State of black Oregon: precarious
by Nikole Hannah-Jones, The Oregonian
Saturday July 25, 2009, 10:00 AM
Sharon Peters, who has a daughter headed to college and a son who's a senior in high school, waits at the state WorkSource Central Metro office in North Portland. She's looking for work, but can't find it. Black Oregonians are twice as likely to be unemployed as white Oregonians.Now imagine that what is now the third-highest state unemployment rate in the nation has been your community's jobless rate for the past 30 years. And that during this economic freefall the unemployment rate could be 20 percent or higher.
This is the reality for black Oregonians.
"If Oregon's unemployment rate is considered a crisis, then the black community has been in crisis for years, " says Marcus Mundy, president of the Urban League of Portland. "It's a scary place right now because when things go bad for everyone, it's exponentially so for black folks."
This week, the depth of that crisis will become clear as the Urban League releases its first assessment in 17 years of how the state's tiny black population -- smaller than four sellout crowds at the Rose Garden -- fares in Oregon.
The civil rights organization brought in educators, policy specialists and academics to research and document key areas of black life and hired the consulting firm ECONorthwest to collect data.
The study reveals a community that falls near or at the bottom of almost every quality of life indicator in the state, including infant mortality, high school graduation, proximity to environmental toxins, incarceration and poverty rates.
But most troubling to advocates is the devastation that the financial disaster has wrought on the state's black population that already struggles with a poverty rate more than twice the state average.
The unemployment rate for African Americans in Oregon has consistently been double that of white Oregonians, even in good times. Black unemployment probably is now close to 24 percent.
Black Oregonians are losing homes and wealth in what is nationally projected to be the largest loss of black wealth in U.S. history, according to a national report.
"The effects are very devastating in a community where this high of a percentage are out of work," says Karen Gibson, an urban studies professor at Portland State University who wrote a piece on employment for the report. "It's like an invisible, silent disaster. How can they maintain their family, start a business, be a role model?"
When the Urban League of Portland moved to take new stock of the state's black population, the financial disaster had not yet dug in its heels in Oregon.
The national Urban League issues an annual State of Black America, but the local chapter has channeled its energy in recent years into rebuilding after years of turmoil and dysfunction.
Discuss:To discuss this article or talk more about race, go to Nikole Hannah-Jones' race blog: oregonlive.com/race
Read the report:
The Urban League of Portland releases the State of Black Oregon report Monday. Read it online at www.ulpdx.orgFor help:
Housing or foreclosure assistance: Contact the African American Alliance for Homeownership at www.aaah.org or 503-595-3517
Job search assistance: www.worksourceoregon.org or 800-237-3710
Mundy, a California transplant who came on board as interim president in 2006 and as president January 2008, said he decided the chapter needed the report after running into what he sees as Oregonians' progressive blind spot: race.
"I kept hearing things that I couldn't verify, like, 'Oh, it's not so bad,'" Mundy says. "We weren't looking for problems. We were looking for facts. It's hard to advocate without the numbers."
As the economic meltdown took its toll, the report gained a new urgency.
"The state of black Oregon is precarious," says Mundy. "We are on the precipice of turning back many gains of the civil rights movement in a real way."
Black Oregonians are particularly vulnerable to recession, says Gibson of Portland State.
Because of the state's history of discrimination and segregation, the population is small and has less wealth and lower incomes than black communities nationally. Black Oregonians found it difficult to enter certain fields and to attend college, Gibson says, so are newer to many professions and therefore among the first to be let go in hard times. Workers also are concentrated in the service and manufacturing sectors, which are lower paying and more likely to cut jobs.
Unemployment figures measure the numbers of jobless Americans who are actively seeking work, but can't find it.
The state keeps no monthly data on unemployment by race, so the latest figures on black unemployment come from last year, before Oregon's overall unemployment rate jumped more than 6 percentage points.
But economists say the doubling trend probably is continuing for black Oregonians. A new study lends credence to the high rate.
The Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C., released a state-by-state report last week on racial disparities in unemployment, but Oregon's black population was too small to measure. However, Michigan -- suffering like Oregon with anoverall unemployment rate higher than 12 percent -- recorded a black unemployment rate of 22.8 percent for the second quarter of the year. That's close to the peak national unemployment rate during the Great Depression.
Sharon Peters is engulfed in the struggle to find a job. The 45-year-old suddenly found herself searching for work after her husband died in November. She graduated from Spelman College where she studied pre-med, but she hasn't worked in recent years.
She has networked, stopped by businesses and sent out resume after resume, but hasn't gotten a single call back. With her daughter headed to college in Los Angeles this fall and her son entering his senior year of high school, the worry shows on her face.
"It's bad," she says as she waits at the North Portland unemployment office where she hoped to sign up for a medical certification course. "I'm told I am either overqualified for some jobs and underqualified for others."
Peters looks at her 17-year-old daughter, Ta'Nia. "I'm really concerned about the future because I have people depending on me."
An employment specialist calls her back and says her online resume looks good. Then he runs it through a program that matches skills with job openings.
No current matches, the screen says. He gives a sympathetic smile, then says, "That's not that uncommon given the way the economy is going."
Unemployment among African Americans in Portland has been worse than for African Americans in every major West Coast city and the nation as a whole since at least 1979.
And even for those who've tried to beat the odds through education, a college degree provides little buffer.
"The unemployment rate for blacks with some college education is consistently higher than whites who dropped out of high school," says William Darity, a professor of public policy, African American studies and economics at Duke University. "For folks who think that discrimination is passe, I don't know how they explain that."
In April, the unemployment rate among African American college graduates nationally was 7.2 percent, nearly twice as high as that of their white counterparts and significantly higher than that of Hispanics and Asians with four-year degrees, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The impact, Darity says, is a population in which many are unable to get a foothold in the American dream.
"It damages the progress that has been achieved by some segments of the black population that we call the middle class," he says.
Don Wesley is one of those people.
In May, after nearly 24 years with Nike, Wesley went to work only to leave a few hours later, carrying a box brimming with the contents of his desk. He had known layoffs were coming as Nike trimmed its staff. But he had been told not to worry.
"In conversations with my boss, I was thinking I should be OK," he says. "Then I was told as part of the reorganization I was not being retained."
Wesley's carefully ordered world crashed -- the one he had constructed since he graduated with a business degree from Memphis State University.
He was born 52 years ago in Birmingham, Ala. His mother, who worked as a domestic for white families, pushed her four children to college after Wesley's father died when he was 6.
Wesley joined Nike in Tennessee and worked his way through the ranks when a promotion brought him, somewhat reluctantly, to Oregon in 1996. "As white as it is now," he recalls. "It was whiter back then."
Wesley made a life for himself here. Bought a house. Raised his kids. Spent frugally and saved lavishly.
