Here is an article that I wrote for the most recent issue of The Rearguard. It took a long long long time and is part of the reason for my inactivity over the last couple weeks. Also, some serious drama went down around this article. Basically, we are doing an "isms" issue and one of the writers thought it would be a smart idea to write about what she calls "anti-white-guy-ism". boo hoo whitey...read up! Enjoy...
Portland’s Multi-Cultural Mirage: Examining the current state of Racism
“There is always a purpose when someone is talking about history” – Alfred Doblin
About a month ago when The Rearguard started planning this issue on “isms”, there was no article assignment on the subject of racism. As an all-white staff, our initial actions represented a group of white individuals nervous and hesitant to take on such a subject. The reason for our uncertainty is debatable but it did exhibit a clear, inherent predicament that exists in communities in not only Portland but America at large-white Americans are still timid in talking about the issues of race.
International Studies student, Janine Cunningham is from an extremely racially diverse San Francisco area. Moving to Portland to attend PSU, it did not take Cunningham long to recognized the peculiar attitude and approach towards minorities through an experience with friend from the area.
“It as like a novelty to him. When he meets someone black it’s all he wants to talk about all the time. It’s so bizarre to me that it’s so cool.”
Cunningham experience with her friend serves as an interesting contemporary example of attitudes towards race. Such approaches are mostly harmless but it could also contain negative consequences.
Since the achievements of the civil rights movement in the 60’s, racism has taken on new contours and nuances. The “classic” or overt racism of our past is no longer as prevalent in today’s society. Attitudes of racial biases are now much more subversive and often times even unintentional
Recently, issues of race have permeated in Portland on the topic of the city’s decision to rename some local streets in dedication of minority civil rights activists such as the latest renaming of Portland Avenue after Rosa Parks. However, a city council meeting on the subject of renaming Interstate Avenue Cesar Chavez Memorial Way has caused much debate and opposition that caused Mayor Tom Potter to walk out of one of the meetings. Such contention questions all the pride of our progressive thinking and how strongly and firmly Portlanders stand in regards to issues of race? So far the issue has yet to be resolved.
The term “racism” can differ depending on who you are talking to and what or where you are examining. In its most loose definition it can be defined as prejudice or discrimination based on race associated with a belief that racial differences produces an inherent superiority of one, particular race. However, this definition has its errors when talking about the structure of American society. Such definitions ultimately fail to take into consideration certain important constituents such as what is the dominant and controlling group of our society.
Sociologically racism must also include in addition the racial prejudice the institutional and systematic power to dominate, exclude or discriminate against groups of people based on a designation of race according to the Education Research Advocacy Support to Eliminate Racism. Expounding on the definition, ERASE determines that while racial prejudice can result in mistreatment, racism results in a special type of mistreatment: oppression.
Oppression occurs when racism is a part of the dominant culture's national consciousness; it is reinforced through its social institutions; and there is an imbalance of social and economic power within the culture. In America specifically, whites are and continue to be the dominant culture and the key source for oppression against minorities.
However, many would disagree with specifying the experience of racism to only be exclusively felt by minorities-but that regardless of the fact that white people are the dominate and controlling culture, they too can experience racism. This is often considered “reverse racism”.
Community Studies Professor at UC-Santa Cruz David Wellman is one who argues in his book Portraits of White Racism that this is idea is invalid.
"… racism is culturally sanctioned beliefs, which, regardless of intentions involved, defend the advantages whites have because of the subordinated position of racial minorities.”
Wellman alludes that since white Americans have and continue to be the majority of those that run our government, cities and companies, that they have no right to pull the “race card”. Furthermore, 40 years of supposed (but illusionary) racial equality after 200 years in America of minorities experiencing oppression, bigotry and prejudice from whites, is not enough to balance race in this country. Wellman believes that white Americans still remains at an advantage in society.
Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum who the president of Spelman College in Atlanta Georgia, expounds on this idea in her book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
“Racism is a system of advantage based on race. And you have to ask yourself, who is advantaged by this system, and who is disadvantaged? In the U.S., it's the white people who are advantaged. I'm not saying that all white people are actively racist. The question is, are you actively anti-racist? There's no such thing as being passively anti-racist.”
