Civil Rights Footage from Portland

For Martin Luther King Day, The Oregonian complied some footage of the civil rights movement in Portland. This is powerful stuff. The two most riveting segments are of the racial tensions at the high school, including a meeting where the kids are yelling at each other, and a story about a black family who integrated a neighborhood in Beaverton, a Portland suburb, and then were forced out because of racial harassment, deciding to abandon Oregon entirely and move back to Washington, DC.

This footage is especially important given that not only is Portland today White Paradise, but Oregon has always functioned as a White Paradise and most residents of the state are not remotely aware of this.

There are longer pieces of footage at the link.