State-Of-Black-Oregon-2015
State-Of-Black-Oregon-2015
State-Of-Black-Oregon-2015
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ESSAY 17WE ARE ALL BLACK OREGONKayse JamaFounder/Executive Director Center for Intercultural Organizing<strong>Oregon</strong> is home to a growing numberof <strong>Black</strong> immigrant, refugee andasylum-seeking communities hailingfrom Africa, the Caribbean andSouth America. Because our populations aresubsumed under the category <strong>Black</strong>/AfricanAmerican by the U.S. Census Bureau andstate and local jurisdictions, official populationstatistics remain unavailable. The <strong>Oregon</strong>ianestimated Multnomah County’s populationof Africans alone at 18,000. Taking all <strong>Black</strong>foreign-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 in<strong>Oregon</strong>, 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 <strong>Oregon</strong>ians from most of thesecountries. In addition to people from the Africandiaspora, <strong>Black</strong> immigrants and refugees includethose from Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cubaand other Caribbean islands, as well as Afro-Brazilians and other <strong>Black</strong> South Americans.Although most foreign-born <strong>Black</strong> <strong>Oregon</strong>ianslive 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,<strong>Black</strong> immigrants and refugees struggle withhigh unemployment rates, acute healthcaredisparities and poor access to living-wage jobs.In addition, the majority of foreign-born <strong>Black</strong><strong>Oregon</strong>ians face additional difficulties, includingcultural and language barriers.CULTURE SHOCK<strong>Oregon</strong>’s <strong>Black</strong> population is linguistically andculturally diverse, but in the eyes of many other<strong>Oregon</strong>ians, all <strong>Black</strong>s are the same group.The overt, covert and institutional racism that<strong>Black</strong> 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 <strong>Black</strong>swith whom they now have much in common.This is particularly clear within the educationsystem. Once foreign-born <strong>Black</strong> childrenarrive, they’re immediately assigned theidentity of African American and are treatedaccordingly. Like American-born <strong>Black</strong>s, theimmigrants and refugees find their kids falling160