Saturday, Oct. 31
Protests don’t stop because it’s Halloween.
At 5 p.m., The People’s Council, with support from Disarm UO, hosted a march that began at Kincaid St. and 13th Ave. It ended with a dramatic performance of a scary story — “Michael Shilly’s Horror University” — on the University of Oregon campus in front of Johnson Hall.
There, performers roasted UO President Michael Schill. Someone costumed as Death praised his reopening of the dorms by saying, “You’re a big deal where I come from.”
After the performance, a Disarm UO representative gave a speech and the event ended around 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 3
Just over 110 miles north, Black Unity’s Eugene leadership hosted an “All Power to the People – West Coast Solidarity” protest and march in Portland beginning at Revolution Hall around 5 p.m.
Starting with a rally, the march of several hundred people began around 7 p.m. The group marched through local neighborhoods with speeches and music in between.
Aside from two reported instances of spray-painting, the event was largely peaceful and filled with music and dance.
The organized event ended around 10:25 p.m. A separate group continued on to the Justice Center where protesters burned several American flags in the street, but remained peaceful. People left around midnight.
Wednesday, Nov. 4
A few hundred people gathered in front of the Wayne Morse Federal Courthouse for the “Rally for Democracy” — hosted by the Community Alliance of Lane County, the Eugene-Springfield chapter of the NAACP and Showing Up for Racial Justice to name a few — at 12 p.m.
Local officials including Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis, City Councilors Emily Semple and Greg Evans and Eugene Police Department Chief Chris Skinner also attended.
After several speeches, including one from the mayor saying “every vote counts,” the rally ended with people leaving around 1:30 p.m.
Families, young adults and children gathered to sing, dance and chant to symbolize that every vote is counted.
Organizers hung banners in front of the courthouse announcing “celebrate democracy” and “count every vote.” Vinis initiated a chant on stage. “Each vote counts, count every vote,” she said. The crowd chanted with her.
Live bands and musicians performed songs about peace, justice and hope. A group of about seven Raging Grannie members sang one of their songs, “Gaggle Song,” along with several others.
“There is no place for hate,” a member of the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation said during a speech.
People stood together holding American flags on sticks and signs that said “America wins” and “make democracy great again.”
About every ten minutes, a live band played a song or a singer came to the stage. Some singers asked the crowd to sing with them. The crowd whistled, shouted, clapped and rang bike bells. Performers held live dance performances and the crowd danced along.
“Celebrate our community,” a speaker said. “Celebrate our democracy.”
C. Francis O’ Leary contributed reporting to this story.
