The Portlandia statue at the Portland Building. Three local columnists from the Gray Panthers claim that policies of the Portland City Council and Portland State University stifle free speech. (Courtesy Photo / KOIN 6 News)

On May 2, a community gathering with both elected speakers, and organizers, held at the Portland Building, was disrupted. Some of the speakers included U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Oregon), plus county commissioners Nafisa Fai (Washington County) and Meagan Moyer (Multnomah County).

As it turned out, Portlandia protected free speech and free assembly — while the Portland city council did not.

Evidently, a complaint surfaced against some of the speakers — even though Room 108 in the Portland Building had been reserved for the Harm Reduction Community Summit — for four months, since January, by Portland Gray Panthers.

The two-hour community forum dubbed, “The Fight Back — Protecting Our Communities” was then held at the overhang, a few feet down the hallway on the first floor —  ‘protected’ by Portlandia on the roof of the veranda.

KOIN 6 News’ intrepid reporter, Ariel Salk, and her cameraman filmed for the first hour and aired interviews in a segment that night with Congresswoman Dexter, Jamal Dar, executive director of the Somali nonprofit AYCO, and many others.

What gives?

No notice was ever given by city council reps that there was an alleged problem. Folks showed up with four boxes of supplies at 10 a.m. that Friday morning.

Room 108 was also the location for the first annual community summit for Harm Reduction, held on Feb. 14, 2024, and filmed by GalPal Media videographers.

Not only did mayoral candidates Keith Wilson and Carmen Rubio speak at that summit, a phalanx of candidates also spoke, from the vast pool of candidates running for the 12 seats on the new city council, after charter reform and ranked choice voting were approved by Portland voters.

Even Simone Rede, Portland’s city auditor, spoke (and was taped) at the February 2024 gathering.

Again, what gives?

City officials told us that when there is a complaint, and only then, is there an investigation, or in this case a de facto “eviction” down the hallway from Room 108 to the Portland Building veranda, where this year’s forum occurred.

No written complaint was found, but it was stated that a complaint had been filed by one of the PPS school board candidates (in the May 20 Special Election), saying that the community forum was somehow “unfair.”

All PPS school board candidates were invited to forums, many times. One incumbent, who wound up losing in the May 20 PPS election, did not respond to invites or speak at forums.

On May 20, four women candidates were elected to the school board: incumbent Christy Splitt, Rashelle Miller, Virginia La Forte and Steph Engelsman. All four talked with Panthers at election forums.

Disruptions and or attempted disruptions are things Panther organizers have dealt with in the past.

At Portland State University, a long-planned conference organized by Panther volunteers, “Darfur, Sudan and Genocide,” featured 12 workshops and keynote speaker Mohamed Yahya from the Masseleit tribe in Darfur.

When PSU officials alleged a “process rule” violation, the 12 room reservations and Mohamed Yahya as keynoter were cancelled. However, with a bit more lead time, Panther affiliate PSU Progressive Student Union was able to fix this. Having helped elect Erin Devaney and Molly Woon as ASPSU student body president and vice president, the conference simply re-reserved all 12 rooms via ASPSU, and the conference happened!

Mohamed Yahya was able to give his keynote address in the PSU Multicultural Center.

Sadly, we see that in Darfur now, in 2025, remnants of the Janjaweed militia again are committing genocide against the Masalit tribe and other groups.

The May 2 gathering (under Portlandia’s watch) addressed problems created, for workers and the world, by the second Trump administration. Excellent speakers included: Jamal Dar, executive director, AYCO; U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter, County Commissioners Nafisa Fai and Meagan Moyer; Molly Hogan with Welcome Home Coalition; Leah Petit, a USAID worker fired by the Trump administration; Steph Engelsman and Virginia La Forte, PPS school board candidates; Dr. Sharon Meieran, a former county commissioner; Michael Sonnleitner, PCC board member; Cecil Prescod, UCC Ainsworth and KBOO host; and Marilyn Keller, M114 chief petitioner and Augustana Lutheran

Organizers were told that “inviting all candidates for an office” was the standard, and organizers met that standard.

Nationally, the attacks by the Trump-Musk-DOGE outfit has targeted workers, health care, and many domestic and international U.S. government programs and policies.

The highlight of the May 2 summit was Leah Petit, who was fired by Trump as a USAID worker, specializing in vital programs to combat HIV deaths in countries in Africa. Leah was invited to talk in part because Gray Panthers itself was founded, circa 1970, by Maggie Kuhn, who was fired from her job for allegedly being “too old” by her Presbyterian Church, at age 65. One Panther project is WRAP, or the Worker Rights Action Project.

Luckily, as speaker after speaker spoke “truth to power” at the Portland Building veranda, Portlandia stood guard on the veranda roof, protecting both free speech and free assembly.

Meaghan Wilkinson, Brooklyn Sherman and Lew Church are organizers with Portland Gray Panthers.