Portland Sees Calmer Night; No Ferguson Charges: Protest Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- The first protest in Portland, Oregon, since federal agencies agreed to pull back their agents was a more peaceful demonstration, the Washington Post reported. There have been protests daily in the city since the May 25 death of George Floyd. About 100 agents had been defending the federal courthouse, the site of large protests and the target of vandalism.

On July 29, Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced an agreement with the U.S. government to withdraw federal agents and to put state police officers in their place. On Twitter, Acting Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said the department would pull back “once we are certain the courthouse is safe and state leaders have followed through on the promise to (finally) partner with us to achieve peace through responsible policing.”

In Missouri, no charges will be brought against the former Ferguson police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager, in 2014, St. Louis County’s top prosecutor said Thursday. The announcement came after the prosecutor, Wesley Bell, conducted a five-month reexamination of the case, the Associated Press reported. Bell, the county’s first Black prosecutor, ran for office in 2018 with a vow for criminal-justice reform.

Colorado plans to declare racism a public health crisis, the Denver Post reported. Staff at the state’s health department pushed for the declaration as a response to protests and inequalities highlighted by the pandemic.

“When the color of your skin correlates with your well-being and longevity, that is a public health injustice that must be addressed,” the department said in an open letter on its website.

Key Developments:

• Winfrey Puts E.M.T. Killed by Police on the Cover of O Magazine
• Portland Leaders Hope for Less Violent Weekend
• ‘Emmett Till was my George Floyd’: John Lewis makes final rousing call for progress in essay
• Trump and Nixon, Law and Disorder
• Why Protest Tactics Spread Like Memes

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