Current State of Affairs: Equity in Oregon

This section provides links to reports illuminating our region's current state of affairs, specifically highlighting the systemic inequities which exist here. Many of these inequities stem from historically rooted practices. Understanding why disparities in various sectors, including education, housing and health care exist in our region, and how these are manifested, can help us create a more just community. This section of the blog connects our region's history with how various communities are faring, and helps map where and how we need to move toward a more equitable tomorrow.

"Communities of Color in Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile" is the first of a series of reports developed in 2010 by the Coalition of Communities of Color in partnership with Portland State University. The report documents the experiences of communities of color in Multnomah County. Some highlights: 26.3% of Multnomah county are people of color. Communities of color in Multnomah county suffer more than similar communities of color nationally. They earn half the incomes of whites and have unemployment rates that are 35.7% higher than whites. Poverty levels among Multnomah county's communities are at levels at least double those of whites. 1 in 3 children of color are living in poverty.

The African American Community in Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile, published in January 2014, focuses on the African-American community in Multnomah County, Oregon, a community that "has faced continued upheaval and devastation since our migration here due to the ongoing discriminatory systems of development and decision making by city government and other main stream jurisdictions." The goal of the report, which represents "the generational experiences of African-American community members" is to "foster action and accountability in local government to develop pro-active policy and programmatic solutions that will eliminate the disparities identified."

"The Native American Community in Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile", published in 2011, is the most widespread study of Multnomah County's urban Indian community. It is the result of three years of work of true partnership between the Native American community, the Coalition of Communities of Color and Portland State University. Some highlights from the study: Poverty rates in the Native American community are triple those in White communities. More than 20% of Native Americans experience hunger on a regular basis. Native Americans are the victims of violent crimes at rates 250% higher than Whites.

The African Refugee and Immigrant Community in Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile This 2013 report serves to make visible our diverse African communities in Multnomah County.

The Latino Community in Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile report, published in 2012, uncovers an array of racial inequities across the systems of income, employment, education, juvenile justice, corrections, child welfare, wealth, health, health insurance coverage, and racial harassment among others. Select highlights: At 11% of the total county population, Latinos comprise the largest community of color. Latino purchasing power in Portland is nearly $4 billion and growing. However, Latino individual poverty levels are 77% higher than Whites while family poverty levels are 152% higher. Nationally, Latinos hold only 5 1/2 cents for every dollar of assets held by Whites.

The Asian and Pacific Islander Community in Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile, completed in 2012 and three years in the making, is the most comprehensive study of the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community in Multnomah county to date. It documents the experiences of over 20 API ethnic groups, who are both largely diverse in language and culture, while at the same time profoundly linked by the impact of racism which does not "exist by intention. It is instead measured by its outcomes and its impact." The study found that the API community fares worse than Whites. This is true of incomes, poverty rates, educational attainment, most educational achievement gaps, occupations, health care, some health outcomes such as low birth weight births, housing, political representation, hiring in the civil service, youth being held in detention and short term stays in child welfare.


State of Black Oregon 2009 This report, produced by the Urban League of Portland, is the comprehensive assessment of the local African American community in 17 years. It examines indicators in the areas of education, economic development, housing, health and criminal justice among others, and calls on policy-makers and other individuals to take specific measures to eliminate racial disparities

Misguided Measures: The Outcomes and Impacts of Measure 11 on Oregon's Youth. A 2008 report by The Campaign for Youth Justice and Partnership for Safety and Justice, which reexamines policies related to trying youth as adults, specifically Measure 11.

Putting Women's Health Care Disparities on the Map: Examining Racial and Ethnic Disparities at the State Level This report from 2009 provides information about how women fare at the state level by assessing the status of women in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. For each state, the magnitude of the racial and ethnic differences between White women and women of color was analyzed for 25 indicators of health and well-being grouped in three dimensions—health status, access and utilization, and social determinants. The report also examines key health care payment and workforce issues that help to shape access at the state level.

Exclusionary Discipline in Multnomah County Schools: How suspensions and expulsions impact students of color This report of the Multnomah County Commission on Children, Families & Community, published in 2012, "asserts that we must agree that exclusionary discipline is a primary factor leading to academic disconnection and ultimately failure; therefore reducing or providing alternatives to exclusionary discipline should be prioritized for all students and especially stu- dents of color." It shows how many young people locally are being impacted by exclusionary discipline practices and policies, and how we can reduce the number of students excluded from school and increase the number of students who graduate from high school and move into higher education and gainful employment.


Facing Race: 2011 LEGISLATIVE REPORT CARD ON RACIAL EQUITY examines 23 pieces Of legislation introduced in the 2011 regular session that would have the most direct impacts — positive or negative — on all Oregonians, particularly communities of color. This report addresses racial equity related to five major areas: civil rights and criminal justice, education, economic justice, health, and immigrant and refugee issues. A final category, institutional racism, examines legislation that reinforces or increases racial disparities in opportunities and outcomes.

