@brianorwhatevr I have a long answer for that! I'll let you know when I'm done. Most antiracist workshops include tools and building blocks for getting started. The grassroots way is finding a white person who is further along that you can reach out to whenever you notice yourself reacting. @brianorwhatevr There is plenty of research to be done, but the main thing to remember that whiteness is a preservation tool for white supremacy. Defensiveness, reacting to discomfort with fear or willful ignorance, dichotomies/absolutes (good or bad, right or wrong, this or that)...

The weekend isn't over til it's over, but given the peak of the threat has passed, I have some contributions that I hope folks consider as we take lessons from the past few days. The first is I appreciate how at no point did internal disputes interfere with antifascist response. This thread will be updated throughout the day. First: to hold myself accountable for tolerating antiblackness. As someone who knew a fair bit of the planning information for JUICE's event and personally saw a plethora of red flags, I paid less attention to those who agreed.

In shocking news, Black people are people and if you want to be in community w/ us you can't treat us like we are all-knowing, infallible entities that you should listen to without thought. That's deification and dehumanizing. It is clear many of yall are on step 1 of antiracism. Many Black Portlanders are capitalists, or arent abolitionists. We SUPPORT their work but if their efforts arent in line w/ our goals, that's important to talk about. If youre only as far as "listen to Black ppl" w/o the nuances (like when Black ppl disagree) you aren't there yet

My advice for Saturday, thread: These are my personal conclusions considering risk assessment & other dynamics. There are five "things" this Saturday that people have the opportunity of doing: staying in, the Vanport event, Peninsula park event, counterprotesting, & obstruction. 1. Staying home. In a perfect world, everyone would have a safe place to stay inside, have adequate warning, and the alt-right would be cruising through a ghost town. Still, my earnest stance: if you don't know exactly how your presence will keep others safe, stay at home.

I know people are really stressed about this Saturday & what the goal is. There are a lot of things being done that aren't mine to share, but of the people I have spoken to (mutual aid, various event-holders, bloc members), the goals of the 26th have been essentially unanimous. The first priority is to affirm that Black Lives Matter and uplift our dedication to Black liberation in spite of the hate movement that gathers and threatens the city. We cannot stop the alt-right rally from happening. But we can declare that we will not tolerate their bigotry.

COMMUNITY FORUM ALERT! There has been significant concern about the lack of discipline, plan, & safety involved w/ counter-protests. The best way I know to address these concerns is to open up the conversation. This evening is the first open convo for refining our approach. Disinformation will be clarified, ideas for harm mitigation proposed, and people not looped in w/ established coordinators/organizations can be part of the conversation. This is an informal "forum" for lack of better phrase. Other than that, idk what info is helpful. Ask your Qs!

Today is the first of daily thread I will be making, focusing on how we can adapt to increase effectiveness and decrease cost. Day 1: bloc strategy at the nightly DA's. TLDR: we cant easily sustain the current strat & should take advantage of the pigs' defensive position. #blmpdx When we take a night off, they cannot actually rest. They have to be ready for if there is a secret action. If they declare an unlawful assembly, all riot geared up, and people scatter into the neighborhood streets (or move as one block), they have to stay prepared/chase further.

100 days of resistance. #BLMPDX Day description: This Saturday September 5th Join us as we hold space, sit in, and march for Black Lives.
safePDX along with Kinsey Smyth, Mac Smiff, C3 The Guru , & Ragina Rage are hosting a Direct Action on the 100th night.
Ventura park @ 7pm. Flyer to come. Save the date!

White supremacists are currently targeting and following protestors in cars. They clearly are intending harm if given opportunity. If your tires are slashed, be aware they might be focusing on you. Everyone should be paying attention to their surroundings. Tips for losing a tail: Like I've said before, never take the same route twice in a row. Watch particularly for WA plates, classic chudmobiles, and tinted windows. Any time you notice a car following your route, take a quick turn and loop around. They sometimes coordinate with multiple cars...

I was on the ground last night, and here is the info I have. Last night was likely community defense. Witnesses can lie, but I wouldn't be sharing this if I didnt think it would reduce misinformation. There were two shootings last night, I have no info about the drive by. (1) The man who died had Blue Lives Matter apparel. One witness confidently said a fem was being harassed and attacked, and the shooter responded. Two other people confirmed that he was an aggressor. I personally do not celebrate any loss of life, but this was almost certainly... (2)

Transparency Thread: the nightly DA flier and "Black Lives Matter." After the nightly DA posters stopped having BLM on them, a lot of people have come to the big PDX twitter accounts/organizers and asked why. This is a thread about some conversation and tension from this week. A comrade of mine who often makes the posters for the nightly action was approached by some Black organizers who have done support for the DAs. They were concerned that the nightly actions did not represent BLM and cited lack of demands as a reason why. Black families have also..

