Oregon Civil Rights Groups Call for Portland Mayor to Resign

Vigilantes answering the Mayor’s call to "rise up," may have felt justified in their violent actions.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler gives statement on shooting, Aug 30 2020.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Several civil rights groups are calling on Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler to resign after a person was killed in downtown Portland, including the Oregon chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Oregon), the Oregon Justice Resource Center, the Portland Democratic Socialists of America (Portland-DSA), NextUp Action Fund, Portland’s Resistance, and PopMob.

In a statement, the organizations said:

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of life last night and we offer our sympathies to the family of the victim.
"Amid 94 days and nights of protests against police brutality, Mayor Wheeler has fundamentally failed in his responsibilities to the residents of Portland.

• He has offered no meaningful solutions in response to protesters’ demands to curb the racially hostile and brutal practices of the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) and has demonstrated an unwillingness to rein in the PPB. His most recent “solution” asking the police to hold their own officers accountable in real-time for the spate of police violence over the last several months is an insult to the community.
• He has chosen to selectively criminalize their protest and reinforce the repressive tactics of an anonymized PPB, giving the police all the tools and authority they need to brutalize protesters with impunity. His refusal to ban the use of indiscriminate weapons has subjected hundreds if not thousands of peaceful protesters to physical traumas with unknown long term effects.
• He has spent his entire tenure pretending he occupies the middle ground between the far left and the far-right when in reality, he and his police have sheltered and encouraged far-right violence. He has exacerbated tensions in Portland, giving fuel to right-wing vigilante violence who, in answering the Mayor’s call to “rise up,” felt justified in their violent actions.
"What took place last night was inevitable given Mayor Wheeler’s repeated failures. He has not protected or supported Portlanders. We do not have confidence in his ability to course-correct. He must resign."

Source: CAIR news release