community
april4
2019
7
Racism in Oregon: An Egregious History continued from front page
Unfortunately Oregon’s discrimination
continued, and remained a part of its
culture, even today.
Oregon’s bigotry towards peo-
ple of color in the 1840s was not unusual
in the United States during that time
period. Throughout the mid 1800s the
young nation struggled with the issue of
slavery and the rights of free black citi-
zens. It was the leading political issue of
the time, eventually leading to the disso-
lution of the Union and the formation of
the Confederated States, and eventually
the Civil War. The westward expansion
of the country and the addition of new
states, as either “free” or “slave” was
a political hot button. Slavery was the
economic driver of the southern econ-
omy and slaves were hunted down and
returned to their owners, even after they
had escaped into northern states. Abo-
litionists, outspoken and determined to
end slavery as an institution, were often
violently attacked by slavery support-
ers As early as 1838, Abraham Lincoln,
then just 28 years old and a member of
the Illinois State Legislature, was al-
ready cemented in his belief that slav-
ery was wrong. He spoke out against its
evils and condemned the murder of two
people by pro-slavery mobs in his now
famous address to the Young Men’s Ly-
ceum of Springfield, Illinois.
This was the political climate
when emigrants began heading west
over the Oregon Trail, including George
Washington Bush and his Missouri
neighbors. One of the reasons Bush was
eager to leave behind his homestead in
Missouri was the ongoing fight there
over Missouri’s inclusion in the Union
as a free or slave state.
Oregon joined the Union on
February 14, 1859 as the 33 rd state. Prior
to statehood, a Provisional Government
had been established in 1843, which, af-
ter a bitter fight, included an anti-slavery
ordinance. But while the territory was
not going to allow slavery, the law con-
tained a shameful amendment – it barred
any free blacks from settling in the ter-
ritory, stating that any black staying for
more than two years could be punished
by up to 39 lashes with a whip.
Another group of 54 wagons de-
parted Missouri at the same time as the
Gilliam Party with Bush and his neigh-
bors. That second party was led by Mo-
ses Harris, and included Nathaniel Ford.
Part way along the trail the two groups
Painter Case Ends in Guilty Plea
continued from front page
be transferred to a DOC prison facility.
Mr. Butts also pleaded Guilty
Except for Insanity to lesser property
offenses, including charges of Robbery
in the First Degree, Burglary in the First
Degree, and Theft in the First Degree.
Painter was 55 and a 25-year
veteran of the Rainier Police Depart-
ment when he responded to the Sound
Authority stereo shop in Rainier shortly
before 11:00 am on January 5, 2011, on
a call about a man acting suspiciously.
Butts had entered a car on the property
and was trying to steal it when the chief
confronted him. During a physical al-
tercation Butts grabbed the chief’s gun
from his holster after knocking him to
the ground and shot Painter in the head.
Butts was later wounded in a shoot-out
with other responding officers and ap-
prehended.
Painter had been the Rainier Po-
lice Chief for five years and left behind
his wife and seven children. Ten mem-
bers of Painters’ family spoke during the
hearing.
“From this day forward I choose
to forget the continuing and prolonged
reminders of upcoming court hearings.
I choose to forget how Ralph died. I
choose to only remember how he lived,”
said Amy Painter, the widow of Chief
Painter, in her statement to the court.
“This resolution will hopefully
begin some of the healing process for me
and others,” said Jeremy Howell, son of
Chief Painter and a veteran St. Helens
Police Officer, in his statement.
The sentencing concludes many
years of battling over Butts’ mental state
at the time of the murder.
Butts was found competent to
stand trial in 2012, but officials later
decided he required further evaluation.
A psychologist who evaluated Butts in
February 2018 told the court that the
defendant was schizophrenic but was fit
to stand trial. In July Columbia County
Judge Ted Grove ruled Butts’ symptoms
of schizophrenia have diminished be-
cause of hospitalization and forced med-
ication and that Butts is able to aid and
assist in his defense.
“This plea agreement acknowl-
edges that there is substantial evidence
that Daniel Butts does in fact suffer from
a mental illness, but that his mental ill-
ness was never an excuse for the killing
of Chief Ralph Painter,” said District
Attorney Auxier. “Chief Painter acted
heroically that day, and there are no ex-
cuses for the defendant’s violent act.”
Auxier said the Columbia Coun-
ty District Attorney’s Office consulted
with the Painter family and the lead de-
tectives about the pretrial discussions
concerning a possible plea deal, and said
the Painter family asked the prosecu-
tion to accept the offer to settle the case,
which had been made by the defense.
According to Auxier the lead detectives
and the Rainier Police Department were
also in full support of this carefully ne-
gotiated resolution, which resulted in
Mr. Butts receiving a life sentence in
prison.
