State-Of-Black-Oregon-2015

ESSAY 17WE ARE ALL BLACK OREGONKayse JamaFounder/Executive Director Center for Intercultural OrganizingOregon is home to a growing numberof Black immigrant, refugee andasylum-seeking communities hailingfrom Africa, the Caribbean andSouth America. Because our populations aresubsumed under the category Black/AfricanAmerican by the U.S. Census Bureau andstate and local jurisdictions, official populationstatistics remain unavailable. The Oregonianestimated Multnomah County’s populationof Africans alone at 18,000. Taking all Blackforeign-born groups into considerationstatewide, the number is likely closer to 25,000,with the vast majority having arrived in the past15 years as refugees from East Africa. 1Somalis are the largest African population inOregon, but there are significant numbers ofother East African groups, including Ethiopian,Eritrean, Kenyan, Tanzanian and Ugandan. Othercountries of origin include Angola, Mali, Liberia,Togo, Chad, Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Sudan,Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republicof the Congo. In my work at the Center forIntercultural Organizing (CIO), I’ve encounteredAfrican Oregonians from most of thesecountries. In addition to people from the Africandiaspora, Black immigrants and refugees includethose from Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cubaand other Caribbean islands, as well as Afro-Brazilians and other Black South Americans.Although most foreign-born Black Oregonianslive in the Tri-County Area, many are venturingout to rural areas in search of affordablehousing and jobs or have been placed in ruralareas by refugee agencies. Some families haverelocated to the small towns of Marion County,such as Woodburn, Mill City and Stanton—andagricultural work in Hermiston has lured anumber of Somalis.Like our American-born brothers and sisters,Black immigrants and refugees struggle withhigh unemployment rates, acute healthcaredisparities and poor access to living-wage jobs.In addition, the majority of foreign-born BlackOregonians face additional difficulties, includingcultural and language barriers.CULTURE SHOCKOregon’s Black population is linguistically andculturally diverse, but in the eyes of many otherOregonians, all Blacks are the same group.The overt, covert and institutional racism thatBlack immigrants and refugees experienceimmediately on arrival is a shock to the systembecause for them, this is a new concept. Backhome, people may identify themselves by theircountry of origin—such as Kenyan or SouthAfrican—or even as a particular tribe or clan,but never before on the basis of color. Theirresistance to this newly assigned identityisolates them from the American-born Blackswith whom they now have much in common.This is particularly clear within the educationsystem. Once foreign-born Black childrenarrive, they’re immediately assigned theidentity of African American and are treatedaccordingly. Like American-born Blacks, theimmigrants and refugees find their kids falling160