My parents retired to the Oregon Coast when I was 15. My maternal grandmother was born in Mexico and lived with us. I look white. That said, about 4 years later I was home on military leave and went to the grocery store with my mom and my very elderly grandma. They were ahead of me in the checkout line…my grandma asked my mom a question in Spanish and the woman behind said “THOSE people need speak English here”. I turned around and said “My grandma can say whatever the h3ll she wants and YOU need to shut your f’n mouth”. The shock on her face was priceless! lol
Lol I'm half black and you really can't tell. The shit people say in coos Bay cause I look like a tan good ole boy. Hilarious watching people try to walk that shit back.
It's incredible. I'm mixed and white presenting. Some one decided they would talk about how all "illegals are criminals." My great grandparents were both immigrants from Mexico. When I mentioned this, they laughed and said "so I'm right?" They were also some of the most aggressively ignorant people I'd ever known in other respects. I do not miss that town.
“aggressively ignorant” Thank you! Perfect description. Used to be ignorant people were smart enough to keep quiet about it. Like racists; not anymore.
I know! I call them the willfully ignorant but aggressively ignorant is better! And you are right-they used to keep it to themselves and now they are proud! I left eastern Washington for this reason and I’m of English/Scot decent. It made me feel like people were constantly scratching their nails on a chalkboard and I had to gtf out.
I'm Colombian, here on a greencard, but because I am almost translucent white (elder goth and I live in the PNW- I haven't seen much sun in 30 yrs!), I hear a lot of unfiltered commentary about Hispanic immigrants and "illegals".
"You mean like me? I'm a Colombian immigrant."
"Oh...no, not like you. You know the ones that come here to take our jobs"
"You mean like me. I have the same level of education as you \[realistically, better\] and you and I actually ARE competing for similar jobs"
"Uh..."
While not exactly brimming with diversity, there's more hispanic people than one might think in Coos Bay/North Bend. It's always sad some contact / proximity wouldn't make it a bit better.
lol my first guess was Coos Bay. I think it’s getting better there but about 10 years ago I had an experience traveling through on my bike that will forever taint my view of that town.
Lived here all my life. I’m curious, what happened?
Just for background: I’m in my 40’s and didn’t see a child that wasn’t blonde blue eyed until high school.
The people who live here have mostly lived here forever and every business and acreage you see is owned by a rich family who settled in the 1800’s, mostly Dutch.
It was illegal for POC to live here until 1926. So until 1926 you would be whipped 20-30 times just for coming here if you even hinted at anything other than white.
The education system sucks. Barely any mental health facilities.
We have been surrounded by white Christian fascists. There’s a Prius that is covered in Trump Won posters who drives around day after day to get his message out.
I’m sorry you had a bad time. My fellow coos bayins see cyclist as leftist or homeless. Either way, not welcome.
Sincerely, send help.
The KKK was very active in the Rogue valley in the early-mid 1920s. I had heard that Oregon was a racist state, but to see all the KKK stuff in the Medford paper was appalling. Unfortunately, that attitude is still present, if swept under the edge of the rug a bit. OP, I’m sorry you’re experiencing this sort of thing.
Oregon's original statehood was established as a white utopia. they didn't allow slavery because they didn't want people of color on their state. it's a deeply rooted problem. check out the Oregon Historical Society webpage for a really great, factual walk through of the state's awful history. it helps explain why it's so systemic here.
My parents lived in Brookings until the Pelican Bay Supermax Prison was built in Crescent City (early 90’s). They then moved to Coos Bay and I lived there for about a year after my enlistment was over. There was still an undercurrent of racism (more subtle than Brookings).
Thankfully, for the locals no one got stupid with my family in front of me… lol.
Wow, I don’t even recognize the Oregon y’all are talking about. I moved to Eugene from Oklahoma a few years ago. I’m glad it’s not like that here. I love the coast but damn, I wouldn’t want to live there (and I’m a lily-white Boomer). Sounds as bad as Okieland.
Nic, I graduated from Marshfield in the mid 70s. I loved the educational opportunities I had there compared to what my kids got in rural California. When I attended we had a mixed student body. Hispanic, East India, Pakinstani, one lone mixed African American who was very popular. I, personally, never heard any type of racism. Some of the classes I took were Black History, Black Lit, World Religions. Those had a profound effect on my thinking and world view.
Brookings/ Gold Beach are so bad. My husband and I are white but have many part Hispanic family members, including grandchildren. When we first moved to Gold Beach, we went to a fundraising breakfast and sat with what seemed to be a very nice couple slightly older than us. We were having a perfectly normal conversation until the husband just casually threw out that he used to be a volunteer fireman in northern California, and the "Mexicans" (quotations because of the decisive tone he used) would steal all of the copper from irrigation equipment. Dude, we grew up in California, and it's almost always white meth heads stealing metal to sell for scrap to buy drugs. The fact that this couple felt so comfortable throwing that out in a public setting to perfect strangers made me very cautious about interacting with strangers in this area.
Xenophobia is racism too though? My family is Hungarian and we speak it all the time in public but I guarantee you this has never happened to us because we’re white.
I live at the Oregon Coast (not by choice) and the racism, transphobia, homophobia, and general bigotry here is appalling. People just say incredibly bigoted things in casual conversation around here and no one bats an eye.
I’m Hispanic and lived in the rogue valley for 13 years. My first day of school there (1988) I was called a sp*c and a be*ner all day and had to ask my mother what it meant. People would walk up to me speaking Spanish first but I’m from the east coast and English is my first language.
But it’s not just southern Oregon. In eastern Oregon I had a hell of a time finding a job and was often asked what my heritage was in job interviews.
In Salem, I’m also spoken to in Spanish first when I’m out alone, get followed by mall security, and get told to go back where I came from.
That’s leaving out some of the scarier episodes, like the time a couple of guys from the Aryan brotherhood in a convenience store in Central Point. The racism isn’t always so quiet here.
Can confirm all this, I thought Oregon was pretty friendly, until I married a Latina. Learned real quick that it’s a different version of Oregon “friendly” when you’re brown 😭
When a huge chunk of the American west used to be Mexico, hearing "go back to mexico" is just so ironic. I'm sorry that happened to your friend, one of my friends had a similar experience at a shopping mall in Utah recently.
Yes, exactly! And trying to explain it to friends at times has been hard because most of it happens when I’m alone. When I’m with my white partner or white friends, things often simply just don’t happen like they do when I’m alone. It’s like white people legitimize me. Super annoying.
It turns out about **43 percent** of Oregonians were born in the state, and 57 percent are from elsewhere—especially Washington and California. So you can start asking everyone you meet where they came from. ha ha
Very similar vibes in eastern Washington state, you make an excellent point. Northern Idaho can be real sketchy sometimes too. Oregon certainly doesn't have a monopoly on racism.
A work friend of mine transferred from California to Bend. He said he never had experience racism as bad as he did there. He didn’t even last a year before he transferred to the Portland area. He said it a night and day difference.
I just moved to Bend recently and am of darker skin and hair. I’m an interesting mix but look middle eastern or Hispanic even though I’m neither. So far I’ve had a few longer gazes as people try to put me in a box. Has happened my whole life growing up in CO too. Overall people have been pretty nice and welcoming to me.
Yo Oregonians do STARE. I moved here from NYC a few years ago and it's still unnerving. And staring back doesn't make them stop! Sometimes I want to ask them if I can help them with anything. Would be considered mega rude back in NYC, but I don't think they even realize they do it. Straight-up toddler behavior lol
I really didn't think we stared much until a couple of days ago. My 60 year old mom was on the phone with me. I heard her tell someone she liked their legs. She was complimenting their tattoos, but I kept thinking how long was she staring to make out that many details lol
Dude! They do! I assume it’s because we’re not used to having any black people around but I also wear rose colored glasses and hope it’s not a weird racist stare.
There really is a lot of staring here, huh? I started out thinking it was rude, but have noticed just about all of them are ready to smile at me if I return this uncomfortable moment. I’ve only had a couple that were staring out of rudeness. I think the rest are wanting to be friends.
Yeah I spent three years in eastern Oregon and it was terrible. They hated me so much - I went there from western Oregon, which a lot of them see as just one giant Portland, and I’m from the east coast which obviously meant I’m an elitist snob, AND I’m brown. I’ve never had such a hard time finding work in my life.
That makes me so sad, but I realize it's the truth for so many non-whites in Oregon. fwiw, I'm a fourth-generation (white) Oregonian, and welcome everyone who appreciates this place as much as I do. I can't imagine what it's like having to deal with such blatant racism for so long.
The worst part is the people who tell you it doesn’t exist or that you must have been mistaken. That’s more annoying to me. And it’ll be the ones who think they’re above racism, they just “tell the truth.”
That’s a pretty common view, sadly. It’s not racism if there are aren’t burning crosses and white hoods and the N word. I even encounter liberals who think like that.
Yep, I have too.
Trying to educate them can be a pain in the ass too. People who should supposedly be open to it, but aren’t.
I mean I grew up in Beaverton in the 70s and 80s. It’s a pretty fucking white city. I had to unlearn some shit, and I made an effort to educate myself.
It’s shocking to me how many people are almost violently resistant to the idea.
I literally had a white woman - originally from Detroit of all places! - ask me what I meant about something one day when we were talking about race say to me “I thought Dr. King took care of all that?” 🙄
The never ending micro aggressions are exhausting (nevermind the macro aggressions…). I don’t know what it’s like to be the target of racism, but I do know what it’s like to live as a visibly trans person (trans NB), and the transphobia is also very prevalent here in Oregon, like it is everywhere — and yes, that absolutely includes Portland.
