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7 <br />• It is annoying to be grouped by color; people are proud of their ethnicity and need respect. <br />(Pacific Islander) <br />• Never had incidents until this past year, with the presidential election and hate wave in the <br />media. Had three incidents where people yelled at me to go home, all after the conventions. <br />(Muslim) <br />• Movies create stereotypes. (Native American/Alaska Native) <br />• “I will not hold my wife’s hand” in public. (LGBTQ) <br />• Is crazy-making; this community values not being racist, deny that they are because they <br />don’t want to be a bad person. (African American) <br />• Blacks here have always been pushed aside. Biggest problem, no one wants to own up to it. <br />Living here, you are going to be confronted with racism. (African American) <br />• Eugene is progressive, but there is passive-aggressive racism and implicit bias. (African <br />American) <br />• Told to wash my skin. (Native American/Alaska Native) <br />• When you talk with people here, they’re nice to your face but masters at saying one thing to <br />your face and something else behind your back. “When you leave the room, the script flips.” <br />(African American/Biracial Youth) <br />• Until coming to mainland, never knew I was a woman of color; Pacific Islanders identify <br />with ethnicity, not color of skin. (Pacific Islander) <br />• There is an attitude in Eugene among whites that we don’t need to talk about racism; they <br />see themselves as beyond that, post-racial. (Asian American) <br />• Latinos are seen as a threat when they complain about their treatment. (Latinx) <br />• Restaurant vandalized (bricks thrown through window) after 2001; was very frightening; <br />also had a smoke bomb thrown into the dining room once. Need to be vigilant with rise of <br />right. (Muslim) <br />• The folks in my circles who struggle the most are trans and gender queer people. (LGBTQ) <br />• Am always on guard, never know when someone is going to strike – verbal remarks, looks, <br />lot of people feel uncomfortable. (Trans) <br />• “We deal with the same issues,” referring to all focus groups. (Latinx) <br /> <br />Theme #2: Intersectionality <br /> <br />Another feature that clearly emerged during focus group discussions is the role that <br />intersectionality played for members of these groups. In the U.S., each of us is simultaneously a <br />member of multiple systems of inequality, such as class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, <br />disability status and age. Where we are positioned in each of these systems mediates our life <br />experience and affects our life chances. For example, people of color who are gay or are thought to <br />be gay are not only vulnerable to harm from heterosexism and homophobia by whites and other <br />people of color; they are also subject to expressions of racism by whites, including by some of their <br />own white gay peers. <br /> <br />• I did not feel like part of the black community; being in Eugene’s lesbian community was a <br />more welcoming place. (African American) <br />• Gay Latinos are ignored by the white LGBTQ community; lack of diversity and racism go <br />unrecognized. (Latinx) <br />• I knew I would have to work twice as hard because I came from a low income family. <br />(LGBTQ) <br />September 12, 2018, Work Session - Item 1