Rose City Justice hopes to bring back marches to keep up momentum for Black Lives Matter movement
By DREW MARINE
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PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) — It’s been a year since major marches hit the streets of Portland. Those marches for social justice, specifically those lead by Rose City Justice we saw last summer, are making a comeback.
“We’re aiming for around once a month. It’s a lot of effort to pull together the route and the safety,” Chrissy Wood of Rose City Justice said. “But we think it’s important, and maybe that transitions to sit-ins or cook-outs or community building spaces with the theme of social justice.”
Wood says being visible like this is just one way to keep attention on the black lives matter movement.
“We do want to be seen, and we also want to be inconvenient because closing down bridges and getting in people’s way when they’re in their offices and yelling outside,” she said. “When you are inconvenient, people pay attention and the people who need to pay attention are the ones in power with the ability to make a change.”
But Wood says taking action outside of marching is important too.
She says they’re hoping to unify and educate the community about policies that help with social justice and police reform.
Some policies they support are the Breathe Act and ending qualified immunity, and they want more funding for local programs like Portland Street Response.
“I don’t think a lot of people know about policies. I had no idea what qualified immunity was until last year,” she said. “We want people to educate themselves on the issues that govern their lives and on the histories of the countries and states they live in, then vote accordingly. Voting is such a crucial part of how we allow ourselves to be governed.”
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