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Lt. Governor Janice McGeaching announcing her run for Governor during a rally in Idaho Falls May 19. | Rett Nelson, EastIdahoNews.com

BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachins office on Thursday sent the Idaho Capital Sun 238 pages of public records from Idahoans, sought by her to inform her education task force.

But most of it was covered in black boxes with the word REDACTED.

The delivery followed six weeks of back-and-forth with the lieutenant governors chief of staff. And by the end of the day Friday, McGeachin had taken to social media, accusing the Sun of trying to get personal information about people who responded to her appeal for stories of indoctrination in schools.

Not only are they requesting the comments, but they are also demanding the names and email addresses of those who made the comments, she wrote in a Facebook post on her official lieutenant governor page. We have been making an effort to comply with their requests in a manner that is respectful of Idahoans and their personal information, but they are insistent that we give them YOUR personal information. I believe this would violate your rights and I am doing everything I can to protect your information.

The lieutenant governor has assembled a task force to review claims of indoctrination in Idahos public schools. That task force met for the first time on May 27, taking no public comment.

RELATED | McGeachin announces indoctrination task force members

McGeachin announced the task force on April 8, saying it would protect our young people from the scourge of critical race theory, socialism, communism and Marxism.

As I have traveled around the state and spoken with constituents and parents, it has become clear to me that this is one of the most significant threats facing our society today, she said in the announcement. We must find where these insidious theories and philosophies are lurking and excise them from our education system. Idahoans are increasingly frustrated by the apparent lack of awareness and leadership coming from the state on these issues.

McGeachin on April 21 announced on her website that she was seeking comments from the public regarding what Idaho schools teach students. She solicited the comments via Google Form.

RELATED | Lt. Gov. McGeachin seeks Idahoans feedback for task force examining indoctrination in schools

That day, the Idaho Capital Sun requested a copy of the public records created by that form a public record that is maintained by the lieutenant governors office as a spreadsheet.

The Sun requested a copy of the Google Sheet data from the Lt. Gov.s Education Task Force Feedback Form, as the record exists at the time this public record request is processed. Please provide the data in its raw spreadsheet format.

McGeachins Chief of Staff Jordan Watters responded to the request on May 4, saying the office had received about 3,600 comments. He provided a general breakdown of some of the data the level of education to which comments applied (e.g. 25.1% applied to high school) and the position of the person submitting comments (e.g. 31.4% chose concerned citizen).

But Watters said the lieutenant governors office would redact names, email addresses and personally identifying information contained in the written comments submitted by the public. He estimated $560 in costs to redact the information, which the Idaho Capital Sun would have to pay to receive the incomplete records.

The Sun immediately responded, asking for the legal justification to redact information.

Watters responded 16 days later, saying: Idaho code section 74-109(3) exempts from disclosure personal identifying information relating to a private citizen contained in a writing to or from a member of the Idaho Legislature, The Education Task Force is co-chaired by Rep. Priscilla Giddings, who is a member of the Idaho Legislature. As Rep. Giddings has access to the information submitted through the feedback form, personally identifying information submitted through that form qualifies as a writing to a member of the Idaho legislature, and is thus exempt from disclosure.

Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachins office took six weeks to provide a heavily redacted copy of public records to the Idaho Capital Sun. The office blacked out all feedback it received from more than 3,000 Idahoans. | Idaho Capital Sun

The Sun and other media outlets routinely request and receive public comments. For example, the Sun in April requested copies of comments submitted to Gov. Brad Little regarding a bill on voter initiatives. The governors office provided the public records days earlier than the deadline to do so in Idahos public records law.

RELATED | WATCH: Lt. Gov. McGeachin announces run for Idaho governor

When the lieutenant governors office refused to provide records, the Sun immediately reached out to the Idaho Press Clubs First Amendment Committee.

Stoel Rives attorney Wendy Olson sent the lieutenant governors office a letter on behalf of the Press Club and Sun reporter Audrey Dutton, saying that exemption did not apply and demanding the office send the unredacted records to Dutton by May 27 the day of the task forces first meeting.

