September 30th: Patrick Kimmons Memorial

Originally tweeted by Laura Jedeed (Misanthrophile) (@1misanthrophile) on September 30, 2020.

Hello, coming at you live on my way to Pioneer Courthouse Square, walking past people enjoying dinner on restaurant patios in my flak vest, carrying my helmet and a gas mask

This is normal, right?

#BlackLivesMatter #PortlandProtests #PortlandRiots #JusticeForPatrickKimmons

The march has just left Pioneer Square. Patrick Kimmons' name echoes as the marchers chant

For those of you who don't know, Patrick Kimmons was shot in the back by police two years ago

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2018/10/police_release_videos_of_offic.html

Huge crowd tonight–well north of 500, I'd say

Bubbles float through the air. Frontline Drumline kicking up a tremendous beat. A screen printing station on a card table produces Patrick Kimmons prints on white fabric

The crowd chants Kimmons' name with one voice, fists raised in the air

An activist speaks to the crowd over a portable PA system. A moment of silence for Kimmons. Every voice stills

Bear Cub steps to the microphone to acknowledge that this gathering takes place on land stolen from many indigenous nations and tribes

The activist returns to the mic to announce that artists will be painting Patrick Kimmons' name across the entire street: Harvey Milk between 4th and 3rd st

"This is the place where he passed, and people need to know the significance of this spot"

The crowd is invited to light candles, mingle, and eat the provided food

The activist reminds us that tonight is about Patrick Kimmons, and to keep that in mind when considering our thoughts and actions

The painting is well underway:

Tiny points of light on this darkening street

• 

• 

The crowd gathers around the newly-painted commemoration. It's that moment just between day and night: too dark to see, sky too bright for the eyes to adjust

They chant: All Cops Are Bastards

Violent Anarchy on the streets of the burnt-out husk of Portland

The speeches are about to begin

"Black people to the front! Press get out of the way!"

The nice thing about being a words guy is I'm already out of the way. Leaning on a wall, listening and watching

The crowd sits in the street. I think about how some days the PPB is willing to arrest anyone who puts a toe in these open-to-traffic streets, and some days they don't give a shit

It's often a PR thing. They'd look like real assholes charging in here. We're probably safe

@RageRagina steps to the mic

She leads the crowd in a chant:

"Rest in power, rest in love, rest in peace Patrick Kimmons!"

It starts soft: full of grief. It grows louder: an invocation of power and determination

Fists in the air

Ragina states that Patrick Kimmons' murder was a product of white supremacy baked into our system

He was shot 9 times. "9 times!" The crowd chants, anger mounting

"The only way we can fix this is to abolish the police"

A Black male activist takes the mic

"I want y'all to understand that we aren't just out here fighting police brutality. We're fighting against an America that doesn't respect us, that doesn't protect us, that doesn't value us"

"This country was not founded with us in mind"

School to prison pipeline. Prison-industrial complex. Discrepancies in healthcare. Discrimination against trans and queer Black people

"But the police killed Patrick Kimmons"

"We need to burn this shit down and create a system that is inclusive of all of us!!"

Huge applause

"Everybody calm!!" A speaker cuts off @Jahdi_'s speech

Whatever it is, it's by 4th

"Everybody stand up slowly!"

I'm trying to figure out what's going on

I'm told a truck tried to get through the cordon. Worried that they may circle around again

Someone admonishes us to listen to black voices instead of worrying about it. I'm gonna go ahead and do both

@Jahdi_ resumes his speech. He talks about how abolition is the key. How reform is a red herring

"If reform could work, it would already have worked! ICE came through reform!"

There's a narrative that only white voices advance abolition. It's simply not true

"We don't need cops, we need affordable housing! We don't need cops, we need more rec centers!"

He points out that white communities don't have a constant police presence and are nonetheless safe

He points out just how much money goes to the police instead of the community

He admonishes white press for being in the front

It is a thing that was said

The activist reminds the crowd that Letha and other Black activists have a Thursday march every week from 10 to 2. He encourages everyone to come out

A representative of the Black Youth Movement steps up

They address the many closed curtains in the apartments overlooking the park. As though it were an inconvenience. "My life is not an inconvenience!"

"It just makes me angry seeing where people's priorities are"

A Black woman activist takes the mic

She talks about the discrepancies in healthcare for Black people

"Doctors for Back women are like police to Black men!"

She encourages the crowd to vote and to define the police

'"I don't want to say any more names!"

A Black activist named Kenzie steps up to the mic

She talks about the how this struggle has helped her understand the situation of the Black woman after growing up adopted by a white family

About the importance of focusing on mutual aid for the community and the movement

She talks about the importance of creating a sustainable community that can operate independently of the murderous system that oppresses Black bodies

About the importance of always asking who is left out of the systems we create

She points out that it's important "to have people saying our names before we're dead"

That we have to help the living community and preserve life

"I'm here for the children. I'm here for Black mothers. I'm here now for Patrick Kimmons"

"I'm here for justice"

Bella, a Black woman activist, steps forward

She says that existing on the periphery of this movement, being vaguely aware and vaguely supportive, "you are doing the bare fucking minimum!!"

About the need to commit

"I fear going outside! I fear leaving my dad's side because as a light-skinned woman I can protect him! I'm worried he's going to get pulled over and fucking shot!"

