A COMPREHENSIVE and damning new report by the Urban League of
Portland has concluded that African Americans in Oregon have not made
any significant progress in key social and economic areas in the last
10 years.
“Right after the election of Obama, people started talking about,
‘Are we living in a post-racial society?'” says Midge Purcell, an
organizer for the Urban League, which put together the report with
volunteer help and grant money over the past 10 months. “While some
progress has been made, especially around attitudes, there are some
very, very deep structural barriers to racial equality in Oregon as a
whole. We decided to do this report because the data is
indisputable.”
What the data shows is grim. The Urban League partnered with
consulting firm ECONorthwest to sort through mountains of existing
census and demographic info and came back with startling analyses.
The average African American Oregonian household makes $16,800 less
annually than the average white household ($30,000 compared to
$46,800). Thirty-eight percent of African American children live in
households with incomes below the poverty level, and their parents are
six times more likely to be in prison than their white counterparts
(2,763 black people and 458 white people are incarcerated per 100,000
Oregonians—a rate similar to the US average).
Although African Americans make up 7 percent of Portland’s
population, 45 percent of Portland’s homicide victims are African
American and 35 percent are white, according to 2005 Bureau of Justice
statistics.
Oregon Action Executive Director Jo Ann Bowman says the high
incarceration rate can be drawn back to an education system that is
biased against black students. The report shows that African American
students are twice as likely as white students to be expelled or
suspended.
“I wish I could say I was surprised by the results of the
study—but I wasn’t. We just have institutions that have not
changed with the times,” says Bowman. “It doesn’t take rocket science
to figure out that if kids are not in school, they’re on the street and
much more likely to be impacted by police officers.”
Both Bowman and the Urban League recommend the state aggressively
invest in educational programs that intentionally target African
Americans, such as early childhood programs and cultural competency
training for school staff.
“Education institutions have an expectation that kids operate as if
they’re white middle-class kids,” says Bowman.
Also driving inequality, according to the study, is African
Americans’ poor access to credit, which could help to start a business
or buy a home. Only 37 percent of black households owned their homes,
versus 68 percent of white households.
A study performed last year by the Oregon Center for Public Policy
confirmed the suspicion that Oregon banks had seriously skewed lending
practices: Blacks and Latinos in Oregon were twice as likely to end up
with risky subprime mortgages than whites of the same income level.
It has been 83 years since Oregon formally repealed its exclusion
law forbidding African Americans from residing, owning property,
working, or voting in the state, but the landscape of elected officials
in Portland and the state has actually become whiter today than it was
15 years ago. Portland has not had an African American city council
member since 1992. The Senate in Salem has only two black members, the
House of Representatives has none.
“African Americans are an afterthought in the [political]
recruitment process,” says Bowman, who served as a Northeast Portland
state representative during the 1990s.
At an Urban League dinner in 2004, Governor Ted Kulongoski addressed
the need for concrete reforms in Oregon. “Worker training, affirmative
action, public investment in higher education, enforcing
anti-discrimination laws, and promoting diversity are all part of my
economic development agenda,” he said. “Because these policies will
help bring success for Oregon’s African American community.” Five years
later, it’s clear those words have fallen far short.
“I want to challenge the people in charge,” said State Senator
Margaret Carter, launching the Urban League’s report at a press
conference on Monday, July 27. “Not to let this book just go on the
shelf and raise dust.”
“Portland, Oregon, gets high praise for quality of life,” said Mayor
Sam Adams at the press conference. “It’s the best place to own a dog,
ride a bike, it’s the best place for small business. We get all kinds
of praise but we need to be humble because the quality of life offered
here in Portland is not available to all citizens.”
It’s funny to me how white folks both here and out of state think Portland is so liberal and unbiased. It’s not. Get over yourselves. You’re not that liberal and in the end… you’re not any more open minded than someone from georgia or kentucky. race relations here are akin to the 1950’s. how this myth gets perpetuated i have no idea but the article above and the one from the oregonian on sunday should wake some people up… it’s really a racist… not african-american friendly place. just because you have an obama sticker left over on your bumper from last november doesn’t make you progressive. nor does going to blazers game… oh yeah… and save me your “my best friend” “my daughters boyfriend” “the drummer in our band” is black spiel…. it’s old and offensive and makes you look more ignorant than you actually are…
There are worse places than Portland, but racism is as American as apple pie.
What else is new?
I personally think, no matter the color of your skin, most people are going to notice your personality, work ethic, your education and your social ability to work with others. No matter what color you are, if you do not have a good foundation to grow on or an intellect to rise above your personal oppression you probably wont make it out of a court house, understand your rights to obtain a fair wage or be able to turn your cheek and rise above the assumptions people give at a glance on a daily basis. Stop waiting for others to pave the way for you and take personal action. Educate yourself about your options, plenty of public information is available. This study only comparing blacks to whites makes the evaluation racists to begin with. What about the information for other races and cultures in oregon?
Your summary of the Urban League findings lays out several facts and then jumps to a conclusion. It’s a shameful fact that African Americans are more likely to suffer from unemployment, poverty and are less likely to graduate than whites in Oregon. That our educational system is to blame is speculation. Our schools are trying to teach literacy, a requirement for most entry level jobs. While we’re in the realm of speculation, what about the disintegration of the nuclear family, babies being born out of wedlock, lack of male role models and racially biased laws? A person can easily be incarcerated for drug possession. Let’s not solely blame our schools, who for the most part, seem to be doing what they can.