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Kaia Sand

@mkaiasand.bsky.social

3.4K followers 2K following 240 posts

Publishes unwantedpersons.com on alternatives to police, care-focused first responders. Also Tracking the Jackboot on authoritarian policing. Poet & artist. Bookings @ kaiasand.net

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Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · Jun 24

My deep-dive on alternatives to police — and what we need to fight for — in the @thenation.com

The Nation Magazine @thenation.com · Jun 24

CAHOOTS, a decades-old crisis-response program based in Eugene, Ore., may die, but the alternative-to-policing movement it helped inspire is stronger than ever.

This Organization Proved There Was an Alternative to the Police. Now It’s Being Defunded.

In Eugene, Oregon, CAHOOTS, a decades-old crisis-response program, may disappear, but the programs it inspired have spread across the United States, including to nearby Portland.

www.thenation.com

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Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 11h

I write unwantedpersons.com to describe the growing movement to build 911-dispatched alternatives to police, but I also write — sigh — its opposite, what I call Tracking the Jackboot. Authoritarian policing.

Unwanted Persons | Kaia Sand | Substack

There’s a hopeful story to tell about alternatives to police, and Kaia Sand sends dispatches to keep you posted. Read it here first while Sand writes a book, as well as columns and essays for Nation, ...

open.substack.com

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Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 11h

Protestors, elected leaders and grassroots organizers alike are doing their best to kick a crumbling hole into that authoritarian folly so we can see right through it.

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Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 11h

You know that idea of an architectural folly? A building that *looks* like it has a purpose but it’s false? Trump,
Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller are building a false reality, brick by brick, pretending Portland is “war-ravaged” with “street terrorists” …

Folly - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 11h

Seriously, I couldn’t be prouder by a city councilor than I am to be represented by @councilormorillo.bsky.social I trust her to be an ethical steward of power.

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Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 11h

One of my favorite moments of creative resistance was when @councilormorillo.bsky.social brought her hilarity, conscience and brilliance to @cnn.com and she delivered deadpan … (well — you’ll have to watch it! 🙂) youtu.be/EC1uIobmxvk?...

CNN anchor can't help but laugh as Trump Cabinet member brutally mocked by official

YouTube video by Nicole Charky-Chami

youtu.be

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Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 11h

The blow-up animals. The “emergency” world naked bike ride. A “Paws off Portland” party. Elders w/ flowers. It all creates visual irony, contrasted with the Trumped-up “war ravaged city. Visual irony, a tool of the comedians, is what @jimmykimmel.com is after when he seeks videos #ShowMeYourHellHole

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Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 11h

When Soviet tanks invaded 1968 Prague, Czech resistors painted over traffic signs. “The tanks wander directionless through the streets for hours, then days, and then for the rest of the occupation, because all the maps in the city are destroyed as well,” writes Paul Chan in @artforum.com. Dissents

FEARLESS SYMMETRY

LET’S SET THE SCENE. It’s 1968 in Czechoslovakia. Activists in the Communist Party take over and begin to enact a series of economic and cultural reforms to try to revive…

www.artforum.com

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Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 11h

The philosopher Jacques Rancière coined the term “dissensus” to describe when we create a rupture in the status quo, the “machine that makes the ‘state of things’ seem evident, unquestionable.” Dissensus helps us question that machine of authoritarianism. @artforum.com

ART OF THE POSSIBLE: AN INTERVIEW WITH JACQUES RANCIÈRE

Fulvia Carnevale and John Kelsey

www.artforum.com

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Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 11h

I celebrate Portland frogs. And sharks and hippos and dinosaurs and bunnies. The proliferation of blow-up costumes — ballooned into puffiness using tiny fans — offer an adorable clumsiness, parroting human movements in ways that are both human and not-human, delightfully. This creates dissensus …

A blue inflatable shark and a purple inflatable hippo stand in front of the ICE building in Portland

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Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 11h

🧵 Art & Protest. The Art of Protest. Faced with authoritarian uses of police and propaganda, we are — as the great Stereolab sang — “left to all the creativity we must find.” Portlanders are certainly finding it.

Three joyful instances of Portland resistance

Frogs and dogs and bicyclists — oh my!

open.substack.com

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PDXToddDiskin @pdxtoddiskin.bsky.social · 13h

"I trust her to be an ethical steward of power."

Me too.
I'm not in your district, but incredibly grateful you're a leader in our community.