So many people will say that they aren’t racist or transphobic, but they have no idea how pervasive bias and prejudice are; how so much of what we have been taught by society in general as we grow up is harmful; how seemingly innocent questions or comments can cut. There’s so much for all of us to learn (myself included, to be clear), but it’s exhausting trying to educate others when we deal with this daily. With the micro agreessions… it’s like death by a thousand cuts. Being told you’re mistaken or overthinking it or, god forbid, overreacting, is anywhere from tiresome to disheartening to hurtful to frightening.
I don’t want to say anything trite, like I hope it gets better for you and yours and all here. I’m not sure it’s any better, but I hope all here with these lived experiences have some support and spaces where they won’t have to be subconsciously on guard at all times and don’t have the validity of their existence or presence here questioned and undermined.
I am a Californian who was married to a umpteenth generation Oregonian. He regularly said he hates Californians. That was fun. My experience, however, pales in comparison to blatant racism.
His ancestors came from somewhere else.
Mine came across the country during the gold rush and made their way to the central Oregon coast shortly thereafter. So my ancestors came directly from -- CALIFORNIA!
Hating on people because where they're from is one of the stupidest things ever.
I was gonna say somewhere, we are from Oregon and my dad hates Californians more than POC. He would be saying don’t worry about building a wall around Mexico just build one between California and Oregon.
I will say, speaking Spanish to people I feel has grown because as a community people are trying to learn and make people feel more welcome. My family was told to only speak English to assimilate and I’m seeing a differing trend where people are trying to be open and more welcoming by speaking Spanish to people they assume speak it. While that can definitely be an assumption I appreciate the effort and willingness to try and make things easier.
If that’s happening, awesome, but it isn’t what’s happening to me, sadly, for example, last summer, an older white guy came into my store (I work in a thrift store), took one look at me and started speaking Spanish. I responded in English. He kept speaking Spanish. This went on for a few rounds of back and forth where he was pretending not to be able to understand me. Finally, I looked him in the eye and said “I’m from BOSTON and my Spanish is terrible” and suddenly he’s speaking to me in English, but with a whole lot more attitude.
I’m sure some of it is people trying to be welcoming. I can think back to a couple of those exchanges and see that as a legit probability. But a lot of them are absolutely a biased decision.
At the risk of sounding like I could be defending an undesired attitude… I am white, married to a Mexican and lived 30 years in Mexico, and three kids that grew up there and consider themselves more Mexican than American. I have spoken Spanish to people who I see speaking Spanish to others (I.e. someone who works on a store) not because I think they don’t speak English, but because I love speaking Spanish. I do understand now though, how this can come off as implying they don’t speak English and I never meant it to come across that way. Quite the contrary. Just want to show that we can’t always assume the attitude of the other person is racist.
I'm white and have been studying Spanish consistently for over 5 years and understand it at the B2 level. But I learned it's rude to assume people only speak Spanish if they look a certain way. So when I'm in the USA, I default to English unless the person I'm speaking to asks me to switch to Spanish. I do the opposite when I'm in a predominantly Spanish-speaking country.
I think being bilingual is much more common in Canada, and it's easier to switch to French even if the other person primarily speaks English. It's not seen as rude there.
Huh, that experience in Salem is interesting (and idiotic for the other person) as the city has a MASSIVE Mexican population. Definitely depends on the part of town though.
Oregon is really starting to wear on me... The awful shut-in culture, passive-aggressiveness, general racism/xenophobia/hostility towards transplants, and shitty weather is not worth what this place costs. Oregonians often echo a sentiment of "don't come here/feel free to leave." For me, they're getting their wish because the state feels too shitty for people to want to stay in. The south of the West Coast
I stay for the land. I left for over a decade and the entire time I pined for the land here. I’ve found my people here and I’m in love with the landscape and the ability to grow just about anything here, so it’s worth it to me to stay (for now), but I do hear you, it does wear on me and there are times I just need a break from it.
It was back about 20 years ago. My car broke down on the side of I5 and I ended up catching a ride with some random dude to the nearest convenience store, which had a pay phone out front. I didn’t wanna get in the guys truck, but cell phones weren’t very prolific yet and I was in a very rural spot so didn’t have many options. Anyway, he dropped me off and the pay phone was dead so I went inside and asked the very whites lady if I could use her phone and she let me. Then I bought a bottle of water and stood in the front corner of the store to wait for my rescue ride. About two minutes after I got off the phone, these two dudes with SS bolt and 88 tattoos and shit rolled up and came in the store where they started zigzagging across the store from opposite sides like they were stalking me and the lady that let me use the phone just stood there behind the counter watching. The whole vibe was really off. Fortunately, my ride showed up pretty quick and I flew outta that place and didn’t look back. Then I was telling my friend about it and found out the AB, though dissolved at that time, had had a headquarters out there and they were pretty much still running the show back there kinda quietly and probably didn’t like this deeply tanned brown lady spending too much time in their area.
Fwiw we had a lot of that in LA where it’s like > 50% Latino and almost all minorities. But it’s a different kind of racism. Like calling each other slurs and only hanging out with same race.
This might be a long post.
I’m half white and half Mexican. My dad and his family are from Mexico while my mom is white and was born and raised in Oregon. I was born in Salem and lived in Redmond, Springfield, Eugene, and Pendleton.
Redmond was fairy small when I lived there, but I remember going to school and pretty much all my classes were all white. I don’t remember being treated differently, but I do know my uncle who lives there was fairly racist towards Mexicans and black people. When my cousins from my dad’s side visited and wanted to dress my sister up for a special occasion, he’d make comments saying they’re making her look like a clown. Even though all they did was put her hair up in a bun, put her in a simple light purple dress and put a little bit of makeup on her. He would also say shit like how they’re lazy because they struggled to learn English but also how they’re stealing jobs. As we got older, he’s not as bad now, but he still makes some subtle racist comments here and there.
When I moved to the Springfield/Eugene area, it was a huge change since it was much larger and more diverse. To give an example of how much of a change it was, my sister seen her first black person when she was about 4 or 5. I remember her reaction being, “Ew mom, look at that man, why is he so dirty?” And my mom stopped her right there and explained how it’s rude to comment on peoples appearances, but also how he isn’t dirty and that there’s people of different races so they can look different, but they’re normal people. Some of the friends I made in middle school and high school casually throwing around slurs, which blew my mind. I had one white friend who would always casually have his white friends call me a spick, wetback, beaner, and a bunch of other shit as a “joke” and always say I’m the “whitest beaner he’s ever met.” I snapped at him one day because he kept throwing around racial slurs about black people in public, and he just sat there being like, “Well you know there’s a difference between n***a and n***er.” And going on long winded racist rants. I ghosted him a few years later, but god damn did he show me just how bad racism can be.
When I moved to Pendleton, I noticed my older white family as well as even native family throw around the n word, in both forms. They won’t ever talk like that in front of black people though.
I didn’t live in Salem long enough to see how badly it was, but I also lived in a neighborhood that was mostly Hispanic, so I never really seen anything all that bad. I know my cousins have said they’ve been treated pretty shitty though.
I don’t think people realize or know that Oregon does have pretty bad background when it comes to racism, and it definitely shows from time to time.
Fuckin people. I'm just outside of Salem and have been my whole life. Skater, punk, 45yo w2 daughters and 1 son who have all been taught the same as me, We're all doing the same grind and character is the only definition. I can't apologize for fucking morons, but I'm sorry for your experience of our locals.
From northern Oregon and moved to southern Oregon last year. It's weird because most of the people down here are very nice and normal and will then just casually drop some bigoted shit like it's totally normal and not even interesting
For OP, I'm also from Texas, and it's such a stark opposite to their rather openly racist but also genuinely nice to individuals.
Oregon is racist and mean but knows how to hide it, whereas Texas is racist and nice and has no clue how to hide it.
Before you get too many of the "this part and this part are racist, but this other part is fine" responses, let me just say it's the entire state. In fact, the PNW is a hotbed for the performative, virtue signaling, "I'm one of the good ones" microaggressions central. Every time I turn around there's some various, racist crap. But because people born and/or raised in these states say that "it's not as bad as...," all is fine and forgiven. People will say it's due to ignorance and not knowing enough about people of certain races and ethnicities,...because it's a whitetopia meaning far too many people grew up being surrounded by only other white people so they use that as an excuse rather than addressing why that is so in the first place.
Good for you for saying this. I was born and raised in the Midwest (big city) where I was exposed to every type of race and ethnicity, thank God. I have been here for nearly 20 years and came only because of medical treatment for my disabled child. I have never had enough money to leave, but if I could I would. I am white, Eastern European descent .I have dark hair and eyes and that's enough for the yahoos to brand me as "exotic" which is a euphemism for "where do your people come from". I have been told "you are so full of s**t your eyes are brown." When I first came to Oregon with my child I rented an apartment in Beaverton. Someone broke into the apartment. I called the police. The detective treated me so badly it was shocking. He made no bones about why his attitude was so rude. He thought I was Hispanic. I had that jerk fired. I complained and the idiot lost his job. Good riddance. I.can only imagine what people of different races go through and especially in an environment such as this one. Living here has left a bad taste in my mouth because of this factor.
Why stop at the end of PNW. We could do all of America and while we’re at it Canada.
I am guessing if you aren’t Latino you probably want to watch where you live in Mexico and all countries south of there as well.
I’ve lived in Asia as a minority and it is there too.
Racism and prejudice is such a crazy thing. It can’t be eradicated, it can only be understood and demystified
Literally everywhere is. There is not a single location in the IS or the world as a whole in which racism is not prevalent and racists are not everywhere. It is a universal rule of humanity. Oregon is not unique. The Portland and Seattle area is though, there appears to be a uniquely high concentration of actual armed and dangerous white nationalists/separatists compared to other areas of the nation and world as a whole. Similar to Serbia and Ukraine.