"The only thing I've done for the last 23 years is get up and go to work and do a good job like I was raised to do -- then suddenly Don Wesley, who's been working since he was 14 years old, doesn't have a job," he says. "I broke down. I carried my boxes to my car, cried a little bit, then came home and cried a little bit, drank a beer, and cried a little more."
Even though he has a daughter in college, Wesley is OK for now. He got a severance package from Nike, where he worked with computers. But as weeks without work have turned to months, he worries that the comfortable life he's built could slip away.
"We're going to be OK," he says. "But if I haven't found a job in a couple of months, it may be a different story."
And then there's that nagging feeling.
"Even in the professional ranks, you still have the old boys club," he says. "I'm not saying that's what happened to me, but you get into circles of influence and we might do a good job but not necessarily get in those circles. And if there are only five slots and there's five people in the circle and you're not one, then you're out. I don't know if it's racial or not, but where it is race is whether we get invited into those circles."
The scope of inequities between black Oregonians and the rest of the state's residents aren't a simple matter of individuals making bad choices, Mundy says.
The Urban League contends the problems are systemic -- and has a list of recommendations that it plans to push with local and state government officials to change the system. Among them:
As the state works on its economic stimulus, ensure racial minorities get job training and work, particularly with green and infrastructure jobs.
Reform welfare programs so people receiving assistance don't lose benefits when they want to work.
Make sure African Americans get equal access to business loans and government contracts.
The group also wants the state to expand its earned income tax credit to help people transition out of poverty; strengthen laws and enforcement concerning predatory lending; preserve affordable housing; and help more African Americans buy homes.
The report will set the Urban League's agenda for the next two years.
"It's oxymoronic for Oregonians to call themselves progressive and be aware of the facts in this report -- they obliterate the notion that we are post-racial," Mundy says. "This is not a progressive state if it continues to let this exist. I want them to be as outraged about this as I am."
-- Nikole Hannah-Jones;nhannahjones@news.oregonian.com
How can it be that blacks comprise less than 4% of the state population and yet comprise 24% of the unemployed?
Say it with me: "Racial Profiling"
What a biased piece of crap! The piece is filled with several logical fallacies. There is no objectivity in it. Yes, the whites are racist, because in a liberal state like Oregon, all the business owners don't want the most qualified employees for the jobs but during their secret KKK meetings they corroborate to not hire any African Americans. The business owner says I am willing to let my business go in the crapper by hiring un-qualified white folk, because I'm a proud racist! Makes perfect sense.
Newsflash, Oregon does not have a history of discriminating against African Americans. The South does. The conclusion is based entirely on speculation.
jack24bauer: Try "collaborate"
It all starts with education.
Mojoten's comment has no basis in fact and apparently is based on political motivations.
jack24bauer's comment is satirical but more accurate. The reall problem is 55 years of liberal activism and propaganda to make blacks believe they are "victims" and need the "liberal politicians" to raise them out of poverty. The actual fact is blacks are nearly 10 times for likely to drop out of high school, proportionaly receive few college/university degrees, have 75% of their children out of wedlock and have the highest rate of single parent households of any ethic group. The real problem is the "liberal mantra of black victimization" which does nothing to improve the economic situation for blacks but does guarantee the liberal politicians of a strong voter base. The solution to the black unemployment issue is not easy and would require at least twelve years to show significant improvement. First, stop black young from dropping out of high school. Second, create a problem of trade schools and community college education directly targeted at black youth. Third, stop the apparent mystic amoung young black females that dropping out of high school, getting pregnant and living on welfare as a single mother is something desirable. Fourth, stop playing the "race card" in every circumstance, teach self-reliance and self respect and have easily attainable goals for black youth. As an aside, why is The Oregonian spending so much time and effort on rehashing an issue of less than four percent of Oregonians that everyone knows exists. Why doesn't The Oregonian do something new and unique and explore the economic, employment, education and medical conditions of the most disadvantaged of the US population, Native Americans?
Posted by jack24bauer on 07/25/09 at 10:33AM:
"Newsflash, Oregon does not have a history of discriminating against African Americans."
Jack... have you ever cracked open a history book?
I'll let another poster who knows Oregon history better than I destroy this comment.
I have been a homeowner in PTown for 35 years and there has been many a time where it was obvious that there was work to be done on or around my home. Not once has an African-American come by and asked for work. They have come by on numerous ocascions to ask for "free" money for one or another dubious "helping poor black folk" program.
The fact is they do have a victim mentality. They are there own worse enemies...not the white man.
Stop having children out of wedlock, stay in schools, stay out of gangs and stop blaming "whitey" for your problems.
Humorous.... because Oregon considers itself 'progressive' it should pay more attention to the plight of black citizens.
The statement implies that if your not progressive then you are a cold hearted racist. The entire premise is wronge.
I'm a conservative. I own a business that employs 20 people of varying racial backgrounds. I care deeply about my employees and my ability to keep them employed. I care deeply about their kids and understand that their well being is dependent upon the business decisions that I make.
To imply that I am uncaring about the plight of mminorities becuase I am conservative is an ignorant misunderstaning of conservatives. They are normal people of varying backgrounds, that appreciate the same social problems that any human can see. Its a difference in how problems are addressed.
Liberal response to the plight of every group struggling is to get them hooked on the governmetn tit.
The conservative response to the plight of every group struggling is to provide them opportunities to gain an education and employment.
Jack24Bauer:
Just look up Lake Oswego housing policy pre-1977.
Just look up KKK headquartered in Roseburg.
Just look up the history of the aftermath of the Vanport flood.
Just look up how they got that land when they built Emmanual hospital and the coliseum.
Jack24Bauer must be a comedian or just plain ignant.
Yes I said ignant cause you are worse than ignorant!
What's this racist garbage? Don't civil rights activists realize that anything that purposely distinguishes one race from another is RACISM! They are shooting themselves in the foot instead of helping. How about finding solutions for EVERY person instead of just your racial group or the problem will never go away.
Why is it always White against Black. If you havent noticed lately. The second largest ethic group is Hispanics. Who are scheduled to over take the white population by around 2030. Every where you look they are employed taking jobs that nobody else whats. The whites feel they are to good for the low paying jobs and the blacks just to lazy and look for the easy way out. It's a fact. No bigetry here and Iam not saying it's all of them. There are plenty of hard working black people. But facts are facts. The majority of them dont want to work, they would rather live off the government.
Sure there is discrimination in employment. Try looking for work as a white male over 60. Employers have a lot of candidates to choose from. People with attitudes are likely to shoot themselves in the foot, black or white. The employer has to see you as the 'best' candidate, and in a competitive environment, that is difficult.
Wesley joined Nike in Tennessee and worked his way through the ranks when a promotion brought him, somewhat reluctantly, to Oregon in 1996. "As white as it is now," he recalls. "It was whiter back then."
