Monthly Archives: May 2021

Uncategorized

The I-5 Rose Quarter project-Dr Claud Anderson had it Right

1 Comment

Dr. Claud Anderson had it RIGHT

The I-5 Rose Quarter project-Dr Claud Anderson had it Right 1

We are at a crossroads, let’s not blow it this time.

The untimely issues raised around ODOT’s I-5 Rose Quarter construction project have caused me to consider deeper issues about Black folks in Portland. My question to our community: Who has historically benefitted from the many developments that we have seen, especially in N-NE Portland? I’m talking about the very developments that have further marginalized and scattered us as a people.

Just look around our community at the many construction projects that have helped gentrify our neighborhood and tell me who has benefited? So what makes you think that things will be different this time around when most of the players are white men who have done very little to truly aid and empower our community. Many of these people have profited greatly on the backs of the community, increasing their wealth through mixed-use, low-income housing developments that we were told would empower us and keep our people in the neighborhood.

Look around inner N/NE Portland and ask yourself one simple question: Did it work? And seriously, are we so naïve to think things will be different this time? In the ’80s, we had “Reaganomics” which showed that trickle-down economic theory did not work for black people. The rich became richer, and as a group, Black people are in worse shape now economically than we have ever been. But don’t get me wrong, I am pro-development if Black people control it at every level. This means it needs to be substantial enough that our community can capitalize, finance, build, own, and benefit from the generational wealth that it creates.

Unfortunately, we have always had many Judases in our community who are more than willing to sell us out for 30 pieces of something. Yes, the Black slave catchers still exist. And yes, there were actual house slaves that worked hand in hand with the master to further white superiority and supremacy. As a result, our people perished due to their lack of knowledge. Finally, it is time for people to wake up and look beyond the propaganda that is constantly being fed to them and realize that it is a psychological operation to further weaken us and keep us divided.

We need to stop depending on this governmental system, along with white benevolence, that by design is set up to keep us always wanting and thus in an inferior position. Your voices need to be heard now. Consider: economics through living-wage jobs and industry entrepreneurship has always been needed to establish and build a healthy and vibrant community. Black people must have a consistent means to bring dollars into their community. Once these dollars are in the community, we can then start the true re-building process by our own hands and create wealth by keeping those dollars circulating amongst ourselves. Hence the beauty and nail salons, barbershops, restaurants, art and entertainment venues, and other service-oriented businesses make up a healthy vibrant community, all flowing from a strong economic base.

Although it is not the only form for economic growth, the construction industry is critical to a community due to reduced barriers to entry without needing to incur much debt. Generally, all one needs to be successful is to show up consistently, have a positive attitude, and a good work ethic to establish a living-wage career. In addition, there are many professional positions that folks can grow into without a formal education, including becoming a business owner.

This country was built on the free labor of slaves who possessed many trade skills in 1865. I submit that the systemic policies put in place over the last 120 years transferred those skills from the Black population to the majority population along with much of the economics and wealth that has been created since emancipation.

Black people in Portland have not always understood that a bird in the hand is worth more than a bunch in the bush. And I pray that they don’t follow Dorthey down a yellow brick road and are smart enough to look behind the curtain and see who is pulling the strings. In other words, Black folks have a chance to go with an authentic black man and an organization with proven results focused on self-economic empowerment that is openly shared and designed to improve every aspect of Black life in Portland. I hope and pray we don’t blow it by following false prophets instead.

The Portland Branch of the NAACP is having a discussion Sunday 12:00 to 1 PM let your voices be heard.

Meeting link: Zoom link

Meeting ID: 889 6818 1081

Passcode: 312194

How we see it

Has any thing changed since my DJC OP-ED was published in 2016?

Leave a comment

Has any thing changed since my DJC OP-ED was published in 2016? 3

I can deal with it when known racist work against us but it is hard when our own people try to sabotage our progress intentional or not.

Home / News / Commentary / Guest commentary / OP-ED: 2016 election comments are not about being ethnically inclusive

OP-ED: 2016 election comments are not about being ethnically inclusive

By: James Posey in Guest commentary December 16, 2016 2:05 pm

James Posey (Courtesy of NAMCO)

James Posey

I for one am not surprised by the content of the Op-Ed in the Nov. 16 Daily Journal of Commerce in which Mike Salsgiver, the executive director of Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter (AGC) celebrated the silent majority’s votes in the national election. The truth is that Mike and his cohorts have never actually been silent. They have screamed their positions through their policies of exclusion, indifference and outright, i.e., ‘alt-right,’ opposition to minorities and other nonwhite-male exclusion on contracts for jobs in Oregon’s highly-profitable construction industry.