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pnwpolicyangel aka Angelita 👼 @pnwpolicyangel.bsky.social · 14h

😭❤️😭❤️😭❤️ thank you for putting your trust in me I will do everything I can to stop this with every tool available to me

Jules Boykoff @julesboykoff.bsky.social · 15h

♥️ 3 joyful instances of Portland resistance to federal overreach, by @mkaiasand.bsky.social: 1. the proliferation of blow-up costumes: puffy frogs, sharks, dinosaurs; 2. Portland City Councilor @pnwpolicyangel.bsky.social!; 3. Glorious artistic dissensus♥️
unwantedpersons.substack.com/p/three-joyf...

Three joyful instances of Portland resistance

Frogs and dogs and bicyclists — oh my!

unwantedpersons.substack.com

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Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 15h

Dinosaur huddle at protests outside Portland ICE

Two blow-up dinosaurs appear to talk to each other

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Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 21h

Lies to sow fear and police to impose will — these are two tenets of authoritarianism I’m zeroing in on through on-the-ground knowledge of Portland, and trusted sources from other cities …

Tracking the Jackboot

Trump expands his authoritarian ambitions through lies, militarization

unwantedpersons.substack.com

Reposted by Kaia Sand

Jules Boykoff @julesboykoff.bsky.social · 1d

Here in Portland outside the ICE facility amid an impromptu dance party with dinosaurs & cute pink beasts. Festive resistance in abundance. #PDX [📸 posted with permission]

Three dinosaurs in Portland all donning white placards with slogans related to ICE

A photo of two pink beasts at the ICE facility in Portland. One, a shark, has a sign that reads “due process” made of cardboard on a wooden stick

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Annie Bellet @anniebellet.bsky.social · 1d

Yes! They brought the good donuts!

Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 1d

Really sweet resistance scene outside ICE in Portland of coffee, donuts and morning.

Person in bunny costume carries donuts outside ICE in Portland

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Steven W. Thrasher is finishing The Overseer Class @thrasherxy.bsky.social · 1d

Another reason for hate turned at light hearted protest: they want you on your couch, having your brain being turned into soup while you are comatose watching THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BUMBLEFUCK or HARRY POTTER XXV. They resent a rabbit or a frog going “we make our own entertainment here!”

Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 1d

Really sweet resistance scene outside ICE in Portland of coffee, donuts and morning.

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Stephanie Lamy @stephlamy.bsky.social · 1d

Pyjamas and pastries.
bsky.app/profile/mkai...

Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 1d

Really sweet resistance scene outside ICE in Portland of coffee, donuts and morning.

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PopMob PDX @popmobpdx.bsky.social · 1d

Oregon knows how to show up rain or shine! With treats!

Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 1d

Really sweet resistance scene outside ICE in Portland of coffee, donuts and morning.

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Victorious Boo Bleue @bwellsmc.bsky.social · 1d

Sesame Donuts is better than Voodoo or Blue Star. Fight me if you want. Been a local here for 45 years & IYKYK

The violence of the feds will never stop our sweetness here

Portland will prevail. We always do

#PDX

Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 1d

Really sweet resistance scene outside ICE in Portland of coffee, donuts and morning.

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Good Trouble @whking.bsky.social · 1d

Peaceful Portland Resistance. This city rocks.

Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 1d

Really sweet resistance scene outside ICE in Portland of coffee, donuts and morning.

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Steven W. Thrasher is finishing The Overseer Class @thrasherxy.bsky.social · 1d

Some of the hate directed at light hearted protest is confusion. The US mind doesn’t know what to do w activity which isn’t for profit-commerce. Can’t compute how someone’s radical act of care in the face evil may be sharing coffee w others fighting the good fight (like church or AA coffee hr)

Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 1d

Really sweet resistance scene outside ICE in Portland of coffee, donuts and morning.

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BreeDanielsWins @breedanielswins.bsky.social · 1d

What else is there to do, but welcome the morning as if it is the most beautiful ever? Elegant bunnies, handing out donuts, and all I can say is, do you live in Portland? You should. No war zone here. Just resisting the negativity the best we can.

Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 1d

Really sweet resistance scene outside ICE in Portland of coffee, donuts and morning.

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Dante Atkins @danteatkins.bsky.social · 1d

I absolutely love this kind of thing because the regime's case is that Portland is a burnt out war torn hellhole and instead right now it looks like a weird Japanese theme park. And that's good! It's so weird that it gets spread around everywhere and directly contradicts regime propaganda.

Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 1d

Really sweet resistance scene outside ICE in Portland of coffee, donuts and morning.

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Wig Powder 🇺🇲🇺🇦🇨🇦 @wigpowder.bsky.social · 1d

The rampant war zone of Portland

Kaia Sand @mkaiasand.bsky.social · 1d

Really sweet resistance scene outside ICE in Portland of coffee, donuts and morning.

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