Some of the area’s top political, law enforcement, and church leaders joined with a number of crime victims today in Portland’s Peninsula Park to denounce and rally against a recent spike in shootings and violence, attributed by authorities to local gangs.
Here are some highlights of the folks who spoke, in order:
1. PORTLAND MAYOR CHARLIE HALES
Hales led today’s event, emphasizing that this year is on pace to be more violent than 2015 and that “opportunity for young people” is among the best ways to face it. And, despite a “booming economy” and low unemployment in Portland, “we also have to deal with the day-to-day reality of this criminal activity.”
Key quote:
“We’ve had 13 people shot, and one already lost to us, along with the 15 who we lost last year to gang violence. We’ve already recovered more than 400 bullet casings on Portland streets, in portland neighborhoods from this violence. One homicide in this cycle of gang violence spawns much more activity. It’s sometimes the case that dozens of follow-on events will occur when one of these gang violence incidents takes place. That’s why breaking the cycle is so important, and we all have to work together to try and do that…”
2. CHARLIE MAE BRADFORD AND ROBERT BRADFORD
Charlie Mae, 82, and Robert, 89, have been married for 65 years and have lived in their Piedmont neighborhood home for 40 years. Their home, near Peninsula Park, was riddled with gunfire last weekend in what is believed to be a gang-related shooting.
Key quote:
“My name is Charlie Mae Bradford, this is my husband Robert Bradford. We’ve been married for 65 years, we have lived in our home for 40 years. The bullet holes are still in our walls. The glass patio door is shot out and boarded up. I cannot look out the window to see the sunshine. We live in fear now. We want to feel safe in our home again. We want everyone to feel safe again. Please stop the shooting, we need to get to caring for each other. Please put down the guns. The mayor, the people in the community will help you turn your life around. Please put the guns down. Thank you.”
3. ASSISTANT PORTLAND POLICE CHIEF KEVIN MODICA
Modica, flanked by his “teammates” in the police bureau, took the stage to highlight collaboration between law enforcement agencies.
Key quote:
“Our purpose for coming to you this morning and speaking with you as a community is to feature our collaboration and put down some things that may give us all hope. The epidemic proportions of violence, and injury, and homicide attempts are overwhelming. We know that it overwhelms the sense of well being of our citizens, our community of interest, and all the geographic communities in the city of Portland. This exposed us to having a seeming acceptance of this as a new normal. I disagree with that, my peers disagree with that, I believe our partners disagree with that, and I’m sure that the families that have suffered and those that may be afraid disagree with that in spirit, but still it is something that we hear. We’re proposing that as a city we increase our collaborate interventions”
4. UNITED STATES ATTORNEY BILLY WILLIAMS
Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, talked about how Attorney General Loretta Lynch came to Portland recently and was impressed by the collaboration by all the agencies. He then got tough:
Key quote 1:
“We are going to target those individuals, and they will be punished according to the law. That’s the way you make the streets of Portland safer, by taking the individuals who are pulling the triggers off the street and incarcerate them, and make this community safer.”
Key quote 2:
“My message to those individuals out in the community pulling the trigger: When your report comes to our desk, it’s too late to help you, because you’re going to prison. Thank you.”
5. MULTNOMAH COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY ROD UNDERHILL
Underhill highlighted the recent nearby shooting at the Bradford house and the 2002 nearby killing of Asia Bell. He also focused on the police bureau and DA’s office cold-case investigators.
Key quote:
“I want to remind gang-involved members that maybe when you get away with moments of extreme violence and poor choices, and maybe think you got away with it. Like the killers of Asia Bell, four years later, we put a case together and they were held accountable. Now the two involved in that murder are serving life terms with mandatory minimums in our state penitentiary.”
6. BRYAN SMITH
Smith, a supervisor in the adult parole and probation gang unit, spoke about collaboration with other agencies and rehabilitation for former offenders.