-------------------------------------------------
WOW! Now replace "white" with "black" and you would be called a racist on national TV. Why is it ok for a black man to say it? What gives?
Its a complex issue that does not boil down to one particular problem. I think a lot of African Americans struggles come from a poverty problem, which likely stems largely from past oppression (which is certainly still present, hopefully to a lesser degree).
Lower economic status leads to family problems, higher incarceration rates, poorer schools, lower rates of graduation, less university or trade school attendance, and thus fewer professional skills for many adult blacks; which loops back to higher unemployment and poorer communities. I think all of us in the US share blame for impoverished communities- including those within the communities themselves. I'm not sure what the fix is.
Mr. Wesley's case is interesting and very unfortunate. As he mentions, success in the professional world is largely due to the relationships you are able to form, and not just on your professional competencies. I can see how a African American person, being a minority, can have a more difficult time being able to form these advantageous relationships in a largely white community. Though, lots of people in the US, of all ethnicities, have been laid off in recent times. My guess is that black people too often attribute bad occurrences with racial biases or racism. And conversely, white people too often tend to dismiss the notions of racial biases and full-fledged racism in this society.
Education = Employment....so why don't more blacks go into health care, etc., fields where there is always a shortage? Cut the racist baloney...Portland and Oregon, in general, is much more egalitarian than most places. I'm tired of people with little ambition leaning on the "racist" crutch.
What a crock!! Any of the numbers don't add up and makes no sense!
I live on the west side and go downtown very rarely. But when I do go down there, I do notice that the black people out on the street corners are criminals selling drugs.
When white people only see this from the few blacks they ever see - it builds a concept or image of black people as only being criminals.
I'd rather see them designing computer chips or bridges or buildings. But I don't see that. I see them selling drugs.
It is a limited view. But the only view that I have.
I recall back in the mid to late 80s and early 90s it was the hispanics that were selling drugs downtown. I left portland for about 10 years.
When I came back I noticed that the hispanics had been replaced by blacks in downtown selling drugs. I asked one of the dealers on the street corner "what happened?".
He said "I don't know. I guess thats progress".
Portland is such a weird town.
ewebetcha
You most certainly do have a limmited veiw if all you see downtown are black homeless drug dealers. Portland has a huge homeless communnity, many of whom turn to drugs and drug dealing. Much of this commmuitty is centered in oldtown/china town. All of this is correct and had your observation been just that we would be okay. But you decided to throw in the black card. You are a racist.
Oregon has a history of horrible discrimination and racisim towards black people. I say has because it is clear by the posts of this forum that we still do. Stay on the westside ewebetcha.
I am not a "progressive" and I am white and jcbailey's comments make me very upset! There is a small portion of people that habitually "live off the government". shame on your for you short sighted very bigoted comment. Stated you are not a bigot doesn't mean you aren't one!
Wesley's comments are not incorrect, but they are out of line. The south has such a large percentage of black Americans that coming to Oregon, where it is such a small figure can give you the feeling that Oregon is very "white".
My family has been in the Northwest, and in the Portland area for over 150 years. Portland was a VERY racist city, with horrible laws enacted right after the Lewis and Clark Exposition in 1905 to run them out of town. It was not until WWII and the need for labor in the shipyards and aluminum plants, that any numbers of black Americans returned and moved to Oregon. My father was living in Vanport, the only truly integrated town in the 1940s, as a boy. He attended fully integrated Portland Public Schools in the 1950s, as did my sisters and in the 1980s. I did see problems growing up, but I felt they were more directed toward ME from the black students. I didn't understand the hatred and separation of culture until I was grown, and gone in the military in 1988. I saw first hand how poorly people of color are treated in our nation, in Texas, Georgia and other locales. It sickened me. I know that the sickness prevails, as stated by jcbailey, but I am not convinced that the whole of Oregonians are out to get or exclude black Americans from anything.
After 21 years serving our country and regularly working with and for people of color without as much as a thought; I assure you that I will not tolerate it in any form, and no one else should either! People are people, it is that simple.
All I can say is, Liberals LOVE to race bait. This does not bode well for the future.
I'm from Tennessee (and btw Memphis State University is no longer called that and wishes to be called by it's new name University of Memphis) and having been In Oregon almost a year I?ve found it to be overall more of a racist state than Tennessee.
Racism is rooted in class relations. In our society there are those who own the means to produce needed and desired goods and then those who own little to none of that and must sell their ability to labor to those who do in order to survive. Over time the wealth produced by the workers, and that is stolen from them by the owners of the means of production, collects in the hands of a few who dictate how our society runs. They control our very ability to survive by controlling the flow of needed goods, and control what information we have access to by various means such as newspapers like the Oregonian who go out of business if they print things that go against the interests of the ruling class dictatorship that funds them.
Black families coming out of chattel slavery in the USA have not had as much time as white families to gather up enough wealth to obtain ownership of the means to produce needed and desired goods that allows them to enter the market to exploit the Earth and it?s inhabitants in order to becoming ruling class themselves. Relatively few blacks have achieved this status and racist people will point to them and claim that they are examples that prove that the situation the majority of black people find themselves in is because of genetics or culture. This is BS that is continuously propped up by the ruling class in service of maintaining their dictatorship over the common people.
Really a small book of text is needed to properly address all the issues raised in this article. I would very highly recommend the historic dialogue that took place in Harlem on 7/14 between Dr. Cornel West sand Carl Dix that delves much deeper into the state of black people in the USA today. Here is the link to the mp3.
Yyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnn.
Another cry me a river article. Black, White, Pink, Gray, I don't give a rip. Get off your butts and try something besides whining about it.
Same as the articles about people who paid nothing down for expensive homes they couldn't afford and now cry about losing them.
My 23 yo daughter can't find a job either. Applied everywhere. As I told her, you can sit around and whine about or do something about it.
Truly one thing missing out of this country that goes through all people, liberal, conservative, white, black is personal responsibility. Geez, Wesley instead of crying and having a beer, create your own brand and job. You have computer experience. You are needed, you just aren't looking in the right places.
Yeah, I have a job, but I am not sitting around thinking what happens if. I am making sure I have plans in case the worst happens.
We are such a bunch of pathetic whiners.
NormalBill, your socialism is wonderful. I hope you don't attempt to mask it by calling yourself a progressive.
As for your ramblings, I employ people and pay them a salary. I don't steal from them, I pay them for their work. I own the business, not because I am a robber-barron, but because I started off by myself and worked by a-- off to be the best, and built a large client base such that I could afford to employ others that strive to be the best (irrespective or race/sex/crede/etc). I am the creator of opportunity. By combining my success with their personal dedication, my employees are able to support their families, enjoy good living conditions, and put money away for retirement.
Small business owners are the backbone of this country. We are the creators of wealth and opportunity for our employees, and our taxes pave the way for everyone else.
