Street roots
April 25, 2014
The making of
Portland filmmakers take a critical look at the City o f Roses’ history o f racism and resilience
BY ANN-DERRICK GAILLOT
STAFF W R IT E R
ver the course of their careers
Portland filmmakers M att Zodrow and
Tracy MacDonald have travelled the
country learning the histories and stories of
Americans, but for their latest project,
Whitelandia, the Emmy-award winning
husbarid and wife team have turned their
lenses to their home. Due in 2015, .
Whitelandia examines the history of state-
sanctioned racism in Oregon starting with its
inception as a whites-only homeland to the
heavy Klu Klux Kian presence in 1920s, the
height of redlining in the 40s, and the rapid
gentrification we see today. The film is
centered on the rincomfortable yet important
question, “Has Oregon become the white
homeland its founders intended it to be?” but
also focuses on the strength and resilience of
black Oregonians throughout history and
today. Tracy and Matt and spoke to me over
the phone from their Alberta Street
neighborhood home where we discussed the
black community in Oregon, the title
Whitelandia, and their hopes for the" film’s
impact.
a
A nn-D errick Gaillot: What first drew you
both to this subject?
Tracy MacDonald: We moved into the
Alberta arts district about 12 years ago, and
at that time, we were looking for a place
where we could buy an affordable house — a
place that was diverse, a place that had an
artistic, creative feel to i t During the time
that we have lived on this street, we have
slowly watched a lot of the black businesses
and a lot of the diverse businesses, but
particularly black businesses that drew us to
the street in the first place, disappear one by
one. And we’ve watched the black patronage
of the businesses disappear as the black
population of the neighborhood has
dwindled. Then we moved away for three
years and when we came back the street was
so drastically different from the street we
moved into. We still feel very invested in this
Filmmakers Tracy MacDonald and M att Zodrow.
neighborhood. We love this neighborhood,
our kids have grown up here. But the
changes that we’ve seen and realizing how
even as well-intentioned white liberals, or
whatever, that we sort of stumbled into this
gentrification without even really
understanding what we were buying into. So
“Whitelandia” for us is sort of a response to
being part of this community and watching
the changes that have occurred.
A.G.: The title Whitelandia touches on a
trend o f putting -landia on different names,
obviously from the TV show Portlandia. I ’m
interested to know why this film is important to
make now and how pop culture is complicit in
what you guys are finding.
T.M.: Eor a show like “Portlandia” and the
whole -landia trend to exist, there has to be a
paradigm that supports that in the first
place. There’s Sort of this mythologized
hipster version of feel-good, cute, white
liberalism that’s ever present in Portland.
And it seems so innocuous to kind of poke
fun at it lovingly with a wink, and to poke fun
at ourselves, but the paradigm that allows
this whole -landia thing to exist to begin with
is one that’s imbalanced. And one in which
the social construct is very much w hite
dominated to begin with.
A.G.: What do you hope viewers not from
Portland come away with from the movie?
M att Zodrow: The outreach that we’ve
done through Facebook and social media has
gotten us feedback from all over tiie Country,
and one thing that we’re hearing over and
over again is that the story of Portland is
mirrored in almost every major city across
the country. The active redlining — taking a
specific area of the city where minorities are
sort of herded into, encouraged to live in —
has existed in cities across the country ever
since the 1940s or 1950s. It’s common
practice. So in seeing that reaction from
people outside of Oregon we’re realizing it’s
definitely a common theme. The difference
in Oregon is that Oregon is almost the
perfect example of gentrification because
Portland itself has gentrified so successfully
and continues to on a daily basis.
T.M.: One thing is that I really want white
people, particularly white liberals, to think
about is the idea pf white privilege. I would
like white folks to start to consider, what
does my whiteness mean as I walk around
this city? And I would like white folks
everywhere to consider that, because that’s a
relevant question all over the country. It’s
relevant here in Portland right here, right
now, because we liye here and because
Portland is seen as this sort of mecca of
liberalism; this mythical Portlandia place. I
would like everybody to understand that,
while we are looking at state-sanctioned
discrimination and other forms of
'
discrimination against black Americans, it’s §
not just a story about that discrimination and
subsequent victimization. It’s also a story of
the resilience of the black community and of
black communities to resist and to continue
to be here and to thrive.
M.Z.: One thing, too, that’s important to
note is that the film is going to have a pretty
solid and straightforward historic timeline
included in the narrative of the film. When
you start to research black history in Oregon
you really come up against some walls. There
are a few people who have done timelines, s
who have looked at the history. B ut in
general, it’s tough to find. One. thing that I
really want to have happen is this film be a
solid and researched documentation of the
history of black Oregon from exclusion laws
in the constitution all the way to the heavy
Klu Klux Kian presence to Variport to
redlining - all the way up to the Trader Joes
incident that’s happening npw. I want a solid
history told and recorded that people can
refer back to.
A.G.: What has shocked you most, or
surprised you most, over the course o f your
research so far? ,
M.Z.: To me it’s the way that the events,
like the flooding of Vanport and then the
exodus to’A lbina, are incredibly relevant
experiences or issues in the fives of black
Americans in Portland. It’s not historic. It’s
discussed openly and the effects are st i l l
strongly felt They’re still feeling the effects
of the expansion of the Emanuel Hospital, of
the construction of the Coliseum, of 1-5 going
See WHITELANDIA, page 9