The recent election has emboldened him and others like him to embrace these discriminatory and racist practices further. Some of us think they can now take the sheets out of the closets. All one has to do is review the many studies that have shown for decades that minorities shared next to nothing economically on Oregon construction projects. It’s an embarrassment that rivals only the election of Donald Trump.

But as Salsgiver unknowingly said, this is not the first time the country has retrenched. I also remember the Reagan revolution over 50 years ago, which I believe worked feverishly to contain and eliminate racial progress envisioned by the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Among other efforts made by the Reagan administration, blacks and other minorities got shortchanged by the appointment of Supreme Court justices who shared Salsgiver’s notion of the nation going in the wrong direction. And indeed he’s right about one thing: There is an ill wind blowing in America as whites all across the country are moving to protect their left and right flanks.

All the talk about the blackening and browning of America has translated into fear of the inevitable. It’s a call for all hands on deck to protect the myth of white supremacy. Surely this is history repeating itself. That’s why it was so easy for Salsgiver to talk about the winning candidate’s knock on the media and the Washington establishment while ignoring Trump’s flirtation with white nationalists, his assault on Muslims and other minorities and his many other inflammatory statements. It appears Mike, like his presidential choice, is willing to sell his soul to his white constituents to gain and retain power, like in an ugly episode of the “Game of Thrones.”

As for opinions that Oregon is bucking national trends, the Democrats articulated a lot of rhetoric about diversity and inclusion. But the record is clear: they have not done much better than their Republican counterparts in fostering serious economic inclusion for minorities. As well, it has been reported that white women voted for Donald Trump in overwhelming numbers. As well they should because it is only rational. The fact is they, along with their white male counterparts, are the primary beneficiaries of white privilege, their gender notwithstanding. Hence, look no further at who is benefiting from Oregon’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) programs.

Across the country, white people, regardless of party affiliation or gender, are closing ranks against what they perceive as the onslaught of people of color taking over. Salsgiver will never concede that blacks have never had an economic recovery and continue to live with economic conditions inherited from slavery and the Jim Crow era. The plight of blacks’ economic depravity in America is not in most whites’ consciousness. That’s why despite the fact that white Democrats controlled most of Oregon’s governance for decades, black Oregonians continue to sink further into economic despair. This factor represents the highest level of government imbalance, but it is unlikely that organizations like AGC will ever voice these sentiments.

However, what Salsgiver is not discussing in the defeat of Measure 97 is the resistance on the part of the white, rich and powerful to any change in the status quo. Those with power and money want to keep things that way, and they will not tolerate any encroachment.

On the other hand, AGC lauds its support of Measure 98, which is a commonsense measure promising to benefit all Oregonians. What is not said is that Oregon has had a consistent history of excluding people of color from all efforts to train and develop workers, especially in the construction trades. We have no reason to believe it will be any different with the passing of Measure 98. Keep an eye on AGC to see if it will advocate addressing the disparities in the complexion of those being trained for Oregon’s future workforce under Measure 98. We can only hope they will because this is one area where minorities and AGC are potentially on the same page.

We are also potentially on the same page with the prospects of massive infrastructure spending, under Republicans, but only if the formula changes from the disgusting statistics that nearly 0 percent of all the contracts go to blacks and other minorities while 99.5 percent of all contracts go to whites. AGC never speaks about this imbalance in government.

Don’t be fooled. AGC and its cohorts have always had at least one hand on the steering wheel. Backed by big money, they continue to initiate and support many policies that are anti-minority and that have driven people of color into the ditch. They’ve cloaked it well over the last several years, but with the advent of the Donald Trump victory, they are willing to show their true colors. If we can believe history, the ride is about to get bumpier for minorities under a Trump- supported, Salsgiver/AGC administration.

A previous version of this column misidentified the company that James Posey previously owned. He is the former owner of Work Horse Construction.

(Editor’s note: The Op-Ed piece referred to in this guest commentary is a Buildings, Bridges & Roads column written by AGC Oregon-Columbia Executive Director Mike Salsgiver that was posted on DJCOregon.com on Nov. 15. The Salsgiver column also appeared on page 5 of the Nov. 16 print edition of the DJC newspaper.)

