If I could change the world

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If I could change the world

If I could change the world, I would make a difference in racism in Portland, Oregon. Portland has deep roots in racism since the 19th century. In 1844 Oregon State made the first black exclusion law that indicated that free African Americans were not allowed to enter Oregon. If they did, they were subjected to punishment until they leave the state. Taylor 1982 indicates that the population of African Americans was not allowed to exceed 1%. With the laws strict on the black population to Oregon had most of the population being white. Oregon has been dubbed to be the perfect white society as whites were the ones to develop Oregon. Over the years is Oregon developed it instilled laws that dispersed the African Americans further. One law stated that they were not allowed to own property. These laws were not enforced, but people practiced then anyway. Laws indicate that color was still an issue in Oregon as if you didn’t have the American skin, you were violated. Portland became the whitest city in the USA, having high numbers of Americans.

Why racism is a matter of concern In Portland is that the blacks are oppressed and violated. Racism in Portland has led to disparities in standards of living, as the blacks are deprived of their rights. People of all races from Latinos, Asian-Americans, or American-Indians also face the burden of racism. Imarisha, 2014 urges that racism is just an idea I people’s minds letting out the written laws that Oregon outlined. She still insists that we need to get the idea of our heads by believing injustice, freedom, and liberation. Over the past decade, protests have been held over white supremacy in the governments’ sectors. Since being a state in 1859, Oregon has been appointing whites in government administration, leaving out the other races without a represented.

Over the past months of this year, the Black Lives Matter movement was created to help fight racism (Garza, 2014). This movement surfaced with the death of George Floyd, who passed away when he pleaded with the police that he couldn’t breathe. These acts of violence attest that racism is a menace in the USA and needs to be appropriately addressed.

In June 2020, Americans across the states, including Oregon, took to the streets to protest against police brutality. Oregon is a white community, has significant issues in racism, as it is precisely the black population that is relatively low. There has been not only the exclusion of color but also violence. What the other states tend to look at is that Oregon lived according to how they wanted. The law of black exclusion laws came to be abolished in 2001. Portlands seem like the root of all racism because of its long time lived period of black exclusions. The main problem is that the law was amended in the paper, but people thought it still existed. To get real institution change, it means to change our systems in how they view color. It also means that we need to air the voices of the blacks in what they plea and give them justice. For ages, the black communities have tried to for organizations to help propel their issues higher so as the government can acknowledge. Racism is like living in the colonial-era, where the rules are for the people, and they lack privileges. Generations in Portland and other parts of Oregon have grown with the idea that other races are inferior and do not have a sense of belonging.

In the current year, Portland has been in the limelight for racisms. In a post in the New York Times paper, a woman states that she has been stopped several times the officers wearing a cloth that covered her head. The woman tells that this made her fill unsafe and that she can no longer ride on the streets. Most of these African Americans have come out and vocalized that they have been in strange situations where they have been humiliated in public just for their color.

Ending racism entails that everyone should feel safe, unlike before the whites didn’t feel safe near other races. Sheppard, 2017 states that were it not for racism, the train attack in Portland would have happened as it was driven by have hate and prejudice. A world without racism is a peaceful world, as the impacts of racism have hit a hard effect on the nation.

Changing the world entails giving everyone equal rights and treatment without discrimination. The Portland business community has created a basis to end racism as it has invested in black communities. These efforts would have been made years ago; nevertheless, it not too late for change. The anti shop organ made efforts in 2018 to interrupt racism, indicating that we do not only need to end racism but also create changes in the system to reinform its structure.

Blacks in Portland have felt left out in participation on matters of racism. But in recent times, there is a glimpse of hope as efforts have gone global to curb racism. If racism had an end, the world would be a better place for everyone, not only in Portland. Standards of living are likely to improve, and crime would be a matter of the past as there would be equality everywhere.

References

Garza, A. (2014). A herstory of the# BlackLivesMatter movement. Are all the women still white? Rethinking race, expanding feminisms, 23-28.

Goodling, E., Green, J., & McClintock, N. (2015). Uneven development of the sustainable city: Shifting capital in Portland, Oregon. Urban Geography, 36(4), 504-527.

Imarisha, W. (2014). Why Aren’t There More Black People in Oregon. Lecture conducted from Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene.

Sheppard, B. (2017). Anti-racists mobilise in Portland. Green Left Weekly, (1139), 13.

Taylor, Q. (1982). Slaves and free men: Blacks in the Oregon country, 1840-1860. Oregon Historical Quarterly, 83(2), 153-170.

White Supremacist Guilty of Killing 2 Who Came to Aid of Black Teens. Nytimes.com. (2020). Retrieved 18 September 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/us/white-supremacist-guilty-of-killing-2-who-came-to-aid-of-black-teens.html%20.