Another youth climate strike attempts to bring more attention to environmental issues

Leaders of the march present Mayor Wheeler with their demands. Photo by Eamon Walsh

Portland students from across the city walked out of class by the hundreds on Friday, Dec. 6, to participate in the latest climate change protest. The path of the march, which was led by local Pacific Islander and Indigenous youth, wound from Shemanski Park to Terry Schrunk Plaza.

“The seas are rising, and so are we!” chanted the students as they walked through the streets, which were partially blocked off by Portland police in order to keep protesters safe.

The Portland march was primarily organized by students from Lincoln and Roosevelt High Schools, but students in Lake Oswego and Beaverton also held their own demonstrations.

Many organizers held flags of their family’s place of origin, such as Micronesia, Palau, Fiji, and the Marshall Islands.

Others at Terry Schrunk Plaza, however, flew flags associated with left-wing movements, such as Soviet and Kurdish Flags, both of which have been used by Antifa. Antifa groups had a noticeable presence. Crowded together in a back corner of the park were members of the group known as “Black Bloc,” youth dressed in all black with their faces covered by bandanas and ski masks.

Organizers read a list of demands directed at city government before handing a physical copy to Mayor Ted Wheeler, who was present at the rally. The demands included a “climate test,” a procedure to measure how much any decision made by the city will affect the environment.

“This is something that requires more than talk. It requires action. That’s what I plan to do,” the mayor said to reporters after the rally.

As for concrete steps, Wheeler said that he planned to continue working with TriMet on the issue of free youth passes for Portland Public School students, and that there are other issues that he would talk about more in the future. However, the mayor said, “This isn’t about speeches, this is about action.”

“The science is very clear,” Wheeler told CatlinSpeak. “I don’t think we can ask kids on one hand to study the science...but when you get to the logical conclusion, we don’t want you to do anything about it.”

The leaders of the march, on the other hand, clearly were doing something about it.

Demonstrators at Terry Schrunk Plaza. Photo by Eamon Walsh.