Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility

On July 23rd, 2020, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility offered this testimony on Police Accountability Legislative Concepts, with a focus on the health impacts of tear gas and flashbang or pressure grenades. We support the concerns raised in the joint testimony submitted by Unite Oregon, PAALF, Urban League, Rose City Justice, and other organizations.

The latest episodes of Prescription for Justice, hosted by Oregon PSR Advisory Board Member Dr. Martin Donohoe, are available online. Please check this page for future updates and episodes.

Oregon PSR understands that racism is a public health crisis, and that police violence is killing Americans, especially Americans of color, at an appalling rate. 

Structural racism and oppression of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities constitutes a public health crisis that overlaps with the epidemics of COVID-19, climate change, and violence. Police violence is a public health crisis that is the result of numerous policies and practices that uphold structural racism. 

Oregon PSR will continue our commitment to work towards equity and social justice, and will increase our participation in the Portland Police Reform Network. We also encourage our members and supporters to follow and support local Black-led groups that we partner with, which include, but aren’t limited to: the NAACP Portland Branch and Springfield/Eugene Branch, Urban League of Portland, Portland African American Leadership Forum, Coalition of Communities of Color, Unite Oregon, and Don’t Shoot PDX. 

We also encourage individuals to consider supporting these mutual aid resources which have been vetted by Don’t Shoot PDX.

Furthermore, Oregon PSR supports the demands of Portland African American Leadership Forum (PAALF) and Unite Oregon:

• Defund the police
  
  
• Reinvest into Black futures
  
  
• Protect communities from violence

Please take a moment to read through the visions and demands in full.

Tell the Portland City Council to support these demands.

Take Action by calling on the Portland City Council to cut funding for so-called "special units" that have been shown to be ineffective in the long term, target low-income and people of color communities for over-policing, and are part of the school-to-prison pipeline.

Oregon PSR Testimony on Police Accountability Legislative Concepts (6-23-20)

Read Oregon PSR's Statement on the Murder of George Floyd.

Read the American Public Health Association Statement Addressing Law Enforcement Violence as a Public Health issue.

"It has been shocking to see the clouds of tear gas filling American cities and images of peaceful protesters and bystanders caught up in them."

Portland police use tear gas against protesters in downtown Portland. Photo credit: KOIN-6.

We commend and support Portland City Commissioners Jo Ann Hardesty and Chloe Eudaly for calling for a ban on the use of tear gas on protesters demanding justice for Black Lives. We also applaud and support Commissioner Hardesty for calling for the removal of the Gun Violence Reduction Team (formerly known and still behaving as the Gang Enforcement Team), School Resource Officers, and Transit Police from the Portland Police Bureau's budget.

Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) mourns the death of George Floyd and condemns the practices of police brutality that historically and currently target Black communities and communities of color. 

Read Oregon PSR’s letter to Governor Brown detailing our concerns and about incarcerated Oregonians during the Covid-19 pandemic.

We know that young people are vitally important in creating a better world now and for future generations. For the twelfth consecutive year, we have organized the Greenfield Peace Writing Scholarship to encourage Oregon’s youth to reflect on some of the most pressing issues of our time. On Saturday, April 25th, we honored the 2020 high school student winners at our online awards ceremony. The theme of the evening was the intersection between climate justice and immigrant justice.

Oregon PSR and our community partners are in the process of planning the annual Portland-area memorial to the victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which this year marks the 75th anniversary of this tragic and preventable loss of human life. Please mark your calendars and plan to join us on Thursday, August 6th beginning at 6:00 PM for 75 Years Later Is Now: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, & Ending the Nuclear Threat, an online event honoring the lives lost to nuclear weapons and exploring how we, together, can create a world free from the threat of nuclear weapons.

Our guest speakers will include Tricia Pritkin, a Hanford Downwinder, legal advocate, and author; Harvey Thorstad, an Atomic Veteran and peace activist; Cathy Sampson-Kruse, a nurse, environmental activist, and member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla; and Oregon PSR Advisory Board members Chisao Hata, a Japanese American performing artist and community organizer, and Yukiyo Kawano, an artist and third-generation hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor). Our event emcee will be Kyle Iboshi, an investigative news reporter with KGW News.

Please join us as an Event Sponsor by contributing $75.00 or more today.

Join this online event on Thursday, August 6th beginning at 6:00 PM.

Join and share this event on Facebook.

Our speakers will explore the lasting dangers of nuclear weapons and nuclear injustice, discuss the importance of shifting our spending priorities away from these weapons and towards safe and resilient communities, and let you know how you can get more involved in the growing nuclear weapons abolition movement.

Your tax-deductible contribution makes it possible for us to organize this annual event and to educate, engage, and empower activism for a nuclear weapons-free world. Please give as generously as you can today to support this important work.

Thank you so much for your support, and we very much look forward to you joining us online on August 6^th.

Dear Oregon PSR Supporter,

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic is affecting us all. In my work as a surgeon, I am inspired to see the collective work of everyone in the hospital. Nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, x-ray technicians, house cleaners, and so many more are all pulling together to care for the sick and injured despite personal risk. Health care workers are putting the needs of our communities first, despite the challenges of limited supplies of personal protective equipment and a paucity of COVID-19 tests. Our entire community is stepping up and making major sacrifices by closing businesses and staying home from work. Community members are pitching in by making masks and gowns.