PDX Billboard blankets Portland with ‘Is your white fragility showing?’

An Oregon activist group has covered Portland in billboards it says the city needs to see, regarding “racial disparities in access to power structures.”

PDX Billboard Project wants to know: “Portland … Is Your White Fragility Showing?” regarding the 2016 and 2017 killings of residents Larnell Bruce and Terrell Johnson. The activist group has incorporated the question, among others, into 25 billboards aimed at the city’s population of roughly 640,000 people.

“We hope to demand public attention for the unjust nature of the deaths of Terrell Johnson and Larnell Bruce Jr. at the hands of law enforcement and white supremacists, and ignite change in policy and policing that criminalizes and victimizes certain members of our community, rather than protecting and serving all of us,” the group says on its website.

The awareness campaign stems from two events:

• Johnson was shot and killed by Officer Samson Ajir on May 10, 2017, after he threatened people with a knife. A grand jury ruled the next month that deadly force was justified as the officer responded to a 9-1-1 call.
• Bruce, 19, died August 13, 2016, after being struck by a vehicle operated by Russell Orlando Courtier. The suspect, who police say has ties to white supremacist groups, has pleaded not guilty to murder and intimidation. He has a Friday court appearance.

Colleen Hunt, a suspect who was with Mr. Courtier during his altercation with the teen, is also due in court on Friday. She has pleaded not guilty of intimidation, a hate crime.

“Hopefully, it starts the conversation again. It’s an ongoing conversation,” resident Robin Marks told a local Fox affiliate this week. “People need to be aware of, get the background of the black person’s story.”