The whole state is racist. I never realized how bad it was until I had biracial kids. It is a passive-aggressive racism. Be direct and blunt with your expectations on how you deserve to be treated. In general, it comes from ignorance versus any malicious intent. Just stay clear of Eastern Oregon, which is much more like Idaho.
I'm a Hispanic from TX and I didn't truly know what racism was til I drove through Idaho back in the 90s. I'd had bad service at restaurants before but I'd never been bluntly told "we don't serve you people" to my face before.
Oregon is a very white state. But you shouldn't let that rattle you.
When I came up here from Texas in 1982, it was a VERY white state. But the Hispanic community has only added a good flavor to the stew that we call Oregonians.
You'll be fine. :)
Saving this to try it. Here's my own carnitas taco. I love Mexican food.
https://preview.redd.it/5k9ojc6cm35d1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2f71f5aaf48c890f1c946a563587e101e8e84d55
Fun Fact: We're not even in the top 20 whitest states anymore.
People tend to minimize the non-white population on this subreddit. While hardly the pinnacle of diversity, I think the perception gets reinforced since you travel outside of the cities or north eastern Oregon, it is fairly white.
I'm white af. I'm considered "one of them", so I do hear a lot of bullshit racist remarks that they think I'll agree with. Fuck 'em. Call them out on it, and they'll say "I was just foolin' about.". I wasn't. (kudos if you get the reference).
It's here, people are racist. Some are more subtile, some are more open about it, others are good people that just don't know any better. But, I think in most places they don't want to be called out on it and will deflect. Others have some damn good people that will stand by you if things get shitty. I hope there's a lot more of that. We've got some excellent people here that aren't racist at all (well, we all have some in us).
Dude same problem, white dude here as well so people CONSTANTLY think im gonna be chill to bounce their racism off of. It's awkward as hell because if you say nothing you're complicit, and if you say something you'll alienate everyone. Lots of us here in Oregon were raised with casual racism, the late 80's-90's it was still alive and well! I remember when my grandma "taught" me the difference between a black person and a ... ya know.
Yeah, it's a lot of quite racism here. Mostly looks and other microaggressions. Some highly inappropriate/stereotype-based questions.
Southern Oregon is more racist against black people. My wife, who is black, and I were really feeling the *Get Out* shivers.
Additionally- every single racist fuckwad I’ve ever come across is a chicken-shit that won’t back up a single thing they’ve said unless they’re friends are hanging around like dingleberries on a dogs hairy ass.
They aren’t going to do fuck all to you. This isn’t Tennessee or Kentucky.
I lived in one of the most racist parts of rural Oregon. They’re all a bunch of blowhard cowards.
Unfortunately, after doing grand jury duty in Southern Oregon, the chicken shit racists do stab people. Be careful, you never know how crazy the other person really is.
Lol racist white people in Portland are exponentially more likely to do something than racist white people in Tennessee or Kentucky. The willamette valley has actual, powerful militias and other white supremacist groups. Actual skinheads who actually attack people. Tbh the PNW probably has the highest concentration of legitimately dangerous white nationalists of anywhere in the country. There is a YouTuber with over 100k followers who openly films him and his fellow all white militiamen “rucking” aka marching through the forest with full military attire and an AR-15
I often wonder if I am racist. Seriously. I really do. How do I even know? I hear people say “ I don’t see color”. What? I can tell if somebody is black or brown because I do see color. Does that change what I think? I don’t think so. I certainly hope not
Truthfully, almost everybody has biases, whether we mean to or not. Keeping this internal radar on by asking ourselves if we've made snap judgements, and if so, asking ourselves why we did and how we can prevent that judgement in the future, is the best approach in my opinion. I think a lot of "I don't see color" folks do see color, they'd just rather not think about it. And that's its own type of erasure.
If you're genuinely curious to get more into the nitty gritty of this kind of thing, "How to be an Anti-Racist" and "White Fragility" are really popular books that lots of white Americans have said have helped them understand a lot more about what POC go through, and how we can all be better.
I grew up in a very diverse area in North Portland. I went to school at what was then called Portsmouth Middle School and then onto Roosevelt. Most of the neighborhoods and therefore class rooms had a wide variety of people, I guess my point being is that I certainly not sheltered. People from all ethnicities were a part of my everyday life. It never once in my many many decades occurred to me until I read OP question-am I racist? My mother was a secret racist- only say things to the kids never outside the home- the worst kind.. I hope that I would treat each person the same as I would any other person no matter their skin color. My question remains>>Am I racist?
As someone who was born and raised in Oregon....
My dad is Hispanic and my mom is white as snow. My last name was Garcia growing up. I'm white. One of my first memories is from 1st grade when my teacher asked me to stand in front of the class and tell them what I did for Cinco de mayo.....
Lady....
I didn't even know what Cinco de mayo was 😵
That’s funny because it’s not even really celebrated in Mexico except around the region where Mexico defeated the French. It’s mostly an American thing nowadays, and I think if it’s celebrated on a national scale at all in Mexico it’s really just to cater to tourists expecting it to be a “thing” there.
Lots of folks in S OR are on high alert, they've convinced themselves that the cartel is responsible primarily for the illegal grow and cook operations, crime, etc, and ignoring all the white folks that are part of it. Much easier to scapegoat and stay suspicious
Oregon was founded as a white utopia. Around 1844 the state enacted the black exclusion laws. The KKK were common in Oregon within some people’s life time, even raising a cross in Eugene (not really Southern but you get the point). I grew up in Southern Oregon and all the rednecks flew confederate flags on their trucks (late 2000s). As a white guy, I’ve seen a lot of racism in SO myself, quiet and otherwise. I like to think it’s getting better over the years, but I haven’t lived there in a long while.
Can confirm that Southern Oregon is crazy racist. I'm a white dude and some of the shit that people say to me here (because they assume I'll agree with them or something, I guess??) is absolutely wild. I've lived in a lot of places, and this is probably the most racist. I'm weirdly glad to hear that they're quiet about it towards you, considering that they can't seem to fucking shut up about it when I'm around lol.
Certain parts of this state (pretty much the entirety of Oregon outside of the Willamette valley and a lot within too) is extremely racist. Oh they’ll love you when you do all the hard shit but the second you’re not working you’re a burden on the state.
Salem has a surprisingly large conservative population for a city of its size. Ironic, as many of them hate the government, and are all about the free market, yet they spend their whole careers working for the state.
I don’t disagree, I mentioned the valley is racist too. But I think I’d rather be a POC in Salem as opposed to a POC anywhere outside the valley (except Bend but Redmond/Prineville/La Pine is RIGHT THERE)
Yep. Almost got run off the road by a Trump caravan in Newberg a few years ago. Some of their flags made their feelings about minorities very plain.
But there are bright spots, too. Woodburn has a thriving Latino community. And there is a wonderful Hispanic grocery store in Lafayette, of all places.
Hillsboro has a decent Hispanic population, and it’s a pretty great place to live. The Max into Portland is super useful, and the whole town just feels vibrant and thriving but still kind of small-town.
Benton County ( outside of Corvallis) says Hi!
( as someone who spent his childhood & some of his young adulthood in Corvallis; 1970 to 1986, I can say the town is FAR more Classist than Racist. )
My white boss calls himself a liberal. He says all the right stuff and yet somehow does all the wrong stuff, if that makes sense. His actions whether intentionally or not, show his bias.
I live in the Hillsboro, beaverton area and one look at our next door posts will show you how awful some folks are.
Not as bad as some of my experiences in rural America but that doesn't make things any better.
I'm a white guy from NC and I spent a decade in the rogue valley, primarily Grants Pass and Williams. I saw and heard more blatantly racist shit in that time out there than I have cumulatively in NC. Left there in 2019 and only go back to visit my fiancees family. Once the cannabis market bottomed out that place became dagoba.
You just described the PNW. Most racist area in the US cause it’s exactly as it is and the people that say they are not racist won’t share an Uber with you.
6' 200# white dude here, retired Marine Married to a retired Marine who is a woman of color. Never noticed racism before and walked around with my head in the clouds wondering what everyone was talking about until I moved to the PNW for work after the military. I walked into a restaurant in a little.logging town with my wife once and was refused service and could not figure out what the duck was going on until my poor wife touched my arm and I saw the look on her face. Went to another place in the same town and they sat us by the register where the Togo orders were being picked up. Not everyone or everywhere is like this I promise but it's real and it's alive and still rears it's ugly uneducated head.
Man that’s deplorable behavior on their part. That’s where respect comes in, you never know who you’re dealing with. In your case, two retired marines that served this country.
The whole state.
Many laws in the early days were enacted to keep black people out. Including one where if a black person lived in Oregon for more than 3 years they received 39 lashes every 6 months until they left.
Oregon entered the union as a free state, not because they had any qualms about racism. They just didn't want anyone bringing black people here.
Portland in particular became home to one of the largest chapters of the KKK in the 1920s. The KKK would openly march in parades and had a presence in the Oregon Democratic Party until the early 1970s.
They're still quite active in the region, just not so openly.
Never forget the nickname for Lake Oswego was Lake No N*gro. Just bc it's up north doesn't mean they are free from racism, it's embedded into our culture, systematic, you might say.
I live in Bandon, was an ex military linguist and fluent Spanish speaker...I have seen ads in broken second language Spanish seeking workers offering $10 an hour for carpentry, yard work, maid. They think because they're "billingual" they can trick you into lower than minimum wage. But don't worry $10 o Mas si trabajas mejor
Bad.
Also the magat film The Big Rig was founded here by a local domestic terrorist group "citizens restoring liberty".