To submit a guest commentary, contact DJC Editor Stephanie Basalyga at 503-802-7222 or at sbasalyga@djcOregon.com.

How we see it

For the black community the I-5 Rose Quarter nearly 3/4 of a billion $$$ construction project is more than just a highway expansion

Leave a comment

More than a just a highway expansion.

For black people, It’s a chance to repair wrongs and chart our own destiny. 

For the black community the I-5 Rose Quarter nearly 3/4 of a billion $$$ construction project is more than just a highway expansion 5

FACTS:

The I-5 Rose Quarter Project is a $650 million Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) construction project that is designed to help alleviate the bottleneck congestion on I-5 through the Rose Quarter corridor. The project will build a cap/lid on top of the freeway and complete some additional widening to speed the flow of traffic in this area.

Many of you may already be aware that this project is in the heart of the historic Albina neighborhood that at one time was a thriving

African-American community. Like the ‘urban development’ that happened to so many Black communities around the country, this community was targeted and decimated by many major infrastructure projects that routinely displaced minorities. Examples include the initial construction of I-5,

Memorial Coliseum, Emmanuel Hospital, the Oregon Convention Center, and many other Portland developments over the past 70 years.

The Black community was further destroyed by “redlining” and later the gentrification process that followed around this same time. Furthermore, to add insult to injury, the community did not receive any economic benefit as a result of the wealth that was created by these projects. Minorities were systematically locked out of employment opportunities and our businesses were unsuccessful at winning meaningful work through the diabolical utilization of federal wage rates, unions, low-bid, and pre-qualification policies.

For the first time in its more than 100-year history, ODOT is using the Construction Management/General Contractor alternative delivery method to procure this project instead of the traditional low-bid process. They hired general contractor Hamilton/Sundt Construction company, who subsequently teamed with Black-owned Raimore Construction, who is intimately tied to the community. The entire project team is empowered by ODOT to utilize this project to start the economic empowerment of Black and other minority communities through living-wage employment and entrepreneurship.

Understand, this is the same community that has historically been marginalized and oppressed by systemic policies that have institutionalized racism and white supremacy. We have an opportunity to start the process of restorative justice for our community.  Although some development is included, it generally does not meet the needs of minority populations the way living wage jobs and entrepreneurship does. Indeed, living-wage employment is critical to homeownership, which is the biggest wealth creator for individuals, families, and small businesses and is the cornerstone to wealth creation for our nation.

The I-5 Rose Quarter project is a perfect catalyst to start this process due to its size and the fact that the construction will run over a 4 to 5-year period. It will create many living-wage jobs not only in the trades but in the areas of administration, engineering, project management, marketing, accounting, finance, human resources, and community relations. The duration of the project will provide an opportunity to go from entry employment to creating long-term living-wage career opportunities for our people. That is especially important because it generally takes 2-5 years to become a journeyman or to gain proficiency/competency in this work field.

As usual, community factions are working subversively to prevent this project from moving forward, including the No More Freeways group, the Elliot Neighborhood Association, and Portland Public Schools. Push back to these objections point to recently conducted traffic studies that show that idling stop-and-go traffic creates more pollution than free-flowing traffic. Subsequently, fixing this bottleneck should aid with reducing carbon emissions and thus increase and improve air quality. In contrast to this, the timing of PPS’s concerns about increased air pollution at Harriet Tubman MS is telling. Now they want to raise the pollution concerns for children, although this school has been attended by Black and Brown children for decades.

We all know that the health of the minority community has never been part of any environmental consideration, which is why the freeway was built through the heart of our community in the first place. Consequently, the levels of pollution were never questioned previously when the school was attended primarily by Black and brown children. Certainly, we all should be concerned about global warming and the environment and its impact on people, the community, and the world.  It appears that environmentalists, the neighborhood associations, and uninformed communities are being bamboozled into fighting a battle to delay the building of this project for other disingenuous reasons.

Economics through living-wage jobs and industrial entrepreneurship has always been the goal and is essential to establishing and building a healthy and vibrant community. Black people must have consistent means of bringing dollars into their community. And once these dollars are in the community, we can now start the true re-building process by our own hands and build our wealth by keeping those dollars circulating throughout the community. This is the only way Black-owned businesses such as beauty and nail salons, barbershops, restaurants, art and entertainment venues, professional offices, and other service-oriented businesses get established and grow. They all make up a healthy vibrant community, all following and flowing from a strong economy.