Instead of providing the records, Watters sent an email. We are currently working with the (Attorney Generals) office and should have a more substantive response for you soon, he wrote.

The Idaho Attorney Generals Office acts as the primary law firm for the state. It has deputy attorneys general who work with state offices to provide legal counsel. Attorney General Lawrence Wasden also publishes a manual that describes Idahos public records laws, exemptions and the publics recourse when those laws arent followed.

The next email came on June 2.

Our office can provide you with a copy of our existing spreadsheet which includes the raw data that you requested, Watters wrote. However, our spreadsheet contains additional information, such as narratives and contact information that appear to be outside the scope of your request. If you believe this additional information is within the scope of your original request, please let us know and we will provide you with any information not otherwise exempt from public disclosure.

The Sun thanked him in advance for providing the full public record as requested.

But the next day, he sent over a file with names, contact information and the entirety of the public comments blacked out.

The lieutenant governors office did not include a citation to the Idaho law under which it made the redactions, as required by Idahos public records law.

The written denial for all or part of a request for information must state the statutory authority for the denial, and include a clear statement of the right to appeal and the time for doing so, according to the Idaho Attorney Generals Public Records Law Manual. In addition, it is also required that the public agency state that the attorney for the public agency has reviewed the request or shall state that the public agency or independent public body corporate and politic has had an opportunity to consult with an attorney regarding the request for examination or copying of a record and has chosen not to do so.

A lawsuit is the only recourse Idahos public records law gives the public and the media if they believe a government entity has wrongfully denied access to public records.

The opinion of the attorney generals office is that the only legitimate reason for the agency not to consult with an attorney is that the exemption from disclosure is clear, the manual says. If that is the case, the letter of denial should so state. Above all, if there is any doubt about whether the information is exempt from disclosure, it is imperative that the public agency seek legal advice.

Redactions are a partial denial of a public record request. But McGeachins office did not include any of the above statements in its response.

Watters on Friday afternoon said he would have to start over on the Suns request, saying the public comments were not in the scope of the Suns initial request for the full spreadsheet.

Meanwhile, McGeachin had posted to Facebook, questioning the Suns motives for seeking a copy of public comments that will be used to inform a task force on public education:

Why does the media want YOUR personal information? Do they plan to release it and encourage employers and government agencies to retaliate against Idahoans who have expressed concerns about Idahos education system? she wrote. I believe that releasing this information would have a chilling effect on YOUR right to communicate your concerns to elected officials in Idaho. I remain committed to taking whatever legal actions are necessary to protect your personal information from being exposed by the media.

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McGeachin's office refuses to release public comments on 'indoctrination' task force - East Idaho News

Just a couple of weeks ago, two major U.S. publishers, HarperCollins and its religious imprint Zondervan, pulled out of a deal to publish The God Bless the USA Bible. This was to be the New International Version translation (a well-known translation that has been around for many years); however, the book would also include the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance and the lyrics for the song God Bless the USA by country singer Lee Greenwood.

As if all of the above was not misguided enough, this book was scheduled to come out this coming September to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11. There has been an online backlash coming from many well-known Christian figures in a petition with over 900 signatures (so far) that reads in part: This is a toxic mix that will exacerbate the challenges to American evangelicalism, adding fuel to the Christian nationalism and anti-Muslim sentiments found in many segments of the evangelical church.

The fact that The God Bless the USA Bible came so close to being published by one of our countrys leading publishers ought to be highly disturbing to any Christian or any well-informed American citizen for any number of reasons. Of course, we do have something known as the separation of church and state in the U.S., referenced in the First Amendment to our Constitution. Clearly, then, to publish a book nationwide that links the Bible with U.S. founding documents suggests even fosters the idea there is some sort of direct connection and partnership between the two.

To foster a partnership between Christianity and the state is not only a bad idea, but it is also counter to the origins of Christianity as a religion. Unlike almost any religion before its founding or after it, Christianity was founded in opposition to the governments surrounding it counter to the Jewish ruling Sanhedrin and counter to the Roman imperial government. This, in fact, is the legal reason why the wayward rabbi Jesus was crucified. For the first 300+ years of Christianitys development, it was very much at odds with the Roman Empire.

