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Race Baiting Hoax pusher
Statement from City Councilors Victoria Pelletier and Councilor Regina Phillips
Below is a statement from Councilor Victoria Pelletier and Councilor Regina Phillips in response to the press release issued by Mayor Snyder, Interim City Manager Danielle West, and Interim Police Chief Heath Gorham, regarding the murder of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee.
We are very disappointed with the statement put out today by the Mayor, Interim City Manager, and Interim Police Chief. The tragic and brutal murder of Tyre Nichols at the hands of police officers isn’t something that can be handled by our white city leaders who just wanted to rush through issuing a statement without consideration of the Black people who serve on the council. The brutal attack on Mr. Nichols due to the use of excessive force prolongs centuries of systemic racism that have disproportionately impacted Black people in this country.
The institution of policing originated in the 1700s, with a role to enact terror and violence upon the enslaved, and has since been rebranded to the police department we all know today. The murder of Tyre Nichols is another senseless tragedy, along with the murders of George Floyd, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice, Mike Brown and so many other Black people in the name of police brutality. Being beaten to death by people who are supposed to ensure safety and trust for all isn’t something that should be acceptable to anyone at any time, especially law enforcement officials.
The statement from our city leaders appears to us, as a disrespectful decision – not only in glossing over the true underlying element of this murder, and so many other murders of Black individuals at the hands of police officers, but also the failure to run it by the most impacted members of the council. We have 3 Black councilors that serve the city of Portland, with varying viewpoints in how they relate to the police. How are we supposed to make change, work with city leadership, and build trust if our voices are not considered? It’s our community that is continuously impacted, yet we are also erased from the conversation. If we’re going to move forward with “transparency” and “integrity”, we should start with ensuring that the 3 Black councilors, after a weekend of mourning yet another loss in their community, can also be part of these conversations and solutions.
We cannot support this morning’s statement, as we believe some of the sentiments display a false sense of camaraderie –we encounter racially motivated hate crimes by police officers in this country, daily. The fact that the Memphis officers themselves were Black does not absolve them from actions rooted in white supremacy, and efforts to diversify the police force does not make the institution less violent.
At our December goal setting workshop, the city council named racial equity its top priority for the 2023 year, which includes furthering the work of the racial equity steering committee from 2020. The city has also announced in August that it’s moving forward with the hiring of its first Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Manager (JDEI). In the future, we hope these statements can be made in collaboration with the JDEI manager, the council and city staff prior to their release, as there are natural biases that exist when these statements are written from the privileged end of the power structure.
We hope this glaringly offensive oversight can be rectified, and look forward to truly prioritizing racial equity by having difficult and uncomfortable conversations at all levels of government in order to promote real, authentic change. We stand proudly as members of Portland’s Black community and send our support to Memphis and beyond as we grieve another life that has been taken from us too soon at the hands of police violence.
https://portlandphoenix.me/city-police-response-to-tyre-nichols-murder-invokes-criticism-from-black-city-councilors/