Portland, OR: PSU Campus Spray Painted in Memorial of Those Slain by Police

The following communique was anonymously submitted to It’s Going Down, which we print below.

It reads:

On the weekend of 12/22, right before the imperialist christian holiday of Christmas, Portland anarchists descended on the well-maintained Portland State University campus to send a message with paint and memorialize two men slain in recent months by so-called “police” on campus. The names of Jason Washington & Richard Barry were painted at least 20 prominent public locations on campus.

Some background.

Jason Washington, a Navy veteran was killed on June 29th of this year by armed PSU campus “security” who murdered him by shooting him nine times as he tried to break up a fight outside a sports bar on campus. There were actions and an occupation in memorial of this man but PSU’s wealthy, mostly white board of trustees has so far declined to take the simple step of disarming campus security officers of their lethal weapons, despite protests and a petition that gained thousands of signatures.

The decision to take no action about these heinous supposed “security” forces on campus has had further deadly consequences this year. On November 22, Richard Barry – a 52 year old man who was described by a former partner as being “extremely generous and charismatic” was assaulted and aggressively “restrained” by PSU campus police and other responding officer from Portland Police Bureau. He later died at a hospital and the death has been declared a “medical event” or an “overdose” despite overwhelming evidence that he was assaulted and beaten by officers.

Portland’s anarchist and anti-fascist community does not accept the legitimacy of police, much less campus rent-a-cops and does not find these deaths to be justified in the slightest. These are police murders, and we are going to get louder and louder until something is done about PPB and PSU campus cops murdering in our city.

The names of the slain men and other anti-police messages were tagged in paint all over campus including benches, PSU campus buildings, and signs. This is barely even a warning of what’s to come. We’ve left windows, tires and other property intact for now, but that may change, especially if the city and supposedly “liberal” campus continue to do absolutely nothing about officers murdering in our streets.

We say ‘no more’. We are fighting back. We will not become desensitized to the state murdering with impunity. We are only going to escalate until something serious is done to protect our streets from these murderous thugs with badges and guns.

Jason Washington, Richard Barry, and all others killed by officer in PDX including Patrick Kimmons – we will not forget you. We will paint every inch of the entire city with your name if it comes to that.