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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 2014)
February 12, 2014 Change Agent r c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 3 fice is charged with recognizing and rem oving system ic barriers to the fair and ju st distribution of city recourses. The goal is sup porting hum an rights and oppor tunity for everyone to achieve their full potential. Jam es says diversity is a com ponent of equity. For exam ple, he says public officials c an ’t be sat isfied when a pool of job or con tracting applicants lacks diversity, “T hat’s where we come in and look at where was the lack of ac cess? W hat were the barriers?” The office can ’t make city bu reaus hire more people of color, for exam ple, but it can influence their hiring decisions, he says. Studies show that in Portland and M ultnom ah County, com m u- photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver Dante J. James is the first bureau director for Portland’s Office of Equity and Human Rights. nities of color, people with dis- abilities and low-income residents fare far worse than residents in o th e r c itie s in e d u c a tio n a l achievem ent, incom e and eco- nom ic p ro sp e rity , h ealth out- com es, and affordable, secure and viable neighborhoods. Jam es says he wants to change Oregon as ‘Whitelandia’ c o n t i n u e d f r o m fron t ing point of gentrification, he says neither he nor MacDonald had been clued into how deep these roots ran until they began pre-production for Whitelandia. “We knew what we were getting into as a couple of white people telling the story,” Zodrow says, “We wanted to make it clear that we had the technical skills and know-how to put a film together, [but] it wouldn’t be our voice.” To help ensure the story is truly being given authentic voicing from the c o m m u n ity , Z odrow and MacDonald have linked with the Oregon Association for Black Af fairs as the film ’s official advisory board. The partnership with the social justice group, whose leader Dr. Cal Henry, first suggested to the two filmmakers that the documen tary be made, ensures that all re search, interviews, and content gets the okay from OAB A members. They’ve also partnered with the Oregon Black History Museum in Salem as reference checkers, along with local activist, artist, author, and teacher of Black Studies at Portland State University, Walidah Imarisha the creative process, Zodrow says. as an individual advisor. As the Whitelandia documen As part of the documentation for tary moves into full production soon, the movie, Imarisha is interviewed the filmmakers are hoping they will about Oregon’s black history, along be able to answer a key question in with such other community stal the film: Did Oregon’s founders warts such as Will Bennett of successfully create a “white home G roundw ork Portland, and photog land?” If so, what does this mean for rapher Intisar Abioto, whose blog the nearly two percent of blacks that “The Black Portlanders” documents inhabit the state today? black life in the metropolitan area. One focal point of the film is The NW Film Center has also Vanport City, the first and largest partnered with Whitelandia as a housing project in the nation for war non-profit organization, ensuring all workers. This construction was re grants and loans to the film are tax sponsible for the biggest influx of deductible, but yielding no say in blacks (and poor whites) to the state 1 For a healthy and strong community, make it a point to XS L 1 Take the TEST & Take CONTROL » THURSDAY y 5:30 - 7:15 p m fust w alk in Northeast Health Center 5329 NE MLK Jr. Blvd. 2nd Floor I I I ring or mention this ad to get a FREE ANONYMOUS or CONFIDENTIAL test for HIV. Public Health the narrative that Portland is one o f the w hitest cities o f the top 50 cities in the country and therefore c an ’t have significant issues with race. “That belies the fact that 25 percent o f the population o f Port land are people of color, and that half o f the students in the public school system are people of color, and 1 in 5 Portland residents are foreign born,” he says. Jam es was asked about the is sue o f gentrification and the d is placem ent o f people o f color from their historical neighborhoods. He said he’s never been any where like Portland, where minority communities have been bulldozed out of existence. “The abuse that occurred previ ously needs to be accounted for as we move forward,” he says. James says while his office is focused on barriers with regard to race and disabilities, its success can have a positive impact on other populations. “If you improve aspects on race, you will improve results across all the spectrums,” James says. in its history, more specifically the Portland area as many came in search of shipyard jo b s during World W arll. “The film really takes a turn there,” Zodrow says, “We kind of consider that the jumping off point for contemporary black history in Oregon. Vanport, infamously flooded in 1946 destroying that project, and leaving its residents, many of them black, without a place to live in a city that did not want them inside its borders. Some of the subjects interviewed for the film are the sons and daugh ters of those who survived the flood, as many of the original V anport resi dents have since passed on. “Those families are really impor tant to us, the ones that are here, still here in the [Albina] neighborhood,” Zodrow says, as he and his partners continue to search for possible interviewees of that era. As the filmmakers piece together their scenes for the documentary, Zodrow is becoming more sure that the answ er to the question o f whether the state has indeed be come a “white homeland” is yes, and has the even more sobering revelation that it has “always been state funded”. “They’re getting very close to that, and it’s always been state funded, and always state sanctioned from day one and continues to be today. So it’s a hard story to tell, but we’re trying for sure,” Zodrow says. To contact the film m akers with possible research for W hitelandia or to appear in the film , contact M a tt Z o d ro w at M z o d ro w @uncolafilm s.com . Also be sure to “like” the film on Facebook for continued inform ation on its pro g ressio n s.
