Twin protests rally thousands week after Women’s March

The March for Justice and Equality drew thousands of participants Jan. 28.

Two major protests rallied several thousand Portlanders Saturday, a week after the historic Women’s March drew an estimated 70,000.

In the morning, the March for Justice and Equality gathered under the watchful eye of the Martin Luther King Jr. Statue at the Oregon Convention Center, then marched over two miles to the Maranatha Church, known as a center for promoting racial justice in Portland. Two thousand people signed up for the event on Facebook.

Last weekend’s Women’s March lost the support of the NAACP and other racial justice groups failing to include black and Muslim women in planning the event. Saturday’s march, though it was planned before the Women’s March, according to KGW, was meant to include all groups.

It was organized by the Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform, and supported by the NAACP of Portland, Portland Copwatch, Asians4BlackLives PDX, Sisters Of The Road and more.

The stated goals were to advance several reforms at the Portland Police Bureau, and chants of “Black lives matter” and “Know justice, know peace,” hallmarks of recent racial justice movements, were loudest at the protest.

However, other causes were present as well. In response to the actions of President Donald Trump, marchers chanted, “This is what democracy looks like” and “Say it loud and clear, refugees are welcome here,” referencing President Trump’s ban on all refugees Friday. Massive cheers rose from the group as it passed a Planned Parenthood clinic on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Trump has pledged to defund Planned Parenthood.

There was a significant police presence at Saturday’s event, to block off streets, however, the march was completely peaceful. Many marchers thanked the officers on motorcycles at the street corners for their help.

When the march concluded, a rally was held at the church, with many religious leaders speaking to the crowds about justice.

Later Saturday, Native American tribes organized the In the Spirit of Standing Rock rally in Pioneer Square in support of protesters at the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota. President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday reviving the Dakota Access Pipeline there.

The event featured a series of speakers, beginning with a 93-year-old woman who told the crowd of several hundred, “They’re all about money,” referring to those who promote the pipeline, while “we’re about life.”

The protesters’ signs echoed that sentiment. One man held up a flag in which he had replaced the 50 stars with the logos of various large corporations, saying these corporations control the United States.

Later, several leaders of the North Dakota protest called into the Portland event and gave an update on the situation there.