Why does Portland have such a low Asian population compared to other West Coast cities? (tech jobs, schools)

[khyron]

Originally Posted by Dual Citizen CA-OR

Besides, can you imagine growing up in a country where each and every girl you ever will have a chance of dating or marring has straight black hair? No thank you.

So blatant racism is okay, as long as it's just being reflected by your own personal preferences and the expression of those ethnic biases as somehow ideal, to others, with impunity? This thread is just packed with WTF moments.

[lrmsd]

see? this type of thread is what makes me NOT want to move to PDX, yet i continue to revisit the forum thinking my family and I might like it there.

'why ask this kind of question'?
Um, this is what universities, think tanks and non profits do ALL THE TIME.
ie, Ask this type of question!

Honestly, you may as well have replied 'why think about anything' to the OP.

Ppl gather and analyze data to get funding, to understand migration to be serve human and community needs, to prevent history from repeating itself, or simple to understand current cultural mindsets and lifestyles of cities/towns/communities.

And then someone adds 'let's not assume, just b/c it's not PC, that the OP had a negative intent'.
Like that is the most riveting, thought provoking reply possible?!?

I'm sure I am offending people, and I'm sorry for that-but seriously, PDX is not a beacon of free thinking. It's comformist and soft in the brain-spewing out the current PC jargon and being uncomfortable with anything outside of that box, does not make pdx free. Or weird. or counterculture.

There's a disturbing lack of thought, or resistance to thinking, and a defending of the group mindset, on many of the PDX threads I have read over the years.
Yet 'portlanders' continue to think they are at the forefront of human evolution and concsiousness. Or at the very least, think that their lifestyle is to most evolved and where everyone else should be heading.
Wow. Just wow.

I mean, I love organic food, trees, parks and a focus on not only the material in life.
But I cannot with this lack of critical thinking trend I have seen. And not only on this forum, but in news blogs, in the comments section. I have truly looked-i'm always wanting your city to be a good fit. Sure, I have been to visit a dozen or so times; but a visit does not make a life.

End of rant. Ciao....
ps-to be fair, the OP could have easily looked this information up on the internet-why create a thread? pretty silly....
tangent to the subject, it is interesting that pdx has one of the only japanese immersion public schools in the country, and a chinese immersion program.... pdx public schools have looked to be progressive within the foreign language immersion area-to the point that other disctricts around the nation look to their japanese program as a model.

[khyron]

Originally Posted by lrmsd

see? this type of thread is what makes me NOT want to move to PDX, yet i continue to revisit the forum thinking my family and I might like it there.

'why ask this kind of question'?
Um, this is what universities, think tanks and non profits do ALL THE TIME.
ie, Ask this type of question!

I totally agree that it's a relevant question to ask, and can't imagine anyone making a reasonable argument otherwise. Political correctness is, by its very definition, the opposite of open minded thought. I mean good grief, if you sanitize all "sex, religion, or politics" from human conversation what's the point of having any? I think as you said, some of the confusion probably stemmed from the OP asking it in the first place without doing simple research or even posting comparable data (percentages instead of raw population numbers without even a named source). There are ways you can ask a legit question and sound trollish by accident, just from not thinking through how you're saying what you're saying. I see no reason to put words in the OPs mouth.

What grosses me out, if anything, are the few replies by others that have characterized either Asian people or the general tendency toward monoculture in many Asian nations with uneducated, ignorant stereotypical terms that indicate (at best) a shamefully naive U.S. centric world view or at worst a hostile and uncalled for indictment against how millions of people live their lives on the other side of the planet.

This is the Portland forum, if someone has issues with people or cultures unlike their own...I'm sure there are "organizations" which would welcome such discussion. CityData is not a place for hate speech (whether its due to malice or unimaginable ignorance...doesn't change what it is).

[Dual Citizen CA-OR]

Originally Posted by khyron

So blatant racism is okay, as long as it's just being reflected by your own personal preferences and the expression of those ethnic biases as somehow ideal, to others, with impunity? This thread is just packed with WTF moments.

Preferring to grow up in a society that has and values diversity, including women, is not racist. I’m not sure you have a grasp of the meaning of the term as you may have it exactly backwards.

[iamscott]

I always thought that Portland had a large Asian population, especially since there are so many Asian restaurants in Portland, which is one reason why I love Portland, I LOVE ASIAN FOOD

[docwatson]

see? this type of thread is what makes me NOT want to move to PDX, yet i continue to revisit the forum thinking my family and I might like it there.

I wouldn't take anything on this forum as representative of a place ... its just a few people, many of whom are helpful, some of whom used the forum to research their own move and are trying to be helpful, others just throwing out an opinions. I have read on this forum how horrible and crime-ridden certain cities are, for example, and go there to find them very nice livable places - etc. etc.

[AAPI]

I noticed Portland has a sizeable Vietnamese community. I wonder why many Vietnamese from So Cal decide to move to Houston and Dallas instead of Portland which is closer.

How does the job market, cost of housing, etc. compare to Houston and Dallas?

[aroseinrain]

Originally Posted by AAPI

I noticed Portland has a sizeable Vietnamese community. I wonder why many Vietnamese from So Cal decide to move to Houston and Dallas instead of Portland which is closer.

How does the job market, cost of housing, etc. compare to Houston and Dallas?

Compared with Houston or Dallas, Portland has no jobs and expensive housing....

If you moved from Dallas to Portland, you'd need to make about 21.1% more money to live the same lifestyle. If you moved from Houston you'd need to make about 20.7% more.

Dallas' unemployment rate is 8.1%
Houston's unemployment rate is 8.4%
Portland's is 10%

[The Cactus Leaguer]

As a forty-something who grew up in Portland, I noticed a fair number of refugees from Southeast Asia who made their way into Portland during the post-Vietnam era (they were classmates, and their parents were the ones who came here - many with the last name of Nguyen). I had no idea why they came here or how this compared to other cities.


This probably doesn't answer your question AAPI, but that's my personal recollection of how the Vietnamese community came to Portland.

The migration patterns from SoCal to Texas (assuming they happen that way) are probably a by-product of weather preferences and job opportunities more than anything.

Cost of housing is generally lower in Texas, job market is tight everywhere, especially Portland (but that's a different topic).

[EnricoV]

Originally Posted by lrmsd

see? this type of thread is what makes me NOT want to move to PDX, yet i continue to revisit the forum thinking my family and I might like it there.

'why ask this kind of question'?
Um, this is what universities, think tanks and non profits do ALL THE TIME.
ie, Ask this type of question!.

So, Portland is a terrible place because SOMEONE FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA started this thread, asking a question you don't like?