Proud Boys Come for Drama, Portland Barely Notices
Sept. 26 Proud Boys come to Delta Park, Portland, OR.
Proud Boys come to Portland Sept 26, 2020, Photo by Cody Wyatt
The Proud Boys, a mostly white nationalist militia, also a self-described Western chauvinist fraternity, descended on North Portland with supporters on September 26. The event they organized was planned and promoted since at least a month earlier. The Proud Boys have a reputation for coming to Portland(and other cities, but Portland is their favorite) to fight Antifa, Black Lives Matter(BLM) supporters and protesters in general. The Proud Boys was started by one of the founders of Vice Media in 2016, supposedly as a joke, and few of them are actually from Portland. Most come from across the river in Washington and rural areas of Oregon, and some come from much farther, like their leaders from Florida. They have been described as a hate group by the SPLC and NPR.
Their event was billed as “end(ing) domestic terrorism” and was originally going to be at the Terry Schrunk Plaza, next to the Justice Center in downtown Portland. However, the event was changed to Delta Park near Vanport, which was the site of the predominantly Black neighborhood of Portland built during World War Two, which was washed away in a flood and never rebuilt. Whether the Proud Boys knew or considered that, who knows. Probably at least some of them knew. There was a giant display about Vanport and the flood in the entrance to the Walmart across the street, and some of the Proud Boys were camped out in their rv’s there.
Proud Boys come to Portland Sept 22, 2020, Photo by Black Zebra
There was much anticipation on all sides that the Proud Boys would have a huge battle, a direct clash, with the usual protesters of Portland, as they had done before, and the elected officials of Portland tried to ban their event. It had been national news the last time they came to Portland in August. The Proud Boys and their allies, such as other nationalist militia groups like Patriot Prayer, had an event at the Justice Center where they formed a shield wall and melee’d with the BLM supporters who showed up to counter demonstrate. The Proud Boys fired paint/pepperball guns at protesters’ faces & struck people with a variety of weapons while indiscriminately emptying cans of bear/police mace into the air in front of them(mostly drifting over their own side).
Despite being so heavily armed and ready for the fight, the Proud Boys got harassed back to their trucks in parking garages after they fatigued. Perhaps that is why the Proud Boys had moved their event to a park far from downtown, with only one entrance and exit, and limited parking. Despite not getting an event permit, they announced they were coming on Sept. 26 anyways.
So expectations were heavy. Police guarded the entrance and the riot squad posted up in the space between freeways. A traffic sign greeted passersby with the phrases “Black Lives Matter” and “Hate Has No Place Here” in orange lights. On the other side of the freeway, near the historical marker for Vanport, a Black-led BLM event hosted speakers who talked about the legacy effects of slavery and racism on the cultural assimilation of Blacks in America.
A group of livestreamers who regularly attend the protests left this event as a group for the Proud Boy event on the other side of Interstate 5. After passing the police at the front, there was a long narrow road to the Proud Boy event, with only one more police car in the parking lot.
As soon as the livestreamers arrived, a group of at least 20 men in army and police gear confronted them and tried to intimidate them into leaving. They were milling about in some nearby trees and marched into the roadway when they saw people without the prescribed outfits on. This self-appointed security force were well armed with pistols, rifles, bats, mace, PBRs, and so on, often with flags on their bats and rods so they doubled as little flag poles, giving their weapons some camo. A few had taser shields, which were clear plastic with metal strips on the outside that presumably deliver a shock on contact. It was strange how I just saw an article about riot police getting these shields and the Proud Boys already had them as well.
The gatekeeping group tried to pressure the livestreamers and journalists to leave, threatening violence, and also expressing a desire to argue about politics. One big dude with a ballistic vest, bat on one shoulder and his face covered singled-out a livestreamer, and asked if he was scared. “I ain’t scared of shit, why you tryin’ to instigate shit?” The livestreamer replied, and walked on.
The crowd of Proud Boy affiliates at the entrance rhythmically chanted “fuck Antifa!” in response; they seemed to assume the press were from antifa, or at least sympathetic. A press girl filming on a Gopro asked them why they assumed they were Antifa, and he said it was “above his pay grade” to give answers to press. Another Proud Boy who must’ve been higher ranking reprimanded some of them for communicating their thoughts and beliefs at all. Later, two members of the press were assaulted there by some of these guys, one of which had his head shoved into a tree and elbowed.
Anyways, I pushed past these guys and snuck into their main rally despite their security team’s efforts, although it seemed as if they had more security following me and communicating about me. The crowd was extremely well armed; it really looked like they were expecting a serious battle with their adversaries at some point. Men covered in armor with tricked-out assault rifles on their chests were standing strategically around the event. Not everyone had an assault rifle but they definitely had enough firepower overall to completely mow down the BLM/ counter-protesters if they wanted to.
The Proud Boys didn’t get their permit because they said they were expecting 20,000 attendants during a pandemic; it was probably more like 200 that actually showed up, maybe a little more. Still that’s only around one percent of their prediction; if they had been more realistic, they might’ve gotten their permit.
Proud Boys dispersing shields from a truck, Photo by Cody Wyatt
I got a good look at the crowd and a lot of the people, pretty much e