You're spot on. It's easy to claim diversity when there's about 1% of it in your city/town. What do you expect though? Like you said, it's a town full of racists who don't think they're racist because they have one token black friend and an Obama sticker on their Prius. Watch their faces turn to horror when a black family moves in next door.

white, black, brown, yellow, or polka-dot -- we're all equally-monkey in the end.

"Race" is a mostly meaningless distinction. Time spent thinking about race (other's or your own) is time wasted.

And how does a city go about adding diversity overnight?

Honestly, 'whiny white folks' are the only ones I ever hear saying "It's not about race" (a "meaningless distinction"). It is easy and a privilege to make it a non-issue when you come from the majority.

Unfortunately, race is still a big issue in this country (just look at the Trayvon Martin incident, the Birthers, the stop-and-frisk in NYC and local gentrification issues).

Showstopper is definitely right about the history of racism in Portland, especially in regards to the Black community. I suggest reading the article "Bleeding Albina", written by an urban studies professor at PSU. Look into the history of White supremacist movements in Oregon too. Portland used to be a "sundown city"...maybe still is. Gotta lotta history people want to erase.

Good trolling Cliffy. A-

You admit you're an avowed racist and yet you're getting on your own SMUG high horse chastising an entire city for its racism and ignorance. So boring.
Go read some books, idiot.
report 5 likes, 2 dislikes like dislike
Posted by JB Smoove on 11/01/2012 at 1:11 PM

Written like a truly ignorant moron.

@theshowstopper, I'm glad as a white person, you are the authority on racism and how minorities feel in Portland.

I miss the days when the racists were nice enough to dress up funny so you could identify them easily. Nowadays, it seems like everybody is a racist, even though nobody (publicly) believes the stuff those old-school racists did.

It really begs the question, if black people make you nervous, or if white people piss you off, or anything along these lines, but you don't believe that it's a correct or healthy way to feel, are you really a racist? Or are you just racially neurotic?

I dont care who shows up in this town, but I want more of my neighbors are educated and employed than not. I have lived in uneducated communities with high unemployment rates and they suck. Oh, and if you cannot afford your first two children, then maybe a third is a bad idea.

I've never met anybody in Portland that says it's diverse, let alone anybody who is smug about the city's diversity.

You haven't met many people then, maleeek.

Also, reverse racism doesn't exist.

Of course, I,A, because you know me so well.

Man, this one REALLY brought all the clueless daft sheltered overly sensitive WHITE FOLKS right out of the wood work!

Further proof that nothing, literally NOTHING (not even a decidedly anti-vegan food cart that kills/prepares all meals on-sight) get's this city's liberal panties in a tightly-fisted bunch more so than a well-placed accusation/call-out of INTERNALIZED RACISM!

Today I learned there is racism. Even in Portland!!! I thought we solved that many years ago, right around the time we solved all our other problems and transformed from a toothless lumberjack backwater into The Most Perfect City Ever (You're Thinking About Moving Here)

I never hear anyone being smug about diversity here--more so people comment about the lack of diversity. I do hear a lot of young transplants from the East Coast(which usually means two years in Brooklyn following a childhood in some lily-white suburb) living in inner NE Portland complaining "Where are all the black people in this city?"

Well, they all moved out to the Eastside when y'all moved here and the property values increased and a bunch of hip businesses that catered to white transplants kept opening that pushed up rents. And those same transplants that wonder about the lack of diversity aren't going to move to Portland to go live or hang out in the area east of 82nd that is actually somewhat diverse.

Btw, i bet that all the folks who disliked my prior comment are WHITE. Gonna vote for Romney too, huh?

I have zero black friends; I have Chinese friends; one Japanese friend; black family members; hispanic family members; Native American friends; but no black friends currently. I feel empty inside.

Yay, more stalkers!

The worst thing you can call a white person is a racist, which is why they get all bent out of shape about it.

Dear white people: Check your damn privilege already, we're tired of your shit.

You white people are crazy.