Also, Ewebetcha = troll. A funny one, but a troll.
This is not the forum to debate capitalism-vs.-socialism or in my case capitalism-vs.-Maoism (you know like the former Black Panther Party). The audio file I linked can provide you avenues to discuss these matters further. I will attempt to address your comments while remaining on topic.
The apologists for chattel slavery and slave owners also used words like yours, they?d say that they were providing the slaves food and shelter and a better life than what they had without them, that their practice was the backbone of the society etc.. and in a certain sense they were correct. They did provide the slaves with the minimum it would take to keep the slaves alive and producing new slaves in their same social situation.
In our current environment the whips of the past have been replaced by a public opinion-molding machine that sets into place that it is normal to go somewhere 8+ hours a day and enter into an exploitative relationship with someone who pays you but a percentage of the wealth that your labor produces. This percentage should be 100%, but what we find is that the percentage turns out for the overwhelming majority of humanity to be just enough to make it by and produce new generations of people in their same social situation. This doesn?t have to be normal. Normal should be that everyone collectively owns the means to produce needed and desired goods, ergo we work to produce goods for the needs of people rather than profits for a few.
I understand that there are varying degrees of exploitation. Many black families and sometimes even individuals within a single generation have now worked their way up the capitalist system to accumulate enough wealth to obtain some ownership of the means to produce needed and desired goods, but they themselves find that they are exploited by people with more capital than them, ergo they?re not the ones who?re doing the most evil of work, they just work for them.
In your comment you seem to say that since you worked and were exploited that that gives you the right to exploit others. I can understand why you feel like your labor should have been rewarded more than it was, but realize that we all think that as well and we?re all facing oppression that has causes bound up in production relations which produces the class relations that produce the social antagonisms we see in society that most negatively effect women, black, brown, red and poor people of all colors.
I hesitate to throw this in with some of the other ignorant comments, but I have to admit that I sometimes wonder whether their situation is a result of their mentality. Clearly, there are opportunities for them. It takes a brave person from the African American community to call attention to that, as Bill Cosby, and now Barack Obama have done.
I work with a lot of African immigrants who came to this country with absolutely nothing - not even the English language. For years, I have seen how hard they work, and subsequently how successful they become. They're certainly as black as any of the African Americans who complain that they can't get ahead because of their race.
this is an issue that goes round and round
blacks cause grief to whites
and whites dont want to hire them
and blacks get mad cuz they dont get hired and take it out on whites
then whites get their feelings hurt and dont want to be around blacks...
im white and have had to deal with some bad ones, it is not an experience i want to repeat
Races tend to self segregate. I have worked for and around Mexicans, aliens, naturalized Americans, people who were born in Texas as have relatives for generations, and they don't hang with white people. Have no interest in speaking English unless they have to. Will quit you for an extra two bits an hour some where else, and will be back in a month looking to have their old job back. The lighter skinned ones talk bad about darker skinned people from Mexico, and have little to do with Indios, with Native American ethnic groups from Mexico. It makes no difference if a person is from Japan, Indonesia, Viet Nam, the Mexicans sneer and call them Chinitos. You have to segregate them in a berry field to avoid trouble. In my lifetime, working in Oregon, in mills, the woods, on farms, on boats, I have never had a black person ask for a job. Hmong women will car pool from Aloha to beyond Salem to work picking berries with their children. Mexicans come 2000 miles to work on the farms, in the nurseries, in reforestation, to fight fires. In 1988, there were black kids on fire crews from Tennessee, from Virginia, on Oregon fires in the Grants Pass country. But none from Portland.
The SBA has run a title 8(a) minority contractor assistance program for years. There are some African American janitorial businesses cleaning government buildings in Portland, and maybe elsewhere. And a zillion Mexican American reforestation businesses. Everywhere you look, a Mexican with a pickup, a trailer, some lawn mowers and hand tools is a landscape management person, a lawn service. A kid can't find a job mowing a lawn because they are not dependable, have to go to camp or on vacation, and the job is now taken by a hard working, fast, Mexican or two with a mower and a blower. Mow and Blow. Everywhere. They have created an industry in Oregon in the last ten years. Own it. Market it. And have you seen a black entrepreneur with a landscape service, a mow and blow outfit? I have not. Little stores, food sellers, party dress sellers and renters. Just a lot of very small businesses, many aimed at their own people, have sprung up in Oregon in the last decade, owned by minorities. No black businesses in my town.
It can't be about race. All the other ethnic minorities have a way to own a business in Oregon. I have a Palestinian owned grocery store that caters to Mexicans down the street. A Cuban barber around the corner. A Mexican bakery, a linens store, and a party dress store, within walking distance. There is a Mexican meat market just out of town. A Mexican shoe store. A Chinese owned convenience store. A Sikh Indian owned gas station and convenience store, and a Palestinian gas and convenience store. Several Chinese owned restaurants. A Mexican auto repair outfit, and a body shop. A Mexican owned beauty shop. And all this in an Oregon town of maybe 7000 people. There is minority business all around me. But no African American businesses. One black girl with obvious mental issues walking by once in a while who lives near here. Some black men with good families who work for the State, teach school, and work at the University down the road a ways. No entrepreneurs, though.
These minority businesses are not computer programmers, or banking or medicine and law. These are the everyday merchants of societal need. But I know the professions are a goal not out of the reach of any minority kid who wants it. All it takes is hard work, a clean nose, and some native ability, and the world is their oyster. But you have to work at it. The Chinese girl who is at Berkley on scholarship has brains and a work ethic. And her two sisters and one brother will be there someday, because it is expected of them by family, by mom and dad. Expected. Just like the Robinson kids. Mom and Dad expected them to do well, and Coach really wanted to play at YewDub with Lorenzo Romar, had a scholarship offer, but his mother and father told that in no uncertain terms he was going to Yale. Just like his sister Michelle. It was expected of them by their parents.
It is not about race in the US anymore. It is about expectations by ethnic group. Some have much higher education expectations than others. The Mexicans I know put the value on getting a job and working. Taking time for education just keeps you from earning money and sending it home to mom and dad. The Asians expect their kids to get an education so that they might support mom and dad when they get old. And the groups that have no expectations of education have kids that reflect that lack of enthusiasm. That is just how it works. The kids are not much more than what mom and dad wish them to be. And if that brings you to the attention of police, and then the courts, who's fault is it, really? Is it due to white racism, or is it due to indifference to the stuff you need to make a go of it in life? That is not a societal problem. That is a problem in the home, and that is where the problem has to be solved.
