Hero stabbed to death while protecting his trans coworker

[Ivy]

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/07/hero-stabbed-to-death-while-protecting-his-trans-coworker/

 

This man was a hero.  It is unfortunate that things turned out this way.

But it is nice to see that there are cis people who will defend their transgender friends.

[Delcina B]

So tragic! The article is a touching tribute to his wonderful spirit, & his unconditional love!

[Kristen Sehr]

Damn. This horrendous crime really hits home with me. Because Portland is, or was, my hometown and the place I was exiled from. And where, long ago, I worked so hard to keep people safe. 

 

Such a tragic loss. And such an incredible demonstration of love by Colin. Whether one is religious or not (I still seek the fragments of my own shattered faith), what this appallingly violent event demonstrates so clearly to me is that:

 

Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.*

 

My heart goes out to Colin's family, and to the woman he laid down his life to protect. 

 

Ivy, thank you for sharing this story.

 

*Source: John, 15:13. My interpretation of the use of male pronouns here is that they are synonymous with females as well. Because women have certainly given their lives to protect as well.

[awkward-yet-sweet]

Clearly, Colin had both bravery and presence of mind.  Sad that he wasn't armed, as this story might have had a better ending if Colin had something besides his body to present towards the threat.

 

Unfortunately, Portland doesn't seem to be a safe place.  IIRC, the transportation department of my husband's company has it on the "red list" - convoy only.  

[Kristen Sehr]

41 minutes ago, awkward-yet-sweet said:

Clearly, Colin had both bravery and presence of mind.  Sad that he wasn't armed, as this story might have had a better ending if Colin had something besides his body to present towards the threat.

 

Unfortunately, Portland doesn't seem to be a safe place.  IIRC, the transportation department of my husband's company has it on the "red list" - convoy only.  

 

Portland does have some relatively safe places. And some that are not. The homeless issues there have spiraled out of control. The state-wide decriminalization of user amounts of hard street drugs (among them heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and probably fentanyl, too), has made things particularly dangerous in places. Especially among the homeless street population.  

 

Those hard drugs were decriminalized because the funding allocated for enforcement was to have been shifted into treatment programs. But those programs, last I knew from people still living there, somehow never materialized. Which has opened Pandora's Box. 

 

And the Portland police... a lot of their problems were brought on by themselves in the negative ways they chose to deal with the public over the years, especially the African-American and other minority communities. And particularly those suffering mental health & emotional disturbances.

 

Certainly not that all individual cops there are bad and not that none of them care. But the trouble they brought on themselves as an organization, and all of the violent protests (while Trump was in office) that targeted the police grinding on for so long*, turning parts of Downtown into a literal war zone, have taken their toll.

 

Last I knew, morale at PPB was near or at rock bottom and staffing took a hit, due to early retirements and resignations. So less people to do the job, slower response times, and more. And my understanding (although I do not know how accurate this info is anymore) is that a lot of those left have engaged in something of a work stoppage. Just letting things slide. Which the criminal element is taking advantage of. 

 

When it comes to the tragedy that took Colin's life... there is no excuse whatsoever that can ever make that right. But consider this. Sure adults have a right to enjoy themselves, and to frequent bars if they choose to. But alcohol and its lowering of inhibitions can make such places dangerous at times. And being trans right now is a hot button issue, being used by unscrupulous politicos to score political points across the land while also causing society to become polarized and fractured by the passionate hatreds they legitimize. And those can become unleashed.

 

I am not victim-blaming here at all. But this is the reality we as a society have been brought to. I also don't know if the suspect was intoxicated or not. Maybe that had nothing to do with it. But I have seen so much go so bad when alcohol is involved, that I just don't go to such places anymore. I'm getting too old anyhow.

 

Indeed, Portland can be a welcoming and understanding place for trans folks. And there are a lot of resources there. But like most everyplace else to varying degrees, there is also an undercurrent of predatory evil present. And perhaps no better personified than by the animal that did this:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Portland_train_attack     

 

The police, for better or worse, are what stands between such depravity and all the rest of us. When law enforcement becomes impeded to such a degree (for whatever reason), it creates a vacuum that the criminal element is only too happy to fill. And there are complexities in all of this that I've already gone on for too long in merely skimming the surface of here.

