Portland cut police funding and got a 2,000% surge in murders (Grants Pass: high school, campers)

[redguard57]

Originally Posted by ccjarider

Life for all in 2021 seems pretty good IF this is the extent of this "serious systematic racism" problem.
OTOH perhaps there is just a lot of race baiting going on in both Portland and the country in general.
The black and brown people I know in Portland area are successful and generally don't seem to dwell on life's inconsistencies.

Seems like a better and certainly more fulfilling approach than a "whoa is me" attitude.

My best friend in WI, (Acknowledge that this is not a Portland story) is a black man. He was raised in Memphis. As a young man he chose to move away from his family because he specifically did not want to raise his children in the "perpetual victim" mentality he saw in his family.

It's just one man's story - but I find it interesting.

Depends what you consider important I suppose. Even in the segregation era, the ability of black people to move, to get jobs somewhere was possible. You could become reasonably wealthy as a black person even when segregation was in place. You could own a business, etc.. just had to be mindful of the rules.

Life is more than about what your job is. What affected my friend was not her job. The job was fine and she was on track to move up at the same speed as everyone else. But the psychological impact of Proud Boy rallies where they wave confederate flags in her face... well, she wanted out of that. Like I said that crap happens surprisingly more in the PNW than it does in the the south these days. Even though it out-votes those people a lot more than the south does, somehow it's more in your face. Especially compared to the "new" south where the cities are bigger, more diverse, more international, than here.

We forget that Portland is a middling city with a small to middling port, not a lot of international connections, not all that cosmopolitan, and still quite provincial. It has taken on some progressive virtue signaling and accoutrements like its transit system and the kind of people & businesses it attracts... but in a lot of ways Oregon is the West Virginia of the west in its provincialism. I sometimes get the feeling that Oregon is what West Virginia would be if WV had seacoast and a better economy.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by redguard57

........ People wanting to mess with her hair, the guys that were only interested in her to make some kind of racial conquest, etc...........

All women have people wanting to mess with their hair and have a constant assault by men who are only interested in them as a conquest, and a lot of etc.


That is not racism. That is seeing things as racism when they are things that happen to everyone no matter what their race is.

[Kid Ashbury]

Originally Posted by redguard57

From the POC friends I have who have shared, in Oregon today the racism is more of the 1000 little cuts variety that that wears you down, makes you exhausted after a while. I had one black female colleague, the only one actually, look for jobs elsewhere because she was just sick of all the little things. People wanting to mess with her hair, the guys that were only interested in her to make some kind of racial conquest, etc... It wasn't like she was called "n-word" or barred from promotions or something.

In the south it's more obvious, in-your-face. But there is also more genuine support because of the larger minority community.

Oh no, someone wanted to touch someone's hair? What a tragedy!

That's actually interesting though, because from the white friends I have who have shared, it's not the "1000 little cuts variety", it's actually that they're tired of being demonized as irredeemable bigots while the reality of race relations in the U.S. show that whites aren't the bigots or the threats to blacks, it's the other way around:

[Terryj]

I lived in Portland in the 90's, it was a decent city, it had its problems but all in all it was okay. Moving on to today, the city of Portland has become the toilet of Oregon, I have no desire to even visit Portland, he closest I get to Portland is the VA Hospital.

[LongLeggedOne]

Originally Posted by redguard57

Depends what you consider important I suppose. Even in the segregation era, the ability of black people to move, to get jobs somewhere was possible. You could become reasonably wealthy as a black person even when segregation was in place. You could own a business, etc.. just had to be mindful of the rules.

Life is more than about what your job is. What affected my friend was not her job. The job was fine and she was on track to move up at the same speed as everyone else. But the psychological impact of Proud Boy rallies where they wave confederate flags in her face... well, she wanted out of that. Like I said that crap happens surprisingly more in the PNW than it does in the the south these days. Even though it out-votes those people a lot more than the south does, somehow it's more in your face. Especially compared to the "new" south where the cities are bigger, more diverse, more international, than here.

We forget that Portland is a middling city with a small to middling port, not a lot of international connections, not all that cosmopolitan, and still quite provincial. It has taken on some progressive virtue signaling and accoutrements like its transit system and the kind of people & businesses it attracts... but in a lot of ways Oregon is the West Virginia of the west in its provincialism. I sometimes get the feeling that Oregon is what West Virginia would be if WV had seacoast and a better economy.

Its almost like Portland wants to do things like the deep south does. The deep south, not the New south. The New south is a lot more progressive in actuality I feel than Portland is.



All Portland is a representation of is if say a city in SC got more appeal and you injected a younger crowd into it, but thats it. Thats as far as it goes.



its a misnomer to mistake Portland as a socially tolerant liberal place more than it is a regressive liberal feel with a radical edge. Maybe some left libertarian thrown in also but the violent kinds who to your face, much like SC people are will not do crap unless they feel they have an advantage.


I like the whole Tampa/St Pete, Raleigh form of liberalism more. Asheville and Austin even get nods over Portland, and would be more like Seattle just with better weather for me.



I experienced time in Portland, it was a bad mistake and a waste of time. At least its early enough for me to leave SC if I have to now. Columbia SC was my universal response move to living in the Portland area, it was reactionary for my hate for Portland but it ends up being the opposite extreme of the spectrum and while I had the right idea, it was still misguided.. a me me me far right kind of government with lots of poorly educated folks still. Portland is like if you had those same poorly educated, but you put a D or a radical left sticker on them.



At least its closer to other cities in the New south though incase I have to leave here. Thats the good news and I am out of Portland for good !

[GrEeKlIfE08]

I just read an article about Christians trying to pray outdoors and being attacked by antifa thugs. W is going on in Portland??

[ccjarider]

Originally Posted by GrEeKlIfE08

I just read an article about Christians trying to pray outdoors and being attacked by antifa thugs. W is going on in Portland??

I guess they think God is racist.

[MaltCueOur]

Well, Antifa are literally antifascist right, so anything they do is in the name of antifascism so anything they do is in the name of the good!

[nadnerb]

Originally Posted by GrEeKlIfE08

I just read an article about Christians trying to pray outdoors and being attacked by antifa thugs. W is going on in Portland??

I went to Catholic school for most of my childhood and I've never been to a prayer service where people are sporting shields and airsoft guns. Weird!

People also forget to mention that the featured speaker was a pastor who once claimed "the 2013 southern Alberta floods were caused, in part, by God’s unhappiness about homosexuality." I'm not sure why people come to Portland and expect it to be a safe space for bigots. Go to Idaho or some other small town in middle America if you want to be welcomed with open arms.

[Kid Ashbury]

Originally Posted by MaltCueOur

Well, Antifa are literally antifascist right, so anything they do is in the name of antifascism so anything they do is in the name of the good!