Port of Portland Acknowledges History of White Privilege and Racism

Miki Barnes
March 4, 2021

According to a 2/14/2021 Oregonian article by Jeff Manning, Port Hopes to Share the Wealth, "The Port of Portland is considering a major overhaul...the restructuring is part of a sweeping philosophical shift away from facilitating trade for powerful business interests to a 'shared prosperity initiative' intended to spread the wealth to people of color, the poor and the marginalized. In some cases, that could mean selling off profitable operations in order to pursue these new, broader aims, which are taking root amid a resurgent civil rights movement."

The executive director of the Port, Curtis Robinhold, conceded that, "The Port was formed in 1891 to benefit exporters of wood and grain - white men who owned businesses." The article further stated that, "Michael Alexander, a port commissioner and former head of the Urban League of Portland, notes that the port was created at a time when laws were still on the books that prohibited Blacks from settling in Oregon."

If sincere, these fine sentiments herald a revamping of long-outdated Port of Portland policies. Many Oregonians would be shocked at the extent to which the Port's long established trend of pumping money into the hands of wealthy, predominantly white, business owners continues to the present day. This bias is especially evident in the Port's aviation policies.

Background Information on Oregon's History of Racism and White Privilege

Per a July 2020 New York Times report by Thomas Fuller, "Of the 35 cities in the United States with populations larger than 500,000, Portland is the whitest, according to census data, with 71 percent of residents categorized as non-Latino whites." Only 5.8 percent of Portland's population is Black. These numbers drop even lower in communities where the Port's general aviation airports are located: 2.2 percent of the population of Hillsboro, the most diverse city in Oregon, is Black. And in Troutdale where 81.9 percent of the population is white, only 2.8 percent are Black.

As pointed out in a 7/30/2020 NPR interview with Lisa Bates, Associate Professor at the Portland State University in the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning, "Oregon has a long history of entrenched racism, dating back to its statehood in 1859, when the state constitution barred Black people from entering or living there...In the Portland area, many of the elected leaders, sheriffs, etc., were active members of the KKK, and that history of white nationalist organizing has persisted."

Washington Post reporter, DeNeen L. Brown sheds light on the process by which Oregon began as the only whites-only state in the nation. "In 1857, as Oregon sought to become a state, it wrote the exclusion of blacks into its constitution: 'No free negro or mulatto, not residing in this State at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall ever come, reside, or be within this State, or hold any real estate, or make any contract, or maintain any suit therein; and the Legislative Assembly shall provide by penal laws for the removal by public officers of all such free negroes and mulattoes, and for their effectual exclusion from the State, and for the punishment of persons who shall bring them into the State, or employ or harbor them therein.'" Those who violated this law were publicly whipped.

Oregonian columnist, Candace Avalos, adds additional detail, "While the passage of the 14th and 15th Amendment negated the racist exclusionary laws, its telling that Oregon didn't ratify the 14th Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause, until 1973, and didn't ratify the 15th Amendment giving black people the right to vote until 1959."

The Port of Portland's Role in Promoting Racism and White Privilege

In The Growth of a City: Power and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1915-1950,[1] the author, E. Kimbark MacColl, wrote about the Port's history of white privilege as well as its role in perpetuating Oregon's racist values. "From its inception, membership on the Port of Portland Commission was considered a high honor, reserved for representatives of the city's leading families... After the turn of the [20th] century, with the appointment power vested in the legislature, membership on the commission became increasingly political...In 1921, the governor was granted the appointive authority, only to have it retrieved by the the legislature in 1925. In 1932, the voters of the district were empowered to elect the commissioners, but this procedure lasted only three years. Since 1935 the governor has enjoyed the right of appointment..."[2]

As reported by DeNeen L. Brown, "In the 1920s, Oregon had the largest Ku Klux Klan organization west of the Mississippi River. In 1922, Walter Pierce, a member of the Ku Klux Klan, was elected governor of Oregon. Pierce served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1932 to 1942." As governor, Pierce was in a position to appoint KKK supporters to prominent Port positions, including KKK sympathizer and former state senator Gus Moser, who served as the Port's attorney from 1919 to 1935.

