Port of Portland Capitulates to Trump Administration's Discriminatory Agenda

"The Port is the latest organization to buckle under the Trump administration's threat of cutting federal funding if organizations don't disavow their own diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives."
–Kyle Iboshi, KGW News

Miki Barnes
April 22, 2025

On 4/21/2025 the Port of Portland Board of Commissioners held a special session for the sole purpose of revoking their social equity policies to demonstrate compliance with the Trump Administration's all out assault on diversity and inclusion. A 22-minute YouTube video recording of the session is available here. The Port cited their narrowly defined mission, "to promote trade, travel, and economic development," as justification for this decision – a mission that excludes any responsibility whatsoever for addressing the equity, social justice, public health, environmental and ecological impacts of their decisions.

According to Port Chair, Katy Coba, around 70 people submitted comments on this action, with the vast majority opposing the revocation. The Port has a long history of valuing the acquisition of money and financial gain over and above the greater good.

During the proceedings, Port Director, Curtis Robinhold, explained that the Port risks losing $145 million in federal grants if it refuses to eliminate its social equity program.

Robinhold further stated that the Port, one of the biggest polluters in the state, "will stay focused on making life better for all Oregonians." That being the case, perhaps he could start by explaining to Washington County residents how spewing relentless noise and pollution, including over 3/4 of a ton of lead over their homes, schools and neighborhoods every year, translates into this so called "shared prosperity."

As delineated in ORS 778, the Port has many of the powers of a municipality, including the ability to declare eminent domain, pass ordinances, issue bonds, acquire property and levy taxes. Yet the members of the commission are not elected; instead, they are appointed by the Governor. As such they represent narrowly defined Port values rather than the interests of the greater community.

Clearly Port statutes are desperately in need of an urgent legislative update, one that places democratic engagement, public health, environmental justice, ecological diversity, and climate impacts front and center.

For one brief moment last week, a ray of hope appeared on the horizon when Harvard refused to bow to Trump's authoritarian decrees. Sadly, the Port lacks the leadership to stand up to these pressures.

Less than a month after President Joe Biden was sworn in, a 2/14/2021 Oregonian article by Jeff Manning, Port of Portland Looking at Alternative Uses or Sale of Major Assets to Further New 'Shared Prosperity' Initiative, stated that,

"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..."

A quote from Curtis Robinhold, explained that, "The Port was formed in 1891 to benefit exporters of wood and grain - white men who owned businesses." The article also included a comment from former Port Commissioner Michael Alexander, the past President and CEO of the Urban League of Portland and current chair of Albina Vision Trust, who pointed out that the Port was created at a time when laws were still on the books that prohibited Blacks from settling in Oregon.

Now that Trump, a ruthless wannabe dictator, has stepped in, the Port has publicly reversed its commitment to diversity, realigning instead with the sordid racist and discriminatory policies that have long characterized and defined its core values.

For more than one and a quarter centuries, the Port has served a select few at the expense of the many. For additional information on this topic click on the 4/4/2021 Oregon Aviation Watch article, Port of Portland Acknowledges History of White Privilege and Racism.

To access reports from local media outlets on this development, click on the following links:

• Port of Portland Revokes Equity Policy Over Federal Funding Concerns by Ryan Haas. Oregon Public Broadcasting. (4/21/2025)
• Port of Portland Shifts Stance on Equity Amid Federal Crackdown. KGW 8. (4/21/2025)
• Port of Portland Revokes Social Equity Policy. KATU. (4/21/2025)