Remembering May 11, 1970 And Moving Forward
In May 1970, President Richard Nixon’s expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia and the killing of four young people following an antiwar rally at Kent State University precipitated a nationwide student strike, soon joined by activists at Portland State. After a week of demonstrations and activities around the university, Portland officials ignored a City-authorized permit and dispatched riot police to the Park Blocks to take down the strikers’ hospital tent. When, in an act of non-violent civil disobedience, more than a hundred students and faculty defied an order to disperse, they were violently attacked, leaving 31 injured. The following day both strikers and their opponents united four thousand strong in a protest march to City Hall. The Seventh Day, a prize-winning student film, documented the story of the Portland State strike, as did a booklet produced by participants and organizers and photos from then PSU Vanguard photographer, Tom Geil.
Since 2020, members of the ad hoc May 11th Committee have raised funds for a plaque to commemorate this chapter in the history of the university and the city. The installation has been designed by John Laursen, 2020 recipient of the Governors Arts Award and one of the creators of the Holocaust Memorial in Portland’s Washington Park. The May 11th Committee seeks to add a unifying voice to the efforts of young people and others in the local community, the nation, and across the world who use democratic methods to sustain humane social values and practices.
The ceremony will include the dedication of a plaque commemorating the encounter on Portland’s South Park Blocks between peaceful student protesters and the Portland Tactical Police Squad. Several participants and supporters of the strike will offer brief reflections on the experience, with recorded popular music of the period setting the mood.