Hard work, education, attention to life skills, and staying out of the court system is what it is about. Having babies in your early teens will not get the job done. All that does is postpone the breaking of the cycle for another generation. I have watched a matrilineal group walk by my nook window for 35 years, and the mother and daughter from then are now a great grandmother and grandmother. The grandmother is not yet 40. They come to live with what is now the great great grandmother and great great father, from time to time. I have never seen a husband, or even a boyfriend who was around for more than a month. It would appear that at least 4 generations of drugs, rock and roll, and sex have done nothing to slow the dependence of that family on the public dole for support. They are Hispanic. Does that mean racism is the problem? Or is it just no personal responsibility?
Posted by tobadforyou
WOW! Now replace "white" with "black" and you would be called a racist on national TV. Why is it ok for a black man to say it? What gives?
--------------------------------------------------
EXACTLY. From my point of view blacks are the most racist group in this country. Add to that always having liberal and various groups making excuses for their behaviour and standing in life and I guess it isn't going to get much better anytime soon.
The article fails to mention how (Democrat) President Johnson destroyed the black family structure with his welfare programs. The article fails to mention that single moms are the number one cause of poverty in America - a status now glamorized by the Democrats.
The article fails to mention how black hatred of whites (the Reverend Wright syndrome) has kept blacks from succeeding in school and potential careers. Successful blacks are considered traitors, uncle Toms, not "down for the struggle".
Blacks are victims - victims of liberal policies that keep them in the plantation. My desire is that blacks will break free from progressive mindsets and succeed like every other race.
The article fails to mention how (Democrat) President Johnson destroyed the black family structure with his welfare programs. The article fails to mention that single moms are the number one cause of poverty in America - a status now glamorized by the Democrats.
The article fails to mention how black hatred of whites (the Reverend Wright syndrome) has kept blacks from succeeding in school and potential careers. Successful blacks are considered traitors, uncle Toms, not "down for the struggle".
Blacks are victims - victims of liberal policies that keep them in the plantation. My desire is that blacks will break free from progressive mindsets and succeed like every other race.
The article fails to mention how (Democrat) President Johnson destroyed the black family structure with his welfare programs. The article fails to mention that single moms are the number one cause of poverty in America - a status now glamorized by the Democrats.
The article fails to mention how black hatred of whites (the Reverend Wright syndrome) has kept blacks from succeeding in school and potential careers. Successful blacks are considered traitors, uncle Toms, not "down for the struggle". Blacks are victims - victims of liberal policies that keep them in the plantation. My desire is that blacks will break free from progressive mindsets and succeed like every other race.
The article fails to mention how (Democrat) President Johnson destroyed the black family structure with his welfare programs. The article fails to mention that single moms are the number one cause of poverty in America - a status now glamorized by the Democrats. The article fails to mention how black hatred of whites (the Reverend Wright syndrome) has kept blacks from succeeding in school and potential careers. Successful blacks are considered traitors, uncle Toms, not "down for the struggle". Blacks are victims - victims of liberal policies that keep them in the liberal plantation.
The article fails to mention how (Democrat) President Johnson destroyed the black family structure with his welfare programs. The article fails to mention that single moms are the number one cause of poverty in America - a status now glamorized by the Democrats. The article fails to mention how black hatred of whites (the Reverend Wright syndrome) has kept blacks from succeeding in school and potential careers. Successful blacks are considered traitors, uncle Toms, not "down for the struggle". Blacks are victims - victims of liberal policies that keep them in the liberal plantation.
white, black, brown, yellow, red...hey we are all pink on the inside!
Being someone pale of skin perhaps I dont know and certainly dont understand but can the author answer me this:
Are white people only racist against black people or have the asians, hispanics, and other minorities managed to overcome it?
What about the state of white in Oregon? I'm so tired of this crap in newspapers, and t.v.... CNN just broadcasted black in America.... Americans are Americans no color or race involved..... Affirmative action is a waste of time... Here we judge you not what your father did, but what you do.... In America everyone has VAULE...
Oregon Democrats just passed a bill that requires public colleges to interview at least one minority candidate for all coaching job openings.
It is a long running joke amongst state employees that the highest paid state employee is the Oregon Ducks football coach. So it will only be a matter of time that this new law will be applied to all state positions. Certainly lawyers and power brokers are lining up their clients to get them a job in Oregon.
Why was this new law not mentioned in the article? What other minorities are included in this new method of stacking the resume pile? Does the new state law hiring practice include multi-racial individuals? When will the new hiring law be forced on counties and states?
Re: Mundy's last comment:
"This" exists because Oregon is a "progressive" state. Mundy needs to get his "facts" straight and check the unemployment rates in "non-progressive" states such as Texas as well as other low tax states.
Oregonian Wake-up........ Some printing race stories........
For Mr. Mundy:
The six states with the highest unemployment rates are:
12.6% Michigan
12.1% Oregon
11.4% South Carolina
11.2% California
10.8% North Carolina
10.5% Rhode Island
The six states with the lowest unemployment rates are:
5.2% Iowa
5.2% Utah
4.9% South Dakota
4.6% Nebraska
4.5% Wyoming
4.2% North Dakota
"Posted by mojotens on 07/25/09 at 10:29AM
How can it be that blacks comprise less than 4% of the state population and yet comprise 24% of the unemployed?
Say it with me: "Racial Profiling"
Laughable! Say it with me, UNEDUCATED, UNDEREDUCATED, UNQUALIFIED, etc.
This article is nonsensical at best because if you're not comparing apples to apples the result is tripe.
Let's see the employment statistics comparing a black with a masters degree and a white with a masters degree. I'll bet there is little to no difference in employment rates and that if there is a difference the whites take the short end of the stick.
For Mr. Mundy
In the six states with the highest unemployment rates, the average top state income tax bracket is 8.05%. All but Michigan have marginal tax rates of at least 7% (and Michigan has a very high unionization rate).
On the other hand, the average top tax bracket for the six states with the lowest unemployment is only 4.4%, with 4 of the 6 states having a top marginal rate of 5.54% or less.
Further, union representation averages 14.1% in the six high unemployment states, with a median of 17.4%. All but the Carolinas are among the most unionized states in the nation (and the Carolinas have relatively high marginal income tax rates of 7% and 7.75%).
Now do you have any new thoughts on how to solve unemployment or are you going to just continue to play the race card and propose more taxes and government spending which will only worsen the problem?
It's obvious from these comments that Oregon does not have any issues with race relations or grammar.
When one race is stuck in poverty then there is a problem. The crippling effects of poverty will override anyone's personal skills and abilities. One cannot foster their talents and develop their skills in a hostile environment. Moving out of poverty--no matter the race--is a rare event. Of all the 26 richest nations of the world, the US has the second highest percentage of its population living in poverty--only falling behind Mexico (though Mexico hardly counts as rich. Average income in the US is $37,750. In Mexico it's $8,900.) 22% of our population lives in poverty, 8% more than number three--Italy.
