Don't Shoot Portland Organizers Meeting with the Mayor Tomorrow

Portland Mercury:

Organizers with Don't Shoot Portland—the police accountability group behind several recent rallies and marches over officer-involved deaths in Ferguson and New York City—will meet with Mayor Charlie Hales for two hours starting at noon tomorrow, the Mercury has confirmed. That larger meeting is a change from an earlier plan floated by Hales' office, which had worked last Friday to pin down a one-on-one meeting with lead organizer Teressa Raiford. That offer came after a night when twin marches converged at the Moda Center for a boisterous, moving rally and exceedingly brief standoff with riot police. Around the same time, according to social media posts and others sources close to the organizers, Hales' office also tried to schedule one-on-one meetings with some of the other young people of color leading protests. It was at that point, sources say, the organizers moved for a wider meeting—and then put up a Facebook page asking anyone else who wanted to attend to come down to city hall. Don't Shoot Portland has been invited to have a meeting with Police Commissioner Charlie Hales and it is scheduled for tomorrow noon to 2pm We have invited the whole city since we heard that he is doing individual requests and attempting to have the young voices separate from the leadership that is guiding them. We Will Not Be Divided! Hales' office, when contacted for comment, stressed that tomorrow's meeting is still on despite the call-out on Facebook and confirmed that other organizers had, in fact, been invited. "Portlanders rally—it’s what we do," says Hales spokesman, Dana Haynes, who walked with protesters during a peaceful march that seized streets and temporarily flooded Pioneer Place Mall. "In the meantime, the meeting is on for tomorrow with Ms. Raiford and a few other organizers." Asked to address Don't Shoot Portland's publicly aired accusations that Hales' office had tried to isolate organizers with one-on-one meetings, Haynes said the office had initially sought to meet only with Raiford. "We had originally asked only Ms. Raiford but extended it, today, to other leaders as well," says Haynes. Asked for a list of who else might be attending, Haynes deferred to Raiford. "As for which leaders are coming: I’m not sure," he says. "Our initial point-of-contact is Ms. Raiford." [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

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