PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Black Lives Matter protesters took to the streets of Lake Oswego Sunday afternoon for a march organized by Mom’s United for Black Lives.
The demonstration began with a meeting at Rossman Park around 11 a.m. Sunday before the group started to march at noon. Around 70 to 80 people marched through the town. The group was briefly met with some resistance from a handful of right-wing counter-protesters, but the event otherwise remained calmed.
Willie Poinsette, who is part of the Respond to Racism in Lake Oswego group that was founded in 2017, said she appreciated all the young people, as well as Demetria Hester and her group, Mom’s United for Black Lives, who came out in support of people of color in Lake Oswego.
“The thing that bothered me most: they called out the Proud Boys to come out. That tells you how much racism there is here in Lake Oswego and we have a big job ahead,” said Poinsette.
“It’s disturbing that still, Lake Oswego, it feels like property is more valuable than Black lives and that’s what’s disturbing,” said Hester. “That’s why we are marching, that’s why we are going to march for change here.”
At one point during the protests, tensions rose as a group of Trump supporters arrived and argued with some demonstrators from inside their trucks. Other than words exchanged, the march proceeded peacefully.
Poinsette said the march shows that people of color in Lake Oswego aren’t “sitting in a bubble,” and there are other people out there who support the movement within the city.
