Why I Won't March With You
Mother Nature didn't rain on your parade, so I will.
Correction: In this article, I claimed that Indivisible Oregon (IO) “often work with 50501 Portland.” IO reached out to tell me they haven’t organized with any of the 50501 groups. I made an easy mistake because of how confusing this web of nonsense is, but correct is correct and I don’t want to tarnish their reputation. I’ve added a strikethrough on the text and a footnote.
Expanding on a small item from last time - my neighbors and clients keep asking if I “went to the protest this weekend.” The answer is no, for a few reasons.
I was busy walking in Washington Park and visiting the Blossoms & Bites Street Fair in Old Town Chinatown. I had a fantastic day and ran into so many friends and neighbors.
I don’t really support protests, but I encourage you to get involved in any of the first amendment activities you want. I was a medic for a few years, I did the marching around thing. It’s not for me. This is one place where I am still quite radical. Saturday was a parade; a rally. I’m about getting shit done.
There was plenty to like about the marching and the people doing it, but also a lot of ugliness being tolerated - and that brings me to my last point…
I wasn’t welcome at this march. None of my people were. If that surprises you, I have some bad news. Read on.
A large part of me didn’t want to write this. I like so many of you and I’m sure your heart was in the right place.
That’s right, it’s the surprise sequel to:
Bigger, dumber, more expensive.
The Context
You need to understand some of the players and organizations involved.
Indivisible Oregon (IO) seem to have been at the march but were not the organizers. IO is a family-friendly group of Democrats and they’re probably who your mom thinks she marched with. They often work with 50501 Portland1, who did organize the “Hands Off” Rally & Protest alongside Rose City Indivisible (RCI). I’ve covered RCI previously. I do not like RCI. They are shitty people and you should not include them in your organizing unless you want drama and ugliness. Also if you want to make sure Jews don’t attend.
When I spoke to Indivisible Oregon last month, they told me:
At the very least I can tell you that IO is not partnering with RCI and that RCI has disconnected from the larger Indivisible community.
That makes sense based on what we know about RCI’s politics, but why is 50501 Portland happy to work with them? Well…
There were multiple marches around the metro area. Washington County Democrats hosted a march in Beaverton, East Portland Indivisible (EPI) marched with Representative Maxine Dexter, but the big Downtown Portland “Hands Off” event is credited to 50501 Portland and RCI.
That’s odd because RCI are not Democrats. They don’t even appear to be a “real” Indivisible Group anymore. They even had their own rally on Saturday before the march. Speakers included Councilor Angelita Morillo with representatives from the Portland Chapters of the American Party of Labor (APL)2, the International League of People’s Struggle (ILPS), ACLU-OR3, and Resist US-Led War.
On Instagram, RCI appears to take credit for the whole event.
Pay attention to that Instagram post:
📣🍉🌈 PDX showed UP! Tens of thousands of people marched with Rose City Indivisible and 50501 PDX yesterday to demand HANDS OFF!
First, they can’t do anything without a fucking watermelon4. Second, they joint posted with Shift Accounting (Portland’s premier pro-terror accounting firm). Finally, who are 50501 PDX? Surely a typo and they mean 50501 Portland, their co-organizers?
Wrong. They meant 50501 PDX, the splinter group of 50501 Portland.
I can explain. After an internal fight, 50501 Portland retained its old subreddit and name. The splinter group, calling themselves 50501 PDX, created a new subreddit…
and kept the 50501portlandor Instagram account, and sometimes the name.
From A Note From National
Good evening. Friends!
I work with the national conflict resolution team, and we have been working very hard with this group and the experienced organizers of Portland to resolve some issues.
This movement is growing so fast, and everyone is passionate, and that means that sometimes we step on each other's toes. Small things were not addressed until they became too big to handle, and so it was decided that the best way to move forward would be to separate the two groups so that we can continue to fight fascism, and not each other.
Something to keep in mind: Both Portland groups have agreed to treat each other with kindness and respect moving forward. If you see any behavior that is not consistent with that, feel free to let me know directly.
This will be a transition for all of us, but ultimately, we're working together, and this has a lot of upsides. Parallel teams working on their own projects is how Pixar makes so many bangers, after all.
Tl;dr: Both groups are the "real" group. Be in both, or pick one that you vibe with, either is just fine. And if anyone gives you trouble about it, they're probably an agitator; report them.
Much love, and keep doing such amazing work!
