The mayor of Portland, Oregon, is giving all city employees a week of “bereavement leave” after protests over police brutality and racism gripped the city for more than a week.
Mayor Ted Wheeler said he will instruct managers to approve the leave without question — and hopes private employers in the city will take similar action, a local CBS affiliate reported.
“As a nation and as a City we continue to grieve the recent loss of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, and others in the country and in our community,” Wheeler wrote in an email to city employees on Monday, according to the report.
“We acknowledge that Black employees are experiencing a collective grief and trauma coming from a culmination of oppression that is over 400 years old,” he continued.
“We’re witnessing a dramatic shift in our nation, one that is urgently charting the path forward for restorative justice, inclusion and understanding. I feel tremendous responsibility, as well as tremendous privilege, to be a part of this historic movement,” Wheeler added in the email.
Also on Monday, Portland’s white police chief stepped down from her post — and tapped a black police lieutenant to replace her.
Jami Resch, who had been the top cop in the city for less than six months, made the announcement in the wake of widespread criticism of the department’s handling of massive protests over the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.