a neighborhood park and are preparing to march to the police union building, the Portland Police Association. They're led by the Black Youth Movement, a group of 20 young people who aim to elevate Black youth voices.

About 60 people mill around the park; some socially distance on grass while others visit the snack table, courtesy of a group called PDX Resistance. The PDX Frontline Drumline, a group of drummers in matching purple shirts, practice a few riffs as the park fills in. Near the street, a group of motorcyclists and bicyclists gather and strategize the best way to block off intersections and keep the marching route clear and safe for the protesters.

One member of the Black Youth Movement (BYM) gets on a megaphone and asks people to start filling into the street behind the car that will set the pace. Just then, the Snack Van - a sprinter van with "BLM" graffitied on the side, known for supporting protests with snacks and medical aid - turns the corner.

"We didn't ask them to come, but we're really fortunate and really happy that someone's going to be here and bring water and stuff like that," says Z, a BYM member.

It's decided that the Snack Van will bring up the rear.

This is how the Portland protests work: autonomously.

Portland has sustained more than five months of protests against police brutality and systemic racism after the death of George Floyd, pausing only when statewide fires created air quality so hazardous that merely stepping outside in a common cloth mask would bring the bitter taste of carcinogenic particles into your mouth. The Portland protests drew national attention when President Trump sent federal troops to "quell" the protests and "protect federal property" in early July. While the national attention has since subsided, Portlanders calling for the defunding of the Portland Police Bureau are continuously being reinvigorated and reimagined.

Underpinning these protests is a network of community groups and mutual aid services created by and for the protesters and supporters of the movement.

Autonomous Organizing

Protests, events, and calls for direct action in Portland are led by a variety of groups, the Black Youth Movement being one of them.

The Black Youth Movement was born at the beginning of the Portland protests in late May, days after the police killing of George Floyd. Several community members that now make up the group met in the streets while protesting alone and formed a connection. They came together to process their emotions collectively, support each other, and elevate youth voices in the movement for Black lives.

"A lot of times our voices aren't heard just because we're youth," says BYM member Marzz. "We felt that it was essential that we not only speak up, but build a platform where other youth feel comfortable and feel like they can say what they want and say what they need."

Marzz emphasized the importance of camaraderie and community within the movement. The group focuses not only on protests, but also on community events, like celebrating LGBTQ Pride month in June, school supply drives, and an end-of-summer skate session for skaters who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

"It's all about creating your community when it comes to protesting, because you may not get change next week, but at least you have your family behind you no matter what," Z explains. "If everything goes to shit one day, we will still be a family and we will still have each other."

The group aims to lead marches and protests once a week, highlighting their list of demands at the beginning of each march. The group's demands are constantly evolving, but are broadly sectioned into policing, health care, housing, and education reforms. Some BYM demands include defunding and demilitarizing the police to restructure the entire policing system, with the end goal of abolition; requiring diversity training by Black, Indigenous, and other people of color for every health care professional before they are allowed to work with any patient; creating a grant or funding program specifically for Black-owned businesses; and including one semester of Black history and one semester of Indigenous history within Portland Public Schools.

Other activists and organizers have developed a science of protesting.

Demetria Hester became a public figure in 2017 when she was assaulted by self-described neo-Nazi Jeremy Christian, who went on to kill two people on a Portland light rail train the next day. For the past three or four years, Hester says, she has been studying the way the police respond to protesters, as well as the most effective ways to bring protesters together. She now organizes for Moms United For Black Lives, a group of moms who support the protests with direct action, as well as mutual aid.

"We have a full game plan," Hester says about Moms. "Make sure that the White people that are on your side are really on your side, that's one."

Hester stresses the importance of White allies being able to follow leadership from Black people, specifically Black women. Beyond that, Hester says that as the moms work on organizing with other mutual aid groups or reaching out to local politicians to promote change at a policy level, they must be educating themselves about Black history and why Black Lives Matter is a needed movement.

"If they don't educate themselves, none of the protests are going to help [the Black community]," Hester says.

The Black Youth Movement and Moms United for Black Lives are just two of several groups organizing direct actions like protests and marches in Portland, not to mention all of the adjacent pop-ups and community events in support of the movement for Black lives.

Recognizing that it's hard to have a complete scope of all of the various actions happening each day, a collective of BIPOC and White allies joined together to organize PDX BLM Events, which is not formally affiliated with the national BLM network. The online calendar and Instagram account aggregates the day's events.

By compiling local event information in one place, the group aims to make it easier for people to participate in local actions by removing the time-consuming process of scouring various Instagram posts, Facebook events, and Tweets for the latest events. Within the first five days the calendar was published, the site had about 50,000 unique visitors, according to an emailed statement from PDX BLM Events.

"We see our calendar project as one part of a broader movement support infrastructure, which also includes organizations distributing food and safety equipment, medics on the frontlines, loved ones at home cooking meals for protesters, and trauma counselors," the group states, acknowledging the expansive protest community.

