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ISSUE #33.44 • NEWS • NEWS STORY
[ELECTION '08]

Black Like We


Portland’s black community has Barack Obama’s back. Or do they?

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SEA OF LOVE: In Portland, Obama had the white stuff.
IMAGE: Don ryan for Associated press
BY JAMES PITKIN | jpitkin at wweek dot com

[September 12th, 2007]

Charles Guinn stood in a line stretching halfway around the Oregon Convention Center—one of 4,000 people waiting to hear Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama speak on Sept. 7.

While Justin Timberlake crooned for white girls across the street at the Rose Garden, Obama brought out prominent members of Portland’s black community last week. Guinn is black, like about one in every 20 faces in line—about the same ratio as the 6.6 percent African-American population in Portland, statistically the whitest major city in America.

In Portland, the Illinois senator got a mix of balk and awe from local blacks when they were asked how the always-uncomfortable subject of race plays out in deciding which candidate to support.

“He seems to be saying the right things, but I want to see and hear him in person,” said Guinn, a 42-year-old real-estate investor. “There is a group that is behind him just because he’s black. I wish it wasn’t an issue, but it is.”

To be fair, Obama is only 50 percent black. And his odds of securing the nomination are probably lower than that. But his one-night sweep through Portland netted $200,000 in ticket sales and made him only the third Democratic candidate to stop here, along with U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and former U.S. Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.).

Charles Jordan, one of two African-Americans to have been on the Portland City Council, says the black community here is firmly behind Obama.

“For the first time, you’re talking about having a serious candidate,” says Jordan, who likes Obama but says he hasn’t committed. “And there is part of it, that he is ours, that he is me, and winning and losing is more than just winning and losing.”















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But race also cut the other way. Some questioned if the late outpouring of support (the day before the event, organizers expected only 2,000 people) was just a symptom of white guilt.

Former state Rep. JoAnn Bowman (D-Portland) says going to see a mixed-race candidate “is an easy way for so-called progressives to feel like they are doing something positive.”

Bowman, who’s undecided but leaning toward Edwards, says blacks are by no means united behind Obama, who mostly draws “suburban white folks.”

The latest statewide poll released Aug. 21 shows Obama in second place, trailing Clinton by 8 percentage points. Clinton and Edwards have formed state steering committees with big-name members, but Obama has not. So far three Democratic state legislators—all white—have endorsed him: Reps. Chip Shields, Ben Cannon and Larry Galizio.

Charles Bowles, director of the skill center at Portland Community College, says supporters are drawn to Obama regardless of his race. “This is a statement about people no longer willing to settle for the status quo,” says Bowles, who is black.

“You’re taking away from him to say it’s just because he’s black,” Guinn says. “I hear your questions, and they’re valid. They are on everybody’s mind.”

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Comment on this article

Jackson  writes on Sep 12th, 2007 10:18pm

Damned if you do. Damned if you don't.

Cliche I know, but what better way to sum up Bowman's evaluation of the white turnout?

Bowman and her ilk play the victim role poorly but they try hard. I'll give them that much.

Charlie Burr  writes on Sep 13th, 2007 8:34am

"Some questioned if the late outpouring of support (the day before the event, organizers expected only 2,000 people) was just a symptom of white guilt."

Organizers originally reserved enough space for 2,000 people. Or as James writes, "only" 2,000 people. But after the event sold out on Wednesday, organizers moved venues within the Convention Center to add capacity three days out.

It is flatly inaccurate to write that organizers expected "only" about 2,000 people a day before the event. I support Obama, btw, because he is the best candidate, not because he is the black candidate.

Andrew Simon  writes on Sep 14th, 2007 6:16am

This is one of the least sophisticated pieces of analysis on race and the 2008 election that I've seen.

Throw a few generalizations, biased quotes and irrelevant facts together and expect to be taken seriously?

Not going to happen.

Matthew Sutton  writes on Sep 14th, 2007 7:44am

I really don't understand the point of this article. Apparently there isn't one.

The comment about white people showing up out of guilt is beyond ridiculous. My family and I drove from Central Point to hear him because he is a brilliant and refreshing candidate we believe will be our next president, period. His ideas and vision are head and shoulders above any other candidate.

The Barack Obama events in Portland were a major success despite not much in the way of a PR push. The energized crowd was a melting pot of all races, generations and walks of life.

Gene Merrill  writes on Sep 14th, 2007 10:00am

I had to check the cover of the paper when I finished this lazily written article. For a minute I thought I had mistakenly picked up the Merc.

Sharon Gary-Smith  writes on Sep 15th, 2007 10:35pm

I am certainly not surprised, shocked, or awed by the sloppily-written 'Black Like We' article, nor its placement in Willy Week. I am, however, most disturbed that the facts were often creatively applied to the story on Barack Obama's appearance in Portland.

This was surely not the first time that an event found it necessary to increase space when the "expected" count was exceeded; that's always a good thing, and says a lot about interest, drawing power, and the messenger - Barack Obama.

It is no secret that this African-American man is embraceable across a wide spectrum of Americans; what is also not surprising is the constant need - of white Europeans - to have to split his racial heritage, as an attempt to do what?? Divide and conquer. Barack, whose father was African and mother European, is an African-American in this America, and your comments reinforce that fact.

That he's transcended the narrowness, the limitation, and the obsession with whether he's 'black enough', or 'too black' is insulting and off the mark.

It is no secret that Portland is one of the whitest cities in America; it is, however, more than mere coincidence that despite that fact, Barack Obama netted the same percentage of blacks in attendance at his appearance as are in the population. Equally worth focusing on is that he engaged a diversity of attendees. As importantly, the diversity of his audience, even the distances that some folks traveled to see him, speaks volumes about his broader base of support. That's a feat oworth reporting on and stands on its own merit.

There is often very little here in Portland that garners that type of surge in attendance expectations, outside of music superstars - and this didn't cost $50-150 or more per ticket!

In response to the reflections of some community members who are African-American, we are not monolithic, and have the right to our individual opinions, despite constant attempts to skew us, or 'encourage' us to be in lock step. We have the same right to agree or disagree, including in our thoughts on politics and candidates. That you would try to make that the story, reduces it to the triteness that marked too much of the reporting on this one.

Michael Williamson  writes on Sep 17th, 2007 3:41pm

What a poorly written, impolite,uncultered piece of nonsense. Obama clearly cares deeply about issues that matter to regular people - ending the war, restoring the honor of our country, looking out for each other as well as for ourselves. He's personable without coming acrossed fake.. and I believe he will be the next President of the United States.

you forgot the r  writes on Sep 18th, 2007 3:10pm

As cliche as this sounds, and as many times as folks have already stated it, what does race have to do with it?

I went to the Obama event to find out what he was about. I'm concerned about the economic state of the country, not whether or not my political support makes me look cool or culturally aware or whatever.

Also, what does the demography of the Justin Timberlake show have to do with it?

I feel like people keep saying this, but no one listens: It's the 21st century. More than forty years since the US government stopped legally sanctioning segregation/discrimination based on skin color. While we should embrace our cultural histories and legacies, the color of our skin shouldn't dictate which presidential candidate we vote for or which pop music artist makes us swoon.

Bully on those who see it differently.

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