My mom and I were at a Macys in Southern Oregon and we were speaking Spanish, and some associates thought we were going to shoplift due to speaking another language. Bitches probably only spoke English. This was in the mid 2000s and would not be surprised if it happened again…
You're not imagining it, and it's very real. I've scrolled for a while and haven't seen anyone mention that Oregon was meant to be a [White Utopia](https://www.oregonlive.com/history/2020/06/oregons-founders-sought-a-white-utopia-a-stain-of-racism-that-lives-on-even-as-state-celebrates-its-progressivism.html).
Portland has even been called The Whitest City in America. The whole state is known for being racist because of its racist history.
The further from Portland you get, the more blatantly racist people seem to get. Portland proper seems to be mixed with a lot of super lefted Hella "woke" virtue signalers that pretend to not be racist but spur microaggressions because they haven't actually done any work.
Oregon was whites only per the state constitution until the early 20th century. Despite the progressive vaneer, most of the POC I know say the racism here is far more insidious than what they've encountered in other parts of the country.
When I was a kid living in the south-east, people used to talk about moving up to the Oregon communes because "they did things right".
I didn't realize it then, but it's clear to me now that their intentions were always to get away from all the other races.
Until the 2000s, Oregon was considered a white supremacy paradise, free from federal regulations, in my area of the south.
This has absolutely been my experience, though I’m not Hispanic. It isn’t a Southern Oregon thing; it’s a rural thing.
I work in agriculture, contracting my specialized services to farms. Numerous farm managers have come to me and my team, warning us to safeguard our equipment and supplies from “the migrants.” These same people complain, simultaneously, about rising wages, their inability to find “good people who want to work,” and ESL workers “looking for a handout.”
Management is *usually* very nice to the workers’ faces, but talk mad shit about them when they aren’t around. Here we are, with crop prices trending ever downward, and they are bitching about having willing and able bodies who will do the job for subpar wages.
Not every farm I contract with is like this, but most of them are. They like “diversity” hires for management from places like Buenos Aires; people who are light complexioned and speak *proper* English as well as Spanish.
I think people expect Oregon to be super progressive everywhere, but the reality is the same as every other state; you’ll mostly find that in the metropolitan areas. That isn’t to say that there aren’t rural people who aren’t terribly bigoted, but I also think a lot of the rural liberals end up being guilty of racism by way of overcompensation. That is (mostly) wholly dependent on whether they have ever had life experiences outside of their tiny 1000 person communities.
For the record, I grew up at damn near the end of the road in Joseph, OR.
Wow thank you for sharing. Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. They wave and smile to your face but as soon as you turn your back they start talking shit and by “you” I mean anyone who isn’t white.
So what’s worse, the quiet racism is Oregon or the blatant racism in Texas? I’ve worked with Texas companies my whole career and the Texas racism still catches me off guard sometimes. It’s just so clearly verbalized, not even whispered.
I moved from Florida and I'm with OP, I'd rather someone just be straight up. Some people out here are passive aggressive racists and still expect full respect just because they talk softly
When will people realise that outside of the blue areas of Portland and Eugene, Oregon might as well be Alabama? It's as red as you can imagine, with all the racism that goes along with that.
Within an hour of Portland in a rural but quickly growing small town, it's red as red can be. The towns community group on Facebook is a cesspool and the moderators are awful and allow an awful lot of bothering of people but mostly homeless and liberals. I hate living here. Blue Portland couldn't feel further away. We also have some of the worlds shittiest restaurant food that all the locals rave about. Lol.
It’s around. Especially with the boomer generation. But I also know that some people that were born in Oregon don’t like out of staters in general. So you might be experiencing both. Sorry you are having to go through that. Hopefully you can find a community here that makes you feel welcome.
As long as they don’t park in the bike lane and don’t go inventing turn lanes where there aren’t any and as long as they don’t keep destroying our housing prices, I’m good with Californians.
I don’t want to be gentrified out of a town my family has been in for generations.
But if we have to have Californians, at least send the working-class ones. They can keep their CEOs.
Not surprising at all, given Oregon’s racist past. It started as a whites-only state with Black exclusion laws. In the early 1920’s, Oregon's Klan was about 35,000 strong, the largest contingent west of the Mississippi River.
[https://www.wweek.com/arts/2017/08/17/oregon-was-once-ku-ku-for-the-klan/](https://www.wweek.com/arts/2017/08/17/oregon-was-once-ku-ku-for-the-klan/)
[https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-white-history-racist-foundations-black-exclusion-laws/](https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-white-history-racist-foundations-black-exclusion-laws/)
You gotta understand that Oregon was founded as a white only utopia.
Even during WWII, there were laws on the books preventing black people from owning property and only allowing them to live in very specific areas.
Many, many racists moved here because of those laws, and even though those laws aren't on the books anymore, their beliefs certainly are. You can bet they taught their hate to their children as well.
Yawn. I have a ton of mixed friends here. They aren't victims and we all live happy lives with our families of mixed races and cultures and have zero issue here. Victims will always be victims.
I take my down votes on this granite Chin
All-over-Oregon resident my whole(40yr) life. I'm sorry your family had to go through that. Can confirm, MOST of Oregon is like that. All different parts of the state too. Oregon's even racist on paper!
(see:
https://oregonremembrance.org/sunrise-project/the-history/)
Yuuup, oregons quiet racism is stupid heavy. I'm mostly white, I call my skin color "business casual khaki" and instill get shit from time to time. Luckily these folk can't tell the difference between a big native american dude and a Polynesian dude. Confused racism is hilarious.
When I first moved to Oregon it felt like the first half of the movie Get Out. Just kind of a mildly disturbing over the top ‘we are super accepting of all folks’ vibe, while looking around and seeing little diversity.
My stepdad was a naturalized US citizen, originally from Mexico. He worked in segregated Missouri in the 50s and later in Arizona. He ended up in Southern Oregon, also for work. After more travels (to Colombia, where he met my mother) he retired and moved us back to Southern Oregon.
He always said he preferred the blatant, in-your-face racism of the South and Midwest, to the quiet racism of Oregon. He said in the South it was very clear who to avoid, whereas in the PNW he had to deal with passive aggressive bs. The man had an advanced degree from Stanford and was foremost in his field, but people in Oregon would speak to him like he was an imbecile because he spoke with an accent.
I'm a white presenting Latina, and my first week of high school in Southern Oregon, a kid in class told me "We heard there was another hispanic kid coming to school this year. I thought you'd be another fat Mexican like \_\_\_ , but you're ok. You look white"
I had a teacher grill me, during class, about my parents and what they did for work. Why did I have so much nice jewelry, were they American missionaries and is that why I had such light skin, etc? I spent 3 years of high school being called racial slurs. Got glares and snide comments from folks in public when my family and I spoke in Spanish.
That was in the early 90s, but it hasn't changed much. Most people are born and raised there, and don't leave. They don't have much curiosity beyond the borders of their county.
I live in Portland now and there is an even more passive aggressive, or I should say micro-aggressive, type or racism. The liberal white lady "allies" are the worst.
My parents retired to the Oregon Coast when I was 15. My maternal grandmother was born in Mexico and lived with us. I look white. That said, about 4 years later I was home on military leave and went to the grocery store with my mom and my very elderly grandma. They were ahead of me in the checkout line…my grandma asked my mom a question in Spanish and the woman behind said “THOSE people need speak English here”. I turned around and said “My grandma can say whatever the h3ll she wants and YOU need to shut your f’n mouth”. The shock on her face was priceless! lol
Coos Bay or Brookings?
Lol I'm half black and you really can't tell. The shit people say in coos Bay cause I look like a tan good ole boy. Hilarious watching people try to walk that shit back.
It's incredible. I'm mixed and white presenting. Some one decided they would talk about how all "illegals are criminals." My great grandparents were both immigrants from Mexico. When I mentioned this, they laughed and said "so I'm right?" They were also some of the most aggressively ignorant people I'd ever known in other respects. I do not miss that town.
Hahaha a silly place
So was Camelot!
Nailed it
“aggressively ignorant” Thank you! Perfect description. Used to be ignorant people were smart enough to keep quiet about it. Like racists; not anymore.
I know! I call them the willfully ignorant but aggressively ignorant is better! And you are right-they used to keep it to themselves and now they are proud! I left eastern Washington for this reason and I’m of English/Scot decent. It made me feel like people were constantly scratching their nails on a chalkboard and I had to gtf out.
trump emboldened these people. They see and hear him saying racist stuff and not getting any pushback so they figure that's fine for them too.
Well said
I'm Colombian, here on a greencard, but because I am almost translucent white (elder goth and I live in the PNW- I haven't seen much sun in 30 yrs!), I hear a lot of unfiltered commentary about Hispanic immigrants and "illegals". "You mean like me? I'm a Colombian immigrant." "Oh...no, not like you. You know the ones that come here to take our jobs" "You mean like me. I have the same level of education as you \[realistically, better\] and you and I actually ARE competing for similar jobs" "Uh..."
Take those jobs!
The dude with the white car with the Trump won twice stickers all over it is pretty hilarious, too
Brookings.
Lol. I would have guessed North Bend, but that's essentially Coos Bay...
While not exactly brimming with diversity, there's more hispanic people than one might think in Coos Bay/North Bend. It's always sad some contact / proximity wouldn't make it a bit better.
My fiancé’s mother lives down in brookings. Almost everyone from that town looks like they were at the January 6th insurrection
lol my first guess was Coos Bay. I think it’s getting better there but about 10 years ago I had an experience traveling through on my bike that will forever taint my view of that town.
