A year ago this week, protests against racial injustice sprang up in cities nationwide, and Portland was no different. Iconic images of thousands of protestors marching across Portland bridges made national headlines and Portlanders took to the streets night after night. What’s the state of that movement in Portland today, and has the message been lost amid headlines about broken windows and vandalism. And what do protesters think of those headlines. Are they fair?

On the latest episode of Beat Check, Catalina Gaitán, a reporter for The Oregonian/OregonLive, tries to answer those difficult questions. Gaitán spoke with protesters and current and former politicians to take the pulse one year after George Floyd’s name suddenly became a national and international rallying cry. 

Gaitán was born and raised in Portland and covered the protests for countless nights as a freelancer, for the Portland Mercury and for The Oregonian. We talked about what sticks with them from those long tear-gas filled nights, how it’s fundamentally changed their memories of some parts of the city and much more.

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