IT FEELS EARNEST to declare it—and I realize this’ll put me on some watch list kept by the barcodes-on-foreheads kooks—but I’m glad 2010 was a census year.

Why am I such a nerd? Because, with new data, we can actually speak with some clarity on one of the stickiest issues surrounding Mayor Sam Adams’ plans for gun-crime “exclusion zones” [“The Unloaded Barrel,” News, March 24].

That issue being: Will those zones, as currently drawn, disproportionately affect Portlanders of color? The answer, likely, is yes.

In one sense, that’s not a surprise. The largest zone—a trapezoid in Northeast Portland formed by Lombard, Interstate, MLK, and Russell—envelops block after block of an area that’s been considered, ever since the second half of the 20th century, the heart of the city’s African American community. In that zone, gun probationers or parolees caught lingering would risk a misdemeanor trespassing charge.

Presumably, cops serving with gun and gang units would know the names and faces of anyone on the exclusion list, and those cops would do most of the work. But any officer can enforce the ban, and it’s not difficult to imagine bad apples using it as pretext for racially motivated police stops: “Well, you look just like…”

Ten years ago, according to census data, that fear would have been especially sharp. Black Portlanders populated the blocks bound by the mayor’s lines overwhelmingly.

Of course, that was before a wave of twee cafés, boutiques, and gewgaw shops remade thoroughfares like North Mississippi—and before white hipsters and families swarmed in.

So maybe, some might ask, gentrification has rendered the whole question moot?

City officials, to some degree, are hoping so. They say the only colors they considered were blue and yellow—dots on a map, that is, showing the densest clusters of shootings and attempted murders over the past five years. Others would point to traditional black neighborhoods on the east side of MLK that didn’t make the zone.

Fine points—but this is where the latest census data rides to the rescue. Have Albina and other parts of Northeast Portland gotten whiter? Yes. Many African Americans, priced out by the boom in their old neighborhoods, have moved east or to the suburbs.

But guess what? Whiter or not, that exclusion zone still has more African Americans per capita than nearly any other part of Portland. That hasn’t changed.

The mayor, to his credit, has promised regular data on how well the zones are working. He needs to go further. The names of those facing exclusions—and anyone arrested—should also be made public. And then we’ll really know whether this plan will wind up just like the city’s drug- and prostitution-free zones: unconstitutional.

Denis C. Theriault is the Portland Mercury's News Editor. He writes stories about City Hall and the Portland Police Bureau, focusing on issues like homelessness, police oversight, insider politics, and...

7 replies on “Hall Monitor”

  1. Well there’s no doubt that cops will use this new “gun-exclusion” law to target young black men, that’s pretty-much clear. And however gentrified it’s become over the last 10-15 or so years, the MLK/Albina/Killingsworth area in N/NE is still majority black. The fact that this so-called “gun-prohibition” zone covers this area makes it pretty damned clear what UNITENTIONAL CONSIQUINCES such a zone will result in. Just another tool for these pigs to fuck with black people, that’s what this shit is really about.

    What i’m interested to know (& what i have NOT heard anyone else address so-far) is – how do these so-called “gang shootings” stack up to ALL OTHER SHOOTINGS in the Metro-area? Because going by all the media sensationalism, one would be mis-lead to arrive at a number of conclusions:

    All shootings that happen in Portland are gang-related.
    Every black man involved in a shooting must be a gang member.
    Every gang member in Portland is black.

    Now maybe this is my own bias talking, but i’m pretty damned sure that MOST gun-related crimes in Portland are NOT gang-related. Infact, i’ll wager that domestic violence & [other] isolated criminal acts such as robberies, drunken arguments, police shootings, etc. account for way more of the shootings in town than gang bangers. Ooh, here’s a shocking revelation – you might want to sit down for this one: Most black men/youth in Portland… not gang members. I just started school this week & besides myself there’s alot of other black guys there. I’m pretty sure hardly any of ’em a gangsters. I don’t think there’s even been that many so-called gang shootings in recent months. Yeah, there probably are alot of young black men out there who’re in street gangs – but that ain’t most of ’em despite what alot of whites might think & most cops would have you think. Plus, all the Latino, Asian, & white gang members seem to get a free pass. Nobody ever mentions them.

  2. what a crock of crap. this isn’t a race issue until the author tried to make it one. People are shooting each other and committing more crimes in some areas more than others. The city wants to stop it.

    Skin color, religion, average weight, or shoe size have no bearing.

    Sorry, your attempt to overcharge on your race card has been declined.

  3. ah, nice technique. Pull the race issue out of thin air!

    I live in Beaverton. Beaverton is mostly white. Beaverton has photo radar deployed in white areas of town.

    The speed cameras are obviously racist!!!! Denis, you will of course write an article on the racist nature of these speed cameras right?

    I didn’t think so.

  6. Seriously. You need a shave, an iron and clean shirt before I’ll take you seriously. Why does everyone in Portland look like you? Plaid shirt, horn-rimmed ironic glasses, facial hair? Is that the standard issue uniform?

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