Should I be scared???? (Portland, Tigard: high school, gated, quality of life)

[Nell Plotts]

Inter-racial marriage and multi-racial people are just not an issue. If someones eyes linger almost always it is out of curiosity. Sure you may meet an idiot or two but those kind of folks are everywhere.

Portland has never been much of a gateway city for immigrants except for refugees sent her by social service agencies (think Europeans after WWII and Asians after the Vietnam War). The Scandinavians who arrived here in the early 1900s had fishing and lumber backgrounds. Many Chinese were brought to the west coast to build the railroads. The "dust bowl" brought a migration of farmers from the effected areas in the mid-west. There hasn't been much heavy industry in the area since WWII shipyards closed down. Employment opportunities were better in the mid-west so many Blacks who were brought here to work in the shipyards moved east for better pay and to be closer to their families. When I was growing up Oregon was wood products and agriculture and the cities were where the professionals concentrated.

[daisy326]

seriously - do people really use that term anymore?

[karlsch]

Originally Posted by Dual Citizen CA-OR

FYI; "The term is considered an impolite and rude offensive slur by almost everyone."

........especially white people who are probably the ones who decided it is offensive.

Before I moved back to Oregon about three years ago, I lived for 12 years in Bethel, Alaska, on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, which is about the size of Oregon, in Western Alaska.

More info: Yukon

85% of the people living in the Delta are Native Americans, mostly Yu’pik Eskimos. Bethel is the main community and it is surrounded by many Eskimo villages.

Aniak is the name of one of the Yu’pik villages. For years, the high school kids proudly called their basketball team the HALFBREEDS. This was ok until outsiders, mostly Gussaks (white people), found out and were outraged. They tried to get the native kids to change the name of their team.

The results:
Proud To Be Called 'Halfbreeds':Mixed-Race News:Intermix.org.uk:

[classicanne]

"Almost everyone" is the operative phrase there. Granted, the situation in Aniak is a special case, but I doubt seriously the OP would appreciate her children being referred to as "halfbreeds." Nor have I ever known anyone of any racial or ethnic group who appreciated being referred to by what are generally considered "slurs."

As far as "white people" deciding something is offensive, it's just a matter of "white" people owning up to what probably offended those who could do nothing about it for decades. Maybe some go too far in trying to be "politically correct", but I would rather err on the side of not offending others rather than offending them.

[Yankeemama]

My family and I are a multi-culti family from the most diverse parts of the country. I, too, was concerned about the lack of diversity before we moved to close-in PDX about seven months ago. We feel comfortable here but sometimes we go to Seattle for a weekend when we need to see more faces like our own. The liberal attitude goes a long way here so I don't feel any OVERT racism, just social racism by people with good intentions... Nothing I haven't dealt with my whole life. Good luck on your move and keep us posted!

[pathrunner]

Originally Posted by Dual Citizen CA-OR

FYI; "The term is considered an impolite and rude offensive slur by almost everyone."

Thank you. I did not know. I stand corrected, and apologize if it was offensive to the OP (Original Poster) and anyone else. (And it shows my age.) I consider myself very well informed but things still slip by.

[puerco]

Karlsch-
When my mother retired in the early '80's she volunteered with the Jesuits and spent 2 years in Bethel managing a home for battered women. She loved her experience living there. (It sounded pretty dreadful to me - no trees, all pipes & sewers had to be above ground, something about a 'honey pot'...) She mentioned there was a Mexican restaurant. And being the major city of the area she saw quite a few national speakers & musicians.
If you stayed for 12 years I suppose that means you liked it?

[MGMT333]

Originally Posted by btheferrett

I will be moving to Portland in 3 weeks! I come up next week to pick a house. I have been researching for months. Working in Tigard, 3 kids, husband does not have a job yet (I have already heeded the warnings I have read on here about that, so please don't freak me out any further!)
Coming from a suburb of Dallas, I have noticed a BIG difference in the following:
Everyone is white!!! Whatever "white" actually even means, when I look at the demographics in every single city, most of the pie chart is coded "white"....about 75% in most areas......OMG....I am a little concerned for my mixed black/white kids, and my black husband. Should I be?

Have some faith in humanity, seriously. I'm a mixed race (black/white) guy who grew up in a city that was 90% white. My parents didn't give a damn about diversity and just wanted me to go to the best school possible regardless of the demographics (i was the only black kid in my grade) and I turned out fine.

[BirdInHand]

Welcome to Portland! If you want your kids around diversity I would first find your school and then pick that neighborhood. You can get stats from greatschool.net and others, although they are usually a year behind, they are pretty accurate. You can pull up a school district then sort them by ethnicty percentages. Even if your kids aren't elementary age, start with those as this would tell you alot of the neighborhood. Metzer Elementary is only 49% white accdg to GreatSchools

[karlsch]

Originally Posted by puerco

Karlsch-
When my mother retired in the early '80's she volunteered with the Jesuits and spent 2 years in Bethel managing a home for battered women. She loved her experience living there. (It sounded pretty dreadful to me - no trees, all pipes & sewers had to be above ground, something about a 'honey pot'...) She mentioned there was a Mexican restaurant. And being the major city of the area she saw quite a few national speakers & musicians.
If you stayed for 12 years I suppose that means you liked it?

Because Bethel is one of the only places left in Alaska that live up to the state motto, “The Last Frontier,” it’s actually very multicultural - because of the opportunities in such a harsh place, immigrants from many parts of the world have moved there.

Your mother might have mentioned the flat-rate, shared taxicabs in Bethel. The LA Times even sent up a reporter to write about them:
America's taxi capital: Bethel, Alaska - latimes.com
It wasn’t unusual to flag down a cab and find you were sharing it with a pregnant Yu’pik woman on her way to the hospital for a checkup, a Korean man on the way to the bank, and a Mexican woman on the way to the post office.

There are still honey buckets, but not as many as when your mother lived there.

It was a challenging 12 years living there, but worth it. A lot of great memories now that I am retired.