It wasnt until 380 that the emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Only about 10 years later, Ambrose, bishop of Milan, stood up to Theodosius in no uncertain terms and condemned the infamous Massacre at Thessalonica, demanding in writing that the emperor perform an act of penance and ask for forgiveness. Various accounts of the time affirm the emperor did so, standing in the snow in front of Ambroses church in Milan.

For the entire history of the papacy, many popes have been at odds with many kings and heads of state. One could accurately say the relationship between the Vatican and secular governments has almost always been one of dialectic and dialogue and dispute not partnership. And that situation dominated church/state relations for 1,500 years. With the Protestant Reformation, church/state relations started to change. Of course, King Henry VIII in England made himself the head of his new Church of England, removing the pope from the picture there Queen Elizabeth II is the head of the Church of England today. Luther and Calvin were very much working with secular governments Calvin even set up a theocracy form of government in Geneva for a time.

The self-governing, theocratic Protestant Pilgrims arrival in New England in the 1600s has been, unfortunately and inaccurately, turned into a simplistic mythic origin narrative that our country was founded on Protestant Religious Values. I say this was unfortunate because during the 19th and 20th centuries, this false narrative caused a good deal of discrimination against Catholics some of which is still evident even today.

The majority of the founders of the United States in the late-1700s were most definitely not descendants of the Pilgrims, nor did they share the Pilgrims ideas about theocratic forms of government. The opposite is more accurate: Our founders fear of extremist, theocratic forms of government and fear of the partnership of Englands king with the Church of England is what caused them to be sure the government of the U.S. would never establish a partnership with any one religious denomination. This is exactly why we call this section of the First Amendment, the Disestablishment Clause. It was a darn good idea.

But there is today a group of American Protestant evangelicals who truly want to overturn this part of our history and our government. This group hates liberals because liberals hate religion and dont believe in God and all liberals are Democrats. The publication of the God Loves the USA Bible would be the perfect book to be the foundation stone of a whole new (evangelical) architecture for the government of the United States.

Unfortunately, it is all too easy to imagine Donald Trump again pulling together evangelical support holding high in his right hand the God Loves the USA Bible. It would be a marriage made in heaven or some other place. The publication of this book, and the heated argument about it, would surely become a factor in the 2024 presidential race, no matter who is running.

Such a heated argument becoming front and center in our politics would cause our founders to roll over in their graves. This would be exactly the type of dangerous and divisive argument that the First Amendment was designed to permanently take off the table because it is so deadly to a democracy. The natural born enemy of democracy is not only autocracy; it is also theocracy or anything leaning toward it.

Let us pray the God Loves the USA Bible never sees the light of day. Amen.

John Nassivera is a former professor who retains affiliation with Columbia Universitys Society of Fellows in the Humanities. He lives in Vermont and part time in Mexico.

Link:
On Faith: The Bible and nationalism | Perspective | rutlandherald.com - Rutland Herald

Event organizer turned down sound for part of speech; Speaker says he was censored by Hudson American Legion

Update:Hudson American Legion Post's charter suspended, leader resigns

HUDSON What at first blush appeared to be a shortaudio malfunction at Monday's Memorial Day ceremony in Markillie Cemetery turned out to be anything but.

A ceremony organizer turned off the microphone when the event's keynote speaker, retired Army Lt.Col. BarnardKemter, began sharinga story aboutfreed Black slaves honoring deceased soldiers shortly after the end of the Civil War.

The microphone was turned down for about two minutes in the middle of Kemter's 11-minute speech during theevent hosted by the Hudson American Legion Lee-Bishop Post 464. (See the start of the speech at the 47-minute mark below.)

