PORTLAND, Ore. — During the conversation about George Floyd's death in Minneapolis Police custody after an officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, KGW is sharing voices from people of color to help expand that conversation.
"Frankly, it is difficult for me to talk about this," Oregon state senator Lew Frederick said during a news conference Monday. "It is time. We have had enough."
Frederick joined Governor Kate Brown and other local and law enforcement leaders to discuss protests and pain people are feeling.
Frederick described how he has been a part of that conversation for decades.
"The last time I marched with Dr. King, I was about 16 years old," he described. "We had people on the side of the street yelling at us and throwing things at the time. Some things have changed, but we're here because some fundamentals have not changed."
Portland City Commissioner Joann Hardesty echoed that sentiment during the news conference.
"People have had enough of the inequality that African Americans experience in this country," Hardesty said.
Sen. Frederick described some of his firsthand experiences in Oregon.
"It has been about five years since I was stopped in front of my house and asked if I was lost in Irvington where I've lived since 1977," Frederick recalled. "[And] I had a King City police officer pull a gun on me while I was in a Channel 8 news car back in the early 90s. The photographer who was the driver suddenly saw the barrel of a gun right across his face pointed at me."
He explained the trauma of those types of experiences and news of other black Americans, like George Floyd, being killed by police leave an emotional scar.
"I still wonder whether I'm going to die when I see a police car behind me," Frederick said.
Others acknowledged the experience for people of color in Oregon can vary.
"Being a person of color in America is tough at times no matter what," Portland resident Armani Khoury said.
Khoury reached out to KGW by email as a viewer, hoping to share his experience as a person of color. He lived in Canada, St. Louis, Chicago, Kansas City, and Columbus before relocating to Portland several years ago.
"[In Portland], people don't stare at me, don't ask me where I'm from, what's your background, don't call me racist names," Khoury said, before comparing his past homes. "Cops asked me before, 'are you citizen?' In Portland, a cop never said anything bad to me...You don't feel out of place as a person of color."
However, Sen. Frederick said there is still a long way to go to help others facing racial inequity by police.
He announced Monday, he plans to introduce a series of about 15 bills addressing arbitration and police training, psychological recruitment, and accountability.
"Bad apples often spoil because of the way they're packed—the environment they're placed in. The mold that's already there," Frederick said.
He said changing the system is crucial.
"So that we are no longer dealing with the folks who slip through the cracks and don't understand the basic concept of respect for one another."