Podcast: BikePOC PNW Co-Founder Will Cortez
We talk about his concerns with the BikeLoud PDX lawsuit, OBRA’s DEI efforts, why government committees are still so white, and more.
racial justice
Despite police directive, Portlanders of color still overrepresented in traffic stops
Being stopped in traffic is the most common way most people come into contact with the police, but we don’t all experience those stops equally. In Portland (and throughout the United States), people of color are overrepresented in traffic stops, with Black people experiencing the most drastic effects of this bias. And this is more … Read more
After outcry, ODOT removes ‘Thin Blue Line’ flag from state property
The Oregon Department of Transportation has pulled down a Thin Blue Line flag that was flying on state-owned property. The presence of the flag was noted by a Portland Twitter user who posted a photo of the image on Saturday (1/30) along with the message: “Why does the taxpayer-funded @OregonDOT lot at Hwy 26 & … Read more
‘It Did Happen Here’ podcast retraces fight against racists in Portland
My journey toward understanding racism in Portland and the impact my whiteness has had on myself and others has taken a big turn in the past few weeks. This is because I finally took the time to listen to It Did Happen Here, an excellent podcast I highly recommend. Hosted and co-produced by Mic Crenshaw … Read more
Multnomah County offering ‘Black Transportation Academy’
A federally funded program within Multnomah County’s health department is laser-focused on reducing health disparities between Black and white Portlanders. Among their offerings is a ‘Black Transportation Academy,’ a workshop that aims to get more of the county’s African-American and African immigrant/refugee populations involved in local and regional planning. Instead of asking for feedback once … Read more
After threat of vehicular violence and being called racial slur, man outs neighbor on social media
Northeast Portland resident Gerald Scrutchions says a white man used a racial epithet and threatened him with vehicular violence while he biked home from work in Irvington on Tuesday. Scrutchions, who is Black, claims the man drove his car into the crosswalk he was using and then purposely swerved towards him. And he’s not going … Read more
PPB traffic stop data shows Black Portlanders are overrepresented
H/T Latisha Jenson, Willamette Week In the first eight months of 2020, Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers made 20,990 traffic stops. According to police data, between New Year’s Day and August 1st, 17.7% of the people stopped were Black — a significant overrepresentation of Portland’s Black population which was 5.8% as of 2019. Over the … Read more
More details emerge on PBOT’s ‘Plan to Become an Antiracist Organization’
For an agency that once made traffic safety their number one priority, recent protests in support of Black Lives Matter have exposed a hard truth: Initiatives like Vision Zero are meaningless if they don’t address the root causes of racism, harassment and discrimination people of color face on our streets every day. To their credit, … Read more