When Bev Barnum of Portland, Ore., learned that squads of secret police were snatching up people in her community without explanation, she did what American heroes have been doing since the start of our nation when faced with government oppression. She confronted it nose to nose and refused to back down.
Barnum is a founder of the Wall of Moms, the group of women who aligned themselves in Portland to protest the Trump administration’s extrajudicial detainments in the city over the past several days. The group, which also turned out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, started with about 70 individuals Saturday during its first appearance, when it shielded protesters from federal agents posted outside the federal building.
Despite being unjustifiably hit with tear gas and pepper balls, the group came right back for another round of peaceful demonstration Sunday, this time about 200 strong and with a very pregnant woman in their ranks. And although federal authorities have repeatedly gassed them, detonated flash-bang grenades near them and fired nonlethal projectiles at them, the group has remained on guard, night after night.
“We’ll stop when there is no protester that needs our protection,” said Barnum, 35, to CNN. “We get thanks every which way. But we’re not doing it for the thanks. We’re doing it to protect human rights.”
That’s pure American spirit — standing up to injustice, abuse of authority and tyranny.
And make no mistake, the reason for the Wall of Moms’ actions is legitimate. As the situation in Portland has revealed, President Donald Trump is making America look more and more like a junta.
In fact, the scene involving Barnum and her counterparts is starkly reminiscent of mothers’ protests in Argentina after its coup d’etat and during during the bloody regime of Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s and 1980s. In both countries, the mothers movements were instrumental in restoring democracy as dictators’ secret police “disappeared” dissidents from the streets.
Pinochet used his secret police to round up nearly 28,000 people in an attempt to erase the legacy and influence of his predecessor. His regime tortured and executed detainees, some of whom have still not been accounted for.
Enter the mothers movement, which began working to call attention to the victims quietly by creating and distributing tapestries in honor of Pinochet’s victims, then grew more assertive to the point of speaking out about the atrocities.
The mothers’ protests took a long time, but they were instrumental in bringing down the junta.
Now the images from Portland — law-abiding people being thrown into unmarked vans by what amounts to a secret police and peaceful women being gassed and hit with projectiles — are a resonant display of how low Trump has sunk.
The federal action is flatly unconstitutional under the First and 14th amendments, which, respectfully, give Americans the right to dissent and protect them from arrest without probable cause. And it’s a serious step forward in Trump’s dawning attempt to be a dictator.
Trump says “Portland is totally out of control,” but when pressed for examples of violence, all the Department of Homeland Security’s acting director could offer was graffiti. That’s right, graffiti is now a major concern of Homeland Security and it is considered, apparently, a violent crime. Meanwhile, abuses at the hands of police — tear-gassings, beatings, unwarranted arrests and detainments of neutral bystanders and observers — have fueled tensions and confrontations.
The larger question becomes: How much further will Trump try to force this junta? Is having people disappear into secret long-term detainment next? One could argue we’ve already crossed that threshold for the children separated from their families at the southern border. Some will never be reunited with their families because of Trump’s sadistic actions.
It is both fitting and thrilling to see the mothers of Portland rise up to protect their children and their city from improper federal action. Chanting “The moms are here, feds stay clear,” these mothers are champions of American values while Trump’s secret police trample our Constitution.
These are everyday Americans putting their bodies on the line to arrest our nation’s slide into dictatorship. These are not “violent anarchists” Trump and his flunkies keep wailing about from their bunkers. No American should forget that our president is frightened enough by pregnant women and mothers to have his forces gas them. “We just dress like we’re going to Target,” one of the mothers said. She was tear-gassed during the first protest and returned every night since. America at its finest.
But with Trump’s approval ratings in the tank and his chances of being thrown out of office looking stronger every day, he’s clearly intensifying his bid to exert authoritarian control. Not only has he co-opted DHS and other agencies to use as his secret police, but he’s vowing to “take over” other cities besides Portland. As you’re reading this, a Portland-style strike force may be on its way to Chicago.
And his assault on protesters is just one of the ways that Trump, abetted by Attorney General William Barr, is weaponizing federal law enforcement and the Justice Department against American citizens. They are trying to criminalize dissent, and that is antithetical to American values.
Against that backdrop, groups like the Wall of Moms are invaluable. Our nation’s democracy needs all the protectors it can get.