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My Turnby Maileen Hamto |
 |
From The Asian Reporter, V18, #33 (August 19, 2008), page 6.
Ruminations on race
After moving to Portland from Houston, Texas in 2003, I continued to keep in touch with old friends and colleagues to share the latest and greatest about my Great Northwest adventure. During my first couple of years, I often raved about Portland’s progressive culture in e-mails, phone calls, and instant messages.
I found people here have interests other than professional sports, shopping, and spending money. It was great to see young people take to the streets and express their political views. Attitudes toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community are refreshing compared to what I was exposed to in the Bible Belt.
The longer I stayed in Portland, the more the city began to reveal itself. At first, it was invigorating to see the broad range of locally-owned alternative and ethnic media. But then I realized these publications exist out of necessity. Diverse and divergent views would not be heard otherwise. Mainstream media coverage of issues including racial, tribal, and ethnic minorities is sparse, and stories are often told through a lens of dominant culture patriarchy.
Say what? Race issues in Portland?
A very good friend and former boss e-mailed after reading a May 29 New York Times article about gentrification and race relations in Portland. Now based in Baltimore, she spent most of her career at a liberal arts college on the East Coast followed by brief stints in Northern California and Houston.
In Houston and the Bay Area, she said, it’s apparent the only color that matters is green, as in money. The NYT article gave her pause about all the rave reviews I’d given about my beloved Portland.
Do we have a racism problem? Does color matter in progressive/liberal Portland?
Race relations are complicated everywhere in the U.S. In Portland, dubbed the "whitest major city in America" by The Washington Post, denial adds a different dimension to issues of race and ethnicity. It’s hard to pinpoint veiled racism when one is surrounded by progressives who swear allegiance to a post-racial world.
These days, people from the dominant culture want to assert their claim of race neutrality. Saying "I’m voting for Obama" has become the substitute for "I have (choose minority group: black/Asian/Latino/Native American) friends" or "I date outside of my race."
It’s easy to give lip service to a post-racial world until you look at disparities in income, education, and access to healthcare among communities of color. According to statistics compiled by the United Way of the Columbia-Willamette, 33 percent of African-American and 62 percent of Latino adults don’t have health insurance, compared to 20 percent of their white counterparts. More than 40 percent of women of color age 65 and older live in poverty, compared to 18 percent of white women of the same age.
Some 17 percent of American-Indian, 14 percent of Latino, and 12 percent of African-American youth between 16 and 19 years old are not in school and not employed, compared to seven percent of white youth. A recent community survey by the Asian Health & Service Center showed a significant percentage of Korean and Vietnamese respondents did not seek healthcare when they needed it because of language barriers. About one-third of Chinese community members surveyed said they did not seek care because people at the clinic treated them rudely or unfairly.
When we think of gentrification in Portland, images of blacks displaced from their homes in north and northeast Portland come to mind. However, it wasn’t very long ago when the exodus of Asian-owned businesses occurred from Old Town/Chinatown to the southeast. Different circumstances, but the same outcome: loss of diversity in business ownership in the area.
Race relations appear to be on everyone’s radar screens these days. Think Out Loud, Oregon Public Broadcasting’s (OPB) daily talk show, recently tackled the issue of race in Oregon and how the relative lack of diversity affects people in different parts of Oregon. OPB reached out to people of different races and ethnicities in various parts of the state to ask them about their experiences in Oregon. Readers can hear the episode, "The White State" (August 14, 2008), and read listener comments online at <www.opb.orgthinkoutloud>.
No doubt, OPB’s effort offers an excellent opportunity for people from different communities in Oregon to talk candidly about race. It may even offer a chance for us to move the conversation to the next level.