NPR claims that police declaring a riot could be 'rooted in racism'

According to NPR, calling the riots in Portland riots is linked to racism more than the actual actions taking place in the riots.

The NPR article goes on to claim that Oregon has racist roots, saying the following:

“Oregon began as a white only state. While it banned slavery at its founding, the state adopted strict Black exclusionary laws which had been in place in the territory for decades. The law banned Black people from living in the state or owning property.”

Speculation still exists as to whether that would be considered worse than being an actual slave state from a humanistic point of view.

The article goes on to say:

“On that mid-August night, in addition to yelling at police, a couple of protesters spray painted the building while others threw water bottles – protesters' weapon of choice from the start. Police said rocks were also thrown.”

Further investigation revealed that the folks at NPR are conveniently not admitting that there were other weapons involved in actions by people at the protests.This is coming from The New York Times, a media outlet known for, if anything, erring on being sympathetic to the protests or riots, as they may be called.

Attorney General of the US, William Barr, is quoted in the Times article as saying:

“...some protesters have thrown rocks, water bottles and fireworks at federal officers. Others have shone lasers at federal agents and at security cameras surrounding the building, in an effort to block their view of the crowd. Several fires have been set near the courthouse, which federal officials have said could spread to the building and harm the agents inside.”

The use of high-powered lasers during the protests has led to over 100 police officers and other law enforcement agents being injured, most of them with varying degrees of permanent damage to their eyesight.