On August 20, that 84th night of protest, BYM's march made it to the police union building and back to the park without any police interactions, free to express their anger and joy through passionate speeches and exuberant dancing alike.

Meanwhile, across the city, another group of protesters were gathering for a demonstration outside of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building, organized by a group called Safe PDX Protest.

This story was originally reported and written by Isabella Garcia for YES! Magazine. Isabella Garcia is the solutions reporter for YES! Media. She is based in Portland, Oregon. Follow her on Twitter @isabellaaliciaa.


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Wisconsinites overwhelmingly voted 'yes' on a record number of school funding measures, according to a new Wisconsin Policy Forum study. The appeals essentially asked voters to increase their own property taxes to fund school operations across the state. Voters favored a record number 169 referendums, authorizing a record total of $4.4 billion in new funding for 145 school districts.

Denise Gaumer Hutchison, Northwest regional organizer with the Wisconsin Public Education Network, said districts are being forced to take their needs to the ballot box to fund gaps between prioritizing students and overdue bills.

"The first responsibility of our public schools across the state is to educate children and to take care of the kids and the families they serve, every single day," she said. "So, that means any available funds that public schools have they put toward educating children. And so, if that means a boiler has to be patched rather than replaced, that's what they're going to do."

Almost half of the state's 421 school districts passed a referendum in April or November. Hutchison blames the state for not adequately funding school priorities, from building maintenance, to student mental-health services. The state superintendent announced last week the proposed 2025-27 budget would include $4 billion more in spending for public schools.

Despite 78% of the ballot measures passing, Hutchson said the districts where voters turned them down are in dire need of support to keep their doors open. Regardless of whether taxpayers have children in public schools, she says, the focus should be on providing every Wisconsin student with a quality education.

"I want their experience in public schools to be as awesome as my 25 and 26-year-old's were. I want them to get to be able to participate in sports, in theater, in drama and DECA, and learn about the history of our state and our country, and think about what our state and our country can be," she continued.

The study found factors like inflation outpacing the state allocated per-student revenue limits, the loss of pandemic aid and staff competition in a tight labor market are all factors that contributed to the record number of referendums.


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The presidential vote was close in Nevada and with the results in, local organizations leaning more progressive believe the re-election of Donald Trump could put much of the progress made in the Silver State in jeopardy.

Shelbie Swartz, executive director of Battle Born Progress, said Nevadans should take Trump's campaign promises seriously. She called on leaders in Carson City and in Congress to "stand up for their constituents," whom she argued a Trump administration could target, from immigrants to people who identify as transgender.

"If your values change based on polling, if your willingness to fight for the dignity of all Nevadans does not extend to our transgender siblings, then those are not values," Swartz contended. "They're talking points drafted in pencil."

Swartz stressed she has faith in the Nevada Legislature to pass bills to uphold and protect the rights of Nevadans but added the biggest challenge will be seeing what can make it across Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo's desk. Last year, Lombardo, who endorsed Donald Trump, vetoed a record 75 bills passed by the Legislature's Democratic majority.

Trump campaigned on the idea of mass deportations and has doubled down on the threat since his win.

Leo Murrieta, executive director of the group Make the Road Action Nevada, said it is time for leaders who are ready to move beyond what he calls "fear-based policies," to advocate instead for immigration reform, including clearer, earned pathways to citizenship.

"It is time for leaders to see our community as an integral part of this country's fabric, not just a political talking point," Murrieta argued. "We are standing united with many other groups ready to resist any of the policies and any of the other threats that we're certainly going to face."

A new report from the American Immigration Council found a one-time mass deportation operation would cost the United States at least $315 billion to remove more than 13 million people.

California good governance experts are warning the expansion of presidential power under a second Trump administration could cast aside expertise and the public good to further purely political aims.

Over the past week, President-elect Donald Trump has nominated multiple candidates known more for their personal support for him than for relevant expertise.

Bill Resh, associate professor of public policy at the University of Southern California, said Trump appears to be following the blueprint set by Project 2025.

"Project 2025 puts into place principles such as loyalty, first and foremost, to the President as a criterion for placement into these agencies, and often with the intention of undermining those missions."

Supporters of President-elect Trump say voters have given him a mandate to govern as he sees fit. So far, he has nominated people strongly aligned with the oil industry to run the U.S. Interior Department and be Energy Secretary. He has nominated a climate change skeptic to run the Environmental Protection Agency, a television host with no executive experience as Defense Secretary, an election denier for Attorney General and a vaccine skeptic to run the Department of Health and Human Services.

Resh noted Trump has already suggested using recess appointments to avoid what could be bruising confirmation hearings for some of his nominees.

"His stars are aligned to consolidate executive power and bring what used to be either quasi- or fully independent agencies, that were not subject to political whims, to bring those agencies to heel toward his policy preferences," Resh contended.

This year, the U.S. Supreme Court found presidents cannot be prosecuted for most actions in office. And come January, both houses of Congress will be controlled by allies of President-elect Trump.