Change by L.J. Breedlove

Author:L.J. Breedlove
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: new adult, Black Lives Matter, newsroom, Portland, protests, pandemic, African American protagonist, student journalism, university, college, campus
Publisher: L.J. Breedlove
Published: 2021-07-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

11:30 P.M. FRIDAY, JAN. 8, 2021, Eyewitness News newsroom — Cage was camped out on the fire escape, the door propped open with his camera bag, so he could watch the events below. The windows within the newsroom were too high — started about 4 feet off the floor, and he couldn’t get a good angle for his camera. The fire escape — the alarm had long been disconnected so it could be the smoker’s balcony for EWN staff — gave him the view he needed. It was too dark to get good footage at this distance, although he had the camera and he was filming the melee below under the streetlights. He wanted to cry. To rage? He didn’t know what he wanted. But the battle below was breaking his heart.

PSU students were using Blue Lives Matter and Stop the Steal picket signs to bash the heads of Black Lives Matter protesters. The protesters were giving as good as they got — better, Cage thought, since they had been in combat with Portland police for eight months. They’d learned a few things about fighting during that time. He could hear the sirens of the police cars headed this way. They didn’t seem to be in a hurry, he thought angrily. The confrontation had been going for nearly an hour. More. That was a lifetime in conflicts like this. And where were the campus cops?

He didn’t believe PSU students were even the majority of the Blue Lives picketers. He didn’t want to believe it, he conceded.

The fire escape door opened, and he looked up. Ryan. He sat down on the step above him.

“Chief Wilson said he’s on his way over,” he said quietly. “His officers are down below. He says it’s illegal for the protesters to block our entrance or to harass us as we come and go. And his officers will ensure that we’re allowed to leave.”

“And to come back tomorrow?” Cage asked.

Ryan was silent. “Theoretically? Yes.”

“Do his cops know about the back entrance?” Cage asked, still watching the fight through his videocamera.

“Cage?” Ryan asked. “What are you seeing?”

It was interesting that Ryan often phrased it like that, Cage thought. Not what was he thinking or even feeling, but what was he seeing? Perceptive bastard, he thought, echoing President McShane’s grumbles about Ryan Matthews. Although he usually used devious, Cage thought. Or manipulative. All of them accurate.

“Ryan, that conflict down there has been going on for over an hour, and the cops aren’t here yet? The campus cops are down by our door? Really? What the hell are they doing there? Why aren’t they stopping what’s going on? Why aren’t they arresting students? Where’s the Chief been?”

Ryan was silent.

“When did Will call the campus police to tell them what was happening?” Cage asked. “We’d just gone live, so 10 p.m.? It’s 11:30 p.m.? And we still don’t have a police presence? That never happens. Never. I’ve been at protests somewhere in this city almost every night for eight fucking months.

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