Things I consider coordinating the nightly BLM DA's: head still spinning a bit from yesterday (yay PTSD & whiplash!), but a thread about what I do throughout an action. I have networks that allow me to do lot at once, but ANYTHING that you can take initiative on helps. #DefendPDX About 15 minutes before the stated march time, I check the crowd. Do I think we'll have at least 100-150 people by then? If I'm doubtful, I ask the crowd how they feel about waiting another 15 minutes. This makes waiting INTENTIONAL and less anxious.

We must be explicitly clear about why mutual aid and defense networks show up to oppose alt-right rallies in Portland. If you are unaware, they have been coming in small rallies about once a week lately. When we don't show up, they mace houseless people < passersby. Threaten PoC. The community rallies to oppose these Blue Lives Matter actions because we know what they stand for. There are a few bootlickers who really did think this was just about "freedom of speech." After they got maced and shot by their own, those folks left about 2:30, tail b/t legs.

Hey I'm sure most people are unaware of the patronizing ableism that has been pretty frequent at the nightly actions:
- people with visible disabilities chose to be there
- ask if someone needs aid, dont assume.
- people on the autism spectrum are adults. Treat us like it. YOU DO NOT KNOW WHO IS DISABLED, CHRONICALLY ILL, OR NEURODIVERGENT. Masking "invisible" disabilities and neurodivergent behavior is the social expectation for anyone able to.

Hey, an idea for people with film showing equip...
Compile the footage of police committing violence. Set up in front of bougie locations. Force ppl who conveniently live far from precincts to witness the brutality their neighbors are facing. Don't let this be normalized. Late-night spitballing here so if someone has flaws in this, certainly raise it. But I think again of the disparity between the children who have to sleep through police rampaging in their neighborhoods and the families who are living in peace right now.

Alright, so when I got out of jail I was fortunate to have most of my crew fucking waiting for me to surround me with love and fulfil all my needs. It was also one of the bigger jail support nights. Join me for my pitch for expanding our jail support into, well... a daily event. Alright not "event." But waiting for comrades to get out of jail is hard. Being in jail is hard. Heckling cops while they drive home after their shift change is fun. We have literally hundreds of people who want to support frontliners, this is where we can funnel that engagement.

It's been a while since I did an info thread... let's fix that. If we know where our efforts are being felt, we can more intentionally focus or broaden pressure on decision-makers.
THREAD: Civil disobedience strategies and where they apply pressure. #defendpdx #pdxprotests (1/) Shame: This is where the majority of actions began two months ago, and is by far the most popular in the US. It's the most simple: You display the hypocrisy, cruelty, etc of a target in order to socially pressure them into agreeing with your demands. (2/)

all of y’all love the fuck out of each other, but seriously: be aware of bonding over shared traumas (i just call it trauma bonding, but that’s a phrase with different meanings). it’s a weird phenomenon and it can be an amazing show of our humanitarian sides
- ✡️ but seriously, it can be really detrimental to your interpersonal relationships if you let your personal dynamic be run by those shared experiences of trauma. it’s really hard to imagine not talking about it or doing those things without that person you’re bonded with...
-✡️

Hey new rule: If you're in the front line, you have to make sure people who are injured/have disabilities are able to stay behind you on the retreat. That's part of being the front line - you help make sure people who are vulnerable have more time to get away. #defendpdx Likewise, if you're near the front but not on the line, you are the #1 de-arresters! Hold onto your people, literally. Tell them you have their backs and then KEEP IT. If they bull rush us and we hold a line? The whole game changes.

Okay there won't be a recognizable someone facilitating decision-making tonight, so here is a thread with some bare-bones basics of facilitating. #defendpdx
#1: If nobody else is doing it, it doesn't matter what you look like, because you're not the one making decisions. Step up. All you are is the megaphone. You make sure everyone can hear what conversation is happening and keep it orderly. And if nobody objects to majority rules, when you take a vote, that's what the group does. You take questions, repeat instructions, and make sure roles are filled.

my experiences with chronic houselessness and hunger: a positive thread

for the last maybe 6 years, i’ve been bouncing from couch to couch or maybe renting out a room for a month or so at a time under the table until recently

the amount of support i’ve seen coming from (1/?) people such as @SnackVanTM and @riotribs but not to mention all of the amazing medics who made sure to pack extra protein bars and extra waters is what has given me a lot of the energy to keep coming out and doing whatever it is that i’m doing when i’m out and about. (2/?)