What did he say?: Read a draft of speech by veteran silenced at Hudson Memorial Day service

Twitter reaction: Veteran's audio cut while he was discussing Blacks' role in Memorial Day

Cindy Suchan,who chairs the Memorial Day parade committee and is president of the Hudson American Legion Auxiliary, saidit was either her orJimGarrison, adjutant ofAmerican LegionLee-Bishop Post 464, who turned down the audio. When pressed, she would not saywho specifically did it.

Suchan said organizerswanted this part excludedbecause it was not relevant to our program for the day," andadded the themeof the day was honoring Hudson veterans.

Kemtersaid he wanted to use his speech to share the history of the origin of Memorial Day. Afterward, henoted, he received "numerouscompliments" from attendees who told himitwas nice to hear the history.

It was well-received,Kemtersaid, adding many people told him, I never knew that.

He expressed disappointment with the event organizers' actions.

I find it interesting that [the American Legion] … would take it upon themselves to censor my speech and deny me my First Amendment right to [freedom of] speech,Kemtersaid.… This is not the same country I fought for.

Memorial Day: Streams of visitors fill Western Reserve National Cemetery for Memorial Day

Kemter, a 1962 Hudson High School graduate,said he was trained as a combat medic, wasin the U.S. Army from 1965 to 1995, andserved in the Persian Gulf War.

In the daysleading up to the ceremony,Suchan said she reviewed Kemtersspeech andasked him to remove certain portions.

We asked him to modify his speech, and he chose not to do that, said Suchan.

Suchan declined to say which partshe wantedexcluded, butconfirmed the two minuteswhenKemtersmicrophone was turned off were part ofwhat she askedhim toexclude.During thosetwo minutes,Kemter isheard discussinghow formerslavesandfreed Black menshortly after the Civil Warexhumed theremainsofmore than 200 Union soldierswho died in battle in Charlestonand gave thema proper burial.

Honoring those who served: Summit County dedicates Veterans Memorial Plaza

About three days before the ceremony,Kemtersaid, he was emailed by an event organizer (whom he declined to name) askinghim to remove apart of hisspeech dealing with Black Americans rolein an early Memorial Day-type of ceremony. Kemterdeclined to share whytheorganizerasked him to removethis part, but said heasked the organizer to specify what portions they wanted to have excluded.

When he received an email back from the organizerSunday evening, the message stated that the parts to be removed were highlighted.Kemtersaid he did not seeany text highlighted and with the ceremony less than 24 hours away,he did not reply again.

"I didn't have time to sit down and rewrite another speech," Kemter said.

Kemter said he showed the text of the speech to a Hudson public official, who advised him to leave the speech intact.

Memorial Day: They started sending in mortar rounds: Vietnam vet recalls war this Memorial Day

At a certain point inKemtersspeech, Suchan said she asked A.J. Stokes, the events audio engineer, to turn offKemtersmicrophone. She said Stokes refused to do it himself, butpointed to the knob that controlled themicrophone.

Stokes confirmed his refusal and that he did pointto the knob.He saidit was Garrison who turned down the audio and then turned it back up a short time later.

When reached by phone Wednesday, Garrison declined to say whetherhe turned down the microphone and said hehad "nothing to add" regarding the situation.

Stokes said Suchan and Garrison were both very adamant about turning offKemtersmicrophone.

That was very improper, Stokes said. I wouldve never done something like that.

He said hewas very upset about what happened and hoped he was not being blamed.Suchan emphasized that Stokes was "totally blameless."

He noted hes handled the sound engineering for the event since the late 1960s andhas his own company, Stokes Sound & Video Inc.

After the ceremony, Stokes said heapologized toKemterabout the loss in audio, but also told him, I had nothing to do with that.Cindy and Jim were the ones that turned your microphone off.

When his microphone was turned down,Kemtersaid, he thought there was a problem with the equipment. After the event, Stokes told me it was not a malfunction.

Kemtersaid he did not speak with Suchan or Garrison after the ceremony.

Inthe video of the programthat appears on the HCTV website,Kemtersmicrophone stops working in the middle of his speech. When Kemter noticesmembers of the crowd sayingthat they cant hear him, he taps the microphone, looks at someone off-camera and saysA.J., mic, referring to Stokes.

