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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 2016)
November 2, 2016 Page 15 Preserving Black Portland C ontinued froM f ront ly since its purchase in 1949 and remains an important piece of the family’s history. Gordly and Burch recall a time when the neighbor- hood was the center of African American culture and predomi- nately populated by black people – a history that newly developed condos, brew pubs and boutiques have seemingly erased. “I remember walking down the street and stopping in all of the black businesses. They all knew us and knew our family,” says Burch. “It was very much home for us and we miss all of that be- ing on Williams Avenue. We miss this generation being able to expe- rience that as we did.” The seed to make the home a community space happened during a bus tour organized two years ago to showcase the con- tinual changes to the historically black neighborhoods along the Williams and North Vancouver Avenue corridors. Burch and Gordly shared the nostalgia for the old black belt of the city with an array of Portland leaders at the time who would echo their concerns, including representatives from Portland De- velopment Commission, the may- or’s office, Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, Tony Hopson of Self Enhancement Inc., the Urban League of Portland, Maxine Fitzpatrick of Portland Community Reinvestment Initia- tives and longtime black business leader Paul Knauls, the unofficial “Mayor of Northeast Portland.” “We didn’t want to be a part of this change; we wanted to do something to support the commu- nity that’s there,” says Burch. “We had no interest in selling out to the highest bidder who would turn it into a doggie daycare or an ice cream shop,” adds Gordly. After discussions with the PDC and other potential partnering orga- nizations on the possibility of their former home becoming an African American cultural center, the sis- ters’ idea eventually worked its way to Mayor Hales, who expressed full support of their concept. “We were looking at ways to keep this an integrated communi- ty. You’re not going to find a lot of people of color living in those condos,” says Burch. “We’re very supportive of keeping some sem- blance of history.” Such support, along with the obvious need to appreciate and preserve Portland’s black culture, led the PDC to approve by a 5-0 vote last month to bring the center to life. The project is backed by three nonprofits, SEI, the Portland African American Leadership Fo- rum and the Oregon Historical So- ciety. SEI and PAALF will serve as the legal buyers of the house, located at 4511 N. Williams Ave. According to a report drafted by PDC Executive Director Kim- berly Branam, PDC will provide a $495,000 commercial property redevelopment loan for purchas- ing and converting the home into a cultural center. The commission will also provide an additional $82,000 grant to support PAALF’s preparation of a business and re- development plan, obtaining per- mits, maintenance, utilities, etc. “It’s a really unique circum- stance and the PDC felt that giv- en the uniqueness of the situation and the interest of the communi- ty, OHS and the partnership with PAALF that it was important enough for us to support,” says Branam. It was previously reported by the Willamette Week that PDC’s financial involvement “violates” PDC’s loan guidelines. While Branam acknowledges the some- what unorthodox investment, she says no violations technically oc- curred. The decision was more so a slight bending of rules; a bending deemed necessary by all parties involved to fight back against the state’s known trouble with race relations. Branam is confident in PDC’s decision and insists that the money the commission has pro- vided could be paid back by sell- ing the home, if it comes to that. “There are no violations, there were some exceptions to PDC rules for granting this kind of in- vestment, but those were excep- tions they chose to make due to their valuing of the project,” says Gordly. “It was wrong for anyone else in the community to pick up that verbiage and say this violates anything. It’s disrespectful.” Gordly and Burch have been strong proponents of using allot- ted public resources to build more affordable housing to address a housing crisis that impacts people of color and other disadvantaged residents and fight the displace- ment caused by gentrification. “We certainly have done our part to ensure there is additional housing, more housing that black people can return to. The cultural center is a mark of our place in history and of black people’s place in Oregon history,” says Gordly. “I reject the notion of backlash. It’s a misunderstanding of appreciating who we are as activists and people who live here.” Examples of housing and cul- tural preservation exist nationally, like the Mayme A. Clayton Li- brary and Museum that contains over two million artifacts mainly focusing on African American culture in Southern California and the West Coast. The Gordly House as a cultural center is in its very early stages so it’s undecided when it will open, how it will be ran and exactly what will be featured in it. Branam says the ideal outcome would be to have the center open in the next three to four years, but is leaving the ultimate plans to PAALF. PAALF imagines it as a general meeting space for black organiza- tions, a home base for them and their PAALF Leadership Academy and a resource space for artifacts specific to black history in Ore- gon, like church records, books, articles and photos. The advocates envision members of the black community being trained as com- munity archivists and docents, opening African American relics to the public and giving informa- tive guided tours of center. Gordly and Burch wish to re- main involved in the project but from a supportive distance, seek- ing above all else to be sure that the African American history of north and northeast Portland is truly remembered. “The history I think we’re con- cerned about preserving is more than the house -- it’s the street, the neighborhood and the corri- dor and making sure that those stories are not lost,” says Gordly. “It’s significant for a black-owned property to have been in its fami- ly hands for that long. We would hope that black people that have remaining properties on Williams or anywhere else be thinking in- tentionally about how to hold on to and transfer that wealth to make sure it stays in that family and in that community.” It Does Good Things TM This page is sponsored by Oregon Lottery C alendar November 2016 MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY 1 2 3 National Author’s Day Electric Light Bulb Patented (1879) National Family Literacy Day 7 Hug-a-Bear Day Scientist Marie Cu- rie born in 1867 8 Young Reader’s Day X-Ray Day, discov- ered on this day in 1895 Daniel Boone born, 1734 International Space Station Opened in 2000 9 Capital Punishment abolished in the U.K. in 1998 Great Boston Fire 1872 R National Sandwich Day FRIDAY SATURDAY 4 5 Gail Haley born, 1939 First Wagon Train Reached California (1841) 10 Sesame Street De- buted in 1969 First iPod Sold in 2001 11 Remembrance Day In Canada Veteran’s Day Guy Fawkes Day 12 Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Women’s Rights Leader, was born in 1815 SUNDAY 6 Daylight Savings Time Ends National Nachos Day 13 Mom’s and Dad’s Day Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedi- cated in 1982