 

Its just so damned incredibly sad. All of it. 

 

*I really can't blame those protesting injustice. But the violence and destruction engaged in by some is abhorrent.

[awkward-yet-sweet]

@Kristen Sehr I have kind of a mixed view of police.  I grew up in a LEO/military family.  Both my father and my uncle became chiefs of the department in the city where I grew up.  Older brother is with the department now.  My husband is a reserve deputy in my county (and a Defense officer), and my sister is in training this summer to become a full-time sheriff's deputy.  There's good police, there's bad police, and many who simply put in the hours without trying too hard.  In other words...humans like the rest of us.  Of course, society is tempted to hate or idolize people in groups, when they are more fairly evaluated individually.  Human nature. 

 

The problem I see is that overall, people in the USA have decided that dealing with crime, protecting themselves, and protecting others is somebody else's job.  Just call 911 and sprinkle some pixie dust.  Afterwards, its "Thoughts and prayers."  This process has taken place across 120 years or more, so people haven't realized that large-scale uniformed policing is a relatively recent invention in world history....and that police are more for after-the-fact investigation and cleanup than for immediate protection.   Some of this change is due to the apathy of the population, some is due to government's desire to have a monopoly on the use of force. Neither factor is conducive to an orderly and peaceful society.

 

I believe we could have fewer police officers if we had a population that was more committed to personal responsibility and looking out for each other.  Rights come with duties, and as people have gotten out of the culture and habit of that responsibility, they are less prepared to meet the challenge when it happens.  Colin tried, and his effort is commendable.  It is sad that he lost his life, and I wish he could have had a better chance. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ivy]

10 hours ago, awkward-yet-sweet said:

I believe we could have fewer police officers if we had a population that was more committed to personal responsibility and looking out for each other. 

I think this is true also.  I don't understand why people have become so ready to resort to violence over trivial matters these days.  You see someone you don't like?  Don't pick a fight, just shake your head and go on about your own business.

 

10 hours ago, Kristen Sehr said:

I have seen so much go so bad when alcohol is involved, that I just don't go to such places anymore.

I do like to go for a beer or two on the weekends.  But it's during the day at a place were a lot of people are there for the food also.  I practically never go out at night.

[Kristen Sehr]

11 hours ago, awkward-yet-sweet said:

@Kristen Sehr I have kind of a mixed view of police.  I grew up in a LEO/military family.  Both my father and my uncle became chiefs of the department in the city where I grew up.  Older brother is with the department now.  My husband is a reserve deputy in my county (and a Defense officer), and my sister is in training this summer to become a full-time sheriff's deputy.  There's good police, there's bad police, and many who simply put in the hours without trying too hard.  In other words...humans like the rest of us.  Of course, society is tempted to hate or idolize people in groups, when they are more fairly evaluated individually.  Human nature. 

 

The problem I see is that overall, people in the USA have decided that dealing with crime, protecting themselves, and protecting others is somebody else's job.  Just call 911 and sprinkle some pixie dust.  Afterwards, its "Thoughts and prayers."  This process has taken place across 120 years or more, so people haven't realized that large-scale uniformed policing is a relatively recent invention in world history....and that police are more for after-the-fact investigation and cleanup than for immediate protection.   Some of this change is due to the apathy of the population, some is due to government's desire to have a monopoly on the use of force. Neither factor is conducive to an orderly and peaceful society.

 

I believe we could have fewer police officers if we had a population that was more committed to personal responsibility and looking out for each other.  Rights come with duties, and as people have gotten out of the culture and habit of that responsibility, they are less prepared to meet the challenge when it happens.  Colin tried, and his effort is commendable.  It is sad that he lost his life, and I wish he could have had a better chance.

 

I agree with all of this completely. To it I will add... some departments, like Portland's (and the last I knew of things there, maybe things have improved somewhat by now but I doubt it), have retained a culture that permits cover-ups and excessive use of force to be perpetuated by a minority of officers. Which negatively affects the entire organization.

