A Northeast Portland church was packed to standing room on Tuesday night as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem toured the city and Portlanders waited to see whether an appeals court would continue to block President Donald Trump from deploying military troops to the city.
U.S. Rep Maxine Dexter and Portland City Council president Elana Pirtle-Guiney, both Democrats, took the pulpit to address hundreds of those worried constituents, many of whom grappled with deep political questions:
How should they fight back against a presidential administration that many Democrats believe is embracing authoritarianism?
Could they trust in the court system, when Trump’s critics argue he’s stacked the courts in his favor or outright ignored their orders?
Will peaceful protest and respect for institutional rules be sufficient to prompt change in an era when many worry institutions they once respected are falling apart?
And, what’s the plan?
Call it the blue Portland blues.
Dexter, who represents Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District, and Pirtle-Guiney attempted to answer some of those questions at Portland’s Augustana Lutheran Church on Tuesday night during a hastily assembled town hall to discuss Trump’s threats to send the National Guard to combat protests at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in South Portland.
They stressed the merits of peaceful protest and urged Portlanders to find direct ways to show support for immigrants and other populations in need in their communities. They blasted the narrative that Portland is in need of military intervention and accused Trump of manufacturing a reality TV moment to distract from other issues including the impact of immigration enforcement on families. They urged faith in democracy.
“We will not be intimidated. We will not be submissive to an authoritarian takeover. And we also must be steadfast and peaceful (in our) resistance,” Dexter said. “It is critical at this moment that we maintain peace and solidarity because that is the only way that we win in a violent extreme environment.”
During a tense exchange in the mostly collegial conversation, attorney Michael Harris told Dexter and Pirtle-Guiney that the country is facing a “constitutional crisis” that demands more than the standard resistance playbook. He accused the president of ignoring court orders, defying the Constitution and shipping people to prison camps.
“All of the people in this room believe in the process and the process is being shredded,” Harris said. “I appreciate this call for peaceful protest, but honestly, I don’t know if that is going to be enough. And I say that with terror. What is the plan?”
Harris wasn’t advocating for violence, he told The Oregonian/OregonLive. What he wants is creativity, he said, and a Congressional representative willing to think outside the box about mending the political climate. Dexter referenced reaching across the aisle to talk with a Republican colleague who truly believed the “war torn” Portland narrative. So why not bring them to Portland, Harris questioned: “take them to Powell’s. Grab a pint of beer. Show them the truth.”
Harris was not alone in his frustration. Dexter told him her constituents are scared and angry. Pirtle-Guiney said people tell her frequently that they’ve lost faith in American institutions.
Both women doubled down on upholding the Constitution, inciting dialogue with people who disagree with them, and pushing for change in the court of public opinion.
“I want us to win against authoritarianism through upholding democracy,” Pirtle-Guiney said. History, she said, points to three factors that can stop authoritarian regimes: the court system, the court of public opinion, and “militiaries that remember that they swore an oath to the Constitution not to the leader.”
Torie Scott, a Portland Community College librarian, couldn’t ignore the tension on Tuesday night between the efforts that Oregonians and their leaders are making and the concerns that those efforts will not suffice.
Portlanders are showing up to community events and protests and pressuring their representatives. Oregon’s leaders are fighting back against the Trump Administration in court. Both groups are articulating their rage about what’s happening in their state.
“We’re pursuing these lines and is it enough?” Scott said.
Asked where she fell on that question, Scott replied: “It gives me a stomachache.”
“On some level, pursuing legal avenues at this time is not working, or it doesn’t appear to be working,” said Ernest Jones, a retired city employee who stopped to chat with Scott after Dexter’s talk. “What else can we do? It’s hard. It’s very difficult.”
Seline Kilgore, a former preschool teacher who now stays home to care for her disabled children, thought that Dexter and Pirtle-Guiney gave Tuesday’s crowd answers as fair as any representative could.
But she thinks many Democrats are still playing “polite politics.” People who “hope that the system can work the way it’s supposed to” have to play by the rules or they risk eroding faith in that system, Kilgore said. But a growing contingent of people have lost faith in that system, Kilgore thinks, particularly as they see political power being consolidated by the executive branch.
“When the other side is playing with no rules, and we’re playing with the rules, then we’re going to lose,” Kilgore said.
“Where’s the line between continuing to play by the rules and breaking the rules for the sake of progression and humanity and human rights?” she added.
Rosio Sanchez was not among the people called on to ask a question of the Democratic leaders on Tuesday. But she left the church with high spirits.
It was powerful, she said in Spanish, to see how many Portland community members are willing to stand up against ICE actions that target Hispanic communities.
“We are supported by people who will keep supporting us. So we’re not alone. That’s what I’m taking away from today,” Sanchez said. “We know that people will keep fighting. Even people that are from here, Americans, don’t agree with what the government is doing. So we have a lot of faith, and hope, that this situation will end.”
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