Portland area clergy bless protestors bringing creativity, courage with animal costumes

With protests taking place at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement buildings around the country, a practice has arisen in Portland, Oregon, for the animals to join in.

The movement for protestors to dress as inflatable frogs, and an assortment of other creatures, has developed as a creative strategy to counter the president’s narrative that Portland is “war-ravaged.”

Several United Church of Christ clergy and faith leaders organized a gathering on Nov. 3 to bless the nonviolent protestors wearing animal costumes at the Portland ICE Facility as a way to affirm their presence. The Rev. Catherine Alder, a retired UCC pastor and member of Clackamas UCC, was one of the organizers.

“We thank the people in inflatable animal costumes for their creativity, humor, courage, and dedication for showing up at the ICE facility. They stand against harming the immigrant, the refugee, the poor, the most vulnerable among us,” Alder said.

“What we’ve witnessed in Portland time and again are people using their voices to call out injustice and cruelty, only to be met with violence from police and ICE agents,” said the Rev. T. Wilkins, pastor at Bridgeport United Church of Christ.  “We intended to remind protestors donning costumes that they were a symbol of hope. We meant to be encouraging and to express gratitude for the actions of all those demonstrating courage and solidarity.”

Carrying humor and warmth

While the Monday night gathering was rainy and cold with fewer protestors than usual, “folks in animal costumes – a chicken, a frog, a pig – brought humor and warmth to the otherwise cold and rainy night,” Wilkins reflected.

As the group offered individual blessings to the protestors, the Rev. Karen Wood, a retired UCC chaplain who participated, reflected on how “it was a moment of sweetness and truth in a season of cruelty, terror, and mendacity.”

“We gathered in a storm to sing and pray and bless those who gather daily to bear witness to the cruelty and inhumanity that ICE is directing towards our neighbors. Our prayers and songs and blessings were offered in gratitude to the demonstrators who daily bring joy, hope, and truth-telling,” she said.

UCC Central Pacific Conference Minister, the Rev. Tyler Connoley, said they are grateful for people responding to violence with creative nonviolence and humor.

“While there’s nothing funny about ICE activities in our state, the Portland frog and other people like them amplify the contrast between peaceful protesting and the actions of troops in our streets,” they said.

These clergy and religious leaders hope to send a clear message of solidarity and hope. 

“The use of inflatable costumes highlights the absurdity that those who are objecting to practices and policies of ICE are inherently violent. Citizens expressing dissent around the treatment of immigrants and the deployment of federal troops in our neighborhoods are serious about saying no to terrorizing tactics and intimidation, even if they are dressed as a frog,” Wilkins said. “We stand with them.”

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