November 23, 2003
(Updated) Is This A Racist Picture?
Note: This post has been updated. Any and all updates appear at the end of the original post.
According to some breaking news I missed yesterday from the Portland Tribune, "Local hip-hop fans are sharing cell phone photos that they say show Portland police committing an act of racism -- a large stuffed monkey doll placed behind a squad car's bumper guard."
According to [Calvin] Washington and others, hundreds of people were inside Ringlers when two police cars pulled up on Burnside and parked facing each other outside the restaurant and bar. Both were clearly visible through the large windows that face the street. The toy monkey was on the front of the car facing west.
"It just felt inciteful (sic). Everyone was shocked," said a white patron, who asked not to be identified. Washington said when he first saw the toy monkey, it was wet and leaning down over the top of the bumper guard. "An officer walked over and pulled its arms up and straightened it out," he said.
According to a KGW report this evening (not yet online), Police Chief Derrick Foxworth has asked the Independent Police Review to investigate the incident.
The photograph above is reportedly one of four shown to the Tribune which Washington took using his cell phone. "I went out and flicked a few pics. The police couldn't tell what I was doing because I had the phone in my hand. They couldn't tell what it was," the paper quotes him as sayng.
Update
I only just now received an email out of the Police Bureau dated today at 11:05 AM, saying that Chief Derrick Foxworth was making himself available to media for an hour and a half, on the subject of this incident. Since, for whatever reason, I only just now received this email, I'm out of luck. But it's safe to assume that comments from Foxworth should show up on this evening's newscasts, at some point.
Update
For what it's worth, KOIN's story says the officers were on the scene "reportedly to investigate a purse snatching."
Update
KGW has the response from the officers' side:
The stuffed animal that has spurred some African-American club patrons to level allegations of racism against the Portland Police Bureau was taken from an intoxicated man and was not racially motivated, said the Portland police chief.
The toy gorilla that was hanging from a squad car grill early Nov. 18 was "drenched" and "wet" and was described as "smelling like vomit and urine," said chief Derrick Foxworth on Monday afternoon.
The officer said on Monday morning he placed it on the grill because of the stench and because he feared it would contaminate items in the back of the car or in the trunk, Foxworth said.
The story includes a photo of the gorilla's owner, with said gorilla on his lap. At this point, this appears to be an unfortunate confluence of circumstances, but reportedly it will still be looked at by the Independent Police Review.
Comments (19)
Damon on 24 Nov 2003
Well, profiling and harrasment are one thing, but a stuffed animal? C'mon, we may be taking this a little too seriously as the big story here...
Jay on 24 Nov 2003
A stuffed animal on the front of a police car is a stuffed animal on the front of a police car...the racism lies not in the placement of and display of the stuffed animal but in the minds of those who are accusing it of being racist. Anyone who thinks that African Americans are being represented by a stuffed gorilla on the hood of a car really needs to look at their own views about African Americans...why is it even crossing their mind that a gorilla might be insulting to African Americans? Do the accusors think that African Americans resemble gorillas? Where is the racism really being projected from?
The One True b!X on 24 Nov 2003
That may or may not be the case, but to be true, you'd have to be asserting that the African-Americans present (or, rather, those represented in the article) have that view of African-Americans. Is that what you're saying?
Damon on 24 Nov 2003
Looking at the KGW story, which I hadn't before, I find Foxworth's explanation to plausible at least, if not exactly satisfying. I find statments like the one made by Mello Cee: "People ran up to me and said, ‘What are we going to do?’ And I was like, ‘It’s the police, what can we do?’", to be the most disturbing part of the Tribune's story. If people present at Ringlers felt something truly unjust was happening, why not confront the officer(s) about it? It worries me that people are afraid to deal directly with and question police officers. How could the people present know the intent of a questionable action without talking directly to the officer?
KmikeyM on 24 Nov 2003
I am really surprised how Jay and Damon can just dismiss this as "What is the big deal?"
You think this behavior is not a blatant message being sent by the police to the black community? If you are so painfully ignorant that you don't get the meaning of the gorilla, it doesn't take much web research to find that racists have long used words like coon, ape, and monkey to belittle and marginalize black people.
A blatant racist display by the police of our city so outrageous it would be unbelievable without the photos... it makes me feel sick and scared.
myrln on 24 Nov 2003
The last comment is right on the money. And sure...go confront the officer. Any recollection of a recent shooting by a police officer in Portland? That suggestion is either hopelessly naive or completely out of touch with the reality of minority and police relations.
