If homelessness, housing and wages are any indicator of how much Black Lives Matter in Portland — then we are failing, badly.
The latest 2015 Multnomah County Homeless Count was released in early June.
If homelessness, housing and wages are any indicator of how much Black Lives Matter in Portland — then we are failing, badly.
Homelessness in the black community is skyrocketing.
“African Americans have the highest rates of over-representation among communities of color, making up 24 percent of the homeless population compared with 7 percent of the county’s population as a whole,” according the latest Multnomah County street count. “African-Americans also experienced the greatest growth in homelessness between 2013 and 2015."
This comes on the heels of the State of Housing report put out last month by the City of Portland showing that there wasn’t one neighborhood that black and Native American Portlanders could afford a two-bedroom apartment. Not one. Zero.
“Correlations can be made between the fact that black people have median incomes that are less than half of their white counterparts and that housing rates have gone so high that there are few neighborhoods left that people can afford,” says Karol Collymore with the Equity Foundation.
It’s true.
According to the Urban League’s latest report, State of Black Oregon, the unemployment rate among African-Americans in Oregon age 16 to 19 was 55 percent.
If all of these facts aren’t examples of blatant racism in progressive Portland, then I don’t know what is. We haven’t even touched on the long history of inequities in the criminal justice system and education systems.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum a different group of people live: a mostly white and progressive population that are finding Portland to be quite nice. A sustainable city filled with hope, creativity and innovation: those with resources and an education, they call it paradise.
“Creating walkability with restaurants and stores can help transition an edgy part of town into one that is hip and hopping with pedestrians,” said National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun at the latest national realtors conference in May. “This type of real estate development transforms the community for the better.”
The coffee is brewing, the whiskey is flowing and the music is playing. There is money to be made and lots of it. It’s a sweet tune for those privileged enough to hear its jingle.
“The soul of our community is currently being tested,” says Charles McGee with the Black Parent Initiative. “We need to fight to maintain the Portland many of us fell in love with. We all benefit from a more diverse community. Until all Portlanders are able to access stable housing and living wage jobs we aren’t living up to our community’s promise. We can do better. We have to do better.”
The question we have before us, readers, isn’t whether racism is alive and well in Portland. It’s what are we going to do about it?