Kemterlooksat the crowd, smiles and explains that this was why he had asked attendeesto movecloserwhen he opened his speech. Hecontinues speaking,andafter about two minutes, the microphonecomes back on and stays on for the remainder of the speech. The audio of whatKemtersaid can still be heardduring the video because there was ashotgunmicrophoneonHCTVsvideo camera.

During the two minutes when the microphone was turned down, the recording of theprogram on HCTVincludes a disclaimer stating "Lapse in sound not [the] fault of Stokes & Sound Inc. or Hudson Community TV."

Reporter Phil Keren can be reached atpkeren@thebeaconjournal.com, or on Twitter at @keren_phil.

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Veteran's mic cut when he speaks of Black people's role in Memorial Day creation - Akron Beacon Journal

A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday ruled in favor of Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in his federal lawsuit against the Federal Elections Commission, striking down a limit on the amount of post-election contributions that may be used to repay a candidates pre-election loans.

Section 304 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 prohibits candidates from using post-election contributions to repay personal loans over $250,000.

Cruz, R-Texas, filed the lawsuit against the FEC after the $250,000 cap blocked him from receiving a full repayment for the $260,000 he loaned to his 2018 Senate reelection campaign.

CRUZ: CORPORATE AMERICA TRYING TO PUNISH ANYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH BIDEN AGENDA

The decision states that Cruz brought the suit "to invalidate and enjoin the enforcement of Section 304 and its implementing regulation."

"We find that the loan-repayment limit burdens political speech and thus implicates the protection of the First Amendment," the three-judge panel wrote in its opinion.

"Because the government has failed to demonstrate that the loan-repayment limit serves an interest in preventing quid pro quo corruption, or that the limit is sufficiently tailored to serve this purpose, the loan repayment limit runs afoul of the First Amendment," the judges wrote.

"We therefore grant summary judgement for Senator Cruz and his campaign," they wrote.

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Candidates for federal office require substantial funds to support their campaigns, the order stated, adding that funding may come from individual contributions, which are subject to a per-election cap.

"A campaign may repay a candidates loans using contributions received both before and after the election," the judges wrote.

Cruz, in filing the suit, said the FEC was violating the First Amendment, and said the loan-repayment limit "unconstitutionally infringes the First Amendment rights of Senator Cruz, his campaign, other candidates, and any individuals who might seek to make post-election contributions."

A spokesman for Cruz told Fox News that the "unanimous decision was a resounding victory for the First Amendment and Free Speech."

"The existing FEC rules benefited incumbent politicians and the super wealthy and they made it harder for challengers to run, and the court rightly struck them down as unconstitutional," the spokesman said.

Read the rest here:
Ted Cruz wins FEC lawsuit over $10K campaign loan - Fox News

Sporting royal blue vests, the Portland Peace Team has been among the crowds of various Portland demonstrations for nearly a decade.

At past LGBTQ Pride parades, climate change marches, rallies for immigrant and refugee rights and Black Lives Matter protests, the peacekeepers act as witnesses.

A neutral presence, members of the Portland Peace Team say they observe and monitor peoples behavior, listen for disagreements -- and sometimes, intervene.

Now, theyre spreading their philosophy of non-violence through a partnership with the city of Portland.

Earlier this month, Mayor Ted Wheeler announced his office would fund de-escalation training sessions to any Portlanders who want to learn peacekeeping tactics for protests, marches and rallies. Founded in 2012 by Tom Hastings, a conflict resolution professor at Portland State University, the Portland Peace Team is contracted to provide the training to free via Zoom, and the mayors office will fund the $50 per person.

The cap is $15,000 from the mayors office, which would allow 300 people to take the training. The Portland Peace Team consists of about a dozen members, and the training is not necessarily for recruiting members, but for spreading an anti-violence philosophy.

Portlanders are passionate about peacefully practicing their First Amendment rights, and many want to do their part to keep events safe, Wheeler said in a news release. This is an opportunity for community members to learn proven de-escalation techniques that help achieve that goal.