Those in poverty have a difficult time coming out of it. Cultures that differ from the mainstream culture often find themselves unable to navigate the ladder of success. Big personalities are rewarded in Black culture, good story telling and boisterous humor are hallmarks. However, such behavior is not valued in the schools--the opposite is true and it is considered disruptive. Such divides make movement through classes nearly impossible.
The poverty level in this country is disgusting. Yes, we don't have a homogeneous culture like those nations that have lower poverty rates, but we need to find and dissolve institutions that continue to perpetuate cultural discrimination.
"Newsflash, Oregon does not have a history of discriminating against African Americans. The South does. The conclusion is based entirely on speculation."
You have research to back this of course...? Thank you for you comment. You should read her article at blog.oregonlive.com/race/2009/07/should_comment_ghettos_lead_ne.html - You make the point of the article for us - exactly.
"I'd rather see them designing computer chips or bridges or buildings. But I don't see that. I see them selling drugs."
Are you saying computer chips and such should be made on the side of the road?! I don't design computers, but I'm pretty sure you need in a sterile environment. Do you go to places where these activities ARE done and ask about minority percentages? Could help your problem. You're welcome.
A fairly balanced view of the issue:
Author: Pitts, Leonard
Publication: Los Angeles Business Journal
Date: Jun 7, 2004
"Cosby hits a nerve, but racism remains part of community's dilemmas."
jGalt46
Don't you think it pertinent to include the statistics on African Americans for those states since this article is addressing the numbers comparing black and white percentages? I have not looked up the numbers, but you appear quite capable, but I'd guess right now, that the six lowest unemployment percentage states have a VERY low population in general (as well as blacks/minorities) compared to those that have high unemployment numbers.
garypdx wrote:
All I can say is, Liberals LOVE to race bait. This does not bode well for the future.
----------
Project much?
Ladies and Gentlemen, there will always be hurdles in life, including hate and bias, each of us has the power to overcome these and achieve our worthy goals.
Fact of the matter, the community-at-large needs to pull together, create an atmosphere of self-confidence, self-worth and self-esteem to become empowered.
The ongoing attitude of continuing to be a victim will insure that your situation will never get better.
Demand, within the community, that excellence should be expected and whatever the price, which may be more than the next guy, is doable and achievable.
Demand accountability and responsibility--and bad decisions that stymie the odds of success will be minimized.
I can assure you that most have experienced bias at one level or another has been felt by most people here, maybe not racial, but, remember, challenges make one stronger and more determined...
Will this be easy---not, it may be many times harder than the next guy, but with sacrifice, confidence and a community climate of support, anything is possible.
It's time for ALL to stop whining, take charge of your life and not settle for anything but success.
If you want it, whatever 'it' is, it's within your grasp--don't regret not reaching your potential.
Federal spending rose last year at a nearly double-digit rate ? 9.3 percent ? even before the government embarked on big economic rescue efforts such as bank bailouts and the Obama stimulus.
The Top 5:
1. Virginia ($15,256 spent per capita)
2. Maryland ($13,829)
3. Alaska ($13,730).
4. Kentucky ($12,242)
5. New Mexico ($12,017)
The Bottom 5:
46. Minnesota ($7,326)
47. Oregon ($7,264)
48. Wisconsin ($7,132)
49. Nevada ($6,638)
50. Utah ($6,255)
Obama is leading America into the next Great Depression. The worst Congress in 20 years has the pedal to the meddle!
Unemployment rates among racial and ethnic groups vary significantly from state to state. In 11 states (Ariz., Calif.,
Col., Conn., Fla., MD., N.J., N.M., Nev., N.Y., and Texas) the Hispanic population is large enough for the data to be
reliable. In the first quarter of 2009 Hispanic unemployment in these states ranged from 7.7% to 14.5%. The states
with the highest Hispanic unemployment rates in the first quarter of 2009 are Connecticut (14.5%) and California
(14.3%). Hispanics in Connecticut were 2.5 times as likely to be unemployed as non-Hispanic whites. In California, the
Hispanic-white ratio was 1.7 times. As you know these two are not low tax states.
Black unemployment, among the 17 states with reliable data, ranges from a low of 7.6% (Maryland) to a high of 19.5%
in Michigan. I do not know the % for Oregon but more taxes, particularly on business, as well as more government debt at all levels will not be good for any races employment opportunity.
Obama has become the Peacemaker-In-Chief... So what does the President Faust of Harvard have to say for the professor that was arrested for disorderly conduct? Does she endorse disorderly conduct on her campus?
BeerGate to be resolved at the White House! Obama can unite the world! Let's all celebrate and praise the lunatic liberals. Never miss the opportunity of a good crisis!
What ever happened after the Million Man March in Wash DC? Has responsible fatherhood increased? Has teenage pregnancy decreased?
Obama addressed the issue for black fathers to be responsible and got smacked by Jesse Jackson for talking 'down' to blacks. What will be the response to his NAACP speech re 'no excuses' and role models should be doctors/lawyers not ballers/rappers.
There are many role models for blacks to follow; do they ALL need to be black?
Ending teen pregnancy and having two parents in the home would be a start to all good things. So perhaps Congress should pass on this before wasting money (again) on 'programs'.
Last line: fix your own house first and then ask someone else to help.
I was working construction in the bay area of California for about 7 years while work was slow up here. I had opportunities to offer blacks jobs, but they told me it looked like hard work. One particular time I was commuting to Stockton (about 1.5 hours one way) in what one could term "the ghetto", rehabilitating an apartment building for a slumlord. The occupants of this complex were of two primary ethnic groups: black and cambodian. Every morning the cambodians would be up and on their way to work, but they never failed to provide access to their units so I could complete my work. Every project I had in a black occupied unit involved waking up sleeping people, repairing vandalized doors and walls, and being threatened by very angry single mothers if I didn't fix what they demanded I fix immediately, regardless of what I was doing at the time.
I don't know about all this other "journalism" or speculation of the causes, I just know what I saw.
Additionally, we had a black guy in my high school graduating class. He was always a lot more popular than me. And Knappa could be considered "hillbilly" by a lot of folks out there.
Maybe it was because he was a good breakdancer.
There was a study ages ago where they took identical resumes and attached stereotypical white names and stereotypical black names.
What a surprise... the Tiffanies and Brittanies were many times more likely to be called for interviews than the Larondas and Latishas. Despite the fact that the resumes were identical.
The group under discussion is "Black Oregonians" and makes some broad generalizations about skin-color-defined race discrimination. However, comparison of recent African immigrants and African-Americans can be telling -- that is, where "culture" and not skin-color are concerned.