Bebop
This new group with the old IG account is very RCI friendly. The comments are full of the usual suspects from groups like the Community Free Store and From the River PDX. Not so much about abortion or tariffs. Plenty of Israel and ACAB.
50501 Portland, OR’s Stance on Police Collaboration5
Contrary to recent public claims, we have not collaborated with law enforcement agencies. In fact, we have chosen not to work with the police due to their role in upholding the very systems of oppression we seek to dismantle. Our movement prioritizes people-powered solutions, recognizing that true change comes from the collective efforts of individuals, not institutions.
We do not collaborate with cops, we do not talk to cops!
The Portland Police Bureau was out today blocking traffic and corking streets on our march route. We did not plan this and did not want the cops to help or intervene in anyway. No one from 50501 or Rose City Indivisible who were co-organizers collaborated with the cops. No one talked to them. This was also not a permitted event and even though we released our route that morning we changed the route in the middle of it due to the amount of people.
This way they can still cry about the police budget because “We did not plan this and did not want the cops to help or intervene in anyway.”
What IO said above about being “disconnected” is putting it mildly. RCI is a fake Indivisible group. Alongside 50501 PDX they are using the broader “resistance to Trump” branding to launder their message of…
Highlights of RCI’s recent actions:
Hounding Senator Ron Wyden and his staffers everywhere they go, accusing him of “war crimes” and generally being antisemitic little shits.
Promoting the Community Free Store and serving as the link between that org and the Make Some Noise action at the Society Hotel. (Resist US-Led War was also represented in the mob).
Making every event they organize about Palestine, overshadowing all other issues.
Promoting the “no material difference/two sides of the same coin” narrative re: the 2024 Election.7
Like many “Pro Palestinian” groups in the US, they materialized or re-activated right before October 7th, 2023. Almost as if a large, well-funded international network was preparing for something…8
Agitprop, or Fleecing the Rubes
I’m clearly bothered by their messaging and actions, as are many others. But what’s the risk here? Why is it dangerous for groups to organize like this, unchecked, pretending to be mainstream and “on your side?”
Here’s Angelita Morillo, in Democrat Blue9, at the Hands Off rally. But hold up! Not necessarily the Liberal “resistance” rally you went to. She was at the RCI event as their featured speaker. You can check out the post here where she is photographed with Sandy Chung (ACLU-OR), Jorge Bautista, and Erica Fuller. Did you spot Council Vice President Tiffany Koyama Lane in the background?
I spoke to a few march participants who didn’t see Morillo or hear any of the radical communists speak. Almost like they were at a different event. It was such a large gathering that I got very mixed stories from attendees. I would guess that most people had no context for the more radical guests or their messaging.
Councilor Candace Avalos was also at the rally. Here she is taking a photo with Kent Ford.
I “met” Kent as well, under less friendly circumstances at the Society Hotel a week or so ago.
So, was Avalos at the RCI march, or did she think she was going to a mainstream 50501 type thing? It’s hard to say because it was all one giant mass of people. Avalos did hold an American flag, which is a good sign because I didn’t see any flags that weren’t Palestinian in pictures of the RCI group. But, again, the groups weren’t delineated. It was sort of one big event, mostly.
Please pause for a moment and contemplate what RCI, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the Intifada crowd, and assorted revolutionary communist orgs are pulling off. It’s almost impressive.
They hate you. You are the problem, but they also want to come inside the big tent and “resist Trump” with you. Remember they didn’t necessarily vote against Trump and they marched against Biden when he won in 2020. These groups got exactly what they wanted with the 2024 election, and now they are trying to play us for suckers.
They don’t want to help you “resist Trump” by marching around and periodically voting. They want to burn everything to the ground.
The Community Free Store is using “free stuff for the homeless” (who can argue with that) to distract from promoting widespread political violence:
Local radical florist Coy & Co (Lynsea Coy) made all those “Rene Gonzalez is the nastiest skank bitch I’ve ever met” yard signs last year when she wasn’t harassing Jews and Israelis:
I’ve had to explain to friends why I don’t like the Free Store or why I don’t think those signs are funny because they have never heard of any of this. Because these people were never “called out” for this behavior. They are considered good, progressive, positive parts of Portland’s quirky left-wing.
But when you are a Zionist Jew, you get to see the real them. The version that would gladly kill you, or at least celebrate your death.