The initiative comes after a year of frequent protests and clashes between demonstrators and police that have often turned violent, and as Wheeler has condemned ongoing property damage in downtown Portland. In recent months, a small group of protesters clad in black has continued to protest and has often started fires, broken store windows, painted graffiti and targeted police facilities.

Asena Lawrence, a senior policy director for the mayors office who helped organize the partnership, said the city wanted Portlanders to express their First Amendment rights, because the goal is not to silence people, we just want grandparents and children to be a part of these movements and for it to be safe, so families can feel like they can demand change from the government in a way that will not escalate.

Not everyone feels like the the initiative is the right approach. As June marks one full year of racial justice protests in Portland, some on-the-ground protesters say they wonder why the city is asking for the public to learn de-escalation in an environment where police have been witnessed escalating violence at protests.

Why cant that money be used to expand the Portland Street Response Team or other social services? said Rabbi Ariel Stone, a leader of the Portland Interfaith Clergy Resistance, a group that has actively supported the Black Lives Matter movement.

The partnership between the city and the Portland Peace Team is not official, Hastings said -- its an experiment at this point, and not funded from the city budget. The seven training sessions, which are being conducted via Zoom through the summer, are a small effort to get back in touch with Portland demonstration culture.

Hastings argues that the small group with anarchist burn it down tactics dont represent the broader public opinion in Portland.

The idea is to make [protests] productive again, Hastings said. If the goal is to change public, corporate or institutional policy, some people are kind of stuck on stupid. Or, at least they are not being strategic in terms of getting something accomplished.

A long time activist and peacekeeper, Hastings said this wasnt the first time Portland has had an outside reputation for social unrest. In the early 1990s, he recalled former President George H.W. Bush and others referred to Portland as Little Beirut because of its history of protests.

Hastings said that during years of anti-Iraq war protests in the early 2000s, he and a handful of other pro-peace demonstrators confronted the groups who were perpetrating the violent elements of protests.

We didnt change their worldview or how they operated, but we did convince them to stop hijacking our large, family-friendly events, Hastings said. The dynamic now, though, is pretty dysfunctional. Twenty years ago, we did this work by devoting ourselves to going out and having conversations directly with organizers who used different tactics.

The gaping divide in demonstration culture is in some ways the definition of violence and the different belief in tactics.

To Hastings, violence is the threat or action of bodily harm. But he understands his definition is not shared by the greater Portland community.

But violence is in the eye of the beholder, and if the average citizen thinks graffiti and window-smashing is violent, the tactics then become counterproductive to the cause, Hastings argues. The general public will start to drive away, or even lean towards the other side.

In a recent Oregonian/OregonLive poll, 47% of residents who took the survey said they did not approve of how the city was handling protests.

We believe in nonviolence, so we dont carry weapons, Hastings said. So when we ask questions, its taken as a sincere inquiry. When police ask questions, people are scared of being interrogated. Its a whole different dynamic, which means that police need really radically different training in de-escalation than unarmed civilians.

Patrick Nolen (back left) Soriah Hamide (back center) with Jennifer Tinorio (middle left), Pat Adams (middle), Adam Vogal (right) and Tom Hastings (front center) attend a demonstration as peacekeepers.

Jennifer Tinorio, a member of the Portland Peace Team since 2014, used to be in law enforcement.

She was a border patrol agent in El Paso, Texas. She says it taught her skills that translate to peacekeeping: confidence, self control and a commanding presence. She can read body language and knows how to respond with compassion and empathy.

One of the things Ive learned in making that transition from law enforcement officer to peacekeeper is that cops automatically escalate a situation by carrying a gun, Tinorio said. Ive seen cops escalate unnecessarily, and Ive seen protesters do things to intentionally provoke or put a cop in a compromised position.

In the Portland Peace Team trainings first session in mid-May, 15 people from different backgrounds and generations joined the Zoom call, many expressing concerns about the shift in protest tactics, the damage to property downtown and the diminished image of Portland.

