Portland camp imagines life without cops, features BLM coloring book

2022-07-23 03:55:10 By : Ms. Leah Li

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A far-left volunteer group in Portland, Oregon, is offering “a free, radical social justice camp” that has promoted Black Lives Matter-themed material, taught indigenous land maps and called for the abolishment of police in past summers.

Budding Roses is hosting the two-week camp that will explore “social justice issues, youth leadership and arts activism” for kids in fourth through eighth grades from July 25 to Aug. 5. The previous two years were held virtually — as youngsters discussed race, gender and youth activism in the wake of the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

The group’s curriculum for the coming session is unclear, but it’s 2020 camp curriculum featured a “Black Lives Matter At School” coloring book and a “What is Police Abolition” section that imagined communities without cops.

“How can we keep each other safe?” the group’s website reads. “What does a world without police look like?”

Budding Roses’ GoFundMe page says camp activities also include “talk about racism, gentrification, student activism, gender, climate change, and mental health – issues that Portland youth are already engaging with.”

The camp’s website contains information from a “Tear Gas for Portlanders” publication and usage of the irritant by Portland cops during the fervent summer 2020 protests.

“Learn about what tear gas is, how it was used in Portland, and ways to keep yourself safe if you get tear gassed,” the site states.

The camp’s 2020 curriculum also contained a section on teaching budding anarchists how protest using songs and drum.

“They are a way to express anger, our joy and our power,” according to Budding Roses’ website. “Write your own songs and make your own protest drum too!”

Radio host Ari Hoffman said he was shocked they didn’t offer a course on Molotov cocktails, but noted how the camp’s participants are being shaped into “little activists,” Fox News reported.

“What they do learn is how to hate the police,” Hoffman told the network Wednesday. “Your child, if they go to this Antifa camp, will be taught how to be a little activist. They’ll be taught how to deal with tear gas, how to protest – that’s what parents are sending their kids to.”

Campers were previously shown videos and materials detailing “White Supremacy Reflection,” an “Indigenous Land Map” and a history of “radical organizing” in Portland.

“Our goal was to promote collective problem solving on issues of policing, abolition, and community safety by providing supplies and guidance to our campers,” Budding Roses’ website reads.

The camp was founded as a project of Black Rose/Rosa Negra Anarchist Foundation, according to its website.

“We believe in empowerment through education, while also understanding that mainstream education often reproduces structural oppression and disempowers youth, particularly low income and youth of color,” the website continues.

Multiple messages seeking comment from Budding Roses were not returned Wednesday. The camp’s Facebook page, which was active earlier in the day, was no longer visible as of Wednesday afternoon.

Hoffman, an associate editor at The Post Millennial, claims Antifa and other far-left antifascist advocates have a firm grip on Portland since taking over the city during the BLM protests two summers ago.

“Portland right now is controlled by Antifa,” Hoffman told Fox News. “They defunded their police, you still have riots on a regular basis, you still have protests on a regular basis. And these people think that they’ve won.”