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I am an African-American professional who teaches at PSU. I am originally from Portland, but have lived in cities that have a majority of blacks i.e. Chicago and Dallas. I am also very well traveled and lived abroad for several years.
Upon my return to Portland in 2000 after having been gone for 20 years after college...I could not wait to leave because I knew that there was more to being black than what was presented here in Portland.

Upon my return, I did find that Portland has made some progress. However, there is still this veneer of not being racist until the topic comes up. I think it is easy for white people in Portland to say they are not racist because there is not much of a challenge in terms of the numbers. I experience things like: Who do you feel are the black leaders of today. To which I respond, I will answer that when you tell me who you believe the white leaders are. I also have white people ask me that since blacks can call themselves the 'N" word so why can't everyone else use it? My response is always why do you want to use it. Once I get a "real" answer to that question I will provide a response. So far this has not happened. I also have white people say that they forget that I am a black man because we get along so well. All of these statements and situations, in my opinion, speaks volumes of the lack of sensitivity. It is also amazing to me that an urban university such as PSU has such a low number of minorities enrolled, in particular the school of business.

posted 5 years, 2 months ago
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