XR still alive in Portland

Domyo Burk, a Buddhist priest and a member of Extinction Rebellion, organized a shut-down of Hawthorne Avenue today, and the Raging Grannies, the Reds, and assorted others joined her. She and I have worked together before, and she asked me to come with my camera. It was a glorious day, masked with distance and entirely outside, so I said yes. My favorites of the day are in the Extras (Domyo leading the march, one of the Reds, and the some gorgeous feathery wings on one of the Raging Grannies), but the main Blip, blown out by bright sunlight, pretty much tells the story. They shut down Hawthorne Avenue for an hour and disrupted bus service from both directions. 

I admire their spirit and their nerve, and I care passionately about climate change, but it troubles me to see buses disrupted because that's how the people who make the least money get to work, and if they are late, their pay is cut. So the people with the least power are harmed, and the corporate bullies who contribute so much to the problems of climate are unphased.

The police never bothered to show up, although a couple of hecklers called them to report the disruption. In a similar protest for Black Lives Matter five years ago, that included the blocking of a street for only 8 minutes, the police not only showed up but made arrests. Did the police ignore this group today because it was organized by white people? Because it was not about police brutality? Because it was organized by a Buddhist priest? Because in the past five years the police have changed their priorities? I wonder.