{"id":5002,"date":"2017-02-01T08:00:54","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T16:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=5002"},"modified":"2017-01-31T18:20:37","modified_gmt":"2017-02-01T02:20:37","slug":"community-gathers-discuss-race-oregon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/community-gathers-discuss-race-oregon\/","title":{"rendered":"Community gathers to discuss race in Oregon"},"content":{"rendered":"
By: TK Layman\r\nStaff Writer<\/pre>\n
\u201cRacism is an emotion filled topic,\u201d Willamette University sociology professor Emily Drew began her lecture. \u201cIf we\u2019re aware, we are feeling something.\u201d<\/p>\n
The night began as attendees gathered in the Anderson Room of the Salem Public Library for the first installation of Oregon Humanities\u2019 \u201cConversation Project:\u201d a series of lectures given by community leaders to engage members in a thoughtful discussion of the world around them.<\/p>\n
Drew led the night discussing Oregon\u2019s image on race in her presentation titled \u201cPower, Privilege, and Racial Diversity in Oregon.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first discussion began with a quote by W.E.B. Du Bois, \u201cThe problem of the 100 years ahead of us,\u201d Drew repeated, \u201cis a problem of \u2018the color line.\u2019\u201d With that quote in mind, the groups engaged in thoughtful conversation about perceptions of race during the Civil Rights Era to today.<\/p>\n
Throughout the night the audience broke off into small groups to discuss with their peers about several topics including ideas such as the prevalence of \u201cSun Down Towns\u201d within Oregon. Drew cited a study conducted by James Lowen and a team of graduate students that found a collection of \u201cSun Down Towns,\u201d or a town within the state where minority groups may feel unsafe or unwelcome. The groups got together and expressed their surprise and concern with the list of Oregon cities seen today as \u201cSun Down Towns;\u201d Drew led the discussion back toward the community, tied it into Portland\u2019s presence not on the list and their vision of diversification.<\/p>\n
A common perception of Portland has sources, such as The New Geographer, believing it has a lack of racial diversification. Drew, unshaken, proved otherwise stating recent studies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Coalition of Communities of Color studying Multnomah county,\u201d Drew said, \u201c1-out-of-3 people living in Multnomah county are people of color\"\".\u201d
\nBefore the final group discussion, a U.S. Census Data report was displayed for the audience to see the diverse makeup of those living in Salem and had audience members engaged thinking critically of the identities of those on the census.<\/p>\n
Drew closed out the discussion looking for community thoughts on how to create a more equitable and inclusive community, prompting more group thinking and reflection. Each group shared their insights as they worked together toward a common goal of creating a holistic environment for all.
\nThe Oregon Humanities\u2019 Conversation Project continues their series on Feb. 2, with speaker Kerani Mitchell and her presentation titled \u201cWhere Are You From?\u201d<\/p>\n
For those interested in being a part of the community discussions, the event will be held at the Salem Public Library, Thursday Feb. 2 beginning at 7 p.m. in the Anderson Room.<\/p>\n
To learn more about Oregon Humanities\u2019 Conversation Project, go to www.oregonhumanities.org\/programs\/conversation-project<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By: TK Layman Staff Writer \u201cRacism is an emotion filled topic,\u201d Willamette University sociology professor Emily Drew began her lecture. \u201cIf we\u2019re aware, we are feeling something.\u201d The night began as attendees gathered in the Anderson Room of the Salem Public Library for the first installation of Oregon Humanities\u2019 \u201cConversation Project:\u201d a series of lectures […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":937,"featured_media":5031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/937"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}