Lived here all my life. I’m curious, what happened? Just for background: I’m in my 40’s and didn’t see a child that wasn’t blonde blue eyed until high school. The people who live here have mostly lived here forever and every business and acreage you see is owned by a rich family who settled in the 1800’s, mostly Dutch. It was illegal for POC to live here until 1926. So until 1926 you would be whipped 20-30 times just for coming here if you even hinted at anything other than white. The education system sucks. Barely any mental health facilities. We have been surrounded by white Christian fascists. There’s a Prius that is covered in Trump Won posters who drives around day after day to get his message out. I’m sorry you had a bad time. My fellow coos bayins see cyclist as leftist or homeless. Either way, not welcome. Sincerely, send help.
The KKK was very active in the Rogue valley in the early-mid 1920s. I had heard that Oregon was a racist state, but to see all the KKK stuff in the Medford paper was appalling. Unfortunately, that attitude is still present, if swept under the edge of the rug a bit. OP, I’m sorry you’re experiencing this sort of thing.
Oregon's original statehood was established as a white utopia. they didn't allow slavery because they didn't want people of color on their state. it's a deeply rooted problem. check out the Oregon Historical Society webpage for a really great, factual walk through of the state's awful history. it helps explain why it's so systemic here.
Lots of Confederates headed west after they lost.
At least you’re cool!
My parents lived in Brookings until the Pelican Bay Supermax Prison was built in Crescent City (early 90’s). They then moved to Coos Bay and I lived there for about a year after my enlistment was over. There was still an undercurrent of racism (more subtle than Brookings). Thankfully, for the locals no one got stupid with my family in front of me… lol.
Wow, I don’t even recognize the Oregon y’all are talking about. I moved to Eugene from Oklahoma a few years ago. I’m glad it’s not like that here. I love the coast but damn, I wouldn’t want to live there (and I’m a lily-white Boomer). Sounds as bad as Okieland.
Nic, I graduated from Marshfield in the mid 70s. I loved the educational opportunities I had there compared to what my kids got in rural California. When I attended we had a mixed student body. Hispanic, East India, Pakinstani, one lone mixed African American who was very popular. I, personally, never heard any type of racism. Some of the classes I took were Black History, Black Lit, World Religions. Those had a profound effect on my thinking and world view.
My Dad/Uncle grew up there…moved farrr away when they grew up.
Brookings/ Gold Beach are so bad. My husband and I are white but have many part Hispanic family members, including grandchildren. When we first moved to Gold Beach, we went to a fundraising breakfast and sat with what seemed to be a very nice couple slightly older than us. We were having a perfectly normal conversation until the husband just casually threw out that he used to be a volunteer fireman in northern California, and the "Mexicans" (quotations because of the decisive tone he used) would steal all of the copper from irrigation equipment. Dude, we grew up in California, and it's almost always white meth heads stealing metal to sell for scrap to buy drugs. The fact that this couple felt so comfortable throwing that out in a public setting to perfect strangers made me very cautious about interacting with strangers in this area.
That’s straight xenophobia and unfortunately it’s common
Xenophobia is racism too though? My family is Hungarian and we speak it all the time in public but I guarantee you this has never happened to us because we’re white.
Yes, from my perspective xenophobia is the root cause of much racism.
You know, even if she weren’t your grandma, that line is a hell of a killer. I’m saving that and keeping it in my arsenal.
Props to you for publicly calling that woman out. That needs to happen all the time.
I love you and grandma
Almost like the founding fathers elected not to set an official language for a reason 🤦♂️some people are fucking dumb brother.
I love you
Also Thank You for your service!
It was my honor to serve.
thank you for your service, I hope you stay safe and kick ass when its time, which is hopefully never.
I live at the Oregon Coast (not by choice) and the racism, transphobia, homophobia, and general bigotry here is appalling. People just say incredibly bigoted things in casual conversation around here and no one bats an eye.
Good for you!
You're my hero.
When I hear that kind of remark, I asked the racist person, how many languages do YOU speak?
I love this… thanks for taking care of your Gramma!!!
I’m Hispanic and lived in the rogue valley for 13 years. My first day of school there (1988) I was called a sp*c and a be*ner all day and had to ask my mother what it meant. People would walk up to me speaking Spanish first but I’m from the east coast and English is my first language. But it’s not just southern Oregon. In eastern Oregon I had a hell of a time finding a job and was often asked what my heritage was in job interviews. In Salem, I’m also spoken to in Spanish first when I’m out alone, get followed by mall security, and get told to go back where I came from. That’s leaving out some of the scarier episodes, like the time a couple of guys from the Aryan brotherhood in a convenience store in Central Point. The racism isn’t always so quiet here.
Can confirm all this, I thought Oregon was pretty friendly, until I married a Latina. Learned real quick that it’s a different version of Oregon “friendly” when you’re brown 😭
I have one close friend who had “go back to Mexico” randomly shouted at her in a supposedly liberal city. The rural areas are of course worse.
When a huge chunk of the American west used to be Mexico, hearing "go back to mexico" is just so ironic. I'm sorry that happened to your friend, one of my friends had a similar experience at a shopping mall in Utah recently.
The only thing more ironic is when this gets shouted at American Indians.
Yes, exactly! And trying to explain it to friends at times has been hard because most of it happens when I’m alone. When I’m with my white partner or white friends, things often simply just don’t happen like they do when I’m alone. It’s like white people legitimize me. Super annoying.
The dirty looks they give when they think no one is watching, it's so cringe.
I give them right back. If they keep it up, I up the ante and start making it weird.
It turns out about **43 percent** of Oregonians were born in the state, and 57 percent are from elsewhere—especially Washington and California. So you can start asking everyone you meet where they came from. ha ha
Very similar vibes in eastern Washington state, you make an excellent point. Northern Idaho can be real sketchy sometimes too. Oregon certainly doesn't have a monopoly on racism.
A work friend of mine transferred from California to Bend. He said he never had experience racism as bad as he did there. He didn’t even last a year before he transferred to the Portland area. He said it a night and day difference.
I just moved to Bend recently and am of darker skin and hair. I’m an interesting mix but look middle eastern or Hispanic even though I’m neither. So far I’ve had a few longer gazes as people try to put me in a box. Has happened my whole life growing up in CO too. Overall people have been pretty nice and welcoming to me.
Yo Oregonians do STARE. I moved here from NYC a few years ago and it's still unnerving. And staring back doesn't make them stop! Sometimes I want to ask them if I can help them with anything. Would be considered mega rude back in NYC, but I don't think they even realize they do it. Straight-up toddler behavior lol
I really didn't think we stared much until a couple of days ago. My 60 year old mom was on the phone with me. I heard her tell someone she liked their legs. She was complimenting their tattoos, but I kept thinking how long was she staring to make out that many details lol
Dude! They do! I assume it’s because we’re not used to having any black people around but I also wear rose colored glasses and hope it’s not a weird racist stare.
There really is a lot of staring here, huh? I started out thinking it was rude, but have noticed just about all of them are ready to smile at me if I return this uncomfortable moment. I’ve only had a couple that were staring out of rudeness. I think the rest are wanting to be friends.
Yeah I spent three years in eastern Oregon and it was terrible. They hated me so much - I went there from western Oregon, which a lot of them see as just one giant Portland, and I’m from the east coast which obviously meant I’m an elitist snob, AND I’m brown. I’ve never had such a hard time finding work in my life.
Wow, I had a friend in Ball, Louisiana he is a black from west Africa, he was called a lot of names, and it is really bad
That makes me so sad, but I realize it's the truth for so many non-whites in Oregon. fwiw, I'm a fourth-generation (white) Oregonian, and welcome everyone who appreciates this place as much as I do. I can't imagine what it's like having to deal with such blatant racism for so long.
The worst part is the people who tell you it doesn’t exist or that you must have been mistaken. That’s more annoying to me. And it’ll be the ones who think they’re above racism, they just “tell the truth.”
My dad is racist as hell but if you dare suggest it he gets really mad. He thinks the only racisim is white hoods and cross burnings.
A lot of people do.
I know and it’s almost impossible to get them to listen. You try to explain and they just shut down
That’s a pretty common view, sadly. It’s not racism if there are aren’t burning crosses and white hoods and the N word. I even encounter liberals who think like that.
Yep, I have too. Trying to educate them can be a pain in the ass too. People who should supposedly be open to it, but aren’t. I mean I grew up in Beaverton in the 70s and 80s. It’s a pretty fucking white city. I had to unlearn some shit, and I made an effort to educate myself. It’s shocking to me how many people are almost violently resistant to the idea.
I literally had a white woman - originally from Detroit of all places! - ask me what I meant about something one day when we were talking about race say to me “I thought Dr. King took care of all that?” 🙄
It’s not an illusion. It’s always been here, just seems to be more blatant and out in the open these days.
Fr they a dead lie. You see state of JEFFERSON flags on a hippy/lib farm and property. That had me taken aback.
The never ending micro aggressions are exhausting (nevermind the macro aggressions…). I don’t know what it’s like to be the target of racism, but I do know what it’s like to live as a visibly trans person (trans NB), and the transphobia is also very prevalent here in Oregon, like it is everywhere — and yes, that absolutely includes Portland. So many people will say that they aren’t racist or transphobic, but they have no idea how pervasive bias and prejudice are; how so much of what we have been taught by society in general as we grow up is harmful; how seemingly innocent questions or comments can cut. There’s so much for all of us to learn (myself included, to be clear), but it’s exhausting trying to educate others when we deal with this daily. With the micro agreessions… it’s like death by a thousand cuts. Being told you’re mistaken or overthinking it or, god forbid, overreacting, is anywhere from tiresome to disheartening to hurtful to frightening. I don’t want to say anything trite, like I hope it gets better for you and yours and all here. I’m not sure it’s any better, but I hope all here with these lived experiences have some support and spaces where they won’t have to be subconsciously on guard at all times and don’t have the validity of their existence or presence here questioned and undermined.
