Black People in Portland, OR (Burns: 2013, home, school)

[MissHazelRedBone(:]

I am thinking of going to college in Portland, OR. I've heard all these great things about the city, how fun it is and how awesome the food and people are, it's unique and the shopping is great. But there is one thing that makes me a little bit apprehensive. Let me give you a little back ground before I get into this. I live in Alaska, I am 3/4 Black and 1/4 White, light skinned, light eyes, afro-textured hair (I have dreadlocks), tall, large bone structure. There's not a whole lot of Black people here. However, there are more Black (statistically) people in the city of Portland than in the city I live in here in AK. People (mainly older White folks) here tend to be awkwardly racist at times, you know that "oh, I didn't mean it like that, I'm totally not racist" thing that they word vomit everywhere when they know they've ****ed up? I'll be honest, I haven't spent a whole lot of time outside of this state, so I could be generalizing a lot of people, but stay with me here, I'm not trying to speak on the whole world. Anyways, there's not really any like truly violent, hate-filled racism here; the ignorance I can deal with, it's annoying and I don't like it, but it is what it is and I can tolerate it. With people that are in my own age group I tend to put them in their place. I love diversity. As far as dating goes, I certainly do not discriminate, but I do have a preference for Black and Hispanic guys.

I've done some research on the history of Oregon and the city of Portland and it's looking really bad right about now, like REALLY bad. Allowing a KKK march to happen in 2012/2013!? (I don't recall the exact year at this moment). It was shut down but that's the type of **** that would have me packing up to go home that very day. I don't want to believe that racism is a big deal in Portland, but I kind of feel like it is. It's very sad and sick to see that even in this day and age we have crazy-ass "nationalists" running around and burning crosses and marching in public and promoting their message. This seems like a thing, a real thing in Portland.

So what I would like is:

1. Tell me if I am over-exaggerating. Is this a real concern to have or no?
2. Are you Black and living in Portland? What is it like for you? Do you find dating to be unusually difficult in this city/state vs. anywhere you've lived previously?
3. For people of any and every background: what's your take on racism and diversity in and outside of Portland?


Thanks!

[sayulita]

Please post a link to the KKK march that supposedly happened recently. I couldn't find anything and certainly never heard about it. Seriously, if the KKK tried something like that around here, they would be met with HUGE resistance and laughed out of town. Portland is a very liberal city and racism is not well tolerated at all. There are racists everywhere, but they pretty much keep quiet here, because if they are outspoken, they WILL be challenged by someone. We do not have "crazy-ass "nationalists" running around and burning crosses and marching in public and promoting their message"

I think your worries are way overblown. You will encounter run of the mill ignorance and maybe the occasional overtly racist remark, but you will not fear for your safety or feel unwelcome. If you are planning on attending PSU, you will find it to be very diverse and inclusive. Stop worrying and come on down!

[EnricoV]

One of the downsides of free speech, is you have to allow it to everyone. Even people who are hateful, and with whom you don't agree. Though I don't recall any such event happening. But I do agree with sayulita, had it even been tried, it would have been shouted down. If it happened, or anything even near to that happening, it would have been allowed in protection of their rights to do so, not because of any support for their opinions. Those Westboro kooks are the only ones I can recall kicking off in town, and I don't believe they got away with much.

Not going to say you'll never experience it, there are idiots everywhere. And unfortunately, we have them here too.

I, too, would be interested in any links.

[aaronkc]

theres not many blacks in portland metro so u might feel outta place depending on your expectations, its one of the least diverse major cities
that said, overt racism is uncommon and u shud be fine in that sense

[MissHazelRedBone(:]

Originally Posted by sayulita

Please post a link to the KKK march that supposedly happened recently. I couldn't find anything and certainly never heard about it. Seriously, if the KKK tried something like that around here, they would be met with HUGE resistance and laughed out of town. Portland is a very liberal city and racism is not well tolerated at all. There are racists everywhere, but they pretty much keep quiet here, because if they are outspoken, they WILL be challenged by someone. We do not have "crazy-ass "nationalists" running around and burning crosses and marching in public and promoting their message"

I think your worries are way overblown. You will encounter run of the mill ignorance and maybe the occasional overtly racist remark, but you will not fear for your safety or feel unwelcome. If you are planning on attending PSU, you will find it to be very diverse and inclusive. Stop worrying and come on down!