These figures believes that despite direct involvement with any type of racism, a white American cannot remove themselves from their racial historical legacy in this country. In turn, this legacy has given us an unequal and unfair benefit. However, the question remains, should today’s white Americans have to carry the burden of our ancestor’s actions?
Professor at PSU’s Black Studies department Dr. Darrell Milner says yes. However, Milner isn’t so quick to dispel the existence of “reverse-racism”. Rather, he believes that it is an unfortunate but important responsibility that white Americans must accept.
“I think that such a thing as ‘reverse racism’ exists. I wish it wasn’t necessary. However, I believe it is in this day in age.”
Milner went onto explain the importance of recognizing the history of racism in this country and the consequences it has lead to that are still prevalent today. And while such a burden is unfair, he believes it must be recognized and actively engaged. Milner goes on to detail the difficulties that white Americans face is dealing and accepting such a legacy and the burden it contains.
“History has placed this burden on the current generation of individuals. Society should ask the current generation to experience the penalties of their ancestors. Yes, it’s unfair and its more difficult for whites because the never have paid a price before. This causes outrage and mystification. I understand this reaction but it also is representative of the unseen advantage that they still are benefiting from….the reality is though that every other racial groups has experienced the same unfairness. You’re operating on a playing field constructed by earlier racism. ”
In regards to Portland, Milner touches on an ironic and also disheartening aspect of Portland: that while we do pride ourselves on progressive thinking, it seems to come to a complete halt at the subject of active anti-racism. Milner believes that Portland’s progressive reputation is marred with the attitude that talking about something is the same as actually doing something. However, when asked to make a sacrifice, Milner sees a divergent response.
“When people are asked to make a sacrifice a big difference develops between our rhetoric and our behavior. People who pretend to not be racist or colorblind are disillusioned. There are essentially attempting to pretend there is no history of racism. Sure, we don’t have as much of the classic racism of the past and certainly things are better. But as long as you’re silent and innocently accept the benefits of earlier racism then you are being complacent, if not contributing to the problem.”
English Professor Primus St. John holds similar views to Dr. Milner. St. John has been teaching at Portland State since 1973 and moved to the Portland area in 1968 from New York City. From African-American decent, St. John has never really experienced overt racism in his 29 years here other than some housing issues in certain parts of town when he first moved here. However, much like Dr. Milner, Professor St. John doesn’t necessarily consider Portland the most tolerant of cities.
“Ironically, I don’t see Portland that liberal but rather living in an interesting bubble of innocence. The liberalism of New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago seems to be more complex and sophisticated in regards to race and minorities. There is a better understanding in these cities. There is nothing wrong with being a nice town like Portland, but people don’t understand and are kind of nervous about those issues and topics.”
St. John supposes that some of the difficulty with white Americans dealing with minorities and other people from variant cultures in the United States may stem from a foundational American ideology that immigrants must integrate into and become apart of America.
“We tend to insist that people disconnect themselves from their cultural beliefs and history. Either that or we refuse to become involved with what other people are. We want to erase one idea and give them another. Conflict seems to arise when people don’t want to disconnect themselves.”
Professor St. John views call for a certain importance in holding on to such aspects of one’s cultural such as language and emphasize the need and recognition for such tolerance by Americans. Differences in cultural background and identity are apart of what makes America unique and that should be tolerated. However, it also must be recognized that if you are an American, you are also associated with the cultural identity of America as well. For most non-whites, that has been a long history of oppression and discrimination. While for white Americans this has been an experience from an advantageous position.
Many white Americans of today do not want to acknowledge their white privilege. And they would be partially right in contributing their successes from one’s personal qualities and hard work. However while this is not the sole reason for their advantageous position, it must be admitted that they are the product of legacy that has provided them with a certain advantage regardless of a white American’s class standing. Yes, it is true that an individual can probably no longer succeed just because they are white. However, a minority can still fail just because of the color of their skin or cultural background.