FROM:
Voices of Concern, Voices of Hope:
Experiences of African Immigrants in Detroit
Author: David C. Koelsch
Professor of Law
Director, Immigration Law Clinic
University of Detroit Mercy School of Law
For example, the seminal study by Professor John A. Arthur, Invisible Sojourners: African immigrant Diaspora in the United States, concludes that African immigrants are not
preoccupied with race but, instead, focus on educational attainment and human capital as
necessary for success in the U.S. African immigrants recognize that racism and
discrimination exist in U.S. society and can impede economic progress but believe those
obstacles can be overcome through education, persistence and entrepreneurial
motivation. An African immigrant quoted in the Arthur study stated: ?In spite of past
discriminatory practices, I know many native-born blacks who have quit trying. Some
have consciously decided not to empower themselves by committing to education. You
cannot always blame the white man.?
NormalBill is a moron. As did Marx, he sees the employer/employee relationship as antagonistic rather than cooperative. There is no "exploitation" in most working relationships, and if any employee did feel that way s/he is always free to change jobs. Or to not work at all. It's that narrow view of Capitalism that NormalBill exhibits that pollutes most "progressive" thinking.
So if the Urban League gets its long list of requests to help Blacks then what will the Blacks do in turn? Will they make sure their kids attend school, do their homework and study hard? Will they reduce teenage pregnancy and will 'fathers' do the right thing and be responsible for their offspring?
If they don't significantly reduce/eliminate negative habits then what is the use of spending all those resources?
lentball has excellent point...immigrants (regardless of origin) come here to work hard and seek opportunity. How is it that those hard working immigrants' tax money will now get funneled to support blacks who couldn't be bothered to improve their own lot in life?
A pitiful shame really.
Posted by navydan57 on 07/26/09 at 4:01PM
NormalBill is a moron. As did Marx, he sees the employer/employee relationship as antagonistic rather than cooperative. There is no "exploitation" in most working relationships, and if any employee did feel that way s/he is always free to change jobs. Or to not work at all. It's that narrow view of Capitalism that NormalBill exhibits that pollutes most "progressive" thinking.
----------------------------------------------------
Your is a very simplistic view of Marxism. While the employer/employee relationship is not as antagonistic as it was in the 19th century, the basic relationship between capital and labor hasn't really changed. I do not know many employers who willingly pay their workers [except, perhaps, the top executives] as much as they could. Shareholders want to see profits. Owners want to see profits.
The closest I've seen are those cases -- and they always make national news -- where a sole owner sells a business for a huge profit and then decides to divide that profit among the employees based on their years with the company.
mojoten, Please keep your facts straight. Blacks do not make up 24% of Oregon's unemployed. They suffer from 24% unenployment. Maybe Nobel Prize Winner James Watson has it right: "The 79-year-old geneticist said he was ?inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa? because ?all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really.". He said he hoped that everyone was equal, but countered that ?people who have to deal with black employees find this not true?.
It seems like a lot of people here either were asleep in history (of Oregon) class, forgot it, or it was "whitewashed" to exclude the uglier facts of racial history, not just in Oregon, but all over our country.
I had the good fortune of growing up in the Civil Rights era "South" so the "history" was going on all around me.
The first thing I noticed when I moved here was that I had a hard time striking up a conversation with black people in the store, or on the street. When I asked black friends from here, they said, 'Oh, that's because white people never talk to us, so we're not accustomed to any white people trying to."
Then I went to work at a mental health/addictions treatment agency, and we had a couple of black women doing clerical work at the front desk. One day, one of our white clients looked at one of the women and coldly asked, "Don't any white people work here?"
I have a few black friends who have moved here from other parts of the country, and had discrimination dropped on them, hurled at them, off the scale from anything they ever experienced (even in the "South"). Local black people would tell them versions of "Get used to it, this is Oregon."
I had similar versions of this conversation with leaders in the GLBTQ community when I asked about issues that relate to us, "Get used to it, this is Oregon."
In 1963, Martin Luther King gave a speech in Detroit, and in it he said, "As much as we want to blame white people for all that they do to us, we will never be truly free until we take responsibility for letting them do it."
Mr. Mundy has brought that approach to the Urban League, telling the larger community what the realities are here. I'm sure some don't want to hear it, but it's the community version of, "You're standing on my toe." Hopefully, people will say, "I'm sorry" and then get off. If they don't, then they shouldn't wonder why the next action is a fist firmly applied to the side of their face to get their attention, followed by "Get off my toe."
The statistics bring me great sadness, and explain why so many talented black young people from Portland leave as soon as they can. The only way to stay is to live in an intolerable status quo.
Change is coming, there are too many people who refuse to accept the current status quo, and who see that if the region does not change, it will die.
Did I miss the empathetic posts for the loggers, swmill workers, ranchers, farmers who are suffering economic downturns from the idiotic liberal policies pushed by the idiotic liberals in charge in this state and in the nation?
The blacks vote 90% democratic, I think that says volumes. It's group think, like Obama, Gates and Wright. The black community needs to look inward to start solving some of the inequities they face.
I dismiss this article as a crock, for the simple reason that there are employment opportunities in Portland, Oregon. I don't even live there, but will now illustrate, using the Internets:
There ya go. Over 20, count em, TWENTY pages worth of work. Income ranging from $10/hr to 130k annually. Ready, set, go.
I dismiss this article as a crock, for the simple reason that there are employment opportunities in Portland, Oregon. I don't even live there, but will now illustrate current employment opportunities, using the Internets:
There ya go. Over 20, count em, TWENTY pages worth of work. Income ranging from $10/hr to 130k annually. Ready, set, go.
There is no 'black Oregon'. There is no 'latino Oregon', and there is no 'white Oregon'. It's all one state. If you live in Portland, you actually stand a better chance of finding some kind of work than if you live elsewhere. But, these aren't 'high times'(unless you're a stoner) for Portland, and, times are tough all over, not just IN Oregon, but across the country. But, what does that mean, give up and quit? No. It means that the process is more challenging with more competition, but not impossible.
But, when the going gets tough, the tough GET going, and the sooner people go to the employment office, or use the same computer they're reading this article with in order to navigate to the link I posted, the sooner they'll be on the road to their next job, white, black, hispanic, whatever your skin condition is, the rules hold that if you don't apply, you won't get hired, and people that want jobs, find jobs. How bad do YOU want to be employed? That's the bottom line.
I don't know if I'll make a third attempt at posting my message, apparently the Oregonian is also hiring for the position of webmaster...LOL
This article is very offensive to me - SHAME on the Oregonian newspaper.
To start look at the expensive clothes this black woman is wearing, I also
have a 17 year Senior in school, honors, working 2 jobs this summer because I got laid off several months ago and I can not afford to send him to
school. I have a Master Degree in Business, I speak 3 languages, I am well prepared, but I am not BLACK!!! so, I have to be in the back burner for a
while because I have been passed on several interviews the 'black' issue -
We are ALL in this together - not just 'poor black people' are you kidding me!
Shame on this newspaper!!
It is notable that this article and some others have drawn the responses they have. It all seems rather counter productive to fragment us all during hard times like this.
