Cameron Whitten

Early life and education

Whitten grew up in Sterling, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C.. He attended Portland Community College.

Occupy Portland

A Portland resident for three years, Cameron Whitten, 20, joined the Occupy Portland movement from the start, on October 6th. He camped in Lownsdale and Chapman squares for the 38 days of the occupation.

Whitten was arrested four times. He helped plan the Jamison Square occupation in October, and was arrested when police cleared it out. He was arrested during some occupiers' last stand in Chapman Square. And then he was arrested during a theatrical occupation of tiny Mill Ends Park downtown. He also has another arrest in January 2012 for actions during an Occupy the Courts rally.

Mayoralty candidate

In 2012, Whitten ran for mayor of Portland.

Although among the favorites in The Oregonian "most intriguing political figure" poll, Whitten was not elected mayor. He was subsequently nominated by the Oregon Progressive Party for the position of state treasurer.

Hunger strike

Also in 2012, Whitten embarked on a hunger strike on the steps of City Hall to protest housing foreclosures and to call attention to the lack of facilities for the homeless in Portland. The strike lasted almost two months, eliciting a statement from housing commissioner Nick Fish, and ended after concessions were made by the Portland Mayor's Office. Whitten continued to speak publicly about homelessness.

Further community involvement

In 2013, Whitten was in the news again when he participated in the campaign for the legalization of same-sex marriage in Oregon. Also in 2013, Whitten protested the banning of the Occupy Portland campers, and their replacement with an eating area and a fast food cart, by handing out free burritos. The cart was then removed and the furniture put in storage.

In 2014 Whitten was president of the organization Know Your City. In this role he conducted history-related walking tours of Portland. That year several of his articles about excessive use of force by police were published in local magazines and news outlets. He served on Portland's Transit Equity Advisory Committee. Also in 2014 Whitten joined cyclists to protest the dangerous state of Portland city infrastructure after a cyclist was killed while riding in a bike lane.

In 2015, by then a student at Portland State University, Whitten was in the news again when he was arrested after complaining about conditions on a Portland streetcar. In 2016, representing Know Your City, he spoke at a Portland City committee meeting about the importance of culturally relevant education.

In 2017, Whitten took part in protests against Donald Trump's executive order banning travelers from specific countries to the US. During one protest he filmed a violent incident and his footage was used in news reports. Whitten was later interviewed about the ban by Fox News; interviewer Tucker Carlson questioned Whitten's knowledge of the text of the order.