Damon on 25 Nov 2003
I don't mean to dismiss this issue completely, just to understand what harm was intentionally or unintentionally done.
The police chief (an African-American man) claims that the placement of the stuffed animal (photo of the owner in the KGW article) was not intended to send any racist message. He is relying on the word of the officers present at the scene, and I am inclined to trust his judgment that they are telling the truth. If you doubt him, that is another thing. But he and the officers involved claim it was a misunderstanding.
Michael Burton on 25 Nov 2003
Um, ya. You know - there are plenty of actual horrific events that go on in this city, in this country, and in this world to not be spending effort on a stuffed animal in the grill of a squad car. I think this has more to do with "white guilt" than anything else. Oh, and there is a picture - so people can rally around and say "That's wrong!" Please - if you want to do something try reading the text of the new medicare bill and see how the entire country has just gotten bilked at the hands of the pharmaceutical industry. But you might not have noticed because you were in the street rioting about a stuffed gorilla…
The One True b!X on 25 Nov 2003
I like how if some urban black people were complaining about something, we apparently have to use the term "rioting." That's charming.
max on 25 Nov 2003
If the PDX police department didn't kill so many people (of color oftentimes) perhaps people would be lenient toward them. Portland has a horrific police brutality problem and people of color oftentimes see the police as the enemy--I know I do. I'm sorry this happened, but the police dept. needs to improve itself so as not to be so readily attacked.
Thanks
K on 25 Nov 2003
My bro. bartends at Ringler's, and was there on said night. According to him (and he has an interview lined up with KATU today), police presence has been on the rise over the past few months, though no major incidents have occurred. These days, the feeling of police intimidation on Mondays at Ringler's is palpable; they regularly case the joint in patrol cars, and have taken to putting foot cops out front.
If you ask any hip hop fan in Portland, the cops are looking to shut down the latest big hip hop venue. If they can't do it through their authority, they'll do it through tactics, such as intimidation and pressuring McMennamin's upper management (who met with police long before the monkey and long before any incident occurred).
Let's be honest: large gatherings of black people still intimidate white folk, whether they want to admit it or not. And hip hop still hasn't found a comfortable home in Portland.
KmikeyM on 25 Nov 2003
Of course the officers apologized and of course the police chief is downplaying the significance of this event.
Let's look at what was reported:
Question 1. Why were the police there?
; says: 2 cruisers pulled up reportedly to investigate a purse snatching
Tribune says: a call of a disturbance
The DJ says: police frequently park in front of Ringlers during the event, he considers it a form of harassment. Officers used to park their cars outside the former Balzers nightclub in Old Town as a form of intimidation. “They’d just sit in their cars and type stuff into their computers, like they were saying, ‘We’re watching you,’” he said. “This kind of stuff has got to stop. That’s just blatant. It’s an insult, but it can also be taken as a threat,”
A formal investigation will now determine why police were near the club.
Answer: The police have a history of treating gatherings of black people with suspicion and distrust. We have two reported reasons for them showing up.
Question 2. Why was the toy gorilla on the front of the car?
The officer say: it smelled like vomit and piss, they didn't have time to return it.
The owner of the toy said: it doesn't smell bad, maybe a bit like cigarettes
At the scene the officer explained the toy was part of a toy drive
Later they explained it belonged to someone they had picked up and dropped off (why hadn't they kept the man with his property?)
A witness says “An officer walked over and pulled its arms up and straightened it out,” (why make a point of "arranging" it?)
Answer: The police offer different explanations of the toy, and also describe the characteristics differently than other witnesses. Why isn't there a simple explanation?
Question 3: What will happen to the officers?
Answer: Nothing.
Question 4: Why are people intimidated by the police?
Answer: see question 3.
Damon on 25 Nov 2003
Not to drag this debate on any longer, but, see an old Willamette Week article about the shutdown of Balzer's, for some more background on the issues. Balzer's also featured Mello Cee as an MC until its close: Last Call For Balzer's
If there is a perception that the Portland Police are unfairly scrutinizing people at Ringlers, then I agree that the Police need to address this and do what they can to stop it.
Brad on 26 Nov 2003
What I want to know is, why are the racist toy companies allowed to continue making stuffed monkeys? Apparently to some people like KmikeyM, these are as much a symbol of racism as a confederate flag. But no one has demanded that the production of stuffed monkeys cease. Have there been no million man marches outside of the stuffed monkey makers? Why not? Don't you see that the production of these is just an slap in the face of the black community?