Key quote:
“The Department of Community Justice takes this problem very seriously. We’re taking progressive steps to contain and suppress any violence in the community.”
8. STATE REPRESENTATIVE LEW FREDERICK
Like most other speakers, Frederick highlighted collaboration between agencies. He then spoke about gun-control, saying he was proud of an “F” rating he received from the Oregon Firearm Federation.
Key quote 1:
“We have too many guns available out there, and for some reason, some people believe that we need to have more. That is not the case and we need to be addressing that as often as possible and making sure the weapons we do have are not being placed in the hands of people who should not be anywhere close to having a weapon.”
Key quote 2:
For our community, when you see a young person walking down the street, just say hello. Don’t tell them to pull up their pants, don’t tell them to do something else. Just say hello. One of the key things we do need to do is make sure that people understand that we are in this together. You only have that if people acknowledge one another. So please do that.”
8. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
A group of women who lost loved ones to gang violence and now are part of “Enough is Enough” took the stage to relay personal stories of how gang violence has impacted their lives. “I’m here for justice for my child,” said Genea Sloan, whose son, Marquis Chaney, was killed in 2015.
Shannon Taloff (her son Anthony Jackson was killed last summer):
We’re just moms up here that want this to stop. We’re putting a face to the violence that’s going on. It’s not a news story to us, it’s our life. We wake up every morning without our kids.
Perlia Bell (her daughter Asia Bell was killed in 2002):
“I firmly believe it starts at home, and what is not taken care of at home with our children is spilling out in our community. This is the repercussions of us mothers in pain that have lost our children due to that. As parents, as citizens, as community members, it’s up to us to pull these kids up. We can’t fear no more. I was here 14 years ago, and it’s still happening. It’s real personal to me, that we’re still here and it’s still happening. I believe that if we start loving our children, and receiving the love of our children, then we can teach them how to love each other. It’s about hatred, self hatred is what’s going on.”
Kiar Chaney (Marquis Chaney’s sister):
“I live everyday not having my brother with me. I know he’s here in spirit, and I know he would want you all to just come together and stop it. Let’s stop this violence. We have these mothers, these fathers, someone’s grandparents that doesn’t want to wake up to this every day. I just want to say let’s come together, let’s support one another. These kids, they’re our future, this is not the way to show them.”
9. PASTOR MARK STRONG
The pastor of Portland’s Life Change Church, wrapped up the press conference.
Key quote 1:
“We all live here. There’s not a one section of Portland, another section of Portland, and another section of Portland that is so isolated that the other pieces aren’t impacted. This is all of our problem. Whether it’s black, white hispanic, it’s everybody’s problem… It’s a city problem… We’ve got to become people of heart. I believe you’re standing here today because you have a heart. A person of heart, people of heart, a community of heart, a city of heart is concerned about everybody, from the least to the greatest.”
Key quote 2:
“Shooting is obviously hideous, but we have to ask ourselves the question: what goes on in the hearts and the minds of those young men to make that happen? It’s void, it’s an absence of things that should be there but aren’t there. For the faith community, for all the gang outreach workers, the police department, the law enforcement, our schools, it’s going to take everybody working together to do what we can do.”
Like the gangs are going to pay attention. Waste of time.
ohh please talk to L.A. and ask how increasing controls works out. Address the cause not the effect. Crime increases and decreases along with social capitol not with lack of enforcement. Hales has killed the social capitol on these streets when he instituted his nazi policies of breaking up anyone seeking to share with one another, to find safety in numbers/ right of congregation without the need of a membership to his country club, to develop trust with one another, and to establish a sense of community on these streets. Kill the friendliness on the streets you set the tone.
Humans are pack creatures shaped through millions of years of group selectivity forging them to identify as groups. Thus when the mayor strives to make it such that the only group with their autonomy and freedom intact is the PBA people start acting up. Big surprise Hales.
He creates the problems then throws tax dollars and police officers at them. It is a business to these people and this is just job security. Wake up.