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Old 04-23-2014, 06:28 PM
 
Location: Pacific NW
6,413 posts, read 12,114,326 times
Reputation: 5860

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Carpentergirl View Post
In Lake Oswego my son was detained by an officer for what I can only call "jogging while black" We were staying with a friend over christmas while my son was home from college and he decided to go for a run on Christmas eve. He was clearly underdressed but he was accustomed to cold as he was in his junior year at college in Minnesota. About 20 minutes after he left he called me to come get him because an officer was threatening his arrest for failing to provide ID. I drove up to the parking lot of a tire store to find my son , now shivering, standing in the headlights of a police car. I pulled up behind the car and told my son to get in my car and the officer warned me to get back in mine. Of course I refused I asked the officer why she was detaining him. She said he looked "suspicious" running around after dark and when she asked him for ID he refused to provide it. I told her she could either arrest him or leave and I took my son home. She did not follow us.
PORTLAND is awesome but like anywhere else there are pockets of idiots.
I'm sorry. I'm aware that racist incidents happen, but this just doesn't sound like it. Forget any skin color, the situation you described was something out of the norm. A police officer was right in checking it out. Add to the fact that "he refused to provide it" and then you show up and start being uncooperative on top of it.

It doesn't sound like in this case, the police were being idiots.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Winnyard Bletch View Post
It's quite funny how defensive some people get when told they have a racist history. Oregon has catered specifically to White protestants for it's entirety. Don't buy that? Ask a mormon. Can't find one? Thats because we drove them out. Blacks immigrated in so small of numbers to portland not because it was "too far", but because of the local's legendary disdain for them. Portland has been said to be "The worst city outside the south for blacks". Despite a city wide campaign to convince the population that they live in a diverse, open minded utopia, Portland has lower diversity and experience segregation more profound than that found in Omaha, Nebraska.
Yeah, Portland drove the Mormons out, and no one can find any. That's why they built a temple here. Recently. And according to the LDS church (Mormons) Oregon has the 9th largest population of Mormons in the US.

White Protestants? For its entirety? French Canadians (who are Catholics) settled the area, and for quite a while were the only religious domination in the entire Oregon Country.
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Old 04-23-2014, 09:06 PM
 
70 posts, read 75,888 times
Reputation: 36
All of the above said, I'm a young, sbf visiting in a few days because my job has a client there and they'll be moving us. Simply based on not wanting to live in WA and wanting to be within driving distance of Portland (since I think I'd like it quite a lot, from what I know), I have been looking at places within about an hour to an hour and a half commute between Portland and the northeast of Oregon, where we'll be working. I'm actually coming into PDX instead of tri-cities to see what places west of the work site are like. If it weren't a 3 and a half hour commute to work, I'd just move to Portland.

I'm wondering about things like diversity, though I care less about diversity and more about non-racist interactions (if I have to pick). I've been T.O.B.P. plenty of times, which doesn't bother me if people are genuinely friendly. I'm not one who tends to be overly sensitive to those sorts of things, nor do I jump to conclusions about situations which may or may not be racist. However, I want to have a comfortable living experience and also want to be in driving distance of a major city center. It might help that I love hiking, camping etc., since there's plenty of that to be found all around the state.

I'm just wanting to find the safest, friendliest, most reasonably priced locale, especially since I'm single. So many criteria! I've been looking at Hood River, The Dalles and The Columbia Gorge regions, since they're between Portland and work and seem relatively well populated. Best bets? Suggestions?
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Old 04-23-2014, 09:50 PM
 
Location: Portland, Oregon
10,988 posts, read 20,510,182 times
Reputation: 8261
Actually Hood River or The Dalles may be a very good choice. There are few non-Hispanic minorities there and in my experience these communities are protective of every last one.

