First Friday March: Ashland, OR | US AS WE ARE | Sept. 4, 2020

A protest against "Oregon White Supremacy, Homelessness, & Child Sexual Assault" assembled in the Downtown Plaza of Ashland, OR on Friday. This, as usual, provided us the opportunity to speak to a broad spectrum of people. At the beginning in the plaza, we talk to Mmmingpha, who organized the protest. We speak with several of the protesters around him as well. Once a certain number of people had gathered, chanting begins lead my Mmmingpha and Tobiah Tillman. The crowd then marches to Railroad Park, where a vigil sight for victims of police violence had been set up (then torn down and built up again). Here there is more chanting, stories are told, and prayers for the victims, specifically Jacob Blake, are made. The march then heads for the HQ of the Ashland PD. While Tobiah is speaking, a person who opposes the protest shouts at the crowd from across the street. Shortly after, somebody saying variations of "all lives matter" and "no skin colors matter" enters the crowd, which generates more yelling before most of the protest crowd begins marching towards Garfield Park. We briefly interview the "counter-protester" before he goes to praise the police officers. The march loops around Garfield Park and then turns down Siskiyou/Main until arriving back at the Downtown Plaza. Here Mmmingpha leads more chanting before concluding the demonstration. Afterwards we get closing thoughts from Tobiah Tillman and then Mmmingpha.

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Timestamps of interviews & important moments:
00:00:16 - intro
00:00:49 - interview with Mmmingpha, protest organizer
00:05:14 - interview with Kyle, Ashland resident
00:07:50 - interview with Torin McKnight, protester
00:11:07 - interview with Clarence Carr, local activist and frequent Facebook streamer
00:19:04 - interview with Sylvia, visitor from LA
00:20:04 - Tobiah Tillman, protest co-organizer, speaks publicly
00:22:34 - Mmmingpha speaks publicly
00:25:05 - Mmmingpha and Tobiah play song over loud-speaker
00:28:17 - Mmmingpha speaks publicly
00:30:38 - Clarence Carr speaks publicly (criticizes Julie Akins)
00:36:42 - Tobiah Tillman responds to Clarence publicly
00:38:29 - marching begins
00:40:13 - march arrives at Railroad Park (vigil)
00:40:35 - Tobiah Tillman speaks publicly
00:43:36 - Mmmingpha speaks publicly
00:45:55 - Tobiah Tillman tells story about personal experience with police racism
00:47:30 - Mmmingpha talks about Hardesty Property occupation and asks for sign-ups to a planning council 00:49:04 - more public speakers from the crowd (names unknown)
00:53:32 - Mmmingpha speaks publicly
00:54:39 - marching begins again
00:55:22 - march arrives at Ashland Police Department
00:55:46 - Tobiah Tillman speaks publicly
00:56:53 - mild encounter between lone opposer of protest
00:59:38 - interview with another opposer of the protest, argument between him and protesters
01:03:57 - marching continues
01:04:10 - interview with Daniel Cornett, protester with guitar
01:06:22 - interview with Robert, protester who recently lost wife
01:14:18 - march arrives back at Downtown Plaza 
01:15:10 - Tobiah Tillman speaks publicly
01:15:40 - Mmmingpha speaks publicly
00:18:09 - concluding prayer by Mmmingpha
01:19:52 - somebody calls protesters “racist Cultural Marxists”
01:20:09 - interview with Tobiah Tillman
01:24:52 - interview with Mmmingpha
01:28:49 - conclusion

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