Racial climate in Portland (designers, phone number, venue)

[footballer0607]

As a California who has visited family twice in Portland, I must say that I was impressed by the city. In the beginning I was concerned because it is true that the city is nowhere near as diverse numerically as others of similar size. However, I was able to go exploring by myself in both downtown Portland in the SE quadrant, and it didn't cause a stir at all. I did notice that blacks seemed to concentrated disproportionately in NE Portland, but that part of town didn't look bad at all compared to the "black" sections of town I've seen in some other cities. BTW, I'm 22 and African-American.

[Lee151]

There are sections of Portland that have more African Americans than others, North and NE Portland, Lloyd Center mall area is much more diverse than Washington Square or Clackamas Town Center. There have to be salons that specialize in African American hairstyles, I see ladies with braids on a regular basis. I know there are churches with congregations that are mostly African American and there are BBQ and Soul Food restaurants. This isn't Atlanta or Detroit though, we have nowhere near the diversity found in many other states.

[Lee151]

I don't know anything about the quality of their work but I found some salons:

Index

Home

Kalista Salon & Day Spa, in Portland Oregon

Platinum Black Salon - Home (http://platinumblacksalon.com/home - broken link)

[nephthys]

One thing I do like about Portland, even though there aren't large African American communities, that all kinds of people actually live amongst each other. I haven't experienced any racial tension what so ever here. I'm from the midwest btw. Where people stay in their hood and no one else enters.

[figmalt]

I'm a little disappointed in the cynicism of the posters so far. Portland and the metro area is primarily white. No question. But Portland has a diverse group of immigrants and cultures. There are many white immigrants (i.e. Russians, Ukrainians, etc.), along with non-white groups:
Asian: Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino
Middle Eastern: Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iranian,
African: Somali, Kenyan, Nigerian, Libyan,
South & Central American: Guatemalan, Mexican, Chilean, El Salvadorian,

I don't think you're looking very hard if you don't see cultural and ethnic diversity in Portland. Besides that, Portland is a very welcoming city. So to the original question and post, would your non-white friends be comfortable in Portland? Absolutely. Would white friends be welcome? Yes. Can you find culturally diverse activities? YES!!!!!! If you're looking to be offended, you'll find that too--same as anywhere.

[subsound]

It's easy to be offended by diversity if you just look at population demographics in Portland, just because you have one more populous demographic has no influence on attitudes...

Portland is one of the most welcoming city for pretty much everyone, I'm sorry people have to dye their skin to be welcoming of diversity.

[green_mariner]

I am going to tell of a story about someone I knew from Oregon. She has grandchildren in Oregon who are biracial(black father, white mother). A teacher in Oregon made a comment to the tune of "for black children, they are pretty smart" as to say that race should have something to do with it. To say the least, the teacher was fired. With that said, Oregon, and Portland particularly, has quite a contradictory image. On the one hand, you have a place that comes off as the picture of ultraliberal and progressive, and on the other hand it has a very dark history of racial prejudice and bigotry and there are still some issues now.

[EnricoV]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

I am going to tell of a story about someone I knew from Oregon. She has grandchildren in Oregon who are biracial(black father, white mother). A teacher in Oregon made a comment to the tune of "for black children, they are pretty smart" as to say that race should have something to do with it. To say the least, the teacher was fired. With that said, Oregon, and Portland particularly, has quite a contradictory image. On the one hand, you have a place that comes off as the picture of ultraliberal and progressive, and on the other hand it has a very dark history of racial prejudice and bigotry and there are still some issues now.

Portland is no different that anywhere else. There are ignorant people, like the teacher, everywhere. The fact that she was fired tells me a lot positive about Portland, though.

No place no earth is free from a "dark history of ... prejudice and bigotry."

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by EnricoV

Portland is no different that anywhere else. There are ignorant people, like the teacher, everywhere. The fact that she was fired tells me a lot positive about Portland, though.

No place no earth is free from a "dark history of ... prejudice and bigotry."

True. I was discussing it mainly for Portland's case.

[Winnyard Bletch]

I notice the convo naturally turns to bbq and gang violence. ****in Portland