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My husband has a few friends here and one of them is African American from Portland. We are very social but both my husband and his friend have wives with European American ancestry. My family has another close African American friend that is a woman from North Portland, and she is open to all people. I think Portland has generally been segregated over the last five decades in regards to blacks and whites but things seem to be changing. I always see people as individuals along with seeing their race and no matter where I live, I always have a diverse group of friends.
That's good to know. I am thinking this is just one person and one group of people.
I am in a city now, Cleveland Heights, an inner ring suburb of Cleveland that is half white and half black. People of mixed race interact everyday; neighbors, co-workers, friends, community members and so forth. There are many other different ethnic groups too, typical of many Midwestern cities. From just my own observation, there seems to be fewer black people in Portland now than in the past. But maybe that's just because there have been so many people moving to Portland and the majority are white.
I am in a city now, Cleveland Heights, an inner ring suburb of Cleveland that is half white and half black... From just my own observation, there seems to be fewer black people in Portland now than in the past. But maybe that's just because there have been so many people moving to Portland and the majority are white.
I haven't seen anything in Portland on par with Cleveland, though keep in mind the Cleveland metro overall is 20% black compared to the Portland metro's 3%.
Even aside from its role in industry/auto that helped draw blacks north from the south during the 20th century, Ohio/Cleveland played a very significant role in the underground railroad and the migration and settlement deriving from that.
Come out to the far east side of Portland and the diversity goes up, at least in terms of black/African-Americans, but sure, even here it's more like 10-25% depending on the specific neighborhood (and many much less), definitely not 50%.
I found that the black people in Portland are very unfriendly towards the whites too. I understand why, but at the same time I never did anything to them personally. In most parts of the US black people are extremely friendly and outgoing, but in Portland they are just as snobby and stuck up as the whites.
I almost never saw black and white people hanging out in Portland unless they were African.
The last time I ever brought up race as an issue was probably sometime in the 1990's. I honestly still think it is a card that is overused. With Portland, I am just disappointed on many levels--I am actually a bit disappointed at myself as well for not knowing more about a place I was moving to. I had been in the northwest in the past, but it seemed more friendly than what I am seeing as a resident.
From observing the way things are here, this is my best attempt at explaining it.
1) It is in an area with minimal diversity. Thus, the majority-group (whites) don't know what to do or say when they come across someone of my background. They can't imagine me to be just like them.. despite the uber-progressive culture. Now, once they get to know me, they seem to be less and less worried.. I am noticing that.
2) Pan-handlers are mostly black men. I am not sure if Portland businesses are just refusing to hire black men for the first reason combined with this one, and I am not sure why every time I am being asked for change it is a black man.. where there are very few of us. And I wonder if because this is the case, that people prejudge me to be one as well?
3) The history here is very dire. I will not get into all of that, but white supremacist groups--to this day--consider the Pacific Northwest as where they plan to build their utopia. I had NO idea about this until someone sent me a private message with a couple of links.
4) Everything about the downtown life suggests that crack has recently made a wave into the downtown night life. I am not sure if the Portland area had an epidemic in the 80's like many other cities, but crack is on the streets here. It explains why there is a lot of reckless activity going on lately and the fact that many of its victims are low-income black people will only create more distrust in the long-run.
5) The one black gent that I was able to have a deep conversation with on this topic, in person, likes to refer to the progressives here as "Dixiecrats". Meaning they are very much for progressive social reforms on the scale of FDR himself; however, they are closeted mild segregationists in that they would like to keep blacks (and possibly Hispanics) out of their areas. There probably isn't any issue with Asians (both east Asians and west). Of course, I do not know if whether his rendition of facts is absolutely true--but it does line up fairly well with what I have seen so far for the most part, and he has lived here for 52-years (his lifetime).
In any case, life goes on.
Last edited by ericspence; 08-27-2015 at 06:13 PM..
I haven't seen anything in Portland on par with Cleveland, though keep in mind the Cleveland metro overall is 20% black compared to the Portland metro's 3%.
Even aside from its role in industry/auto that helped draw blacks north from the south during the 20th century, Ohio/Cleveland played a very significant role in the underground railroad and the migration and settlement deriving from that.
Come out to the far east side of Portland and the diversity goes up, at least in terms of black/African-Americans, but sure, even here it's more like 10-25% depending on the specific neighborhood (and many much less), definitely not 50%.
I wasn't trying to make comparisons between the two cities, I understand that the demographics can determine how people live together.
East Portland once was all white. North Portland had the largest black population. But East Portland also contains a large population of poverty. The East Portland example is what my former black friend was talking about. She felt her North Portland neighborhood was overrun by transplants. Those African American people who had been living there for decades were shoved out into East Portland with the "type" of white people she did not want to live with. And some black people too. Their small communities in NoPo and in some NE neighborhoods were were all they had and it was being taken over.
I think my former African American friend and her friends feel that the one area they could call theirs was no longer theirs. They were pushed into another area to live among those who they did not want to live next door.
