White Guilt!

I do believe this uhh article just did create some racism right there! well dung.

Very interesting article. Tell me anything about the past and I'm hooked. I always get sick when I hear another example of America's "way ahead of the pack" bigotry. Our ground should be fertile with "White Guilt." Even as recent as the 2008 election, the white remarks were, "Hell He's not black" or "Notice how much darker he looks when he campaigns in South Carolina." It's so embedded, I doubt it will ever go away.

Revisionist, White Guilt, Racist...maybe...but is the article accurate in historical details and how it links those details to the present?

Interesting article. Thank you.

Additional facts I would be interested in knowing would be numbers of blacks as the population grew. Sounds like it was very small at the time of statehood, but as it grew in the 1900's, how did that look in terms of numbers.

The other analysis I would be interested in, though it may be impossible to know, is to what extent blacks would have migrated here sooner had it the state been more welcoming and not openly exclusionary. Would there have been a cultural or economic impetus for blacks to move out here from the East? I could see the migration still being low because Oregon was still a long way from anything at that point, but then they would have been drawn by the timber jobs like white migrants.

The exclusionary policies were a sad legacy of Oregon’s earlier history (and in part were a result of the number of immigrants from Midwestern states like Illinois and Indiana that had similar exclusion laws at the time). There was just as much racism in "free states" of the period that didn't want to deal with a free black population.

At the same time, even without the exclusion laws, I'm not sure how many blacks would've migrated to Oregon earlier on, considering most of our neighboring states that didn't have such laws didn't end up with much of a black population either. Washington historically has never had that large of a black population outside of a few parts of Seattle and Tacoma areas (which was post-1940s migration mostly), Idaho has much less than even Oregon, and even California didn't have much of a black urban population until the 40s. There are various reasons for the lack of much of black population in the Pacific Northwest--racist policies of the past could be one, but location a long ways from The South and the nature of the historical economy here is another...

Great. Once again the white folks of this fair city have decided to remind me that I'm Mr Devil McHonky Motherfucker just for being shot out of momma's vag with a particular combination of hereditary genes.

Black people are only one slice of the diversity pie. If every Asian packed up and left I don't think anybody would notice or even lament on the subject with a featured article.

I appreciate this article for mentioning anything about race. That takes a lot of courage. Though, as a black man, I feel speaking of race primarily through a historical lense is distractionary, if not distancing us in the present from culpability. America's oppressive history is a part of us all, so speaking of a slave-master love affair between whites and blacks really excludes at least these three groups that continue to be underexposed: Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans. So in the future, stray from villifying ancient institutions, because it's a rhetorical gimme. From our media sources, I want to see more celebration of contemporary individuals INCLUDING those outlying the circle of white privilege. Let me reiterate, though, that this a great step in the right direction. Thank you!

See! Case-in-point, "Ill Paxton" is all mad now, and we are already distracted from the point of this educational article. Folks forget that even in a time of studying history, we're supposed to be making it.

No ill paxton, you're not a racist devil for being born white. You might be a racist devil for treating an article talking about Oregon history as a personal attack and resenting any sort of talk about black people or racism.

And thanks for the article Joe. I grew up hearing the history mostly of "Racist South vs. Not Racist (but definitely still racist) North", with references to Bleeding Kansas and other struggles in the Midwest, but the West Coast was unheard of in history.

And though ill paxton's comment was remarkably stupid - I think I will go read look for more information on Portland's Asian population. It seems quite small for a West Coast city, especially the Chinese population.

Aestro- yeah, maybe it was dumb. However, it doesn't exactly make me a racist. Throwing that kind of nonsense at me is part of the reason why I find the White perspective of this issue so tiresome- it's been told a hundred times before and there is never any room for debate. I grew up here and until around 1999 I saw Black people everywhere. Now I only see Black people deep in East Multnomah County, a phenomenon created largely by an influx of young creative types aka mostly White people. However, acknowledging hits too close to home for a lot of people, so instead you blame the policies of the 19th century. THAT is what I'm starting to resent. I'm sure you are a nice person, Aestro. You can call me what you want, just don't call me late for dinner.

Back in the '60s there were lots more Blacks downtown than there are today. Now, it's mostly all White Trash and Honored Undocumented Brown Guests from the far South.

Tillamook Indian Chief Kilchis was said to be a black man, a sailor who came ashore and stayed. He is portrayed in the historical novel Trask.

It's interesting to me how this article left out the modern redlining and gentrification of neighborhoods in Portland. Please consider reading Bleeding Albina: A History of Community Disinvestment (1940-2000), by Karen J. Gibson. There are free copies online.

