Portland NAACP president asks protesters to think about their own families
PORTLAND, Ore. — Some people, including the president of the Portland NAACP chapter, said protesters went too far this weekend.
"Stop. You’re putting yourself in danger, and you’re putting homeowners and families in danger, and you’re frightening children,” E.D. Mondainé said.
Shortly before making their way to the Portland Police Bureau's North precinct, protesters made their way through a Northeast Portland neighborhood. The group chanted "stolen people, stolen land" and shined flashlights into a couple homes as well.
Mondainé said it puts protesters and families in danger, while also scaring children who may be inside.
“It’s traumatic for a child to see angry mobs and look at TV and see angry mobs,” Mondainé said. “Consider your own children. Consider your nieces. Consider your nephews. Consider your cousins. Consider those people that you love and their private homes and ask yourself, ‘Would you want them to go through the kind of terror that you’re putting ordinary citizens through?'"
Mondainé said the protests will continue until leaders make meaningful changes on police reform and other systemic issues in things like education, housing, and criminal justice. He encouraged protesters to channel their energy onto policymakers as opposed to people who are sleeping inside their homes.
Police say it's not a crime to shine flashlights inside a home, and officers also did not intervene in the march. Instead, PPB said it focused on people damaging property.
They said you should not call 911 unless protesters are trespassing, despite it being "annoying" and a "nuisance."