I Still Love Portland, But…
Listen, I don’t love raining on your posi-protest-vibes. Saturday was beautiful. I felt Portland coming back to life, but it wasn’t at that march.
It was in Washington Park and Lincoln High School on my way back downtown. I saw Portland packed into Old Town Chinatown for the street market. I walked past crowded restaurants in the Pearl on my way home. The West Side of the river felt electric yesterday, and I didn’t set foot anywhere near the march or its barely conceiled violent undertones.
On my way home I ran into friends and neighbors who wanted to chat about the day, but when I bumped into an older Jewish woman I know, she wanted to make sure I hadn’t “gone down to that protest.”
“I saw some people walking back from it. They had a bad energy and their signs weren’t about Trump or supporting our neighbors. They were all wearing masks on a nice Spring day. I don’t think you would have been safe.”
I knew exactly what she meant. There is still that ugly streak running through Portland’s politics. Sometimes childish, often cruel. What I saw Saturday was the willingness of Portlanders to find a national common enemy and ignore the ugliness at home. I had a great day, but I am worried we aren’t learning from our 2016 mistakes.
Unforced Errors
Do you remember when former City Councilor10 Jo Ann Hardesty’s NAACP withdrew support for the Women’s March in 2017? The march was then taken over by a radical group of those “more deserving11.” I’ve already touched on how the money went missing due to mismanagement and misplaced trust in “My Portland Story.” Under Hardesty’s watch, the NCAAP had a bit of a fiscal oversight problem around that time as well. Now, her former employees are back in city hall spreading chaos again.
The 2020 riots were a stain on Portland’s reputation, but that’s not how half of our new City Council sees things. They want to cut the police budget while organizing with people who are genuinely disappointed Saturday wasn’t more violent.
What I’m saying is Portland has a history of this shit. Especially coming from of a very select group of people over the last handful of years. A book could be written on Portland’s failures from 2016 through the 2020 unrest to today. I wish it had been, so I wouldn’t have to do all this writing now.
I understand if the Trump Administration scares you. I understand if you feel unmoored and desperate to join up with other people who have your back and fight for you.
These people will not. I want to remind you that these fuckers pulled this once before, in 2017. 8 years later we are still undoing many of the things they got away with. In some cases they are literally the same people. In others it’s their proteges.
It’s black bloc anarchists, prepping up for the closest thing they’ll get to another 2020. It’s the DSA, locally and nationally12, taking over city councils, state legislatures, and even school boards. It’s far more horrible groups taking advantage of the chaos. Literal terror cells, gangs, drug cartels - all benefiting financially from this nonsense.
It’s not a vast conspiracy. It’s stupid people, with horrible politics, trying to manipulate you into giving them money again. Because Trump is the only thing you need to worry about. It’s Germany in 1932 dummy! Turn off your brain and scan that QR code to support the resistance!
And Portland, if you keep supporting and running cover for people who joke about killing me (🔻) or other Portlanders, I will never march with you. I’m sorry if it complicates things now that you have to do a bunch of additional research because the institutions you trusted allowed the wolves inside. Maybe you should ask those institutions to explain themselves.
Correction: In this article, I claimed that Indivisible Oregon (IO) “often work with 50501 Portland.” IO reached out to tell me they haven’t organized with any of the 50501 groups. I made an easy mistake because of how confusing this web of nonsense is, but correct is correct and I don’t want to tarnish their reputation.
It may be heart-breaking to learn that ACLU-OR is an ideologically captured organization. I recommend you stop giving them money and support organizations like the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) instead.
Palestinian flag colors… sort of. Also they think that “all of Palestine” (Israel after you kill the Israelis) looks like a watermelon slice. Nice 51st state energy.
Seemingly the 50501 PDX version, from their instagram post.
Promoted by John Hacker and his Full Rev Media.
They are marching with you “against” Trump, but they absolutely wanted this.
Not the bold red her friend Olivia Katbi would wear with matching keffiyeh.
Morillo’s former boss and mentor.
One of whom, Erica Fuller, is featured in Morillo’s photos above.
The co-opting of every cause by shameless Hamas supporters is ridiculous. They lost my support forever, across the board. The Palestinian flag seems to be the flag of the 'progressive' Democrats, and for that reason alone, fuck them.
Thanks for writing this piece. Helped tie together a lot of what made me uncomfortable about Saturday’s protest, which felt very thinly veiled under being anti-Trump (understandable), and yet was full of keffiyahs and Palestinian flags.