Although it is not the only form of a developing economy, the construction industry is critical to a vibrant community. This is primarily due to the limited barriers to entry without the need to incur major capital or debt. All you need to be successful is to show up consistently, have a positive attitude and strong work ethic to establish a living-wage career in the field. In addition, there are many professional positions that one can grow into without requiring formal education, including becoming a small business owner which again is the cornerstone of wealth creation in this country.

To sum up, all these factors are why the I-5 Rose Quarter project is so important to Portland’s Black and other people of color communities. These various arguments against the project should not be allowed to impede its progress.

 

How we see it

Like Senator Tim Scott, Portland has its own brand of Gate Keepers.

3 Comments

Like Tim Scott, there’s a New generation of Gate Keepers on the scene in Portland

Like Senator Tim Scott, Portland has its own brand of Gate Keepers. 7

New Gate Keepers blocking black economic progress.

It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same. I’d like to think that I have a historical lens and can see why things in Black Portland haven’t changed much or for the better in the last 40 years. One aspect of this sad situation stands out above all others and that is the evolution of the white-infused Black gatekeepers. Generationally, I guess I was hoping they would organically die out. But to my dismay, they have flourished across those broad boundaries.

These gatekeepers have been paid by white people to tell us that it ain’t all that bad and that they are working on changing it. And we should just look on the good side and count our blessings. For years these folks have been providing a false platform to give the impression that there is significant progress when in fact, there has been little. This circumstance is especially true for the masses of Blacks living in Portland. Now we have new black gatekeepers working surreptitiously on the part of white developers and newly arrived environmentalists scheming to impose a new vision that is ultimately designed to disenfranchise Black people again. In some cases, it might not be intentional but the results are the same.

The situation is reminiscent of the house Negro, the ‘field nigger’ dichotomy from slavery. These new-age house Negroes are constantly telling us, “the massa is OK”. What’s new and frightening about this whole NHN phenomenon is that they are even actively organizing others to misdirect us. They dare to criticize other Blacks for using social media to lay out their grievances and express their opinions. Hypocritically, on the other hand, they are willing to use social media to present grandiose visions and lie about the ultimate beneficiaries of their proposed visions.

So who ordained and endowed them with the special privileges to be the arbitrators of Black thought and disposition? Those self-aggrandize, self-serving operatives ought to shut up because if they haven’t already noticed, Black folks still have the highest unemployment, school dropout and incarceration rate, the lowest home and business ownership rate, and the highest health and wealth disparities rate than any other racial group. Indeed, the list just goes on.

While intent on establishing credibility among most Blacks by throwing out these illusionary visions and success bones, please note that these same NHN are equally engaged in discouraging any justifiable dissent. They rather we cover up the mess rather than expose it. They are constantly selling and pitching this utopian notion that we are on a path towards reconciliation and offering the “….. can’t we all just get along” BS.

There is a not-so-subtle attempt to fanaticize and romanticize current Black achievement and historical progress. But when put up against any white success, progress, and achievement, everybody knows we are way behind and have a profound right to be alarmed. But we can’t just be alarmed, we have to take action by any means necessary. We can’t be lulled to sleep by these compromising NHN’s, because like their predecessors, no matter what they say or claim, ultimately they mean you no good and are working at the behest of their “Masters.” Their actions are designed to assure no change in the status quo for us for another 240 years.

There are some distinct characteristics of these legendary Black gatekeepers to keep in mind:

  • They constantly seek the face and favor of powerful and influential white people;
  • They cultivate audiences and platforms focused on assimilating Blacks into the mainstream white world;
  • They always speak metaphorically about Blacks’ progress;
  • They see Black progress in increments, i.e., “ We got plenty of time to achieve white people status”; and
  • They have made a great living financially over massaging the misery of Black people; and
  • They want to mainstream black efforts seeking economic remedies for past racist injustices.

Hence, we should all beware of those who want to chastise and choke off Black dissent for the sake of Black unity and white acceptance. No more preaching pie in the sky while we wither on the vine. They are despicable and are perpetuating a façade dedicated to our demise. and overall, this is an affront to our economic survival and self-determination.