Does The Black Community of Portland REALLY Care About Unity?
What up tho, y’all! We’re going to discuss accountability. Before we start I have to say this: I can say that I have a background in academia and I have read scrolls of the ancestors and listened to the voices of our greatest warriors…I know I don’t know shit and I don’t have ANY of the answers. I know I speak with a fiery spirit and I know that most people don’t see the Black experience like I do or have the passion for our people as such. I also know and have observed how there are certain behaviors and thought processes that we remain seemingly attached to that assists in maintaining the Black status quo. The Black status quo can be described as Black people’s position in any particular area of life or measure of social success/failure (e.g. the Black prison population). With that being said, I want to bring awareness to Portland’s Black Community and, in particular the Black organizations that are involved in the community; some being around for decades. In this piece you will hear me refer to the Black Community of Portland. Understand that I am NOT referring to BCP, the organization that I am involved with. When Black Community of Portland is mentioned here I am speaking directly to or about the Black population in Portland and the rest of the metro area; Vancouver, WA included.
ALL BLACK EVERYTHING
We’re looking at only a few Black organizations to explore how the Black Community of Portland can better utilize these organizations and how these organizations can better serve our people. Keep in mind that there are also several online groups and small grassroot groups that work with the Black community or is at least trying to organize locally. It would be ideal for us to have a rolodex of ALL Black organizations/businesses so that we could better hold ourselves accountable for both serving and supporting our people.
I believe in us so much that I contend that in Oregon where there are only about 84,000 Black people (2% of population); and in the city of Portland where there are roughly 41,000 Black people (6.3% of population), there is more than enough individual success and organizational infrastructure for us to thrive as a community. In order to achieve this though, we have to ask some tough questions such as: Do Black people in Portland honestly want to have anything that is truly just for us? Are Black people in Portland courageous enough to fight for our own shit? Is there really a ‘Black Community in Portland’, or are there just Black people who live in Portland that all know of each other so we think it’s a community? While these questions could be character challenging to the reader as an individual; please read those questions with community in mind.
Now, if we are bold enough, we can use what we already have to make moves at a faster pace. Either that or get people who are in the way of our progress out of the way!
Below is a list of the first organizations Google showed me, except SEI, Mudbone LLC, BLM, and churches.
- African American Health Coalition, Inc. http://aahc-portland.org/
- Black United Fund of Oregon http://www.bufor.org/
- African American Alliance For Homeownership http://www.aaah.org/
- Commission On Black Affairs http://www.oregon.gov/ocba
- Urban League of Portland http://www.ulpdx.org/
- The Coalition of Communities of Color http://coalitioncommunitiescolor.org
- Black Parent Initiative http://www.thebpi.org/
- African American Chamber-Commerce http://www.blackchamber.info/
- The Portland African American Leadership Forum http://paalf.org/
- Unite Oregon http://www.uniteoregon.org/
- Don’t Shoot Portland https://www.dontshootpdx.org/
- SEI http://selfenhancement.org/
- Mudbone https://www.facebook.com/MudBoneFamilyFarm/
- Black Lives Matter: PDX https://blackpdx.com/destination/portland/black-lives-matter-pdx/
- Sankofa Collective Northwest
- EVERY BLACK CHURCH…just about.
Initially I was going to go to each website and include in this writing their mission and vision statements and put their feet to the fire or put my foot in my mouth. Instead of portraying myself like I am attempting to shame organizations that may have been through struggles that I cannot imagine, I will use a more strength-based approach and point out how we can be so much greater together.
THE COLLECTIVE
The above list of Black organizations was not picked to put any person or group of people on blast. On the contrary, the list was provided to show just how many Black organizations (there are many more) are in small Portland, Oregon and, more important, direct attention to how powerful we could be if we all were actually working for the collective well-being of the Black community.
I encourage us to challenge ALL organizations who claim to be for the progression of Black people; whether private or public. We absolutely have to hold organizations like the NAACP accountable. A “Black” organization that has been in existence for one hundred plus years with a prominent name in public that has seemingly zero political power behind it; at least not Black power. How do we not have NAACP schools in all major cities? How are there not NAACP hospitals in all major cities? This is not to pick on the NAACP or to discredit whatever purpose they may be serving. This is a concerned Black citizen with serious inquiries as to why does Black progress seem to be taking a back seat in politics today when we have such a seemingly strong organization that is supposed to be for the “advancement of colored people”? Here I “politics” as the term to capture education, health, economic, etc. Continuing, how is there a Commission of Black Affairs, an African American Chamber of Commerce and a Black United Fund all in Portland but gentrification is rampant; other racial, underprivileged and disenfranchised groups continue to make progress while we still ASKING for peace, fairness and literally the freedom to live without being killed or demonized on the basis of our race? This is something that, if we are paying attention and have a pulse, has to leave us frustrated. If it doesn’t; ask yourself why does it not bother you? The level of dissonance required for us to ignore our position in this country is massive.
I am not naive enough to ignore and discount the bureaucracy that goes into this conversation. The politics behind this is maddening. There are so many cases where “Black” organizations start with a noble cause and maybe they accept money and switch focus *cough* black lives matter *cough*, or “Black” organizations that are created that aren’t truly focused on Black power at all *cough* NAACP *cough*. On top of that we understand that there is a history of our movements being infiltrated by traders and non-Blacks who are welcomed into our spaces. All of this matters. And all of this gives us even more reason to be the most untrusting and paranoid group of people on the planet. But are we?
We seem to have been duped into believing the quote, “You cannot change the system without being in it”, or something like that. Well, look at us. We are everywhere, even the presidency. I say again…look at us. Where have those symbolic victories gotten us? We have a deep history of being the race of people that want a seat at the table instead of building our own dining room. Look at the list above. We have a collection of organizations that do work in several different areas. More than that, we have individuals in other places of employment that are using their talents to improve the wealth and health of others.
CONCLUSION
Some of us will remain in Portland, OR and raise families here. I have 3 children that are growing up here. Do we want to accept a future where our children are witnessing other races build communities while we “talking” and “meeting”? Or do we want a Portland where our children have a Lil Afraka school, Black bookstores or Black whole food stores. Black everything! A Portland where we don’t have to encourage them to support Black businesses or to love Black relationships because it’s all they know; it’s their culture. Some of our elders and ancestors failed us. We will not fail our children.
My wish and challenge is that there is a dramatic culture shift and we use the system purely for our benefit. We will stop engaging in behaviors that go directly against the interest and the progress of our people. We will stop allowing symbols of progress to pacify us. We will hold accountable ourselves; from the least of us to those of us with positions of authority and prestige. We will pull our support from organizations that ask for our support with little representation and no fight! We will STOP offering our talents to movements that do not focus solely on Black people advancing into a position of self-sufficiency. This is what we will do . This is what we must do. Or we will continue to clap for “progress” one day and then pray after another Black boy is killed by the police or another Black girl is gone missing. When will we take us serious?
Umoja N. Black