She encourages her audience to ask themselves if they're doing more than the bare minimum to fix this

"What do you need to do? Help me get rid of this fucking police system!"

@MacSmiff steps to the mic

He leads the crowd in a chant; "Rest in Peace, Pat-Pat!"

He talks about the unimaginable horror of losing a child. He thinks about his own four kids. One just began studies at OSU

"If these pigs shot one of my children, I don't know what I would do"

He talks about the fear he feels when a police car pulls up behind him, or a chud truck with "flags that don't make sense to me"

About not knowing what to do. Ignore them? Flee? Or just pray for the best?

No good answers. That's why we need to make one

"This is America. This is supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave"

And yet, he points out, here we are every night in helpers and shields standing against cops "armed to the fucking teeth"

He talks about the absolute bullshit offered as a substitute for defunding the police. We've been asking for defunding for months now, and defunding is what we want

He talks about the unbelievable shit we've all been through, these last four months

He talks about the strangers who dragged him out of harms way when be was shot in the head and helpless

How he doesn't know who they are but he loves them. "What is the word for that? Why isn't there a word for that?"

@MacSmiff calls for unity. For coming together as a community and figuring out a way to resolve disputes that isn't just cancelling and ostracism and schism and fury

"Yes, we need to talk about it! But we cannot just send each other home when we have a mission to accomplish!"

He reminds everyone of the stakes. That every single prominent activist during the Ferguson riots is dead

He wants to be there for his kids. The community had to protect itself"

Deafening applause

A Black activist talks about Audre Lorde's famous words: "the master's tools will not dismantle the masters house"

The master's tools, he says, are ostracism and cancellation and punishment

The tools of the people are deep listening and resolution

"All power to the people!"

A Black activist named Ya-Ya steps forward to speak

He tells us the police injured him in June when they rammed his car

That the feds in July blew our his windshield with flash bang and sent shards of glass into his passenger's eye

He gives thanks to God and speaks an invocation

Letha Winston takes the mic! Letha is Patrick Kimmons' mother and a tireless advocate for racial justice

The crowd is on its feet, cheering

A man who is clearly having a bad time runs through the crowd and screams, "I am your savior!"

He is rapidly and peacefully walked out by two strong gentlemen

Letha tells us that she's been fighting this fight for two long years, ever since she got the news that the police has executed her son

"I am an angry mother who is looking for and demanding justice!! He got shot down NINE TIMES in the back!!"

She talks about the horror of watching the video of her son getting murdered in the DA's office

I've heard Letha relate the trauma, the unfathomable grief of finding out her son was dead before

I will never understand how she has the strength to talk about it day after day, month after month, year after year

She talks about how her son's death radicalized her. Made her understand that the police aren't here to protect or serve the people. Or at least, not all the people

"This is a revolution! This is what a democracy looks like! We have over a thousand people out here. This is a beautiful sight to see! Stay encouraged!"

Letha talks about Patrick Kimmons the man. A good man, despite all the shit they talk

How he was a good father, a good provider. How he took classes at PCC.

She raised him right, and he raised his kids right too

Patrick Kimmons' young child stands next to his grandmother

Yes, she says, he was gang affiliated. It doesn't mean he was a bad man

This is really important, I think. We throw people's souls away, dismiss them as valueless, for all kinds of bullshit reasons

We are all human

Letha talks about her terror that something will happen to her other child. This, not the cops, is what she fears

"you don't know what I've been going through. There's so many times I've wanted to give up. Two years, I've wanted to give up." She is crying. Her pain is unfathomable

"Well I'm not going anywhere and I'm not giving up!!"

The crowd roars

"retraining is no longer the issue! Reform is not the issue! Fire these motherfuckers one by one and don't rehire them!"

"I'm gonna keep marching! I'm gonna keep chanting! I'm gonna keep fighting!"

The crowd chants it with her. Fired up

Letha Winston urges the crowd to come out and march with her down MLK every Thursday, 10AM to 2PM

For more info:

https://instagram.com/justiceforpatrickkimmons?igshid=t5i64i65r1yv

"God has a mission for me. He has a purpose for me. I will serve that mission by any means necessary. I will fight for justice in the streets of Portland!"

Letha is wrapping up. She salutes the people here, the organization that went into making this day possible, the safety precautions. It's a good event!

But she cautions against people taking the meaning out of Black Lives Matter and about the demonization of the movement

Patrick Kimmons' son steps to the mic

He says, my dad didn't deserve to be killed

He talks about how his dad got him ready for school every day, bought him new shoes, took care of him

Kimmons' tiny daughter steps forward and leads the crowd in a chant of "Black Lives Matter!"

Letha talks about how hard it is to see Patrick Kimmons Jr, who reminds her so much of her son

She thanks everyone for coming

If you want to donate to Letha, her Cashapp is $lethaloc

As this last bit unfolded, some asshole kept revving their car engine. It's a bit worrisome

A Black activist announces that the rest of the evening will be a music performance by local artists. It'll start in about 10 minutes

A memorial for Patrick Kimmons

The live music has started!

Live-streaming is probably the best way to enjoy this: @PhrenologyPhun is out here streaming (along with lots of others!)

Friends this is gonna be a fun night and a long night, but it's an event better watched than described and I have writing I should work on. I'm going to give myself an early night

Solidarity with everyone still out here!