News
Page 4
Street Roots
Oct. Oct. 30-Nov. 5, 2015
Dear white Portland...
Racial injustice in the City o f Roses, from the perspectives o f young black m en who
BY EMILY GREEN
STAFF WRITER
efore sharing the mic with the nine
young men seated with him at the
table, moderator and Multnomah
County employee Kory Murphy solemnly
listed off statistics illustrating the challenges
they face as black youths in the United
B
States.
■
“Homicide is the leading cause of death
for African-American males between ages 10
and 24,” he said. “How many of you are
between the ages of 10 and 24?” Hands
around the table raised. They all were.
Murphy went on, “If the current trend
continues, 1 in 3 young African-American
men will serve time in prison.” He then
counted around the table, slowly shifting his
gaze and motioning toward each of the
young men with his hand. “One, two, three.
... One, two, th re e .... One, two, three.
“We could go on, and on, and on about
the incredibly bleak current reality of young
black males in our country.”
The men were situated in the center of a
conference room on the third floor of the
Portland M arriott City C enter h otel
^I^HIPiHBSWrHHs rsracK m aie
Achievement Initiative symposium.
A couple dozen black leaders from across
the country surrounded the young men,
waiting to hear straight from the mouths of
the demographic they were focused on
lifting up. Representatives from cities
participating in the Black Male Achievement
Initiative had gathered in Portland to discuss
ideas,, programs and policies aimed at
changing the grim statistics facing these
youths.
Portland was selected as one of 11 cities
to take part in Phase I of the initiative,
which kicked off in January. National
organizers hope to have 500 cities signed up
by 2025. So far, 76 mayors are on board.
Among the young men at the table were
four youths from Portland and five others
hailing from Florida, Virginia, Indiana,
Nebraska and Wisconsin.
The Portland men were four of eight
graduates from a Summer Youth Experience
program put on by the city, Multnomah
County, Black Male Achievement Initiative
and Worksystems Inc. The program included
college internships and emotional
intelligence-building workshops and
culminated in a Summer Youth Summit in
September, where the men facilitated
discussions among their peers, discussing
the relationship between race and
economics, education and the justice
system.
What follows are excerpts from the
responses these four young Portland men
gave during the roundtable discussion and
during a Street Roots-led question-and-
answer session immediately following the
event
Question: Given the statistics and what
P H O T O C O U R T E S Y O F -C IT Y O F P O R T L A N D /O F F IC E O F E Q U IT Y A N D H U M A N R IG H T S
Joshua Davis shares w hat he learned from leading discussions about race a n d economics with his peers a t the S u m m erY o u th Sum m it. H e’s
joined on stage a t the S u m m er Youth Experience graduation in September by fellow graduates M alik Farrakhan and Stephon Hartley.
""Everybody
wants to th in k
they control
themselves, hut
pretty much
Stephon Hartley, 1 9 : 1 was
what people
that one black kid in a classroom
te ll you yon
full of white kids. Me and my
peers have been talking a lot about are, 11 yon hear
building relationships with
It enough, yon
teachers and how that impacts the
believe it. We
way students will learn. A lot of
hear people
the white teachers - because I
was the only black kid - were very say we're at
standoffish. They didn’t always
risk; we start to
rush to help me. The school
believe it."
you know about the situation o f
young black males, in your opinion,
how does race and racism play a
role?
Q: We have a black president,
though. Racism - is it real
still?
Joshua Davis, 1 9 : 1 was
pretty young when Obama was
elected, and I wasn’t really
paying attention to a lot of
issues before that, but I feel
like because we have a black
president, in some ways, even
though it’s made things
better, in other ways, it’s
made things a little bit worse.
It’s a lot easier to deny it now,
because we have come so far.
actually had to call my mother and
joshua D avis , 19 We came from slavery, and
tell her that they thought I was
now the head of our nation is
retarded - and I was in
black. But it doesn’t change
kindergarten passing second-grade
city to city, state to state, all
tests.
the issues that have been going on since the
Or, it’s Black History Month, and you’re
1800s, and back before that. All the issues -
learning about black history. Everybody’s
all the Black ’Lives Matter, it seems like
giving their take on it, then they look to you
when you bring it up with people, a lot of
to give your African-American take on i t
times, there’s a lot of anger on both sides.
That’s happened to me multiple times. It’s
the same take you guys have. I may feel
You hear people say that exact thing, “We
stronger, but everything is wrong. Why do I
have a black president.” And to me it’s like,
have to have a different take?
so what? It doesn’t do much for people in
Then there’s being an African-American
real life.
male and having that perception of danger,
or whatever, in most white people - that
Q: When you turn on the TV, or you watch
does stop that level of relationship to be
a video on your phones, o f multiple black
built with students and teachers. I know it
males being gunned down, regardless o f what
affects a lot of kids.
they did, how do you feel?
Wesley Black, 21: It rains a lot in
Portland, so I often wear a sweatshirt I
used to live across the street from my job,
which was at the Dollar Tree, and I would
work the night shift, so I’m walking home,
in the dark, probably when it’s raining. I
remember specifically they said in the
Trayvon (Martin) case, that he was looking
suspiciously in other people’s cars. The time
it takes me to walk home, I probably look in,
like, 20-some cars. Some are empty, some
are not, but still I look in the car. I
remember this one night; I looked into a
car, and I thought, I’m it - 1 am Trayvon.
Somebody from neighborhood watch just
saw me look in this car and thinks I’m going
to rob them, then I’m going to turn the
block and get shot by a bunch of Cops.
H artley: A common thing that I see with
my peers, the millennial, is that we support
things that support racism, like WorldStar.
(WorldStarHipHop is an aggregate video site
known for posting videos of violent street
fights.) All WorldStar is, is an outlet for
racist people to get on there and bash
blacks. But if you look at most of our
phones, we’ll have the WorldStar app. We’ll
be on it 24/7, supporting racism. So I just
want to say we should pay more attention to
the things we do and the things we support
See YOUTHS page 5