Fight The Power, Do No Harm: The Story of the Black Cross Healthcare Collective

There were lots of opportunities in the late 90s in Portland Oregon and the Pacific Northwest to get pepper sprayed by the police. Before the World Trade Organization protests took place in Seattle in 1999, there wasn’t an effective antidote to pepper spray that was well known, easy to use on the street, and affordable.

The Black Cross Healthcare Collective was a group of health care workers who lived in Portland, Oregon. They formed after the WTO protests of 1999, after seeing a need for medical care that specifically served people who were attending direct actions, demonstrations and political protests. 

In the early 2000s they pioneered community-supported trials to find an antidote to pepper spray. These trials resulted in an antidote that has been used in street protests internationally. The collective disbanded as a medical group in 2005 or so, morphing into the Black Cross Social Club. 

 “Fight the Power, Do No Harm" is the story of the Black Cross Health Care Collective.  This audio documentary was produced by Jodi Darby, Honna Veerkamp, and Erin Yanke. April 27, 2024