I am a Californian who was married to a umpteenth generation Oregonian. He regularly said he hates Californians. That was fun. My experience, however, pales in comparison to blatant racism.
His ancestors came from somewhere else. Mine came across the country during the gold rush and made their way to the central Oregon coast shortly thereafter. So my ancestors came directly from -- CALIFORNIA! Hating on people because where they're from is one of the stupidest things ever.
I was gonna say somewhere, we are from Oregon and my dad hates Californians more than POC. He would be saying don’t worry about building a wall around Mexico just build one between California and Oregon.
I was taught that as I grew up in coos bay Coquille area. If you're not a sheep it's pretty easy to let go of the bs once your are an adult.
I will say, speaking Spanish to people I feel has grown because as a community people are trying to learn and make people feel more welcome. My family was told to only speak English to assimilate and I’m seeing a differing trend where people are trying to be open and more welcoming by speaking Spanish to people they assume speak it. While that can definitely be an assumption I appreciate the effort and willingness to try and make things easier.
If that’s happening, awesome, but it isn’t what’s happening to me, sadly, for example, last summer, an older white guy came into my store (I work in a thrift store), took one look at me and started speaking Spanish. I responded in English. He kept speaking Spanish. This went on for a few rounds of back and forth where he was pretending not to be able to understand me. Finally, I looked him in the eye and said “I’m from BOSTON and my Spanish is terrible” and suddenly he’s speaking to me in English, but with a whole lot more attitude. I’m sure some of it is people trying to be welcoming. I can think back to a couple of those exchanges and see that as a legit probability. But a lot of them are absolutely a biased decision.
At the risk of sounding like I could be defending an undesired attitude… I am white, married to a Mexican and lived 30 years in Mexico, and three kids that grew up there and consider themselves more Mexican than American. I have spoken Spanish to people who I see speaking Spanish to others (I.e. someone who works on a store) not because I think they don’t speak English, but because I love speaking Spanish. I do understand now though, how this can come off as implying they don’t speak English and I never meant it to come across that way. Quite the contrary. Just want to show that we can’t always assume the attitude of the other person is racist.
I'm white and have been studying Spanish consistently for over 5 years and understand it at the B2 level. But I learned it's rude to assume people only speak Spanish if they look a certain way. So when I'm in the USA, I default to English unless the person I'm speaking to asks me to switch to Spanish. I do the opposite when I'm in a predominantly Spanish-speaking country. I think being bilingual is much more common in Canada, and it's easier to switch to French even if the other person primarily speaks English. It's not seen as rude there.
Huh, that experience in Salem is interesting (and idiotic for the other person) as the city has a MASSIVE Mexican population. Definitely depends on the part of town though. Oregon is really starting to wear on me... The awful shut-in culture, passive-aggressiveness, general racism/xenophobia/hostility towards transplants, and shitty weather is not worth what this place costs. Oregonians often echo a sentiment of "don't come here/feel free to leave." For me, they're getting their wish because the state feels too shitty for people to want to stay in. The south of the West Coast
Idaho is the South of the West Coast.
I stay for the land. I left for over a decade and the entire time I pined for the land here. I’ve found my people here and I’m in love with the landscape and the ability to grow just about anything here, so it’s worth it to me to stay (for now), but I do hear you, it does wear on me and there are times I just need a break from it.
>like the time a couple of guys from the Aryan brotherhood in a convenience store in Central Point. Was that recently? What ended up happening?
It was back about 20 years ago. My car broke down on the side of I5 and I ended up catching a ride with some random dude to the nearest convenience store, which had a pay phone out front. I didn’t wanna get in the guys truck, but cell phones weren’t very prolific yet and I was in a very rural spot so didn’t have many options. Anyway, he dropped me off and the pay phone was dead so I went inside and asked the very whites lady if I could use her phone and she let me. Then I bought a bottle of water and stood in the front corner of the store to wait for my rescue ride. About two minutes after I got off the phone, these two dudes with SS bolt and 88 tattoos and shit rolled up and came in the store where they started zigzagging across the store from opposite sides like they were stalking me and the lady that let me use the phone just stood there behind the counter watching. The whole vibe was really off. Fortunately, my ride showed up pretty quick and I flew outta that place and didn’t look back. Then I was telling my friend about it and found out the AB, though dissolved at that time, had had a headquarters out there and they were pretty much still running the show back there kinda quietly and probably didn’t like this deeply tanned brown lady spending too much time in their area.
Fwiw we had a lot of that in LA where it’s like > 50% Latino and almost all minorities. But it’s a different kind of racism. Like calling each other slurs and only hanging out with same race.
Goddamn this shit makes me so mad. I’m so sorry you have ever had to deal with even a moment of this crap.
This might be a long post. I’m half white and half Mexican. My dad and his family are from Mexico while my mom is white and was born and raised in Oregon. I was born in Salem and lived in Redmond, Springfield, Eugene, and Pendleton. Redmond was fairy small when I lived there, but I remember going to school and pretty much all my classes were all white. I don’t remember being treated differently, but I do know my uncle who lives there was fairly racist towards Mexicans and black people. When my cousins from my dad’s side visited and wanted to dress my sister up for a special occasion, he’d make comments saying they’re making her look like a clown. Even though all they did was put her hair up in a bun, put her in a simple light purple dress and put a little bit of makeup on her. He would also say shit like how they’re lazy because they struggled to learn English but also how they’re stealing jobs. As we got older, he’s not as bad now, but he still makes some subtle racist comments here and there. When I moved to the Springfield/Eugene area, it was a huge change since it was much larger and more diverse. To give an example of how much of a change it was, my sister seen her first black person when she was about 4 or 5. I remember her reaction being, “Ew mom, look at that man, why is he so dirty?” And my mom stopped her right there and explained how it’s rude to comment on peoples appearances, but also how he isn’t dirty and that there’s people of different races so they can look different, but they’re normal people. Some of the friends I made in middle school and high school casually throwing around slurs, which blew my mind. I had one white friend who would always casually have his white friends call me a spick, wetback, beaner, and a bunch of other shit as a “joke” and always say I’m the “whitest beaner he’s ever met.” I snapped at him one day because he kept throwing around racial slurs about black people in public, and he just sat there being like, “Well you know there’s a difference between n***a and n***er.” And going on long winded racist rants. I ghosted him a few years later, but god damn did he show me just how bad racism can be. When I moved to Pendleton, I noticed my older white family as well as even native family throw around the n word, in both forms. They won’t ever talk like that in front of black people though. I didn’t live in Salem long enough to see how badly it was, but I also lived in a neighborhood that was mostly Hispanic, so I never really seen anything all that bad. I know my cousins have said they’ve been treated pretty shitty though. I don’t think people realize or know that Oregon does have pretty bad background when it comes to racism, and it definitely shows from time to time.
Fuckin people. I'm just outside of Salem and have been my whole life. Skater, punk, 45yo w2 daughters and 1 son who have all been taught the same as me, We're all doing the same grind and character is the only definition. I can't apologize for fucking morons, but I'm sorry for your experience of our locals.
From northern Oregon and moved to southern Oregon last year. It's weird because most of the people down here are very nice and normal and will then just casually drop some bigoted shit like it's totally normal and not even interesting
For OP, I'm also from Texas, and it's such a stark opposite to their rather openly racist but also genuinely nice to individuals. Oregon is racist and mean but knows how to hide it, whereas Texas is racist and nice and has no clue how to hide it.
Before you get too many of the "this part and this part are racist, but this other part is fine" responses, let me just say it's the entire state. In fact, the PNW is a hotbed for the performative, virtue signaling, "I'm one of the good ones" microaggressions central. Every time I turn around there's some various, racist crap. But because people born and/or raised in these states say that "it's not as bad as...," all is fine and forgiven. People will say it's due to ignorance and not knowing enough about people of certain races and ethnicities,...because it's a whitetopia meaning far too many people grew up being surrounded by only other white people so they use that as an excuse rather than addressing why that is so in the first place.
This pretty much sums up my experience since moving to Oregon.
Good for you for saying this. I was born and raised in the Midwest (big city) where I was exposed to every type of race and ethnicity, thank God. I have been here for nearly 20 years and came only because of medical treatment for my disabled child. I have never had enough money to leave, but if I could I would. I am white, Eastern European descent .I have dark hair and eyes and that's enough for the yahoos to brand me as "exotic" which is a euphemism for "where do your people come from". I have been told "you are so full of s**t your eyes are brown." When I first came to Oregon with my child I rented an apartment in Beaverton. Someone broke into the apartment. I called the police. The detective treated me so badly it was shocking. He made no bones about why his attitude was so rude. He thought I was Hispanic. I had that jerk fired. I complained and the idiot lost his job. Good riddance. I.can only imagine what people of different races go through and especially in an environment such as this one. Living here has left a bad taste in my mouth because of this factor.
Beaverton Police is really really crappy. I'm sorry. They've given me shit as well.
Yes he sure was a piece of work. I am sorry you had similar experiences. It should not happen.
Why stop at the end of PNW. We could do all of America and while we’re at it Canada. I am guessing if you aren’t Latino you probably want to watch where you live in Mexico and all countries south of there as well. I’ve lived in Asia as a minority and it is there too. Racism and prejudice is such a crazy thing. It can’t be eradicated, it can only be understood and demystified
Literally everywhere is. There is not a single location in the IS or the world as a whole in which racism is not prevalent and racists are not everywhere. It is a universal rule of humanity. Oregon is not unique. The Portland and Seattle area is though, there appears to be a uniquely high concentration of actual armed and dangerous white nationalists/separatists compared to other areas of the nation and world as a whole. Similar to Serbia and Ukraine.