Years ago I was assigned by DOL to collect wages from farmers payable to undocumented workers rounded up by the Border Patrol. They also scooped up families with children shopping for groceries. I was not a happy camper as I am a mother and could see that it had been a long time since those kids had eaten and that the INS wasn't about to provide anything until they put them on a bus to Mexico. I went to a local Mexican restraint, explained my concern and asked if they would prepare box lunches for the children. Once they understood that I was not INS children's meals came in a flood and they refused my offer of payment.

After the Vietnam War a Black couple moved to The Dalles, he was hired by the aluminum plant. They were also members of some Protestant denomination where he was a member of the clergy and she a music director. With their children they put on concerts with the enthusiastic support of the community. They were "their" Black family, the only ones for miles around. Several of the children married local Caucasians and remained in the community.
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Old 04-23-2014, 11:14 PM
 
25 posts, read 38,095 times
Reputation: 33
Quote:
Originally Posted by VTHokieFan View Post
I feel like people just really can't stand that Portland is a majority white city, and that the people here are indifferent to it.
There's more and more of these "How comes Portland isn't more Black" threads popping up. Politically correct nonsense. But no mention of the different Asian, Native American, Hispanic, communities present. OP is trying to drive a wedge between people when there wasn't one to begin with. I would be willing to wager the people in Portland like the way their city is. Everyone is different in many more ways than just skin color hue. Every city doesn't have to mimic the American average % for each ethnicity. There's always a few troublemakers trying to stir up discontent for selfish reasons.
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Old 04-23-2014, 11:54 PM
 
Location: Passaic, NJ
646 posts, read 924,040 times
Reputation: 187
Quote:
Originally Posted by dj006 View Post
There's more and more of these "How comes Portland isn't more Black" threads popping up. Politically correct nonsense. But no mention of the different Asian, Native American, Hispanic, communities present. OP is trying to drive a wedge between people when there wasn't one to begin with. I would be willing to wager the people in Portland like the way their city is. Everyone is different in many more ways than just skin color hue. Every city doesn't have to mimic the American average % for each ethnicity. There's always a few troublemakers trying to stir up discontent for selfish reasons.
i dont know why u so sensitive, all i aks was where the black people at and if they moving there or not, asians and hispanics are all good, but the fact that portland isnt very racially diverse is jus the way it is, whether its good or bad, dependin on a person, but it is wat it is, maybe to u it is diverse enough and thats fine, but comparing to other major cities its one of the least diverse, which is fine too for some people, not fine for others and its all good
perhaps it doesnt matter to u, but it matters to others who wan move somewhere esp if they are black and wan know the situation with their folks in a given region
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Old 04-24-2014, 06:30 AM
 
Location: Portland, Oregon
46,001 posts, read 35,097,852 times
Reputation: 7875
Quote:
Originally Posted by greenlite View Post
i dont know why u so sensitive, all i aks was where the black people at and if they moving there or not, asians and hispanics are all good, but the fact that portland isnt very racially diverse is jus the way it is, whether its good or bad, dependin on a person, but it is wat it is, maybe to u it is diverse enough and thats fine, but comparing to other major cities its one of the least diverse, which is fine too for some people, not fine for others and its all good
perhaps it doesnt matter to u, but it matters to others who wan move somewhere esp if they are black and wan know the situation with their folks in a given region
Historically blacks were mostly in North and Northeast Portland, but these days there is no real concentration of them anywhere in Portland. You can find Black Americans living in just about any neighborhood of Portland. It is just going to be a low percentage because Portland has a low percentage of Black Americans living there.

Portland isn't really like east coast cities which are still very neighborhood segregated still.

The 2000 and 2010 census is where you will find the information about how many blacks have moved to Portland over a specific decade.
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Old 04-24-2014, 08:02 AM
 
70 posts, read 75,888 times
Reputation: 36
Thanks Nell Plotts; I appreciate your feedback. Does anyone else have any other suggestions? I do like socializing and tend to get along best with people who are open-minded/alternative or at least not too conservative, so it'd be nice to be based somewhere where that's more of the vibe. However, based solely on what I've heard, I might have to find most of that in the city (Portland). Overall, as long as I live somewhere peaceful where I'm able to be me (unbothered by people for any reason), then I'm fine.

