Comments

1
Oh my, this is hilarious. Erupted, flooded, flowed, lived on, grim, thundered, sustained, outraged . . . I realize there's no pretense of objectivity at the Mercury, but this one hits a new level. 100 people "flooded" downtown Portland?

And really, don't facts matter at least a little? A city "where the vast majority of police contacts involve someone struggling with mental illness?" The police make hundreds of thousands of contacts with Portland citizens every year. I'll bet the largest portion, by far, are with traffic violators. Albeit some, surely including the jerk in front of me who refused to pull away from a green light at Burnside and 19th today and then had the nerve to flip me off when I passed him, probably are struggling with mental illness. But the "vast majority?"

Time to send out adult reporters to some of these things.
2
I love this paper! You Mercury kids are so eager and spunky. Now, exactly which high school do you all go to?
3
You don't need to put Portland's "Livng Room" in quotes, Denis. You can refer to Pioneer Square as the former site of the Portland Hotel and some of us will know what you're talking about.
4
Thank you for covering this, Denis. This is one of the most important issues facing Portland today. The change in the police union negotiations would not have happened without the persistence of the community members who are calling for change.
5
Keep voting to expand the police state... keep complaining...

Less government = more freedom

6
Polis, I spent a day with a Portland police officer. We didn't make one traffic stop, because we were too busy running from Plaid Pantry to street corner to apartment complex to Plaid Pantry dealing with mentally ill people (they call it chasing the radio). They're basically social workers.
7
Paul Cone and Paulis, there are no records kept and so neither of you will ever know the truth.

Denis, hyperbole is cool, narrative is fiction; could you still stop misusing "tragically"? Tragedy implies fate and character, some element of what is best in people unavoidably (paradoxically) bringing them the worst. In your current narrative the police murders are avoidable. Making them tragic distances the reader and removes danger from the story. " . . . [A] series of excessive-force cases, some fatal"--that's snappy prose! Don't be afraid, the facts can speak for themselves.

Also if that's the best quote from the event, no wonder only 100 people came out. Why don't you advertise events like this beforehand? What's happening this week is a perfect section. Unless you're actually tools of the corporate police murder system trying to co-opt and silence dissent...
8
perhaps some comment trolls should get up off their parents' basement couch every once in a while and go out in the world and try to change things that are wrong. then they can experience what it's like to listen to idiotic snarky comments from people who aren't doing anything.
9
Glad you were there to cover this, Denis. This was an important event to highlight the CRUCIAL work that is being done by a diverse collection of activist groups, from the ABA to PFLAG.

It was pretty astonishing to me, though, that more people weren't physically present at the rally, and that this rally received little-to-no press leading up to it.

Can we do better next time?
10
Some of the comments above are good examples - but it always surprises me when protesters assume I'm not out protesting with them because I'm lazy or live in my basement or I'm against change. The idea that I might not *agree* with them never seems to occur to them.
11
Reymont, I'm never surprised by you, and would never assume you agree with me, nor do I think your parents would let you live in their basement.
12
@mel Thanks?
13
I was shocked to not see more people from the mental health agencies represented. We know the problem from the inside out and try to deal with the "consumers" daily who have insufficient services to meet their needs due to budget cuts. Some of us have lost jobs while funds go to jailing the mentally ill instead of providing them treatment. I am appauled that the non-profits have given way to corporate corruption. Anonymous

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