Message mentality changes amongst groups of Portland protester

Click here for updates on this story

    Portland, OR (KPTV) — As many Portlanders take to the streets to participate in the Black Lives Matter movement, it’s clear that there are others whose message is lost in chaos and destruction.

Some believe that only rioters take to the streets of Portland, while others believe the only violence that occurs is at the hands of police officers. But experts say neither is true, and separate groups downtown have different motivations.

At times, protests are peaceful, and at other times, chaos grips the city as people smash storefronts, steal items, and attempt to light fires.

“It’s kind of a complex world when we’re sort of trying to figure out which side people are on, what their endgame is, and whether it’s actually hurting or helping their cause,” said Randy Blazak, a sociologist professor.

Blazak says that when people go to downtown Portland, it can be easy to get swept up in the action.

“It’s hard to not get caught up in the kind of us versus them and battling in the streets and then it becomes more militarized on the side of police, especially with the National Guard, it brings more people in who are caught up, especially young people, who are caught up kind of in the emotional battle of social justice in the street,” Blazak said.

But, Blazak says people clearly have different ideas about how to get the message of social justice across to the public.

“There are people who have the desire to express their grievances about what’s going on in the world, including the election, including policing issues,” Blazak said. “There are people who are more extreme who believe the only way to bring attention to issues in any meaningful way is to light fires and sort of smash things to get the attention and force the conversation.”

He adds that there are some people who have no interest in any kind of message at all.

“There are also, and we have seen this around the country, what we would call agent provocateurs, who show up, who don’t really care about the cause, or may actually be opposed to the cause, to create destruction to bring sort of negative attention,” Blazak said.

Blazak says that while polls can be unreliable, they do show that the violence is not sitting well with many people.

“There has been kind of a shift away from sympathy or support for the cause around defunding the police or addressing the issue of police brutality as the violence has ramped up,” Blazak said.

Thursday, Gov. Kate Brown released a statement saying that two groups gathered in downtown, and one was peaceful, while the other was a group of anarchists set on destruction.

She wrote: “Indiscriminate destruction solves nothing. These are acts of privilege.”

Brown added that she will do everything in her power to keep the peace in Portland.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.