i am pretty the klan has been everywhere. there was some of klan activity out here back in the day.

they didn't even allow black people to settle in Portland until the late 40s except in one certain neighborhood. there are still a lot of covenants in certain neighborhoods that say the propery can't be sold to a black person - these can't be enforced but its crazy just to see that stuff in print.

the whole country is guilty.

aparently Delaware and Maryland have a big Klan contingent.

i think i saw a black person while i was in portland.

We had more Birchers than Kluxxers in my area... Of course, JBS was started in Appleton.

That said, it was Janesville, Wisc., where the Klan and Geraldo had their first blow-up.

This dude?...

[img][400:500]http://www.flashnews.net/images/news/Woods,Qyntel.jpg[/img]

The Klan is traditonally Anti-Catholic, and we're predominantly Catholic. So nobody sympathizes with the Klan. We just use the n-word and stereotype. That's the extent of our racism. Also alot of the poor whites (tradtional klansmen types in Northern Protestant Louisiana) are of a mixed breed going back for some time.

I bet I've asked this before, but let me pose a non-hypothetical situation to you:

I went to college in Washington D.C., a highly segregated city in my opinion. In my neighborhood, if you were white and between the ages of 18 and 24, odds were that you were an unarmed student attending the university. It was not uncommon for even PRE-TEEN black children to mug students wandering too far off campus--even students travelling in a group--even poor students travelling in a group (most of the students I knew definitely qualified as poor).

I am walking down the street at night and see three black men walking toward me a block or two ahead.

Now, if I cross the street unnecessarily (not required to reach my destination) simply to avoid walking past this group of people, does that make me racist?

Because I've done that.

true story:

while i was in portland waiting for a bus a guy asked me for change, i said "sorry dude" he walked a few steps, paused and turned back to me and said, "what the fuck did you just say? did you tell me to 'get a job?'"

still hungvoer and befuddled i laughed a little and said, "no, i just said 'sorry dude'"

he made a face and walked away.

Heroin is a hell of a drug.

if that black man was dressed in a suit, you wouldn't cross the street.
if i see a gang of white kids being loud and dressed like thugs, i cross the street.

i also saw a dude shooting up his girlfriend at a bus stop.

78% white, 6.6% black, 6.3% asian, 6.8% latino. Oregon as a whole, 1.6% black.

I just don't go into black neighorboods. Don't need to.

i almost got beat up in San Francisco for not giving change a few times. Here I normally just say something that totally confuses them. They say, "got any change?" and I say "seven o'clock" or something. those crackies love it.

hey jewels, where were you? were you down along the bus mall (from Decemberists fame) off of Burnside? That's where most of the drug activity takes place - tons of homeless shelters and crap down there.

1.6% Black?! I knew it was low but that's insane.

outside of the portland through eugene area, most of the rest of oregon is pretty much uninhabited - a few small towns with farmers/ranchers/loggers but that's about it. there would have been no reason for black people to migrate here.

i hat that I share a birthday with this asshole. and harry potter

Yeah, really... With Bill Bennett gambling jones, you'd expect him to share a birthday with Chase, not Chase's Keystoner drinking buddy....

That's the Obner way.

Dude, punk-ass kids are punk-ass kids, and I get my shit in order any time I have to walk past them, period. Shit, we rode our bikes to the grocery store a few weeks ago (8 minutes each way, small town), and got hassled 3 different times buy little fuckers... "hey baby" at my wife from a car, more cat calls at her from a balcony of smoking 16 year olds, and then some little smartass fuckers saying 'ha ha" about her old bicycle as we rode past them. By that third time, I went nuts, and pretty much chewed out 2 13-year olds in one of their front yards. Rude is rude, and I got no problem bein somebody's daddy for a second. It's never too late to learn some gott-damn manners.

Good word.

when i was thinking about moving there this was one of the reasons my girlfriend vetoed. when we were in Seattle last year all but ran up and hugged the first black person we saw in the six days since we had arrived there.

Thank you. Helps to bear out my point.

I, also, am not aware of any Klan activity in my area. That's not saying that it doesn't exist, but I don't know of anyone who takes part if it does. However, I am in one of those rural Protestant areas that oldbulee was speaking of, and the "n" word still flies around quite a bit. I don't know if that will ever change.

i had that same reaction when i was in potland.
i take for granted that 50% of the people i see in my neighborhood are black. maybe more on weekends.

This is why my wife and I have to write off huge chunks of the U.S. when looking for jobs post-graduation. She cannot handle even one of those... sends her over the edge. Not in a joke, not in a non-serious type of way, not ever. I get pissed, but I don't go nuclear over it. Hell, it even makes visiting people down south difficult, because the first time some random person near her drops a hint of anything racist-ish, I get the "we're not visiting again for 3 more years" look. Sorry dad, the clerk at Amocco said "nigger," so I can't see you anymore.