Tax the rich, divide those struggling to make ends meet into races, and bring up old steriotypical splits. There is nothing wrong with pointing out inequities in the system, but some of the responses to the newpaper articles smack of the same old divisive retoric that keeps us add odds with each other rather than work together to solve problems.
Unity is the answer to crawling back out of this economic situation we find ourselves mired in.
thanks
If one thing is proved by the misinformed and highly derogatory remarks in some of these comments, it's that no one race has a monopoly on ignorance and intolerance (e.g. rkymtnduck82). I know plenty of blacks and others of color in this state who have advanced degrees, make six-digit salaries, attended Ivy League Schools, live in prestigious communities, belong to the Mac Club etc. etc.; and no, I'm not talking about professional basketball players. It's fine to debate the article's facts, but some of you need to have your heads and hearts examined instead of spewing your out-of-touch, self-aggrandizing, hateful rhetoric in these forums, regardless and in spite of the news article's content.
I read most of these comments and I keep hearing the same thing. I think some people have selective thinking about what this article is really about. It's not singling out a particular race, it gives contrast and perspective about how the African-American community are effected by the events of our failing economy.
Heck, I think all people of color in general are feeling the effects of the unemployment in Oregon. I care deeply about our Latino, Indian, Native, and Asian communities, but I think some people need to be open minded about what the article was trying to say. It's only giving contrast people.
First off jcbailey, to say that blacks are lazy and to know it for a fact is ludicrous. Yes, that statement is ridiculous! I'm a hard working African-American who take pride in the work that I do, whatever it may be. There are a lot us that do the same. I think it's statements like this, that give reason why we are constantly explaining through articles and books that we are not these stereotypes you see on television. Instead of walking past the African-American section in your local bookstore humor me by enlightening yourself on what we have really accomplish in this country! Heck, all people of color if you like!
Let's be clear as African-Americans, we know who we are. It is YOU who have to learn. Keep in mind that our struggles have also contributed in your being here along with natives, and other immigrants in this country. If you pick up a book you might know that!
I remember thirty years ago, when Sweet Home was Wright City, OK, moved West, a black hooktender and climber worked for any logging outfit he wanted because he was good. His color was not an issue in a place where racism was a fact of life. His job was secure, and if you didn't like it, the boss tied a can to your ass.
I worked in the woods in summer with the first black basketball player to play for Oregon State. I was a high school kid. It had to not be easy for him, but he was there to work, and if you didn't like it, go find a job elsewhere. I know it was not easy being a friend of the bosses kid and having a job making a family supporting wage. I ran every step I took. If someone said "frog" I jumped. My grandmother was angry, really angry, that I made more than Grandpa because I worked 60 hours a week, 20 of them inch and a half.
Those were the only black people I ran into working in the logging industry. In Weed, CA., there was a whole neighborhood of blacks working for IP at their big milland in logging. Earnel Durden (my memory is not that great--nor my spelling) came from there, played at Oregon State. Amos Marsh, from Wallowa county, played at Oregon State and the Dallas Cowboys. His family was either loggers or railroad people.
African Americans have gone out of Portland and had success. Hard working, brave people usually do. People who have a goal, who want to attain a goal , will work for it and get it.
But that black person looking for work has to be qualified, and has to show that they have something to offer. The Portland high school drop out rate for African Americans does not show that there is an understanding of how that works But you go to another minority, long victimized by racism in Oregon to far, far more severe consequences that black people have suffered, the Chinese community, or the Japanese community, and see if they have a dysfunctional high school graduation rate, and how they do in the university setting. Totally different.
Portland has the Tualatin Country Club because Jews play golf, and no country club would have them, so they built their own. Their situation in the education and job world in Portland hasn't stayed static. Jews are a huge part of Portland's business and academic success, despite early discrimination.
Portland at one time had a black community that did not live in one area. That was a hundred years ago, when the railroads employed blacks and paid them well. There were also numerous black service enterprises around Portland. The racism and the problems with kids came after WWII. It was a family problem that is still festering. The loss of family respect. With fatherless families, the loss of a whole, a complete, family. The issue with welfare and the marginalized black male is real, and now institutionalized.
I have etched in my mind this long ago picture of a family walking down the sidewalk in front of the Woman's Building on the Oregon State campus. It was the State Track meet weekend. The Renfro family from Jeff. A gentleman in a suit, a woman in a hat and dress, a nicely dressed young man in a suit (Mel) and a guy dressed like a NY/Hollywood street thug (Ray), and a young girl in a dress with black shoes and white stockings. This was high school athletic royalty walking there. And Ray looked like hell, like he was asking for trouble. He was the oldest, the biggest, the fastest, the most athletic kid in the State. And he just pissed the whole deal away. His little brother is a pro bowler many times, and Ray is long dead. That was not the fault of Portland, Oregon, or anyone but himself. He victimized himself. He had all the tools, and none of the personal strengths to use them. And there are thousands like him, of every race, the woulda, coulda, shoulda crowd.
If I could push a button and all the inequities of life disappeared, I would. But that button does not exist. However, everyone has a brain, a body, the tools to succeed at some level. Apply those tools and life is great. Wait for someone to do it for you, and you will be disappointed. Life will not be great. And I have found that the harder you work, the more you stay on task, the easier it is and the better you do. And there is not a button for that, either, except in your personal makeup.
I took off the diversity section in my applications for work at the company own..... I don't care what you are were you came from I only care on what you can do......
I thought racial profiling was wrong? What household in Oregon doesn't need a living wage income? ...Oregon Black Community ? Dissecting
unemployment rates over racial lines for seperate recognition is racist.
I thought racism was one of the issues Obama's Presidency was supposed to deal with; "change".
Come on people, racism is ugly no matter who shows it! And no amount of media lipstick can make it acceptable to me.
I thought racial profiling was wrong? What household in Oregon doesn't need a living wage income? ...Oregon Black Community ? Dissecting
unemployment rates over racial lines for seperate recognition is racist.
I thought racism was one of the issues Obama's Presidency was supposed to deal with; "change".
Come on people, racism is ugly no matter who shows it! And no amount of media lipstick can make it acceptable to me.
What I am about to say will certainly be labelled by those it is aimed at as racist. But the truth in it is a message for all"Americans".
Racism cannot end until those clinging to it let go and move on. We all think of shouting that at backward minded KKK types. But I also extend that to those who cling to a victims image they identify themselves to by race. And yes, that has to change or society cannot fully change and move forward out of racist hate.
Where do I get this ? My in-laws were actual slaves in their own conquered homeland. For decades, they grew up with NO rights. To be victims of every horrible thing mankind can do to another. Based on skin color.
Yet, their children were raised to NOT be victims. Not hate. And to make their lives what they want them to be, blame no one else. The past is the past and the only way it holds power over them is determined by their own mind.
Word up.
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