The police are supposed to keep protesters safe as they exercise their rights to free speech—not retaliate by shooting them with rubber bullets, striking them with batons, or spraying tear gas at more than 2,200 times the safe limit. But that’s just what the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) did in the summer of 2020, as protesters took to the streets after the police killing of George Floyd.
Among those critical of the bureau’s use of excessive force was current Portland City Council member Mitch Green, who took to Twitter to express his views. Green’s tweets from 2020 and 2021, which recently resurfaced in a September 15 Oregonian article, include statements in favor of abolishing the police and references to police officers as “absolute monsters” and “cowards.”
The response from PPB leaders, Mayor Keith Wilson, and some of Green’s City Council colleagues was swift. President Aaron Schmautz of the Portland Police Association—the union for rank-and-file cops—called for Green’s immediate resignation. PPB Chief Bob Day said in a press release Wednesday, “we cannot pretend these past statements don’t damage trust. And I will not ask the men and women of this Bureau to pretend otherwise.”
The knee-jerk reactions to since-deleted, six-year-old social media posts from a city councilor have been hasty and steeped in hypocrisy. Schmautz’s characterization of Green’s statements as a “reckless, destructive, and violent ideology” weeks before a high-anxiety election must be rejected.
To say that Chief Day—and others who have joined the dog-pile on Councilor Green—are politicizing these old tweets is an understatement. It’s impossible to separate the sudden shaming of Green, one of four Democratic Socialists on Council, from his run to be reelected in District 4. As most are aware, City Council have found themselves battling a number of 6-6 tie votes, with both the progressive and moderate/conservative factions of Council bemoaning the gridlock.
Supporters of both factions realize the importance of electing people who can forward their agendas this November. The primary difference is that the more conservative candidates have Portland’s big money players in their corner, forming political action groups to spread disinformation against their opponents—a practice that has repeatedly been used against progressive candidates and officials over the years.
So is it merely a coincidence that those who would benefit most from Green’s removal from the council—the police, their union, Mayor Wilson, the Partnership for Progress PAC, and District 4 councilors Olivia Clark and Eric Zimmerman—would all rush to post finger-wagging diatribes against Green? Maybe. But it’s hard to deny that Green, the sole progressive councilor in District 4—which covers wealthy enclaves like the West Hills and Eastmoreland—is the easiest target for Portland’s monied conservatives, who are still smarting after losing their almost-exclusive influence over Council following the implementation of charter reform.
We, as Portlanders, cannot stand idly by while local leaders try to intimidate elected officials and meddle in our elections. This is not about one councilor. It is about how we hold onto a free and fair democracy locally, in the face of federal efforts to consolidate power and bully anyone who disagrees.
Context matters
The current critical responses to Green’s years-old posts are conveniently devoid of context. In actuality, Green’s tweets reflected the overwhelming anger of countless Portlanders, and millions around the world who called for an end to the systemic racism of policing.
The point that many of Green’s detractors have missed, in their rush to shame the councilor, is that Portland police have a storied history of racialized and politicized violence. Coordinated attacks against those who criticize the institution must be called out for their anti-democratic nature—particularly during such a heated election season.
In 2020 and 2021, Green was very active on Twitter. Green said he deleted his account in 2023 after Elon Musk purchased the website, “generally turning it into a fascist hellscape.” His tens of thousands of posts have been archived on the Wayback Machine for those who care to excavate them. Green has since acknowledged to the Oregonian that the brashly-worded tweets “weren’t a good look” for an elected official. The councilor said while he maintains certain critical beliefs about policing as an institution, his conduct has evolved.
“I don’t post today like I did in 2020, I’ve built relationships with police while on council, and I will still continue the charge for oversight, accountability and care,” Green wrote in a statement.
The Mercury did not examine every single post the now-councilor made, but it’s clear the majority of his posts are about mundane topics. However, as police in Portland and across the nation began escalating their response to Black Lives Matter protesters, Green reacted online.
On June 22, 2020, Green wrote that “cops are simply incompatible with peaceful society and must be abolished.” About two weeks prior, the US District Court of Oregon determined PPB’s excessive use of tear gas warranted a temporary restraining order limiting their legal ability to use chemical munitions against protesters. On June 25, despite the court order, PPB tear gassed protesters at a demonstration outside the bureau’s North Precinct.
During this time, Portland City Council—including then-Mayor Ted Wheeler—voted to reduce PPB’s budget by 3 percent. The decision was made in direct response to feedback from tens of thousands of Portlanders who wanted city leaders to reroute police funding to other city services.
Though PPB’s budget has since been restored—in fact, police spending has significantly increased in the last few years—the bureau and its union are seemingly still stuck on the city’s actions in 2020.
Former Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, the first Black woman to serve on Portland City Council, was a notable target of PPB’s retaliation. Hardesty, often critical of the police during her time in office, was a strong proponent of the 2020 police budget cuts—and she paid a price. In 2021, former PPA president Brian Hunzeker falsely accused Hardesty of perpetrating a hit-and-run. An internal investigation determined Hunzeker had “disseminated confidential information to the media in retaliation for [Hardesty] speaking negatively” about PPB. The disinformation was corrected in the press, and Hunzeker resigned as union president, but the false rumor likely impacted Hardesty’s political career.