In Oregon, race is ultimately an abstraction for many whites. With the percentage of whites at 90.8% in Oregon, whites are more than the majority. With so few minorities in this state it is easy to be against racism when you are not having to competing with the minority for that promotion. However, why are there so few minorities in Oregon? Why don’t you have to compete with them as much for job positions or acceptance into that local university? Once again, it all stems from the legacy that whites have inherited from earlier generations.
The importance of white Americans recognizing the historical legacy and its consequences that they are inextricably bounded to is fundamental in understanding the nuances of contemporary race issues in this country. It is the ultimate first step towards understanding white American’s roles and advantages in society.
However, the most important thing is that white Americans cannot be afraid to openly talk and address such issues. In fact, you probably should regardless of your feelings on current race issues because you are apart of it whether you like it or not. The worst thing you can do is to not openly talk, read or at least address this issue. What will be discovered and learned might change your mind and eventually, society at large.
Take a step beyond your comfortable life as a pseudo-conscious Portlander and engage the multi-cultural community that surrounds you. Why not attempt to better understand their history, their situation, and their experiences? If anything, you owe it to them.
The Racial Report Card of Oregon and PDX
*As of 2006 the state of Oregon is 90.8 percent white while the city of Portland is 77.9% with no specific minority group break the 10% level. In comparison to our west-coast counterparts, Portland remains the whitest with Seattle at second highest at a 70.1% white. Portland is the third whitest city in the United States according to the federal government data of metropolitan statistical areas..
* Oregon is one of only three states that was admitted to the Union whose constitution excluded slavery.
*Oregon took is the only state admitted that actually excluded blacks altogether in our state constitution.
*Oregon refused to ratify the fourteenth amendment which granted black citizenship under equal protection of the law while not ratifying the fifteenth amendment which endorsed black suffrage until 1959! Only 3 other states ratified this amendment after Oregon and those state aren’t in the south.
*Weeks after Pearl Harbor, the Portland City Council created Portland’s first public housing authority which lead to the creation the largest public housing project in the United States; Vanport. Designed as an “instant city” for war workers, the area of which existed on the Columbia River on the North side of town consisted of 5,000 blacks (segregated to a specific part of the community) and was one of only two housing communities in Portland that accepted them. By the end of the war and an increasing decline in war-related jobs, Vanport eventually developed into a haven for the black population and was considered a great concern amongst the Portland population. However, these concerns were quickly answered when the dike separating the Columbia River and Vanport broke and destroyed the entire community.
* With the creation of the memorial coliseum, the development of Interstate 5 and a planned (although still never completed) expansion of Emmanuel Hospital in the late 1960’s a large portion of the Portland black community has been completely relocated under the forces of “urban renewal” over three times in less than 50 years.
* The later part of the 20th century has seen a rise in the minority population in Portland. However, these years also saw a rise in Aryan white-supremacist groups some of which were (and possible still are) members of the police department. This proved most apparent with the 1985 murder of black security guard and father of five; Lloyd Stevenson. Apparently, in an attempt to subdue the flustered Stevenson’s who was a by-stander during he robbery, a Portland police officer applied a cartoid artery choke-hold on Stevenson’s till he died.
Despite an immediate ban on the choke-hold implemented by the police commissioner, intensity between minorities and police escalated when it was discovered that two officers produced and sold t-shirts bearing the slogan, “Don’t Choke ‘Em, Smoke ‘Em” outside a Police Athletic Club in the precinct parking lot on the day of Stevenson’s funeral. The police officers were discharged but only weeks later exonerated.
* The height of this tension during the 1980’s can be best exemplified by the ruthless beating which later resulted in the death of Ethiopian immigrant, Mulugeta Seraw on Southeast 31st and Pine by a group of white supremacists known as East Side White Priders.
can i say that i really love to write. no...not just fiction but...almost anything. well...mostly anything that causes me to use my brain and my knowledge.
goethe wishes you were in weimar...