I am still new to the way this whole website works, I made my account 2011 and this is only my 2nd post, so I hope the other two people are able to get notified that I added this tidbit too .
So, my comment about the KKK march stemmed from this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aihf_CcnUkY , skip the whole "self-searching, I really am Black" (weird, I know) part. Towards the end of the video he says "less than 10 years ago Portland had its last KKK march over on Burnside (St.)"...I googled in every way possible to pull this event up and found nothing; I can't say he has a reason to lie about that but looking back at the video and now actually doing some research about this particular event, it seems unlikely that it did happen. Everything I've found has been about the KKK in Portland in the early 1920's, although on a few blogs and forums elsewhere some people had talked about other cities within Oregon where the KKK was very prevalent and obvious to them, circa the 1980's. So: my bad for not digging deeper into this one guys.

This video I watched yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc-7OOx4cUI and then there's this guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcrB4gZlid4 .

So the 1st video: it is important, I guess, to realize that this lady wasn't out there at this protest to preach her views on the way the world should be, she, like the rest of the crowd, was anti-war on Syria. A view I hold myself. The shock for me came from the fact that she was bold enough to go out there, with that flag, and when asked she told people exactly what she was all about. In a sense I guess that's better than under-cover racism; but I have NEVER lived or been anywhere where this is even an occasional thing. So, being a Black person, in 2013, this blows my mind. I did really appreciate the efforts of everyone around her to call her out and ask her to leave the protest, that kind of shows me what Portland is working with. I do realize it is a very liberal city, which I really, really like. But that is another reason why I was surprised at these two people.

I appreciate all of your comments, I do feel better, especially after not coming up with any results pertaining to any heavy racism in Portland today. I will be visiting the city in October, for a weekend to check out PSU and I am SUPER EXCITED!!!

I do have a tendency to worry about things that are often not really a big deal, those two mentioned above are just 2 people with opinions that I am far from being in agreeance with. The fact that there was no violence involved is comforting.

Thanks!

[MissHazelRedBone(:]

Originally Posted by aaronkc

theres not many blacks in portland metro so u might feel outta place depending on your expectations, its one of the least diverse major cities
that said, overt racism is uncommon and u shud be fine in that sense

Well I feel out of place here in a way, I really only expect to see more black people there than I do here, given the statistics on the city/state compared to where I live. Good to know, thanks!

[sayulita]

You might want to check out this thread from a young black man who moved here recently from Chicago. He started the thread before he came and then updated us as to his impressions after he got here. You could also send him a direct (private) message if you had specific concerns. Let us know if you need help doing that since you are new to the forum.

Here's his thread:
I'm headed to Portland with no job, no car, 10,000 and nervous energy. Help?

[sayulita]

I was mistaken. Here's the one where he gives his first impressions of Portland.

I finally arrived in Portland. Here are my impressions so far.

[aaronkc]

wat makes u wan move to portland?

[MissHazelRedBone(:]

@aaronkc

I want to move to Portland because:

1. There's more young people there than where I currently live (Anchorage, AK)
2. It's more diverse there than where I live
3. There's more places to eat, shop, hangout
4. The school, Portland State University, is a good school and I am able to take advantage of a reduced tuition rate through a program called WUE (Western Undergraduate Exchange)
5. The weather is better (believe it or not); where I live we get MAYBE 2 months of summer, not consecutively, and the rest of the year is snowy and/or rainy; I realize that it rains a lot in Oregon, but it doesn't snow as much which I like, and it's generally warmer throughout there than here (Average Weather for Portland, OR - Temperature and Precipitation vs. Average Weather for Anchorage, AK - Temperature and Precipitation)
6. It's a liberal place where free thought and creativity seem to be welcome
7. It's not too too far from home