Mayor Keith Wilson: Portland Doesn’t Need or Want Federal Troops

Perhaps few other cities have experienced the consequences of a fracturing American consensus as sharply as Portland, Oregon. Our city has the largest perception gap between men and women (a staggering 30 points), vastly disparate coverage by news outlets favored by the political right and left, and, too often, a yawning chasm between national coverage and how we see ourselves.  As mayor of Portland, I see an even more intractable and frustrating gap between what the president has said and what I see every day. He has called Portland “a hellhole,” “war ravaged,” a controversial federal facility facing predominantly peaceful protests is “under siege,” and that he’ll “do a number” on our city with “Full Force.” There is no squaring these words with the Portland I see every day, a Portland of creativity and natural beauty, of kindness and compassion, and of community principles and purpose.  To those who are most aggrieved by Portland, I would ask this: If you visited our schools, would you fund teachers or would you send troops? If you drove our bridges, would you send engineers or would you send troops? If you saw our hospitals, would you support Medicaid, or would you send troops? If you worked with our homeless, would you send outreach workers and addiction specialists or would you send troops? If you met with the daughters whose immigrant fathers were ripped away on their way to school drop-off, would you still send men in masks to further traumatize our neighborhoods?   The federal government is retreating from its longstanding housing and economic  responsibility to cities across the nation. This has left a leadership vacuum in place of a partnership for the future of Oregon’s prosperity and freedom. Anyone willing to lend a hand to Portland has a seat at the table, including the federal government. We want them back at that table, the sooner the better. We must recognize that the American consensus on Portland was purposefully broken, and it’s hurting our city. That perception was shattered by the 24-hour ecosystem of divisive clips, some new, most from a half decade ago, all intended to feed anger and division. This ugly ecosystem cannot build togetherness, and it cannot serve the shared interests of our nation; it can only hold us back. Read more: Trump Sends Troops to Portland, Authorizes ‘Full Force, If Necessary’ Portland, which now faces a moment of profound fear and uncertainty, needs clear answers. What is the role of domestic peace officers, including federal agents, and what now falls under the grip of national security and the Department of War? What is the mission of this deployment, and how will we know whether it has succeeded or failed? Will that mission weigh the needs of our community as equal to national political expedience, or is the safety of our people less important than fleeting political optics?   We do not ask, but demand to know, what the authorization of “Full Force” means to  Portlanders. As Mayor, should I tell our teachers to teach, and our workers to work, and our parents to parent like any other day, or should I tell our hospitals and morgues to prepare for the unthinkable?   We know the National Guard troops who will come to our city. They are us, fellow Oregonians. They work in our stores and offices. They are the moms and dads and teachers we wave to in the halls of our schools. They are also the ones who come to our aid in our darkest times. They are here when wildfires rage, or floods destroy, or overseas conflicts demand their service. When these citizen soldiers answered this call, they made a solemn promise to their communities and our nation that I believe the federal administration is now dishonoring. Portland is having a moment of clarity. We have learned that reforming our public safety system and halving our homicide rate in a single year is not enough to stop troops from coming. We have learned that focusing on our economy and caring for our most vulnerable is not enough to stop troops from coming. Perhaps most troubling of all, we have learned that avoiding national conflict, listening, de-escalating, and focusing foremost on our responsibility to our community has not stopped troops from coming.   I cannot express the sadness and disappointment I feel when I hear the leader of our  country call for the militarization of a situation that does not exist, with murky, unknown, and potentially deadly rules, and no clear definition of success or failure. There is no military strength without moral strength, no good outcome when summoning tempers alongside uncertainty and rifles, and no margin for error in what may come next.   As Mayor, I support our community’s desire to repair our fractured portrait. I support  Portland’s long tradition of large-scale, peaceful protests. Our city has a proud track record of being at the forefront of positive social change, and the entire nation has benefited from that passion and moral clarity.  The fight the federal administration seeks is not in our city, and I call on our national leaders to chart a course that leads to our future, and not to further fear and division.