KATU Town Hall discusses Portland race relations and where we go from here

After weeks of protests in Portland and demands for changing systemic racism and police violence, we’re discussing how much progress has been made and asking where we go from here?

On Monday at 6 p.m., KATU hosted its second town hall on Portland Race Relations.

The city’s mayor, local activists, law enforcement leaders, elected officials and community members all joined us to take part in the discussion.

A divide appeared among guests early on and became a recurring theme throughout the show. Some argued that nightly demonstrations, in which a minority of protesters engage in violent and/or criminal behavior, need to come to an end in order to continue focusing on the larger 'Black Lives Matter' movement. But others said the nightly protests, no matter how they develop, are a symptom of the larger issue and need to run their course.

"There are some powerful voices in the business community, the faith community and the community at large," said Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell. "I think it needs to be a clear resounding message that the community is tired of this violence."

"I've heard people say, 'Well, we want to end the protests and then we can address these issues,'" said Lakayana Drury, executive director of Word is Bond. "We cannot pick and choose how we want protesters to be and then have them close down so we can get back to normal. We have to deal with the underlying issues."

You can watch the full town hall below for yourself to see how the overall conversation developed.