For this month’s show we spoke with Teressa Raiford, a longtime Portland activist and founder of Don’t Shoot Portland, and a former candidate for Multnomah County Sheriff and most recently Portland mayor in 2020.
We checked in about some of Don’t Shoot Portland’s ongoing legal and educational efforts, including the ongoing lawsuit that brought to light racist training materials used by Portland Police Bureau’s crowd control team, and multiple restraining orders that attempted to rein in police use of chemical weapons during the 2020 protests. Don’t Shoot is also involved in a number of initiatives to reclaim Black history and culture in Portland, including rehabilitation of historic buildings in Albina, and a multimedia project called “Liberated Archives” that uses archival materials to documents the experience of people of color at the hands of the state, media and white majority in Portland and across the country. Teressa also spoke about her growth as an activist and how the movement for Black lives in Portland has changed over time, and how she and other community members are exploring ways to address a rise in gun violence without relying on the police.
The gallery show that was mentioned is Feeling Documents, A Liberated Archives Experience by Don’t Shoot Portland, which will be at Holding Contemporary in Northwest Portland through Sunday March 27, 2022.
This interview was recorded via video call on March 11, 2022, and aired in two parts on KBOO Portland on March 22 and 23, 2022.
- KBOO