Agenda Packet 9-12-18 Work Session

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24 AFRICAN AMERICAN Focus Group Themes Characteristics of Racism • People don’t want to appear racist, but there is a lot of racism. It goes back a long ways. • Is crazy-making; this community values not being racist, deny that they are because they don’t want to be a bad person. • Blacks here have always been pushed aside. Biggest problem, no one wants to own up to it. Living here, you are going to be confronted with it. • You are going to experience [racism] from jobs, education… • There have been black communities here, such as on the north bank of the Willamette River, where the Ferry Street Bridge and Alton Baker Park now stand. • Was Klan cross on Skinner Butte, starting in the 1920s. For years (1964-1997), concrete cross on Skinner Butte. • Klan activity like ISIS, Taliban. • When new in Eugene, you are going to interact with people who hold more progressive values. • Eugene is progressive, but there is passive-aggressive racism and implicit bias. • People are nice, but not honest. • You are acceptable “because you are acting white.” • If you come in confident, dress well, speak white, smile at everyone, you will be accepted—but that is racism too. • We have internal conversations on how people will deal with you and how you should act. • I expend a lot of energy when I speak. • We go to the back door always; when the front door opens we still go to the back door—don’t want to hurt whites’ feelings. Intersectionality • Did not feel part of the black community; being in Eugene’s lesbian community, a more welcoming place. Institutional Expressions of Racism The City of Eugene Across the Community Police • Know I’m a target. Been pulled over for license plate. 11 moving violations on my record. • Police seem to have gone through training, more than other places I have been in my life. • I get pulled over a lot; my husband does not (he is white). Businesses • Depends on who you encounter in stores; people assume I don’t know things Housing • It is a struggle to find housing with private landlords. • Tried to rent houses, a real struggle, had to go through the university. • 75 years ago, my uncle had the money, only place he could buy a home (2800 block of Monroe), considered out of the city. Jobs K-12 Education • There is no narrative to explain black identity except the slave narrative; ancient civilizations and accomplishments are denied so there is nothing positive about black history; education sticks to this. • I am an ancient African whose people were captured; through our fortitude, we came through it. • Mental confusion – “Who am I? Where do I fit in? Am I a thug maybe, or am I authentically black because I am a September 12, 2018, Work Session - Item 1