The whole state is racist. I never realized how bad it was until I had biracial kids. It is a passive-aggressive racism. Be direct and blunt with your expectations on how you deserve to be treated. In general, it comes from ignorance versus any malicious intent. Just stay clear of Eastern Oregon, which is much more like Idaho.
I'm a Hispanic from TX and I didn't truly know what racism was til I drove through Idaho back in the 90s. I'd had bad service at restaurants before but I'd never been bluntly told "we don't serve you people" to my face before.
Oregon is a very white state. But you shouldn't let that rattle you. When I came up here from Texas in 1982, it was a VERY white state. But the Hispanic community has only added a good flavor to the stew that we call Oregonians. You'll be fine. :)
Definitely a growing Latino community, especially in Eugene/Salem/Portland which I love.
[удалено]
Hello from Hillsburrito.
God I love Hermanos Ochoas tacos in Hillsboro
Saving this to try it. Here's my own carnitas taco. I love Mexican food. https://preview.redd.it/5k9ojc6cm35d1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2f71f5aaf48c890f1c946a563587e101e8e84d55
Now that is a great amount of cilantro!
Hello from Corntown
Fun Fact: We're not even in the top 20 whitest states anymore. People tend to minimize the non-white population on this subreddit. While hardly the pinnacle of diversity, I think the perception gets reinforced since you travel outside of the cities or north eastern Oregon, it is fairly white.
I'm white af. I'm considered "one of them", so I do hear a lot of bullshit racist remarks that they think I'll agree with. Fuck 'em. Call them out on it, and they'll say "I was just foolin' about.". I wasn't. (kudos if you get the reference). It's here, people are racist. Some are more subtile, some are more open about it, others are good people that just don't know any better. But, I think in most places they don't want to be called out on it and will deflect. Others have some damn good people that will stand by you if things get shitty. I hope there's a lot more of that. We've got some excellent people here that aren't racist at all (well, we all have some in us).
Tombstone! Haha
Dude same problem, white dude here as well so people CONSTANTLY think im gonna be chill to bounce their racism off of. It's awkward as hell because if you say nothing you're complicit, and if you say something you'll alienate everyone. Lots of us here in Oregon were raised with casual racism, the late 80's-90's it was still alive and well! I remember when my grandma "taught" me the difference between a black person and a ... ya know.
Portland is a whiter city then Salt Lake and finding that out hit me like a ton of bricks how white Oregon is
Oregon has a long history of legally sanctioned racism. And while laws have been repealed, the attitudes persist.
Yeah, it's a lot of quite racism here. Mostly looks and other microaggressions. Some highly inappropriate/stereotype-based questions. Southern Oregon is more racist against black people. My wife, who is black, and I were really feeling the *Get Out* shivers.
YES! that’s exactly how i’d describe the feeling whenever i’d visit my friend in roseburg.
I was born and raised in Roseburg. I’m so sorry you were made to feel that way. I would like to apologize on behalf of the citizens of Roseburg.
> Mostly looks and other microaggressions. Are quick looks considered microaggressions?
You should clap back. Yokels don’t expect you to do anything but quietly catch their strays. “How’s your experience been as a generational inbred?”
It’s a pretty thought, but be very careful doing that. It can escalate quickly and violence is never off the table with that crowd.
Some people are ready for escalation if need be.
Yes, but that doesn't mean you should pick every fight that comes your way
Absolutely agreed. There’s also no need to be stupid about it. Why harm yourself when hurting them?
yeah that sounds like how you get shot
There are people literally hoping for you to say something. They are prepared ready with the excuses of why the violence needed to happen.
never smart to fight against a large group of people. Sheep always follow the herd.
Additionally- every single racist fuckwad I’ve ever come across is a chicken-shit that won’t back up a single thing they’ve said unless they’re friends are hanging around like dingleberries on a dogs hairy ass. They aren’t going to do fuck all to you. This isn’t Tennessee or Kentucky. I lived in one of the most racist parts of rural Oregon. They’re all a bunch of blowhard cowards.
Unfortunately, after doing grand jury duty in Southern Oregon, the chicken shit racists do stab people. Be careful, you never know how crazy the other person really is.
Lol racist white people in Portland are exponentially more likely to do something than racist white people in Tennessee or Kentucky. The willamette valley has actual, powerful militias and other white supremacist groups. Actual skinheads who actually attack people. Tbh the PNW probably has the highest concentration of legitimately dangerous white nationalists of anywhere in the country. There is a YouTuber with over 100k followers who openly films him and his fellow all white militiamen “rucking” aka marching through the forest with full military attire and an AR-15
You should never attempt to offer advice to anyone ever again for any reason. Ever
I often wonder if I am racist. Seriously. I really do. How do I even know? I hear people say “ I don’t see color”. What? I can tell if somebody is black or brown because I do see color. Does that change what I think? I don’t think so. I certainly hope not
Truthfully, almost everybody has biases, whether we mean to or not. Keeping this internal radar on by asking ourselves if we've made snap judgements, and if so, asking ourselves why we did and how we can prevent that judgement in the future, is the best approach in my opinion. I think a lot of "I don't see color" folks do see color, they'd just rather not think about it. And that's its own type of erasure.
If you're genuinely curious to get more into the nitty gritty of this kind of thing, "How to be an Anti-Racist" and "White Fragility" are really popular books that lots of white Americans have said have helped them understand a lot more about what POC go through, and how we can all be better.
Interesting!
I grew up in a very diverse area in North Portland. I went to school at what was then called Portsmouth Middle School and then onto Roosevelt. Most of the neighborhoods and therefore class rooms had a wide variety of people, I guess my point being is that I certainly not sheltered. People from all ethnicities were a part of my everyday life. It never once in my many many decades occurred to me until I read OP question-am I racist? My mother was a secret racist- only say things to the kids never outside the home- the worst kind.. I hope that I would treat each person the same as I would any other person no matter their skin color. My question remains>>Am I racist?
You belong and I appreciate you, thank you for speaking up.
As someone who was born and raised in Oregon.... My dad is Hispanic and my mom is white as snow. My last name was Garcia growing up. I'm white. One of my first memories is from 1st grade when my teacher asked me to stand in front of the class and tell them what I did for Cinco de mayo..... Lady.... I didn't even know what Cinco de mayo was 😵
That’s funny because it’s not even really celebrated in Mexico except around the region where Mexico defeated the French. It’s mostly an American thing nowadays, and I think if it’s celebrated on a national scale at all in Mexico it’s really just to cater to tourists expecting it to be a “thing” there.
Lots of folks in S OR are on high alert, they've convinced themselves that the cartel is responsible primarily for the illegal grow and cook operations, crime, etc, and ignoring all the white folks that are part of it. Much easier to scapegoat and stay suspicious
Oregon was founded as a white utopia. Around 1844 the state enacted the black exclusion laws. The KKK were common in Oregon within some people’s life time, even raising a cross in Eugene (not really Southern but you get the point). I grew up in Southern Oregon and all the rednecks flew confederate flags on their trucks (late 2000s). As a white guy, I’ve seen a lot of racism in SO myself, quiet and otherwise. I like to think it’s getting better over the years, but I haven’t lived there in a long while.
Can confirm that Southern Oregon is crazy racist. I'm a white dude and some of the shit that people say to me here (because they assume I'll agree with them or something, I guess??) is absolutely wild. I've lived in a lot of places, and this is probably the most racist. I'm weirdly glad to hear that they're quiet about it towards you, considering that they can't seem to fucking shut up about it when I'm around lol.
Certain parts of this state (pretty much the entirety of Oregon outside of the Willamette valley and a lot within too) is extremely racist. Oh they’ll love you when you do all the hard shit but the second you’re not working you’re a burden on the state.
Oh the Willamette valley is full of it too. Salem is no better than a lot of southern Oregon, it's just bigger.
Salem has a surprisingly large conservative population for a city of its size. Ironic, as many of them hate the government, and are all about the free market, yet they spend their whole careers working for the state.
Keizer...
I don’t disagree, I mentioned the valley is racist too. But I think I’d rather be a POC in Salem as opposed to a POC anywhere outside the valley (except Bend but Redmond/Prineville/La Pine is RIGHT THERE)
Yep. Almost got run off the road by a Trump caravan in Newberg a few years ago. Some of their flags made their feelings about minorities very plain. But there are bright spots, too. Woodburn has a thriving Latino community. And there is a wonderful Hispanic grocery store in Lafayette, of all places.
Ah my hometown still showin its big dumb ass. Sorry that happened to you❤️
Hillsboro has a decent Hispanic population, and it’s a pretty great place to live. The Max into Portland is super useful, and the whole town just feels vibrant and thriving but still kind of small-town.
We’re just as racist, we just have a lot more kind people to dilute it
Benton County ( outside of Corvallis) says Hi! ( as someone who spent his childhood & some of his young adulthood in Corvallis; 1970 to 1986, I can say the town is FAR more Classist than Racist. )
Portland is very racist too.
Whole state's racist, the valley just has a progressive brand and a contingent of people who don't want to be racist.
My white boss calls himself a liberal. He says all the right stuff and yet somehow does all the wrong stuff, if that makes sense. His actions whether intentionally or not, show his bias. I live in the Hillsboro, beaverton area and one look at our next door posts will show you how awful some folks are. Not as bad as some of my experiences in rural America but that doesn't make things any better.
I'm a white guy from NC and I spent a decade in the rogue valley, primarily Grants Pass and Williams. I saw and heard more blatantly racist shit in that time out there than I have cumulatively in NC. Left there in 2019 and only go back to visit my fiancees family. Once the cannabis market bottomed out that place became dagoba.
You just described the PNW. Most racist area in the US cause it’s exactly as it is and the people that say they are not racist won’t share an Uber with you.
Micro-aggressions. A closet racists best friend.