Since 2020, PPB has repeatedly pushed a narrative that the bureau is so understaffed and underfunded that it cannot respond to Portlanders’ basic needs. In 2020, PPB whittled its traffic division down to bare bones, citing a lack of funding from the city. In 2023, a bureau leader confirmed that the decision to broadcast the city’s lack of traffic enforcement was a strategic, political move.
It’s worth mentioning that, while Green’s posts came during the particularly heated years of 2020 and 2021, PPB’s harmful actions go back much further. PPB has repeatedly breached community trust, and that historical context matters.
In 1981, two Portland police officers tossed dead opossums outside a Black-owned restaurant in Northeast Portland. Then-Police Commissioner Charles Jordan—Portland’s first Black city commissioner—fired the two officers responsible for the disturbing and racist stunt. Jordan’s action was met with even more racist backlash from the police union, and the commissioner was taken off his assignment and tasked with overseeing parks instead. (The two officers were ultimately reinstated after a fight from the police union.)
In 2012, the US Department of Justice sued the city of Portland over police misconduct, citing a significant increase in use of force on people with mental illnesses. PPB changed some practices as a result of the lawsuit, but officers still disproportionately use excessive force on people with mental health issues.
In the mid-2010s, Portland saw multiple high-profile political demonstrations, often featuring intense clashes between anti-fascist protesters and right-wing activists. Portland police officers were scrutinized for their response to these protests, which many believed targeted the left-wing protesters. A report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Oregon found that PPB’s response to several protests in the spring of 2017 showed the bureau “responds differently to protesters based on the message or messenger, demonstrating bias or perceived bias especially against those protesting police, authoritarianism or fascism.”
Suspicions about PPB’s biased response to the protests proved warranted. In 2019, the Mercury discovered texts showing a cozy relationship between then-PPB Lt. Jeff Niiya and alt-right activist Joey Gibson. Portlanders also discovered, several years after the fact, that police included an alt-right meme in a 2018 internal training slideshow. The meme, which targeted and mocked left-wing protesters, was made public in 2022, only after it was set to be brought to light through a lawsuit.
This brings us to the racial justice protests of 2020. Portlanders were repeatedly abused by riot police over 100 nights of demonstrations, which included the aforementioned 6,000 incidents of violence against demonstrators, as well as the gassing of thousands—including members of the press—often without provocation. Few, if any, PPB officers ever lost their jobs for these acts of violence. When Officer Corey Budworth was charged with fourth-degree assault for striking and shoving a woman to the ground, it marked a rare occasion—and one with swift fallout. PPB’s entire Rapid Response riot squad resigned from the special duty squad in protest after Budworth was indicted. Budworth later had his charge dropped after agreeing to participate in a restorative justice process with the victim. He remains an active-duty officer eligible for promotion.
It’s important to also note that PPB’s protest settlements have cost the city millions of taxpayer dollars, often for breaking its own directives. In addition, PPB was also forced to pay nearly $1 million in a settlement for using force against journalists and legal observers during the protests.
PPB’s reflection on 2020
Last month, Portland Police Chief Bob Day showed he was eager to move on from 2020 when current city leaders shrugged off a police accountability board’s recommendation to hold police leadership responsible for their missteps. He insisted the culture within PPB has changed in recent years.
“When we talk about accountability… oftentimes, people are looking for a form of punishment,” Day said. “I believe accountability and culture change occurs around corrective action, and that discipline is intended to change behavior. We’re not into punishing people. We’re into changing behavior.”
If that’s true, then Councilor Green deserves the same courtesy Day has extended to the Bureau since taking office.
As the November election inches closer, you can expect more of the same type of dishonest attacks from monied, conservative forces against progressive leaders and candidates. It’s a battle plan that Portland’s political action groups have been implementing with great success over the past two decades. Ironically, these PACs are often run and supported by a relatively small number of people, but their reach is mighty. And the cynical actions of local officials—as well as the news outlets who parrot the words of right-wing propagandists without context—put Portland’s recovery and progress in a precarious position.
Whether or not you agree with Green and his tweets, you should be alarmed by the defensive response they generated. Green’s posts weren’t written in a vacuum, and Portlanders remember the context surrounding them. The rush to defend the police from critical tweets represents a broader culture of silence surrounding the bureau’s actions, and an unwillingness to truly hash out disagreements.
Local leaders often talk about rebuilding trust, restorative justice, and listening to one another. If that’s truly the intent in this city, they should judge Green based on his leadership while in office—not on old social media posts.
The Mercury Editorial Board is Editor-in-Chief Wm. Steven Humphrey, News Editor Courtney Vaughn, News Reporters Taylor Griggs and Jeremiah Hayden, and Managing Editor Katherine Chew Hamilton.