I also have a white friend who was born and raised in NoPo who lost the family home when she could no longer afford the house payments after losing her job. She was pushed into East Portland as well. She calls it the dumpster for the detritus of gentrification; people from all neighborhoods in which they could no longer afford to live.
It has a great deal to do with class perception as well as race. Portland has become a city definitely a city divided by class distinction.
I had to remove my pic because this topic has taken a life of its own--and I don't want anyone to recognize me, just in the case.
Someone here said I look like a 7th grade chemistry teacher or something-or-other. I'm quite harmless looking.
HA! Yes, you do! If I saw you on the bus I would worry you are we're going to quiz me on a subject that I am terrible at. I do know whst H2o is, though.
I also have a white friend who was born and raised in NoPo who lost the family home when she could no longer afford the house payments after losing her job. She was pushed into East Portland as well. She calls it the dumpster for the detritus of gentrification; people from all neighborhoods in which they could no longer afford to live.
It has a great deal to do with class perception as well as race. Portland has become a city definitely a city divided by class distinction.
"Dumpster" is putting it a bit strongly.
But I agree with the general mechanism - I'm also from a middle-class family pushed out of NoPo (rent for a 2BR house jumped to $1800/mo) into the far east.
And while there are some nice neighborhoods out here, a lot of the old-timers are blue collar white folks either retired or on the cusp thereof. The newer residents are much more racially mixed, and seem to lean more white collar.
The last time I ever brought up race as an issue was probably sometime in the 1990's. I honestly still think it is a card that is overused. With Portland, I am just disappointed on many levels--I am actually a bit disappointed at myself as well for not knowing more about a place I was moving to. I had been in the northwest in the past, but it seemed more friendly than what I am seeing as a resident.
From observing the way things are here, this is my best attempt at explaining it.
1) It is in an area with minimal diversity. Thus, the majority-group (whites) don't know what to do or say when they come across someone of my background. They can't imagine me to be just like them.. despite the uber-progressive culture. Now, once they get to know me, they seem to be less and less worried.. I am noticing that.
2) Pan-handlers are mostly black men. I am not sure if Portland businesses are just refusing to hire black men for the first reason combined with this one, and I am not sure why every time I am being asked for change it is a black man.. where there are very few of us. And I wonder if because this is the case, that people prejudge me to be one as well?
3) The history here is very dire. I will not get into all of that, but white supremacist groups--to this day--consider the Pacific Northwest as where they plan to build their utopia. I had NO idea about this until someone sent me a private message with a couple of links.
4) Everything about the downtown life suggests that crack has recently made a wave into the downtown night life. I am not sure if the Portland area had an epidemic in the 80's like many other cities, but crack is on the streets here. It explains why there is a lot of reckless activity going on lately and the fact that many of its victims are low-income black people will only create more distrust in the long-run.
5) The one black gent that I was able to have a deep conversation with on this topic, in person, likes to refer to the progressives here as "Dixiecrats". Meaning they are very much for progressive social reforms on the scale of FDR himself; however, they are closeted mild segregationists in that they would like to keep blacks (and possibly Hispanics) out of their areas. There probably isn't any issue with Asians (both east Asians and west). Of course, I do not know if whether his rendition of facts is absolutely true--but it does line up fairly well with what I have seen so far for the most part, and he has lived here for 52-years (his lifetime).
In any case, life goes on.
LOL! Eric, you need to take a vacation down to Mississippi, where I am.
People here are absolutely not afraid of each other. What you describe is what people believe happens in the South. Your friend is a good example. He doesn't know - and few people do - that almost all neighborhoods in Mississippi are integrated. And how else could it be with a population that is 40% Black?
If White people reacted around here as you say they do around there, they would be very strange people, indeed.
Not on topic, but I am a cali transplant in DC right now. Basically, this place sucks nuts IMO.
Many have said the people are great and all.
I live in Arlington. S.O. works in DC.
I have met some nice people here, sure. But they aren't from here. Most of the people on DC streets don't give two sh*ts about you. I've had a couple people walk through me rather than change course or lean to avoid someone clearly on a collision course. Why? Because, I can only guess, they were going in a direction and anything in their way needed to move or get bent.
People in the elevators often don't even respond when you say "hello."
I have met some strangers in DC and I can sum up most of those initial conversations like this:
"Hi. What do you do? "
[I answer]
*visible shrug*
"Well, I work at [insert X government agency/consultant firm/lobby firm]."
"Let me tell you why my job/agency/office/department/firm is so amazing. I'll continue with why I am so important and segue into why my work is so important, and then I'll round it out with how I make really big bucks doing this work. Oh and, while I say all that, I'm going to drop as many politician names as possible! KTHX!"
Mix, and repeat.
Sorry to be so bitter, and generalizing, but that's the experience I, almost invariably, have with 9 out of 10 people I meet whom do not already have some sort of relationship/connection with me through work or housing.
It's a great place if you are OK with name-dropping or if your work in some ways defines who you are. But I am not that kind of person, and I do not like the culture - that I've seen - in DC and NoVa proper.
Last edited by citizenchan; 08-28-2015 at 12:23 PM..
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