The Portland Black Panthers: Empowering Albina and Remaking a City

The Portland Black Panthers: Empowering Albina and Remaking a City is a history book written by Lucas N. N. Burke, a historian at the University of Oregon, and Judson L. Jeffries, a professor of African and African American Studies at the Ohio State University.^[1] It was published by the University of Washington Press in 2016.^[1] The book tells the story of the formation of the local branch of the Portland Black Panther Party within the constraints of living in a majority white city with a tumultuous past regarding race relations. Furthermore, it provides a historical context for these race relations, by highlighting the changes in the black community throughout the 20th century. ^[2][3][4][5]

The book which is organized chronologically also includes images and primary documents from the movement. The book contains seven sections with five chapters, an introduction, and a conclusion.

Introduction: Venturing into Uncharted Waters

While the Black Panther Party has received a great deal of media attention since the inception of the party in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, local branches in cities outside of Oakland, Los Angeles, and New York, garnered less media attention than their counterparts. One such branch, which is relatively unknown even among Panthers themselves, was located in Portland, Oregon. This branch, started by a group of local men and women including Kent and Sandra Ford, Linda Thornton, Percy Hampton, Joyce Radford, and Oscar Johnson, among others, not only received little media attention but is often left out of books and research regarding the Black Panther Party.

This book takes a wide view of the civil rights struggle, and contextualizes the BPP in Portland within the framework of the Long Civil Rights Movement. In doing so the scholars place the emergence of the BPP within the context of a growing freedom struggle in the northwest spanning from the beginning of the 1900s.

Portland is often seen as a national model for urban revitalization and sustainability rather than a city strife with a tenuous racial past. This book, then, seeks to shed light on Portland’s past, specifically in the Albina neighborhood as well as to document the achievements of the Portland Black Panthers in regards to their instrumental impact on city planning and community service. Being somewhat removed from the national branch of the Black Panther Party, the Portland Black Panthers forged their own path in the fight against poverty, police brutality, inadequate health care, and lack of equitable education.

Making and Remaking Albina: The Long Civil Rights Movement in Portland

This chapter opens with a picture of the Long, hot summer of 1967 in Portland and the revolts that were occurring in Irving Park as part of a nationwide rebellion. Unlike other riots during that summer, however, there were no deaths in Portland but there were over 50 arrests of African Americans. To put this revolt in context, the authors explain the conditions that many of those protesters grew up in. Many of the protesters in Portland had lived through, and were the product of discriminatory practices and destruction of neighborhoods.

The chapter then goes on to chronicle the history of life in Portland for African Americans. This includes a description of the development and destruction of Vanport, Oregon, wherein an entire neighborhood was washed away in a horrific flood, leaving disproportionately low-income and people of color without homes. The chapter also discussed the exclusion clause in the Constitution of Oregon which prohibited blacks from becoming residents as well as preventing them from owning property or securing contracts of any kind. The authors further explain the restructuring of Portland’s city government which eliminated the potential for African American participation in local government, the presence of the Ku Klux Klan in Oregon both as residents and as members of the local government. Furthermore, they explain the gathering of black residents in the Albina district as a result of Redlining and the elimination of the Vanport neighborhood. By 1964, Albina was identified as a community in need of funds from the War on Poverty Program. The program experienced successes early-on, but as the authors outline in further chapters, it resulted in the Emanuel Hospital expansion, leading to the forced relocation of a significant portion of the residents and businesses.

While the cards were essentially stacked against the black community in Portland, the Civil Rights Movement in Portland remained a driving force in creating change through the founding of the Portland Branch of the NAACP, and the establishment of black newspapers. With conversations around Civil Rights at the forefront of conversation around the nation, the black community in Portland fought hard to overturn inequitable policies around housing, education, and employment. While some change occurred in Portland, visible socioeconomic problems in the black community, specifically the Albina district, remained a poignant concern.

Claiming Albina in the Era of Model Cities and the National Committee to Combat Fascism

This chapter opens with the passing of the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act which was promoted by Lyndon B. Johnson to assist cities with urban redevelopment and infrastructure improvement as well as the subsequent founding of the Black Panther Party. With the emergence of the Model Cities Program under Mayor Terry Schrunk, the Albina district was the target of gentrification with little to no representation of the black community as part of the top-down decision-making process. In this, the project met resistance on part of the members of Albina’s black community. This led to demonstrations in Irving Park which began as non-violent, but, turned violent throughout the day. Rather than addressing the community concerns around the Model Cities Program, the government and media ignored the issues and claimed that the demonstrations were caused by outside agitators.

Due to the continued demands for equitable representation on part of the black community, a compromise was eventually reached wherein a temporary advisory committee consisting of black leadership was chosen to take place on the Model Cities project. The draft of the project, however, enraged the more conservative members of the council as it outlined the history of racial discrimination in Albina. The continued dissidence between the white and black communities surfaced through concerns around police brutality which propelled Kent Ford and other black activists in the community to become interested in starting a Portland Branch of the Black Panther Party. While the branch wasn’t officially recognized by the national chapter for some time, they focused on political education with the goal of helping the community understand how people and the government should behave in a just democratic society. They were dedicated to the work of Antonio Gramsci in trying to create agency among the working class community in order to dismantle the counterhegemonic forces surrounding the city’s politics and economics. The classes, while a great way to stimulate discussion around political education, also evoked the interest of the Portland Police Bureau which would prove problematic throughout their time in Portland.

