WEBVTT - How Did Oregon Enforce a White-Only Population Until 1926?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,

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<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum here. In eighteen fifty seven,

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<v Speaker 1>approximately ten thousand residents of Oregon had the task of

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<v Speaker 1>voting for their new state constitution, and they were asked

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<v Speaker 1>three questions. The first, do you vote for the constitution?

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<v Speaker 1>A note that the new constitution stipulated that no black

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<v Speaker 1>person quote not residing in this state at the time

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<v Speaker 1>of the adoption of this constitution shall come reside or

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<v Speaker 1>be within this state, or hold any real estate, or

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<v Speaker 1>make any contracts, or maintain any suit Therein, overwhelmingly, voters

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<v Speaker 1>supported their constitution. Second question, do you vote for slavery

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<v Speaker 1>in Oregon? And the voters of Oregon rejected the institution

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<v Speaker 1>of slavery within their borders. Third question, do you vote

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<v Speaker 1>for free negroes in Oregon? In and the majority voted no.

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<v Speaker 1>This wasn't an act of cognitive dissonance. In the article

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<v Speaker 1>this episode was based on, How Stuff Works. Spoke via

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<v Speaker 1>email with David F. Walker, a writer and at junc

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<v Speaker 1>professor at Portland State University. He explained it was pretty simple.

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<v Speaker 1>Early settlers in Oregon didn't want black people here. It

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<v Speaker 1>wasn't so much that they were opposed to slavery as

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<v Speaker 1>they didn't like blacks. How Stuff Works also spoke via

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<v Speaker 1>email with Bolita and Marisha, a professor in the Black

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<v Speaker 1>Studies Department at Portland State University who travels around Oregon

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<v Speaker 1>facilitating programs on Oregan's racial history. She explained Oregon was

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<v Speaker 1>birthed at this intersection of being anti slavery and anti black,

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<v Speaker 1>but in no way was Oregon anti slavery because they

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<v Speaker 1>believed in racial justice. They were anti slavery because they

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<v Speaker 1>considered this to be white man's land and they came

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<v Speaker 1>to build a racist, white utopia. Their goal was to

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<v Speaker 1>keep out or push out all people of color. She continued.

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<v Speaker 1>That is why the first exclusionary law in eighteen forty

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<v Speaker 1>four outlawed slavery and also banned black people from living

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<v Speaker 1>here and including the lash law, said the black people

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<v Speaker 1>would be whipped publicly every six months up to thirty

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<v Speaker 1>nine lashes until they left the state. That is the

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<v Speaker 1>brutal mechanism Oregon set in place to further its conception

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<v Speaker 1>of this state as a white homeland. Oregon exemplifies what

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<v Speaker 1>was going on in the rest of the U S

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<v Speaker 1>at the time. Only, as Emeritia notes, the state was

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<v Speaker 1>bold enough to write it down, so how did it change?

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<v Speaker 1>Various laws eventually made these exclusionary laws illegal from state

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<v Speaker 1>constitutional amendments to the Civil Rights Act, but those didn't

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<v Speaker 1>necessarily fix the problem. A Walker offers more history to

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<v Speaker 1>understand the context of the time. He said it wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>until World War Two, when the Kaiser Shipyards needed people

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<v Speaker 1>working on the assembly line, that blacks were really allowed

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<v Speaker 1>in the state. In the early nineteen hundreds, members of

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<v Speaker 1>the ku Klux Klan were deputized officers of the law

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<v Speaker 1>in Portland. All of this still lingers in the air.

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<v Speaker 1>Emrisha cited a report released by the Portland Housing Bureau

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<v Speaker 1>in twenty fifteen. She said the report quote found that

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<v Speaker 1>if you are Black, if you are Latino, if you

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<v Speaker 1>are Indigenous, you cannot afford to live in Portland. So,

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<v Speaker 1>in essence, Portland is still a white homeland. It begs

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<v Speaker 1>the question, if the mechanisms are different but the outcome

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<v Speaker 1>is the same, how much of things really changed but

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<v Speaker 1>things are progressing in direct opposition to the stated goals

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<v Speaker 1>that founded the state of Oregon. Emaritia said, the very

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<v Speaker 1>fact that black communities exist in Oregon at all is

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<v Speaker 1>astounding because they were never meant to. Under the most

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<v Speaker 1>brutal and oppressive conditions, Black people and other people of

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<v Speaker 1>color have resisted, They've organized, they have built, and they

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<v Speaker 1>have struggled to make Oregon a better state for everyone.

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<v Speaker 1>Communities of color do not need saviors to tell us

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<v Speaker 1>how it's done. We need allies. Today's episode is based

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<v Speaker 1>on the article racial History Oregon was Whites only until

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<v Speaker 1>on how stuff works dot Com, written by Brian Young.

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<v Speaker 1>Brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership

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<v Speaker 1>with how stuff Works dot Com and is produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts my Heart Radio, visit the

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