Woman of the Year 2015

Friday, January 01, 2016

GoLocalPDX News Team

Some activists eschew the spotlight. Others do not want to pay the price for their protests and shrink in the face of backlash, scrutiny or persecution. Don’t Shoot PDX is different.

Led and inspired by organizer Teressa Raiford, the group has put the issues of racial injustice and violence front and center in a city that is overwhelmingly white. She has forced a city considered an egalitarian liberal stronghold to look at serious inequalities still in place. Raiford is bold enough to pay steep prices for her activism, and no one had a larger impact on racial issues in Portland this year.

Raiford was arrested in early August for her role in a protest commemorating the one-year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown. Brown was an unarmed African-American teenager who was shot and killed by a white Ferguson, Missouri police officer, setting off a wave of protests around the country.

Despite being targeted by police due to her influence, Raiford boldly led protesters to briefly block traffic at the intersection of Southeast 82nd Avenue and Southeast Division Street. The move brought major attention to the protest and landed Raiford in handcuffs, charged with interfering with a police officer. Despite spending time in jail, Raiford did not slink away from the spotlight

In October, she challenged the same department that arrested her, taking aim at a Portland Police Association recruitment campaigns that featured large billboards across the city that read “having enough police matters.” She was bold enough to call attention to not only the police, but city officials as well, for co-opting language that was made powerful by the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

“It’s not just the police,” Raiford told GoLocal after the billboards went up. “It’s Mayor Charlie Hales, and it’s all of them, who keep using that line, that ‘something matters.’ They understand what they are doing. They are mocking us as we are fighting for our lives. Their use of that language is absolutely sickening. We are using it to fight for an end of police violence and police brutality. They are using it to fight for more police. It’s sickening.”

While the Police Association would later deny that they attempted to co-opt the language, calling the similarities a coincidence, Raiford forced the group to answer for the signs that upset many in the community.

Raiford has also been a powerful and influential voice during the beginning of mayoral campaigns in the fall. She criticized State Treasurer Ted Wheeler (D) and other candidates for not dealing with the issue head on. Raiford said she would refuse to endorse or even vote for any candidate that did not try to truly address racial injustice.

"Ted Wheeler seems like he would be a fine choice practically considering his background as the State Treasurer, but he has not reached out to me or any other groups fighting for the rights of Black Portlanders. He’s just more of the same,” Raiford said. “This is a national, major issue right now. It’s probably the biggest issue in this country right now. No candidate for Mayor of Portland, not even a candidate for Governor of Oregon has addressed it. That is inexcusable to me.”

Perhaps the best indication of her importance to Portland is a GoFundMe page that was started six months ago, after Raiford was arrested. The page seeks to raise funds for Raiford, in order to keep her living here in the Portland area and fighting against racial injustice and power imbalances across the city.

“Let me start off by asking who doesn't know Teressa Raiford? Who hasn't heard about the protest throughout Oregon for Human Rights and Dignity with the chanting sounds and cries of #BlackLivesMatter,” the page’s introduction reads. “Who hasn't witnessed the powerful and articulate testimony over five years in senate judiciary hearings, at the human rights commission, school board meetings and even a trip to meet with Michelle Obama in 2013 to represent victims of gun violence?

“Friends of #DontShootPDX have gotten together and found a place for her to move in and we want to cover the initial expenses so that this can become a long-term home. We cannot quantify the value of her consistent political activism and social work though we are willing to do our best to make accommodations available to keep her safe and healthy.”

For her work in fighting for the rights of Portland residents that need it the most, Raiford is GoLocalPDX’s Woman of the Year.

Woman of the Year 2015

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