In addition to these racist underpinnings, MacColl also documented the efforts by a number of Port Commissioners and appointees who used their positions to further their own economic and political ambitions, as well as those of their cronies.[3]

Current Port Properties

The Port's holdings include marine terminals along the Columbia River, some of which may be "repurposed" under the Port's restructuring plan, as well as three airports.

• Portland International (PDX) - the largest commercial airport in the state, experienced a 70 percent drop in passenger count in 2020. According to the 2/14/2021 Oregonian article referenced above, the Port has historically garnered 80 percent of its revenue from this airport.

The Port also owns two general aviation airports, both of which historically lose money on an annual basis. For the most part, these facilities cater to out-of-state corporations, foreign governments, for-profit flight training businesses, corporate jet owners, and private recreational pilots.

• Troutdale Airport - The Oregonian noted that this airport, which functions primarily as a flight training site for Hillsboro Heli Academy (a division of Hillsboro Aero Academy) and other flight training businesses, may be slated for closure. It also serves private and recreational pilots. According to the article this "small airport 13 miles east of PDX creates few jobs and loses $500,000 to $1 million a year." The EPA has identified this airport as the largest facility source of airborne lead emissions in Multnomah County.
• Hillsboro Airport (HIO) - The largest general aviation airport in the state, like Troutdale, loses money every year. Though not specifically mentioned in the article, HIO is a prime example of the racism and white privilege that permeates Port culture. This facility primarily serves the less than 1/4 of one percent of the population certified to fly in Oregon. Of this number, 92 percent are men. It is noteworthy that in 1965 when the City of Hillsboro sold the airport to the Port of Portland, Oregon had not yet ratified the 14th Amendment, Equal Protection Clause. In any case, there are few, if any, minority owned businesses at HIO or any other Port owned and operated airport.

The users of HIO have a long history of compromising the health of residents in Hillsboro and the surrounding community by dousing them in a steady stream of noise, lead emissions, and other toxins generated by private, recreational and student pilots recruited from around the world, so that "white men who own businesses" and the Port can turn a profit. Two of the worst offenders are flight training schools, Hillsboro Aero Academy and ATP, both of which are owned by white male dominated east coast investment firms. In addition Max Lyons, the owner of Hillsboro Aviation and manager of the Hillsboro Aero Academy, generates profits from selling fuel, while the Port makes money by affixing a flowage fee to every gallon of gas sold at the airport.

The majority of aircraft flying in and out of HIO are piston engine aircraft that use leaded fuel. As a result, this airport is the largest facility source of airborne lead pollution in the state and is also the source of relentless noise and a number of other toxic pollutants routinely dispersed by pilots over Hillsboro and the surrounding area including over homes, neighborhoods, schools, day care facilities, senior centers, rural communities, prime farmland, waterways, and recreational sites.

Concluding Remarks

The Port and Curtis Robinhold deserve recognition for publicly acknowledging and announcing plans to begin addressing the historical injustices inherent in Port policies. This is an essential first step towards moving forward. But much more needs to be done to stop at long last the colonization of our skies, the poisoning of our air, and the degradation of livability resulting from Port, state and federal aviation policies.

Towards this end, the Hillsboro Airport, like Troutdale, should also be slated for closure. Robust and legally enforceable regulations need to be established to protect impacted residents, both urban and rural, from the negative impacts of aviation activity. Oregon's more than 400 general aviation airports, many of which are publicly funded, primarily serve less than 1/4 of one percent of the state's population.

The 900 acres upon which the Hillsboro Airport is located can be put to far more inclusive, less disruptive, and equitable uses. Potential options could include affordable housing, parks, community gardens, day care centers, senior services, health care facilities, art galleries and educational institutions that welcome people of all races, religions, genders, and sexual orientations. In light of climate change and the spate of tragic natural disasters occurring due to global warming, special consideration needs to given to environmentally sustainable, low carbon producing alternatives. Noise impacts, lead emissions and other toxic pollutants should also be monitored, minimized and eliminated to the greatest extent possible.

The time to move beyond Oregon's oppressive, racist, discriminatory white privilege values towards a future that honors and promotes democracy, diversity, the environment, public health and equal opportunity for current and future generations, is long overdue.

Sources

[1] MacColl, E. Kimbark. The Growth of a City: Power and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1915-1950. Portland: The Georgian Press,1979.

[2] Ibid. Pg. 224.

[3] Ibid. Pg. 224-227 and Pg. 462-467.