Weird Portland Wednesday: A Nickname We Proudly Own

Portland has become pretty infamous lately with 90+ days of both peaceful protesting and active rioting. Make no mistake. There are two different things going on. The peaceful demonstration of Black Lives Matter happens nightly until about 10:00. And then the riff-raff comes in and the riots begin. This is nothing new for us. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush found us to be a bit snarky toward his policies, partly for his waging of the Gulf War, but also for failing to address the AIDS epidemic and for his pro-life stances, among other things. So of course, we protested the Gulf War with the slogan "No Blood for Oil." This was when President GHW Bush gave us the nickname of Little Beirut. We took the name to heart, proud of our demonstrations and ability to enact our free speech right. 

Scot Hampton, a photographer who remembers shooting the Gulf War protest, No Blood For Oil, circa 1991 said,  

It was an electric scene. There were people of all ages and all walks of life, whom were very emphatic in their opposition to the war.... It was the first time I think the community at large had coalesced around an issue of war probably since Vietnam, so there was lot of emotion and a lot of veterans present—all rallying behind the disapproval of the first Gulf War. (citation)

Actually our beloved title of "Little Beirut" was well earned throughout the years, long before President Bush came to town. Apparently Portland has long been world renowned for it's demonstrations.  

In 1934, striking Portland longshoremen protested efforts to bring in replacement workers. They surrounded the hiring hall and disabled buses that were there to take the new hires to the port. “The strikebreakers never even got near the docks,” The Oregonian reported. Port operators responded by turning an old ship into a “floating hotel” so the replacement workers wouldn’t have to cross picket lines, but strikers infiltrated it, tossing guards into the water. That sounds a lot like Portland.

Stereotypers for The Oregonian and The Oregon Journal walked off the job in November 1959 to protest stagnant pay and the impact of increasing automation. Other newspaper union members joined them. Five months later, several hundred strikers staged a long, funeral-procession-style march through downtown Portland to keep the strike in the public’s mind. The labor dispute included bombings and other violence before it finally ended in 1965, with the two dailies becoming open shops.

A solemn march, both against segregation and in mourning for the recently assassinated Mississippi civil-rights leader Medgar Evers, weaved through Portland’s neighborhoods in 1963. The demonstration picked up participants as it progressed through the city, growing to hundreds of people. 

Others include

• In 1965, Portland State hosted a National Security Seminar featuring army officers warning of the dangers of world communism. Folk musicians played in the Park Blocks while more than 100 students carried signs with messages like “This is a College Not a Kindergarten” and “Muscles No Substitute for Mentality.”
• In 1967, six Reed College students blocked entry to Portland’s U.S. Selective Service office by chaining themselves to the front doors.  
• The “Battle of the Park Blocks” in May 1970 pitted Portland
  
  State students, faculty and other protesters against police. A police tactical unit charged the protesters, who had barricaded streets as part of a nonviolent nationwide student strike. The confrontation led to more than 30 injuries.
• In 2002, President George W. Bush met the same reception in Portland as his father a decade earlier. Police used pepper spray and shot rubber bullets to break up a surging protest that kept local Republican donors from getting into a downtown fundraiser Bush headlined.

There have been so many more.  

Yes, we are honored to have such a nick name as Little Beirut and hold our right to demonstrate and speak out against the government. We sincerely appreciate and participate in BLM protests. We are a bit tired of the riff-raff rioters, even if numbers of them are down to a couple hundred.

Little Beirut...one more way we are keeping Portland Weird.

And so it goes
peace~~~