They meditated together and discussed nonviolent peacekeeping ideology. The training is centered around a global standard for de-escalation called the CLARA method (Calm and Center, Listen, Affirm, Respond, Add). CLARA was created in Portland in the early 1990s by Reverend Cecil Prescod, Bonnie Tinker, and Love Makes a Family, Inc.

Its rooted in the practice of empathy and understanding, of approaching people with different ideologies as humans first.

Methods like CLARA should be the first thing taught to law enforcement, Tinorio said.

Seeing humanity first should be the priority, but thats not what were taught in law enforcement, she said. Youre taught to secure the scene or put someone in handcuffs before youre taught to give them a glass of water.

But the Portland Peace Team is not trying to replace police, Tinorio said.

We dont expect people to come to a two hour Zoom meeting and then go to a black bloc protest and somehow stop violence, she added. But there are so many beautiful ways to practice non-violence and make an incredible statement.

Like on June 2, 2020, Tinorio said, when thousands of people laid on Burnside bridge for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in silence, in remembrance of George Floyd who was murdered by Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin.

Or in 2017, at a protest of former President Donald Trumps travel ban on predominately Muslim countries, when there was an approved protest at the Portland International Airport where the Portland Peace Team was invited. There were speakers, music, children dancing and, to everyones surprise, counter-protesters, Tinorio said. One of them pointed at a woman in a hijab and shouted into a megaphone she has a bomb, Tinorio remembered.

We stood in front of the man who was saying hateful things to the people on stage, so he couldnt get any closer, Tinorio said. Peacekeeping is about protecting the person who is being targeted by verbal violence, with the goal of keeping it from escalating to physical violence.

Protesters took to the streets of Portland, Ore., for the 11th consecutive day of demonstrations on Sunday, June 7, 2020. The calls for change started after the May 25 death of George Floyd.

Ariel Stone called the mayors partnership with the Portland Peace Team another big, ugly Band-Aid.

Its the police that should be trained in de-escalation because they are the ones escalating not citizens, Stone said. Telling citizens to take a de-escalation course is exactly the wrong focus because its not the citizens who are dangerous and its not addressing the real problems. Stop militarizing the police, and fund the social services needed in Portland.

The Interfaith Clergy Resistance is a group of Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Wikkans and other religious leaders who first organized in 2017 over their concerns of police brutality at gatherings during inauguration weekend. They were dismayed, surprised and outraged at the police tactics of rubber bullets, kettling, teargas, and beating people with sticks.

We wanted to pray not with just our words, but our bodies, because we care about the first amendment right to assemble and speak freely, Stone said. Were there because we believe that the holy voice that cries out for justice is in the streets. And confronting injustice sometimes means, as my Christian colleagues would say, You have to overturn the tables.

Unlike the Portland Peace Team, the clergy are not a neutral party, nor do they see themselves as peacekeepers, Stone said. They come in support of the movement so that when police or the mayor push a particular narrative about whats going on, we have credibility and authority, and can either vouch for that narrative or point out our different perspective.

And when it comes to Wheelers equivalence of broken windows and violence against human beings, the clergy group rejects that, Stone said.

We believe that there are people on the streets who are expressing a larger existential problem in our society. They are not the problem, they are a symptom of a much larger problem.

The de-escalating training initiative comes just a few weeks after Wheeler asked the public to help un-mask self-described anarchists after a group of about 80 people gathered in Northeast Portland and some smashed windows at the Blazers Boys & Girls Club, causing nearly $20,000 in damage to the club in early April. Wheeler asked residents to note the license plates of people who wear all black clothing and grab shields or weapons from their cars.

Former mayor Sam Adams, who now works for Wheelers office, said the mayors been consistent in asking the community to help solve crimes.

People have a right to be passionate and express their opinions, Adams said. Our job is to protect and promote that, but its also our job to address criminal acts.

--Savannah Eadens; seadens@oregonian.com; 503-221-3423; @savannaheadens

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City will fund training for Portlanders to learn how to keep the peace at protests - OregonLive