A black police officer in Portland criticized the Black Lives Matter movement, arguing that it is not focused on making life better for black people but rather about white people telling black people what to do.
“Once again, you have a privileged white person telling someone of color what to do with their life,” nine-year Portland Police department veteran Jakhary Jackson said earlier this month. “And you don’t even know what I’ve dealt with, what these white officers you’re screaming at have dealt with. You don’t know them. You don’t know anything about them.”
Jackson explained that the actions undertaken by many Black Lives Matter protesters are the same racist tactics used against black people throughout history.
“I’ve seen folks that really do want change like the rest of us that have been impacted by racism. And then I got to see those people get faded out by people who have no idea what racism is all about, never experienced racism, that don’t even know that the tactics that they’re using are the same tactics that were used against my people,” he said.
“They don’t even know the history,” he continued. “They don’t know what they’re saying. Coming from someone who graduated from PSU with a history degree, it’s actually frightening. They don’t even know what they’re even doing. It’s divisive. It’s hurting the community.”
Jackson said his superiors don’t hold him back from speaking out, but white activists at events tried to silence him or prevent him from speaking with black protesters.
“That was the most bizarre thing,” Jackson said. “Honestly, every time I try to have a conversation with someone that looks like me, someone white comes up and blocks them and tells them not to talk.”
Jackson said that his cousin, who is also black, went to a Black Lives Matter protest and ended up leaving because he was uncomfortable with the messaging.
“He left, and he said, ‘This has turned into something else. This is weird,’” Jackson said. “It’s been very eye-opening. It says something when you’re at a Black Lives Matter protest, and you have more minorities on the police side than you have in a violent crowd, and you have white people screaming at Black officers.”
Jackson added that he was attacked during a recent protest and struck with a full beer can and a frozen water bottle. He added that he was touched when he saw two black men cleaning the streets after the protest later that night.
“They had two garbage bags, and they were just running and cleaning up. A few of us from my team went over and I had to shake their hands. I was so moved by that and so impressed. They said, ‘We’re from here, this is our city. I don’t understand why people are coming here and destroying it.’”
Jackson joins several other black voices across America, including Marcellus Wiley, Jason Whitlock, Carol Swain, and Niger Innis, who have rejected the stated goals and tactics of the Black Lives Matter and denounced the group’s leadership’s self described Marxist ideology.
Racial tensions and the relationship between the community and the police has reached a boiling point in Oregon over the last few days. Over the weekend, Black Lives Matter rioters set a city police association building on fire, vandalized police cars, and attacked police in an effort that acting Deputy Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli described as “terrorism.”
