The BIPOC Liberation Collective, an anti-racist activist group, took to the microphone before a crowd of protesters Sunday at the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza downtown and throughout Eugene. The “Say Their Names” protest condemned police violence against Black, Indigenous and People of Color. Protesters repeatedly called to dismantle, rather than reform, the police.
At the plaza, speakers addressed racism in education, read poems and discussed the role of racist, colonial structures in today’s systems, speaking to over 400 attendees.
The group’s primary message was to “defund, disarm, dismantle the police,” in contrast to Saturday’s protest in Springfield in which leaders called for reform and asked officers to kneel alongside protesters.
“We will not be able to create a world without police brutality,” an organizer said, “if our biggest ask is for the police to take a knee.”
The final speaker at Free Speech Plaza called for defunding the police and rerouting funds to essential community services such as education, housing, crisis response and other preventative services.
After about an hour of speeches, the crowd of about 1,500 left the plaza and marched to Deady Hall on the University of Oregon campus. BIPOC Liberation Collective had selected that location for its namesake’s racist history.
Matthew Deady was the president of the UO Board of Regents in 1873. He was also a pro-slavery federal judge who once compared Black people to property like “horses, cattle and land.”
UO President Michael Schill had previously declined to dename Deady Hall in 2017, but UO trustee Andrew Colas asked the Board of Trustees at a meeting Thursday to take up the issue once again. The board will vote in a special meeting in the coming weeks.
At Deady Hall, protesters sat and listened to more speakers including UO professor Michael Hames-García, UO PhD student and GTFF VP of External Relations Rajeev Ravisankar and an employee of CAHOOTS, a mobile crisis assistance service in Eugene and Springfield.
Related:“Professor Hames-García: What UO can do in response to the murder of George Floyd”
The speakers on campus called out deep-rooted racism in the United States’ history and current systems, acknowledged the historical efforts of Black LGBTQ activists and reiterated the message of dismantling the police.
“We need radical transformation,” Ravisankar said. “It’s not enough to simply call for accountability or anti-bias training. We need to rethink these institutions and seek radical transformation.”
“They’re [police] doing exactly what they’re supposed to do,” another organizer said. “So reform doesn’t mean shit.”
The final two speakers were from a local de-escalation group. The unnamed team said it works at protests to de-escalate situations involving police and counter-protesters and provide a calm environment for protesters to make good decisions, which they demonstrated to the crowd with a guided breathing exercise.
“We are doing anti-racist work in the field,” a representative said. “We are doing work that the cops will not do for us.”
The crowd then walked to the Eugene Police Department on Country Club Road. On the way, police presence remained low as officers stayed clear of the group and blocked off roadways. The organizers in the front stopped frequently to allow the group to catch up, repeatedly asking people to be safe, have a plan to get home and “protect each other.”
Upon arrival at the police department, the crowd quickly filed into the parking lot. The windows of the building were covered with wooden boards that were decorated with notes reading statements like “heroes,” “you are loved” and “we love our first responders.”
Protesters almost immediately removed the signage, hung up their own signs and used markers and spray paint to write messages such as “ACAB” and “fuck 12.” Protesters primarily painted the wooden boards, but several messages were written on a brick wall and concrete in the parking lot.
“Property is not the same as a human life,” an activist said.
New speakers addressed the crowd of about 300 at EPD, thanking protesters for attending, addressing racism in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, discussing the mistreatment of Mexican immigrants and LGBTQ communities and saying the names of BIPOC previously killed by Eugene and Springfield police.
Related: “Former UO student and activist killed in Eugene Police shooting outside of Cascade Middle School”
As organizers began to expect police officers to come out of the building, a speaker asked the crowd if they wanted to leave as a group for safety reasons.
The crowd walked back downtown and protesters dispersed in groups and in pairs.
The event on Sunday was one of the first hosted by the BIPOC Liberation Collective. The group distinguishes itself among anti-racist groups in Eugene due to its mission not to reform police, but to dismantle them.
The group also calls for the inclusion of tactics beyond marching and voting. One speaker at Deady Hall encouraged protesters not to condemn those who engage in property damage as a form of protest and spoke against the distinction between “legitimate” and “illegitimate” protests.
BIPOC Liberation Collective, listed as Eugene Protests on Facebook, posted on Facebook around 6:30 p.m.
“Our planning committee is so overjoyed. Thank you ALL for your solidarity today. We are not hosting a protest tonight. We will keep you all updated tomorrow.”
