Black and Blue: Police-Community Relations in Portland's Albina District, 1964–1985

Abstract

It appears that there is sufficient evidence to believe that the Portland Police Department indulges in stop and frisk practices in Albina. They seem to feel that they have the right to stop and frisk someone because his skin is black and he is in the black part of town.-Attorney commenting in City Club of Portland's Report on Law Enforcement, 198 1 DurinG the 1960s, institutionalized discrimination, unemployment, and police brutality fueled inter-racial tensions in cities across America, including Portland, Oregon. Riots became more frequent, often resulting in death and destruction. Pres. Lyndon Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders issued in early 198 what became known as the "Kerner Report," which declared that the nation was "moving toward two societies, one black, one white-separate and unequal." 2 Later that year, the City Club of Portland published a document titled Report on Problems of Racial Justice in Portland, its own version of the national study. The report documented evidence of racial discrimination in numerous institutions, including the police bureau. The section "Police Policies, Attitudes, and Practices" began with the following statement: The Mayor and the Chief of Police have indicated that in their opinions the Kerner Report is not applicable to Portland. Satisfactory police-citizen relations are not likely to be achieved as a reality in Portland in the absence of a fundamental change in the philosophy of the officials who formulate policy for the police bureau.

Portland Oregon’s “Right to Return” Policy & its Relation to Urban Renewal: A Community Psychology Approach

“…By ignoring the racist history of Portland, blacks will continue to face oppression. It is time to deconstruct Portland, Oregon's heinous history in order to address the shortcomings of RTR (Chandler, 2013;Serbulo & Gibson, 2013;McElderry, 2001;Thompson, 2018). This analysis includes hidden narratives that serve as the manifesto of black individuals in Portland in the twentieth century regarding displacement due to an array of issues that were obscured under Urban Renewal.…”