Here is the abstract:

Portland, Oregon, is celebrated in the planning literature as one of the nation's most livable cities, yet there is very little scholarship on its small Black community. Using census data, oral histories, archival documents, and newspaper accounts, this study analyzes residential segregation and neighborhood disinvestment over a 60-year period. Without access to capital, housing conditions worsened to the point that abandonment became a major problem. By 1980, many of the conditions typically associated with large cities were present: high unemployment, poor schooling, and an underground economy that evolved into crack cocaine, gangs, and crime. Yet some neighborhood activists argued that the redlining, predatory lending, and housing speculation were worse threats to community viability. In the early 1990s, the combination of low property values, renewed access to capital, and neighborhood reinvestment resulted in gentrification, displacement, and racial transition. Portland is an exemplar of an urban real estate phenomenon impacting Black communities across the nation.

Shoddy journalism...because, it's easy to blame history and claim modern uninvolvement.

paxton - I throw the "racist" label around to comments like your first one because attempting to silence any acknowledgement of historical (or modern) racism is a common tactic for racists. It ends up sounding like the "Well why isn't there a WHITE history month?" bullshit.

I've only been here six years but that's been plenty of time to have watched gentrification happen on Mississippi and Alberta. I don't know why you or "OnlySanePerson" thinks that an article on Oregon's history doubles as a denial that racial displacement has happened and is happening.

The rest of Oregon is even whiter than Portland, and that's with consistent growth in Oregon's black population since WWII (0.2% in 1940, 0.8% in 1950, 1.8% in 2010). Gentrification does partially explain Portland's lack of racial diversity, but it's not like yuppies and hipsters have been pushing up real estate prices in Molalla or Elgin. Oregon's history IS a major factor in its lack of diversity today. It's not the ONLY reason, but to get into what's happened to Albina is likely a much bigger, murkier article.

We have done some writing on the more recent history of gentrification in Portland - here's a piece about North Williams from last year:
http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/it…

Oh and anybody interested in the subject should check out The Residue Years, by Mitchell S Jackson, who grew up in NE in the 1990s. It's great.

http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/pa…

Joe, thanks for this great piece. Like many others, I had simply assumed Oregon's black people hatched from thunder eggs.

Jarhead, I said what I had to say, not what YOU would have me say. I support the statements of ill paxton, but go further by pointing out the obvious, as politically correct (culturally Marxist) as possible with the notable exception of being honest.

Aestro, the demographics have decidedly shifted. Back in the '60s there was a disproportionately larger number of Blacks downtown, relative to the general population, then there are today. Of course, that was back before the Lloyd Center and other Malls were constructed. Downtown was the only place in Portland where anyone could shop at department stores. Not that all Blacks went downtown to shop. I had a friend in highschool, who used to like to walk around inside the department stores, just to act suspicious and get the security guards to harass him. He took satisfaction in baiting them, because they would prejudicially stalk him when he was actually in fact, shopping.

He was just a kid, but highly proficient in Kenpo and was quite willing to defend himself.

Diversity for diversity's sake is bullshit. Slavery was an early attempt at forced integration; to get some Blacks for the Injins and Anglos to hang out with.

When I was in high school, they bussed kids from Northeast Portland to Jackson and Wilson high schools. For the most part, everybody got along fine together, but still, the Blacks mostly hung out with the Blacks and the Whites mostly hung out with the Whites.

Today, there is a public housing project near Hillsdale, and it's still a enclave for Blacks in a predominately White neighborhood. When it was first built, it was refereed to as, "Little Africa". Is that anymore racist that "Chinatown"?

"I have nothing against a community that is made up of people who are Polish, or who are Czechoslovakians, or who are French Canadians or who are blacks trying to maintain the ethnic purity of their neighborhoods. This is a natural inclination. [..] Government should not break up a neighborhood on a numerical basis. As soon as the Government does, the white folks flee." --Jiminy Carter

Speech in April 1976. It was intended that Carter opposed forced housing quota.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter

Assuming historical accuracy, this a great account of the racial situation in Oregon up to 1940. 1940 to the present, however, should be a follow-up article for the Mercury. The negligence towards Vanport and the flood that wiped it out, the horrible relocation efforts, and the intentional destruction of communities in the Albina neighborhood show how close this issue is with us. Karen J. Gibson outlines the blatant actions taken against blacks in the Albina neighborhood in her article, "Bleeding Albina". This part of the story needs to be told because it provides perspective on where Portland is with this issue and what we can do to move forward.

Commenty Colin!



hard CHUCKLE :-)

Portland State University takes up too much space downtown, and the PSU Safety Patrollers spend too much time, abusing the street people. The city core is a stupid place to put a college in the first place. Usually, good universities are located in bucolic, suburban settings. PSU ought to relocate to some quiet, open area, adjacent to the City, and closer to the Black community, such as Jantzen Beach.

Very, very insulting and condescending to present day persons of any color...as though from a raging feminist who hates man of any sort. And...there was never a point except the irony of stating 'race obsessed' multiple times and providing little context. Amateur shit-stirrer lib wannabe.