Bryanna 1

Bryanna Jones
Professor Cardoza
Portland - UNST 107K
8 February 2016
Diversity and Acceptance in the Portland Area
Diversity can be defined as people coming together from different races, nationalities,
religions and sexes to form a group, organization or community. A diverse society is one that values the
difference in people. It is one that distinguishes that people with unalike upbringings, skills, attitudes and
experiences bring fresh ideas and perceptions. Diverse societies encourage and harness these differences
to make their services appropriate and open-minded. Diverse societies draw upon the widest possible
range of views and experiences so it can listen to and meet the changing needs of its population. The
encouragement of diversity benefits society.
In society today, most people view diversity as a good thing because it gives people the
opportunity to experience different things outside of what they are ordinarily accustomed to. Although,
racial diversity in Portland is known to be openly accepted the numbers show otherwise. Of 354 census
tracts in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties, 40 became whiter from 2000 to 2010,
according to The Oregonian's analysis of the 2010 Census. Of those, two lie in rural Clackamas County.
The 38 others are in Portland (Hannah-Jones 1). The city core did not become whiter merely because lots
of white occupants moved in, the data show. Nearly 10,000 people of color, mostly African Americans,
also moved out (Hannah-Jones 2).
The people who left Portland did not move to better areas. Pushed out by gentrification,
most settled on the city's eastern edges, according to the census data, where the sidewalks, grocery stores
and parks grow sparse, and access to public transit is limited (Hannah-Jones 3).

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Diversity as a wide component is a complicated thing to use and understand because it
can have both a negative and positive effect on a society such as education, violence and employment.
People have to dig deep to figure out what exactly the effect will be in the end and be patient to wait and
see.
Studies show that the lack of unity between races, sexes and cultures is due to distrust,
stereotyping, and more within-culture conversation and language problems. When these problems are not
paid attention to it may lead to a failure to endorse ideas, the inability to gain agreement on decisions, and
inability to take united action. However, many Caucasian people in Oregon believe that racism has
nothing to do with the small number of Black people in Oregon. African Americans however, beg to
differ. A conversation between a journalist and an African American woman living in Portland played out
like this, I dont feel like I live here. I survive here For a black community to exist here in Portland is
incredible, said Imarisha, because it wasnt supposed to exist at all (Shaw 1).
Beginning long ago racism was prevalent in Oregon and was still long after it began to
die down in other states. A law prohibiting black people from voting remained in the state constitution
until 1927. A connection to the Confederacy with a law prohibiting interracial marriages, only repealed in
1951. In 1844, pre-state Oregon declared slavery illegal. However, making slavery against the law and
accepting a culturally diverse society are two different matters, and from its beginnings Oregon was
exhibited as a white homeland. In fact, that same 1844 law ordered all black people out of Oregon
Territory under danger of lashing. This Lash Law mandated black people be publicly whipped every six
months; however, before it could be enforced, it was changed and the beatings were exchanged with
involuntary labor.
In 1849 another law, excluded any more blacks from settling in the territory (McLagan
1). The passing of the Oregon Donation Land Act of 1850, granted free land to Whites only (Robbins
1). The 1859 constitution included in its Bill of Rights a racial prohibition clause forbidding black people
from emigrating to Oregon, as well as prohibiting them from owning land and entering into contracts.

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Even though the 14th and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution made such exclusion
illegal, it was not until the 1920s that Oregon officially repealed the ban.
In 1925 a sign in Bend read, We Cater To White Trade Only. The black community in Bend,
were aware of the local restaurants where they were unwelcome. They then protested the sign. The city
council finally agreed to remove it and other similar Jim Crow signs, with the expectancy that black
people would then police themselves. It was a significant step for those forced to daily come across the
signs and be reminded of the ways in which they were unwanted. It took thousands of these small largely
unknown victories, won by tens of thousands of people you and I will never know, that ultimately led to
the Civil Rights Act of 1964.