Again, my co-workers will be primarily living in the Tri-Cities area, with Kennewick being the most heavily populated. There is no CL for the area it seems, so in looking for apartments I'm hoping that I'd be able to find something direct through an owner instead of through an apartment complex or a leasing agent. I don't know if criteria are the same as it is in and around Chicago, but it'd be nice to deal with someone human who just wants to rent to a friendly, reasonably responsible person.
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Old 04-24-2014, 09:19 AM
 
159 posts, read 408,433 times
Reputation: 325
Quote:
Originally Posted by urbanlife78 View Post
Historically blacks were mostly in North and Northeast Portland, but these days there is no real concentration of them anywhere in Portland. You can find Black Americans living in just about any neighborhood of Portland. It is just going to be a low percentage because Portland has a low percentage of Black Americans living there.

Portland isn't really like east coast cities which are still very neighborhood segregated still.

The 2000 and 2010 census is where you will find the information about how many blacks have moved to Portland over a specific decade.

The small percentage of blacks in Portland still seem to be concentrated in N/NE Portland. Many have moved out of Portland all together into Gresham, Beaverton and Hillsboro. I see very few blacks living in my outer SE neighborhood.
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Old 04-24-2014, 10:04 AM
 
9,961 posts, read 17,477,729 times
Reputation: 9193
Quote:
Originally Posted by UberDuper View Post
Thanks Nell Plotts; I appreciate your feedback. Does anyone else have any other suggestions? I do like socializing and tend to get along best with people who are open-minded/alternative or at least not too conservative, so it'd be nice to be based somewhere where that's more of the vibe. However, based solely on what I've heard, I might have to find most of that in the city (Portland). Overall, as long as I live somewhere peaceful where I'm able to be me (unbothered by people for any reason), then I'm fine.

Again, my co-workers will be primarily living in the Tri-Cities area, with Kennewick being the most heavily populated. There is no CL for the area it seems, so in looking for apartments I'm hoping that I'd be able to find something direct through an owner instead of through an apartment complex or a leasing agent. I don't know if criteria are the same as it is in and around Chicago, but it'd be nice to deal with someone human who just wants to rent to a friendly, reasonably responsible person.
Are you working in the Tri-Cities and planning on commuting there? Or commuting somewhere in between Hood River/The Dalles and Tri-Cities?

Hood River is a fun little town--it's very outdoors-oriented so it attracts a younger crowd. Though it is a pretty small town and the black population there is miniscule(it's mostly white and Hispanic with little overall diversity). People are friendly, but from a friend who lived there said it could feel a little limited socially after a while(after a year, you'll see the same faces day after day). Still it's a little more engaging for a transplant then The Dalles--which feels more of a provincial country town--though The Dalles will change with the new Google data centers out there. Though Hood River is also more expensive--but it's a beautiful place, probably one of my favorite locations in Oregon just for the scenery. There's a lot of other transplants there who will be pretty open-minded and laidback--though it can feel almost like a Colorado mountain town in demographics. It's incredibly laid-back and people seem to get more excited about going fishing or camping or mountain biking or skiing or windsurfing than anything else out there.
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Old 04-24-2014, 10:50 AM
 
Location: Passaic, NJ
646 posts, read 924,040 times
Reputation: 187
Quote:
Originally Posted by urbanlife78 View Post
Historically blacks were mostly in North and Northeast Portland, but these days there is no real concentration of them anywhere in Portland. You can find Black Americans living in just about any neighborhood of Portland. It is just going to be a low percentage because Portland has a low percentage of Black Americans living there.

Portland isn't really like east coast cities which are still very neighborhood segregated still.

The 2000 and 2010 census is where you will find the information about how many blacks have moved to Portland over a specific decade.
so what prevents more blacks from moving to portland area? and not everywhere is segregated, some nj towns are diverse like montclair
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