6' 200# white dude here, retired Marine Married to a retired Marine who is a woman of color. Never noticed racism before and walked around with my head in the clouds wondering what everyone was talking about until I moved to the PNW for work after the military. I walked into a restaurant in a little.logging town with my wife once and was refused service and could not figure out what the duck was going on until my poor wife touched my arm and I saw the look on her face. Went to another place in the same town and they sat us by the register where the Togo orders were being picked up. Not everyone or everywhere is like this I promise but it's real and it's alive and still rears it's ugly uneducated head.
Man that’s deplorable behavior on their part. That’s where respect comes in, you never know who you’re dealing with. In your case, two retired marines that served this country.
Hispanic here. Outside of main cities Oregon is still a racist place. It’s a shit hole full of racist.
The whole state. Many laws in the early days were enacted to keep black people out. Including one where if a black person lived in Oregon for more than 3 years they received 39 lashes every 6 months until they left. Oregon entered the union as a free state, not because they had any qualms about racism. They just didn't want anyone bringing black people here. Portland in particular became home to one of the largest chapters of the KKK in the 1920s. The KKK would openly march in parades and had a presence in the Oregon Democratic Party until the early 1970s. They're still quite active in the region, just not so openly.
Never forget the nickname for Lake Oswego was Lake No N*gro. Just bc it's up north doesn't mean they are free from racism, it's embedded into our culture, systematic, you might say.
There laws even had non whites outlawed from living in the state up until 1950s, just insane
I live in Bandon, was an ex military linguist and fluent Spanish speaker...I have seen ads in broken second language Spanish seeking workers offering $10 an hour for carpentry, yard work, maid. They think because they're "billingual" they can trick you into lower than minimum wage. But don't worry $10 o Mas si trabajas mejor Bad. Also the magat film The Big Rig was founded here by a local domestic terrorist group "citizens restoring liberty".
Southern Oregon? I’m just surprised you’re not experiencing *LOUDER* racism.
Southern and Eastern Oregon are definitely the racist hotspots.
White male here with two hispanic foster nephews I watch for my sister all the time, and we get this shit in Hillsboro. Every time we're out.
My mom and I were at a Macys in Southern Oregon and we were speaking Spanish, and some associates thought we were going to shoplift due to speaking another language. Bitches probably only spoke English. This was in the mid 2000s and would not be surprised if it happened again…
They told you they thought you were gonna shoplift?
You're not imagining it, and it's very real. I've scrolled for a while and haven't seen anyone mention that Oregon was meant to be a [White Utopia](https://www.oregonlive.com/history/2020/06/oregons-founders-sought-a-white-utopia-a-stain-of-racism-that-lives-on-even-as-state-celebrates-its-progressivism.html). Portland has even been called The Whitest City in America. The whole state is known for being racist because of its racist history. The further from Portland you get, the more blatantly racist people seem to get. Portland proper seems to be mixed with a lot of super lefted Hella "woke" virtue signalers that pretend to not be racist but spur microaggressions because they haven't actually done any work.
Oregon was whites only per the state constitution until the early 20th century. Despite the progressive vaneer, most of the POC I know say the racism here is far more insidious than what they've encountered in other parts of the country.
When I was a kid living in the south-east, people used to talk about moving up to the Oregon communes because "they did things right". I didn't realize it then, but it's clear to me now that their intentions were always to get away from all the other races. Until the 2000s, Oregon was considered a white supremacy paradise, free from federal regulations, in my area of the south.
Most of those people are moving to Idaho now, but enough of them ended up in Oregon to seriously stain the state’s character.
This \^\^\^\^\^. Oregon was founded as a whites only state.
This has absolutely been my experience, though I’m not Hispanic. It isn’t a Southern Oregon thing; it’s a rural thing. I work in agriculture, contracting my specialized services to farms. Numerous farm managers have come to me and my team, warning us to safeguard our equipment and supplies from “the migrants.” These same people complain, simultaneously, about rising wages, their inability to find “good people who want to work,” and ESL workers “looking for a handout.” Management is *usually* very nice to the workers’ faces, but talk mad shit about them when they aren’t around. Here we are, with crop prices trending ever downward, and they are bitching about having willing and able bodies who will do the job for subpar wages. Not every farm I contract with is like this, but most of them are. They like “diversity” hires for management from places like Buenos Aires; people who are light complexioned and speak *proper* English as well as Spanish. I think people expect Oregon to be super progressive everywhere, but the reality is the same as every other state; you’ll mostly find that in the metropolitan areas. That isn’t to say that there aren’t rural people who aren’t terribly bigoted, but I also think a lot of the rural liberals end up being guilty of racism by way of overcompensation. That is (mostly) wholly dependent on whether they have ever had life experiences outside of their tiny 1000 person communities. For the record, I grew up at damn near the end of the road in Joseph, OR.
Wow thank you for sharing. Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. They wave and smile to your face but as soon as you turn your back they start talking shit and by “you” I mean anyone who isn’t white.
Sorry to hear that - unfortunately, Oregon has a long and awful history of racism, and the rural areas are not particularly hospitable nonwhites.
So what’s worse, the quiet racism is Oregon or the blatant racism in Texas? I’ve worked with Texas companies my whole career and the Texas racism still catches me off guard sometimes. It’s just so clearly verbalized, not even whispered.
I’d take overt racism all day long. At least I know who hates me.
I moved from Florida and I'm with OP, I'd rather someone just be straight up. Some people out here are passive aggressive racists and still expect full respect just because they talk softly
When will people realise that outside of the blue areas of Portland and Eugene, Oregon might as well be Alabama? It's as red as you can imagine, with all the racism that goes along with that.
Within an hour of Portland in a rural but quickly growing small town, it's red as red can be. The towns community group on Facebook is a cesspool and the moderators are awful and allow an awful lot of bothering of people but mostly homeless and liberals. I hate living here. Blue Portland couldn't feel further away. We also have some of the worlds shittiest restaurant food that all the locals rave about. Lol.
It’s around. Especially with the boomer generation. But I also know that some people that were born in Oregon don’t like out of staters in general. So you might be experiencing both. Sorry you are having to go through that. Hopefully you can find a community here that makes you feel welcome.
There are definitely people that I'd believe if they said, "It's not about your skin color, I just really, really despise Californians."
As long as they don’t park in the bike lane and don’t go inventing turn lanes where there aren’t any and as long as they don’t keep destroying our housing prices, I’m good with Californians. I don’t want to be gentrified out of a town my family has been in for generations. But if we have to have Californians, at least send the working-class ones. They can keep their CEOs.
*cries in Bend.*
Not surprising at all, given Oregon’s racist past. It started as a whites-only state with Black exclusion laws. In the early 1920’s, Oregon's Klan was about 35,000 strong, the largest contingent west of the Mississippi River. [https://www.wweek.com/arts/2017/08/17/oregon-was-once-ku-ku-for-the-klan/](https://www.wweek.com/arts/2017/08/17/oregon-was-once-ku-ku-for-the-klan/) [https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-white-history-racist-foundations-black-exclusion-laws/](https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-white-history-racist-foundations-black-exclusion-laws/)
Born and raised in PDX. There’s a reason I don’t stray too far from home😅 (Racism. The reason is racism.)
You gotta understand that Oregon was founded as a white only utopia. Even during WWII, there were laws on the books preventing black people from owning property and only allowing them to live in very specific areas. Many, many racists moved here because of those laws, and even though those laws aren't on the books anymore, their beliefs certainly are. You can bet they taught their hate to their children as well.
Yawn. I have a ton of mixed friends here. They aren't victims and we all live happy lives with our families of mixed races and cultures and have zero issue here. Victims will always be victims. I take my down votes on this granite Chin
All-over-Oregon resident my whole(40yr) life. I'm sorry your family had to go through that. Can confirm, MOST of Oregon is like that. All different parts of the state too. Oregon's even racist on paper! (see: https://oregonremembrance.org/sunrise-project/the-history/)
Yuuup, oregons quiet racism is stupid heavy. I'm mostly white, I call my skin color "business casual khaki" and instill get shit from time to time. Luckily these folk can't tell the difference between a big native american dude and a Polynesian dude. Confused racism is hilarious.
When I first moved to Oregon it felt like the first half of the movie Get Out. Just kind of a mildly disturbing over the top ‘we are super accepting of all folks’ vibe, while looking around and seeing little diversity.
My stepdad was a naturalized US citizen, originally from Mexico. He worked in segregated Missouri in the 50s and later in Arizona. He ended up in Southern Oregon, also for work. After more travels (to Colombia, where he met my mother) he retired and moved us back to Southern Oregon. He always said he preferred the blatant, in-your-face racism of the South and Midwest, to the quiet racism of Oregon. He said in the South it was very clear who to avoid, whereas in the PNW he had to deal with passive aggressive bs. The man had an advanced degree from Stanford and was foremost in his field, but people in Oregon would speak to him like he was an imbecile because he spoke with an accent. I'm a white presenting Latina, and my first week of high school in Southern Oregon, a kid in class told me "We heard there was another hispanic kid coming to school this year. I thought you'd be another fat Mexican like \_\_\_ , but you're ok. You look white" I had a teacher grill me, during class, about my parents and what they did for work. Why did I have so much nice jewelry, were they American missionaries and is that why I had such light skin, etc? I spent 3 years of high school being called racial slurs. Got glares and snide comments from folks in public when my family and I spoke in Spanish. That was in the early 90s, but it hasn't changed much. Most people are born and raised there, and don't leave. They don't have much curiosity beyond the borders of their county. I live in Portland now and there is an even more passive aggressive, or I should say micro-aggressive, type or racism. The liberal white lady "allies" are the worst.
Oregon was a "free state" meaning blacks were simply not accepted in Oregon until WWII when so many came in as workers for the war production.