Last night, individuals declared that they planned to gather in our city and downtown to destroy it. They were successful.
In the midst of collective efforts to help our region’s economy recovery from a multitude of crises, a small handful of people caused enormous damage to homes, cultural institutions, and businesses small and large; that will set our region back in the midst of dedicated collaborations between the public, private and non-profit sectors endeavoring to build an inclusive economy better than it was before.
It is time to acknowledge that the hate groups and violent actors that commit bias crimes, destroy homes and businesses, threaten public officials and use violence as their sole means of expression are beyond the limited resources of our local public safety providers.
We are calling on our regional elected officials to recognize that we are in need of extended public safety aid from our state and federal partners, and cannot solve this insidious and destructive problem on our own.
We join with everyday Portlanders to send a message to violent and hateful actors like those who perpetrated indiscriminate violence last night, that we don’t accept your methods in our community, and reject hatred in all its forms.
Enough is enough.
