where do the black people in portland hang out? i've posted before about a similar subject, but really. all the cool places i go, it's just white people. white people, white people, white people. but there ARE BLACK PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN PORTLAND.
and, to be fair, i do see black people here and there. i really do. but i'm talking about the events in NE portland, you know, in the part of town where most black people used to live? i do realize that it's been gentrified. okay, but ...there are still many black people over in the hood. and even if they don't live in the hood anymore....there's nothing going on in the lame 'burbs, so why not hang out over in the "hood"? why not expand your mind a little bit? engage in some culture (shudder///did i just say culture and portland in the same sentence?)
i go to the alberta district for dinner with friends. no black people.
i go to various neighborhood street fairs with kid friendly activities. no black people. okay, there might be 2.
i go to concerts in the park. no black people.
i take my kids to oaks park (carnival, etc). no black people.
i go to a free friday at the portland art museum with my kids. not a one black person. and it's freaking free!
i go to the greek festival with greek food, fun and games. no black people.
i mean, the question is not where are they. i know where they're at. whether still in the hood, or not in the hood, or way far away from the hood, they're at home. or.... the mall? being a dumb consumer?
but the question is not where they are, but WHY don't they come out for fun events in the city? why not make the trek-or not (if they live close-by)? what else could they possibly be doing?
and by the way when i say 'there's no black people', i'm exaggerating a little. i mean as a group. sure, OCCASIONALLY there's a couple sprinkled in. but that doesn't count. it just doesn't.
and black people in portland should represent more than that.
5 comments:
Where's my peeps at? That's funny. Don't you know the joke. They always say there is no black people in Portland. And I hear this in Cali. It seems like you confirmed this. Great post.
Hey my name is Brandon, I'm going to Portland in January for school, an art school actually.PNCA, I really feel you on the no black folks anywhere deal. I stayed there for a week, I could count the black folks I saw on my fingers! But you know what, that didn't bother me, because despite that Portland has character. I'm in Vegas, and trust, that little street called Las Vegas Blvd, hardly makes a city have culture. In the Veg, we got plenty of black people, but no unity, no culture, no love, and for the most part, black people can't stand to be around black people! I'm not one of them, but it is ironic!
I am moving to Portland in August. Where would you suggest we live so our daughters have a little diversity in their school? At least see some other kids that look like them
I took amtrak to Seattle one year and stopped in Portland and loved it. I would like to know if there is a thriving black community in Portland....I'm a sister who loves the outdoors and loves art and culture. I just haven't heard that there "weren't" blacks there, just no one talks about it? What gives?
It all depends on what you want to do. I've lived in Portland since '83 when there really were no Black People here. For me, it was a complete culture shock I literally felt like I had vertigo coming from an all-black environment to here. One of the problems in my opinion is that there is a lack of a diverse black culture. I can hang with any crowd with any type of people but sometimes you want to talk about politics, world events, science and unfortunately some of the sisters and brothers here are not trying to hear it. It's almost like Portland Blacks don't have their own culture and have borrowed some of the culture from the gangsta culture of California and the Southern states and if you are not with that then you are an outsider in a state where you are an outsider by default. So most time, I just stay home.
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