ANALYSIS: TRAFFIC AND PEDESTRIAN STOP DATA STILL SHOW BIAS AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR In mid-May, 2012, the Portland Police Bureau released the traffic and pedestrian stop data for Portland in the year 2010. Despite the "Plan to Address Racial Profiling" being adopted by City Council in September, 2009, and pledges to improve the "hit rate"-- that is, if people are stopped and searched, the searches should turn up contraband at the same rates regardless of the ethnicity of the drivers-- the AMA Coalition for Justice and Police Reform and Portland Copwatch have found that the numbers have not improved, and may be getting worse. Specifically, the percentage of African Americans and Latinos who are searched after being stopped continues to be over twice as high as the percentage of whites who are searched, even though the percentage of African Americans and Latinos found to have illegal drugs, weapons, alcohol, or other contraband is about 7/10 as high as the percentage of whites found with the same kinds of items.

City of Portland 2009 Disparity Study Final Report This study evaluated the effectiveness of race and gender-neutral practices in public construction and construction-related professional services contracting as well as relevant City policies and practices.

Locked Out: The Failure of Portland-area Fair Housing Journalist Brad Schmidt spent months analyzing data and interviewing experts for this series on the failure of local governments and agencies to fulfill a fundamental goal of the nation's 44-year-old Fair Housing Act: to give everyone, regardless of color, a fair shot at living in a decent neighborhood. Schmidt's investigation found that taxpayer money meant to help break down segregation and poverty is instead reinforcing it.

Black History in the NW

African American History in the American West This site, created by Professor Quintard Taylor at the University of Washington, is a gateway to the vast and growing array of information on the lives and histories of the millions of African Americans who have and continue to make the West their home.

African Americans in the Columbia River Basin - Historical Overview The 1,200-mile long Columbia River drains a 259,000-square-mile basin that includes territory in seven states (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Wyoming, and Utah) and one Canadian province. The Columbia River Basin Ethnic History Archive project spotlights a variety of people who have migrated to this part of the Pacific over the past two hundred years.

OREGON

The Oregonian: African immigrants help shape Portland's small black community Excerpt from this article published in January, 2009: "Recent census estimates show Portland's population of U.S.-born African Americans has declined slightly since 2000. But its African-born population increased nearly 90 percent from 2000 to 2007 and now makes up about 12 percent of the black population. . . African immigrants first trickled into Oregon in the 1970s, mainly as students from West African countries. In the 1980s, resettlement agencies began to relocate refugees from war-torn nations such as Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the Portland area, and those numbers accelerated in the 1990s and this decade, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, with refugees coming from Somalia, Liberia, Chad and Togo. Portland is 12th in the nation for refugee resettlement, according to a 2007 report by the Brookings Institution, bringing in 34,000 refugees from across the globe between 1984 and 2003. But it's also one of the whitest cities in the country."

The African Refugee and Immigrant Community in Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile This 2013 report serves to make visible our diverse African communities in Multnomah County.

Golden West Hotel in Portland This exhibit celebrates the rich history of the Golden West, the former center of Portland's African-American social and business life in the first decades of the twentieth century. The website features period photographs and oral history recordings.

Local Color This documentary chronicles the little known history of racism in Oregon and the moving story of people, both black and white, who worked for civil rights.

A Brief History of African Americans in Portland An article from The Skanner newspaper about how Black pioneers, founders and civil rights activists settled a 'whites-only' state.

KBOO Community Radio program: Walidah Imarisha on the history of Blacks in Oregon and race relations in the United States. Walidah is a historian, a reporter, a poet, a spoken word artist, a documentary film maker, a writer and a community organizer. She teaches for the Black Studies department at Portland State University and in the Women’s Studies Department at Oregon State University. She speaks here about "the peculiar history of African Americans in Oregon and Portland and openly talk about the 'isms' that continue to impact our society."

Oregon Black History Timeline A slide show with audio commentary by author and educator Walidah Imarisha giving an overview of Black history in Oregon.

Oregon African American Museum The mission of Oregon African American Museum, located in Salem, is to educate the public about African American history in Oregon by collecting, preserving, interpreting and exhibiting material evidence of the African American experience.

Oregon Historical Society: African American History in Oregon This Focus page examines issues, historical moments, and people important to African American’s History in Oregon.

Oregon Northwest Black Pioneer History Organization The Oregon Northwest Black Pioneers is an all volunteer nonprofit organization based in Salem, Oregon. It was founded in 1993 and incorporated in 1994 to do research and educate Oregonians about African-Americans’ contributions to Oregon’s history.

Salem (Oregon) Online History: African Americans in Salem The website was created by the Salem Public Library.

Vanport City, Oregon portal Includes videos and images of Vanport, once the second-largest city in Oregon, constructed in 1943 to house the workers at the wartime Kaiser Shipyards in Portland and Vancouver, Washington. Vanport was destroyed by a flood in 1948.

WASHINGTON

African Americans and Seattle's civil rights history This page is a gateway to the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project resources for exploring the civil rights activism of African Americans in the Pacific Northwest. Included are a short film, activist oral histories, research reports, newspaper reports, photographic collections, maps, historical documents.

Seattle Black Panther Party History and Memory Project The Black Panther Party for Self Defense established its Seattle chapter in the spring of 1968. It was one of the first to be created outside of California. The Seattle chapter also lasted longer than most, surviving until 1978. Although the membership was never large, the organization made a major impact on the region. This page introduces the Seattle Black Panther Party -- History and Memory Project. The unit comprises the most extensive online collection of materials for any chapter of the Black Panther Party, including the Oakland chapter.

Image credit: Central City Concern's Golden West Building site