Auxier said the Columbia Coun-
ty District Attorney’s Office has a strict
policy against making plea offers in ho-
micide cases. However, when a person
charged with a homicide, through their
attorney, makes an offer to resolve a
case, the District Attorney has an obliga-
tion to present that offer to the victim’s
family. “After several weeks of discus-
sions with the family and their attorney,
law enforcement, and the court, Chief
Painter’s family unanimously asked the
District Attorney’s Office to accept the
pretrial offer presented by the defense,”
said Auxier in a released statement.
“This is a win for our city, and
the Rainier community supports the
Painter family’s decision,” said Rainier
Mayor Jerry Cole, who has served as
mayor and as a local firefighter for over
18 years. “This sentence protects our
community from harm, and allows our
community to heal.”
joined together to form one large party.
Ford had brought with him six black
slaves which he owned, even though Or-
egon law didn’t allow slavery. One of
Ford’s slaves, Robin Holmes, who Ford
had freed, would sue Ford in 1853 and
successfully win freedom for his chil-
dren who Ford still owned. Two recent
books, one, Breaking Chains: Slavery
on Trial in the Oregon Territory, is the
true account of the incident which docu-
ments the early history of black people
in Oregon, written by Gregory Nokes.
The other book is a work of fiction about
the Ford/Holmes dispute by author Phil-
lip Margolin, titled Worthy Brown’s
Daughter. The two books are currently
featured as part of the “Columbia Coun-
ty Reads” program, with both authors
appearing together for group discussions
around Columbia County between April
25-27. The Vernonia program is sched-
uled for April 26 at 6:00 pm at the Ver-
nonia Library. (See story on page 10.)
In 1843 the United States and
Britain were still in disagreement in
the Pacific Northwest about where the
boundary between their jurisdictions lay.
The boundary was the Columbia River,
with Britain controlling the north shore
all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
George Bush and his friends
were devastated to learn he was un-
able to settle in the Oregon Country.
Bush was a valuable part of their
party and his neighbors were indebted
to him, and refused to abandon him.
They soon learned that Oregon’s Pro-
visional Government had no jurisdic-
tion north of the Columbia, so they
headed to Puget Sound into British
territory. They were permitted to settle
there, despite the British policy block-
ing American immigration.
In 1846 an agreement was
reached establishing the 49 th parallel
as the border between the U.S. and
Britain. Bush now lived in United
States territory, and was once again
under the jurisdiction of Oregon’s
Provisional law. Bush’s friends
petitioned the government on his
behalf and he was allowed to stay,
but he was unable to own property.
He worked a 640 acre farm anyway,
helping establish the community of
Bush Prairie where he grew produce,
raised livestock, and planted an
orchard. He helped fund the first
sawmill on Puget Sound and during
the harsh winter of 1852 he graciously
shared his stores with struggling
neighbors, declining an opportunity to
turn a hefty profit on their misfortune.
In 1853 Washington separated from the
Oregon Territory. Bush was granted title
to his land in 1855 by the U.S. Congress
after more lobbying on his behalf. He
remained a model citizen and successful
farmer; his sons continued to farm
on the property with his oldest son
William Owen, who served two terms
in the Washington State Legislature,
awarded first prize for his wheat at the
Philadelphia Exposition in 1876, beating
entries from all over the world.
***
The early Oregon Provisional
Government discouraged an industrious
and successful citizen like George Wash-
ington Bush from settling within its bor-
ders, but apparently they didn’t learn
anything about their white supremacist
views, or consider it a mistake.
In 1859 when Oregon eventu-
ally joined the union, the state constitu-
tion contained an exclusionary law for-
bidding blacks from living here; Oregon
holds the ignoble distinction as the only
state to enter the Union barring blacks
from living within its borders. The ex-
clusionary law was to be enforced with
a “Lash Law” requiring that any blacks
found living in the state be whipped ev-
ery six months until they left the state.
In 1900 Oregon voters rejected a propos-
al to remove the exclusion law. The law
was finally repealed by Oregon voters in
1926 but the wording was not removed
from the constitution until 2001.
Oregon’s discriminatory his-
tory didn’t end there. In 1868, following
President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipa-
tion Proclamation in 1863, freeing slaves
in the south, the Fourteenth Amendment
was added to the U.S. Constitution,
granting citizenship and equal rights to
American blacks. Oregon was one of
the first states to ratify it in 1866, but
turned around and repealed their ratifica-
tion in 1868 after it had already become
law. The Oregon Legislature would not
ratify it until 1973.
In 1870 the Fifteenth Amend-
ment was added to the Constitution, pro-
hibiting the federal government and each
state from denying a citizen the right to
vote based on that citizen’s “race, col-
or, or previous condition of servitude.”
The Amendment overruled a standing
Oregon law which specifically banned
blacks from voting in the state. Oregon
was one of seven states that failed to
ratify the new law at that time, and ratifi-
cation was not approved in Oregon until
1959.
Next issue: Part 2 - Racism in Oregon in
the Twentieth Century and Today.
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