 

And there is the unwritten code, never taught in any academy, that forces the majority of otherwise decent cops to go along with the bad ones (by at least looking the other way) or else be branded an untrustworthy snitch and have to pay that price. For ever coming forward in reporting the excesses witnessed that sometimes occur, or in trying to stop them at the scene. If that culture doesn't change then it goes right on perpetuating itself. 

 

An example from the past. Two off-duty Portland cops were at a Downtown Portland bar late one Saturday night. One got into a fight with another bar patron, a civilian. That officer beat the hell out of the victim. As other patrons tried to intervene, the other off-duty officer flashed his badge and credentials at the crowd and demanded they back off under threat of arrest. On duty, uniformed Portland officers were called to the scene. But they never filed any reports. They covered-up a felony level assault committed by the off-duty officer, and the blatant misconduct of his partner. And the whole incident was treated as if it has never happened. Command learned of it but kept the whole thing quiet, too. A total cover-up.

 

Then the victim shows up at the bureau to complain. Over an incident that had been made to disappear. Another Portland cop I won't name here, this one a good man with a conscience, leaked the story to the Portland media anonymously but his attempt to remain unidentified ultimately failed. And then most everybody (given the culture in place) knew he was a no good snitch and a rat. He got death threats and was harassed by his fellow officers. And he had to be transferred out of PPB entirely, over to the Marshal's Service (USMS) where he became a liaison between them and PPB (a solo assignment). Because his life was in danger from other cops. He could not even work at PPB anymore.

 

It is this same sort of culture that permitted George Floyd to be murdered by Minneapolis police, as one officer slowly and positionally asphyxiated him as the other officers looked on but took no effective measures to stop it. And they knew better. Different cops can come and go but if the culture does not change (and I mean meaningfully and not just window dressing), then it all goes right on happening. Over and over again. 

 

And in Portland's case, the rank-and-file police union (PPA) wields far too much influence and had been granted such a legal latitude that firing a cop (that it really badly needs to go) is next to impossible. That keeps all the bad apples in play. And the culture perpetuates itself.

 

Not every department is like this. But what really stuck me about it all is how similar it all is to criminals and their own organizations. Because they have codes about rats and snitches, too. That are just about identical to what goes in inside of some police agencies. How sadly ironic that, in the ways I have described, the police adopt the same codes of the criminals they themselves are sworn to protect the public from. 

 

It just never seems to end.

[Charlize]

  It is a tragedy.  I remember very early in my journey where gay bars which were at least once in relatively rough neighborhoods were the only places i felt "safe".  Alcohol was my "friend" then.  I got pushed around but never was injured.  Best to stay away from the bar scene, especially as alcohol wants me back as a thrall.   What a pity that a hero had to die.

 

  I don't know too much about the police but i can certainly see them protecting each other as any group would. 

 

 That being said that conversation really doesn't belong in this thread.  Perhaps if anyone needs to go on about the police, one way or the other, they should start a new thread after reading the Community Rules.  We are way off topic here.

 

Hugs,

 

Charlize

 

[Kristen Sehr]

10 hours ago, Charlize said:

  It is a tragedy.  I remember very early in my journey where gay bars which were at least once in relatively rough neighborhoods were the only places i felt "safe".  Alcohol was my "friend" then.  I got pushed around but never was injured.  Best to stay away from the bar scene, especially as alcohol wants me back as a thrall.   What a pity that a hero had to die.

 

  I don't know too much about the police but i can certainly see them protecting each other as any group would. 

 

 That being said that conversation really doesn't belong in this thread.  Perhaps if anyone needs to go on about the police, one way or the other, they should start a new thread after reading the Community Rules.  We are way off topic here.

 

Hugs,

 

Charlize

 

 

I'm sorry, Charlize. Of course you are right. This thread was started about and should have remained focused on the hero of this incident. I can see now how all the rest of this can detract from that. And it should not have.

 

I sincerely apologize. Thank you.