PORTLAND, Ore. -- Last summer, it seemed like everyone in Portland was turning 15. Daria Allen's neighborhood buzzed with a steady hum of quinceañeras and parties. She joined a dance team, and signed up for extra dance classes at a local studio.As she turned 16 over the fall, she was ready to get
PORTLAND, Ore. — Last summer, it seemed like everyone in Portland was turning 15. Daria Allen’s neighborhood buzzed with a steady hum of quinceañeras and parties. She joined a dance team, and signed up for extra dance classes at a local studio.
“For me, being a young Black woman, I’m just focused on my life. That’s really why I’m out here,” she said. “I am just a Black girl trying to live.” She saw news footage of protests over Floyd’s death in Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. Then she found a livestream online that showed a protest in downtown Portland. She needed to go see for herself.
The first night that Allen was tear-gassed, the feeling reminded her of the sting she felt when she let shampoo wash into her eyes. The crowd faced off against a line of police officers and she yelled at them, furious and teary. More gas erupted and she ran. It seared into her throat and she coughed until she thought she might vomit.
Other neighbors were more supportive, and Allen ended up with about $300 to buy supplies. She got the mask and the goggles, but the helmet she bought did not quite fit. She went without one until another protester gave her a hard hat. Allen tries to avoid most of the dangers. She constantly skims through Instagram and Snapchat, watching videos of the protest to stay informed about what is happening in other parts of the crowd. It is not important to her to be at the front line of confrontations with police.
One night, after the mayor called on the federal officers to leave, Allen had to go home and admit to her grandmother that she had been hit by one of the agents as they cleared a street.She had noticed a woman standing in the street as the agents swept through, and called for her to get out of their way. She hesitated, waiting for the woman to respond, and an agent struck her hip with a baton, leaving a purple welt.
One night she met up with one of the friends she has made at the protests, a young woman who goes by the nickname Moon.
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