The Portland Police Bureau has launched an investigation after a meme about beating "dirty hippies" was included in a department training presentation.
The meme was obtained by lawyers for the Black Lives Matter group Don’t Shoot Portland.
Don't Shoot Portland is currently suing the city, claiming that police used "excessive force" during the violent riots over George Floyd's death in 2020. Portland police included this right-wing meme in a
law enforcement training presentation. It's now under investigation by PPB internal affairs. Story tk. pic.twitter.com/08jsD2qs8N
— Alex Zielinski (@alex_zee) January 14, 2022
The image is known as the "Prayer of the Alt Knight | Based Stickman" meme and was reportedly the last slide in a 110 page presentation.
"Based Stickman" is Kyle Chapman, a man who rose to infamy online after beating an antifa militant with a stick during a Berkeley protest in 2017.
The text on the meme read, "and the Lord said… Woe be unto you, dirty hippy: For thou stinketh of patchouli and BO.” It described the protester as having “dreadlocks and white skin.”
“I shall send among you my humble servants with hat, and with bat, that they may christen your heads with hickory and anoint your faces with pepper spray,” the meme continued. “And once thou hast been cuffed and stuffed; Once thou has been stitched and bandaged; Perhaps you shall learn, I’m tired of your s**t.”
RT reports that "in a statement on Friday, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said he was 'disgusted that this offensive content was added to a training presentation for our police officers' and claimed that a 'thorough and complete investigation was under way.'"
"I believe that the hardworking members of the Portland Police Bureau who are seeing this for the first time are also angered and disgusted by the image and the words on this slide and how it portrays members of our community and law enforcement," the mayor continued, adding that the Portland Police "must reject the harmful and divisive attitude expressed."
According to a report from Oregon Live, "the mayor said it’s unclear who drafted or added the slide to the training material or if it was used in training."
"An initial inquiry also suggests the training material was intended for multiple agencies that provide officers to serve as members of the bureau’s Rapid Response or Mobile Response crowd control teams," the report elaborated.
