Following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Portland, Oregon, was one of many cities in the United States where people held demonstrations to protest police brutality and systemic racism against Black Americans. Demonstrations in Portland continued throughout the summer of 2020, escalating when U.S. President Donald Trump sent federal agents to the city. There were further demonstrations in 2021.

The demonstrations were identified with the Black Lives Matter movement and with other social justice and political activist groups in Portland. In addition to demonstrating, activists called for the city to significantly decrease funding for the Portland Police Bureau and to put the money toward addressing social needs instead. Activists called for a $50 million reduction to the Portland Police Bureau's budget. In June 2020, the Portland City Council reduced the budget for police by $15 million, but the bureau still constituted nearly 30 percent of the city's budget, and in 2022, the city allocated a record $249 million to the bureau.

Sources: Articles in the Oregonian, 2020-2021; "Portland Police Bureau's Budget Reduction Was Slight and Short-Lived," by Piper McDaniel, Street Roots, August 3, 2022, https://www.streetroots.org/news/2022/08/03/ppb-budget-2022