As for KmikeyM's second post, the sleuth has a few questions that need to be answered
Question 1: (the rational persons answer) So the cops hang out by the place from time to time. Do you think they don't hang outside of bars that are frequented by more of a white clientele? Yes they do, I have been to plenty like that. If its a place that has police called to it often, odds are good that the cops will check it out more frequently. If its a quiet place that never has any disturbances, it probably won't get checked out too often. Pretty racist logic, huh?
Question 2: So you are saying the owner of the stuffed monkey, described by the police as "intoxicated", said it smelled "a bit like cigarettes" while the police said it smelled like booze and vomit. Maybe you have never touched the stuff, but from personal experience, when you are intoxicated, you might very well miss the smell of booze, seeing as how its ALREADY ON YOUR BREATH. And if if it smelled of vomit, the owner probably had that on his breath as well.
Then you question why the cop said it was part of a toy drive. Do you know for a fact which cop was being spoken to? Was it the cop from the offending car? The cop from the OTHER car at the scene, that may not have known the situation? Or was it some other cop? It would seem to me that the very fact that the gorillas(ooops, I need a PC term to refer to these large animals, I don't want to be racist) owner was there, would just point to some simple initial miscommunication that got sorted out eventually. As to why the cop straightened the monkey out, look at the picture. It would appear that the monkeys arms were over the front bar, and the rest of it was behind the bar. The officer may have merely been checking to make sure that the monkey did not become dislodged.
Question 3: The officers actions are going to be reviewed by the Independent Police Review. They will determine what needs to be done. The very fact that such a trivial event has been turned over to them is nothing short of embarassing. When the police are constantly being sued for racism, they can't do their real job:writing traffic tickets, taking reports on real crimes, and eating donuts.
Cowboy Kahlil on 01 Dec 2003
If the Portland Police Dept did not already have a well-established record of racist behavior, it'd be a non-issue. But it is an issue because of their poor record. Which is how it should be.
And since the gorilla's owner denies the stench, it should remain a suspect incident. I hope the Chief monitors the officers involved in the future; it's the only way to ride herd on this sorta thing, before it grows.
Alwin Hawkins on 01 Dec 2003
Opossums, not gorillas, are the intimidation animal of choice of the Portland Police Department. And whatever else they may be, they are at heart conservative traditionalists. They wouldn't change their totem willfully.
When they have 'possums on the grill, then we can start to raise a fuss.
KmikeyM on 02 Dec 2003
In response to Brad's questions:
A stuffed Gorilla is not inherently racist, but when displayed on a police car with lights flashing in front of a crowd of black people, it can be.
1. You imply there is a higher than normal number of disturbances at Ringlers, but can you prove this? I don't think you can, and yes, I think to assume that because a place has more disturbances because black people go there is racist.
2. Why did the police even keep the gorilla? Shouldn't they have given it to the people holding the man in custody? They claim they wanted to "return" it, but I question why they even had it if they didn't have the owner. (and it's a drunks word against the cops on the smell, and I believe the drunk)
The owner of the toy was not present, which is why it makes NO SENSE that they had possession of the toy.
3. The IPR is a useless and ineffective organization. Look at their website, the latest minutes posted in is July, they have no disciplinary power over officers, and Copwatch has questioned the government connections of the IPR members.
And you mention traffic tickets, which is where another race-based trend has been showing up in the Portland Police Department: Officers who pull over black drivers and but mark their race as "White". Oh yeah, Portland Police, real trustworthy...
Tressa on 30 Mar 2004
I just can't believe that after all these years of Portland police being outright with their hatred against minorities that there is still just chat and no action. I am a Portland native and yes the Police love to intimidate with Opposums cause they laid em down in front of my grandmothers black owned restaurant when I was a kid. I have lived in Texas for 7 yrs and still have not dealt with the kind of hate that is in that town. Oregonians should be ashamed of themselves cause everyone else in this Country knows nothing of Oregon except for the racism. I believe the real Gorillas are those running the state or as it says on the side of the squad cars protecting and serving the continued effort to keep blacks down.
Tressa on 30 Mar 2004
I just can't believe that after all these years of Portland police being outright with their hatred against minorities that there is still just chat and no action. I am a Portland native and yes the Police love to intimidate with Opposums cause they laid em down in front of my grandmothers black owned restaurant when I was a kid. I have lived in Texas for 7 yrs and still have not dealt with the kind of hate that is in that town. Oregonians should be ashamed of themselves cause everyone else in this Country knows nothing of Oregon except for the racism. I believe the real Gorillas are those running the state or as it says on the side of the squad cars protecting and serving the continued effort to keep blacks down.