By 1969, the Portland group had made a name for themselves as part of the National Committee to Combat Fascism (NCCF) which afforded them an office and a platform for change in the Portland area. Some of their projects included supporting students at Roosevelt High who experienced racial tensions. In 1970, the group received official charter membership from the Black Panther Party.

Serving Albina and Becoming Panthers under the Watchful Eye of the Portland Police Bureau

This chapter opens with the impact that community survival programs had on the black community in Albina. Based on the Black Panther’s Ten-Point Program, the Portland Black Panther’s under the leadership of Kent Ford, had an action-oriented focus with a strong desire to create concrete change within their communities. Focusing on local rather than national issues, the party started a breakfast program which served between 75 and 125 children each weekday morning received donations from local businesses and residents. They also established a health clinic which was staffed by a number of white doctors primarily associated with the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. This clinic, named Fred Hampton People’s Free Health Clinic had a well-baby clinic, sickle cell anemia testing, health education, testing for lead poisoning, and included transportation services by local BPP members for those who did not have the means to get to the clinic. The Portland BPP also reached out to local schools to set up health education and testing programs. The cadre also opened a dental clinic called the Malcolm X People’s Dental Clinic which was also staffed by volunteer dentists and focused on preventative care. While the programs were highly successful and sustainable over time, the Panthers did run into issues with local businesses, the media, and the police throughout their tenure.

The funds for these programs were gained from selling the Black Panther newspaper at twenty-five cents a copy. These newspapers, though shipped from the national chapter also included a one-page news bulletin put together by Oscar Johnson which informed the community of local issues.

The Emanuel Hospital Expansion, the James Family Saga, and Portland’s Dream of a New Urbanism

This chapter opens with the state of the nation, and specifically Portland, in the early 1970s with a rise of left-wing political activity resulting from anti-Vietnam War demonstrations. In order to combat the continual resistance from the black community and left-wing whites, Mayor Terry Schrunk hired a young black man by the name of Charles Jordan (politician). Jordan, who had a background in education, sociology and philosophy was hired with mixed feelings on part of the board and the outlying community. Many of the social organizations in Portland, including the Black Panther Party, were unhappy about the board’s decision to bring in an outsider rather than hiring a qualified local African American. While Jordan faced resentment on part of many in the black community, he committed himself to redesigning the Model Cities program through the incorporation of the black community’s voice.Under Jordan’s guidance, numerous neighborhood community improvement projects were achieved including expanding parks, improving roads, and the rehabilitation of dilapidated housing units.

One area of contention, however, was the expansion of the Emmanuel Hospital which called for the demolition of hundreds of African American homes and businesses, including the Portland Black Panther’s clinic. While the expansion was put on hold for some time, it loomed in the minds of community members causing the Black Panthers to organize the Black Community Survival Conference to raise awareness of the project’s detrimental impact on the community. This community pushback continued when the Portland BPP arranged a picket line outside of the hospital. Despite the efforts of those in the community, including Portland State University Black Student Union, the NAACP, the Eugene Coalition, the White Panther Party, the Socialist Workers Party, the Youth Opportunity School, and members of the local Students for a Democratic Society, the expansion continued and the Panthers were forced to vacate the Fred Hampton People’s Free Clinic. While a compromise was reached on part of the Portland Development Commission and the Black Panther Party regarding a new space for the clinic, the space was inadequate and in need of repairs.

During this time, others in the black community became involved with the local government as a way to ensure a voice for the black community. One such individual was R.L. Anderson, one of the cities best-known black radicals, who won a position on the Albina Citizens Together Board and was elected as the board’s representative to the Portland Metropolitan Steering Committee. This represented a change in Portland’s politics as members of the black community were beginning to have a voice and were no longer only seen as silent representatives. Throughout this time, the Black Panthers became engrossed in the city’s undemocratic urban planning process wherein they turned their focus toward securing jobs for impoverished black citizens as well as a situation involving the James family.

The "James Family Saga" as the chapter title calls it, stemmed from the FBI attempting to arrest Charles James for going AWOL from the Navy. As the FBI raided the James' home in order to arrest Charles James his sister Cheryl attempted to protect him by hitting an FBI agent with a rolling pin. Cheryl James was a student who attended Thomas Jefferson High School. Kent Ford of the BPP teamed up with local organizations, including the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), in order to raise awareness of the case and garner support for the James family.

While the Portland Black Panthers were not subject to the media tactics and police raids that other Black Panther Parties dealt with, they still dealt with unjust devices on part of the police including dissuading local businesses from supporting the community survival programs and constantly following members of the party. These tactics fell under the FBI’s counterintelligence program known as COINTELPRO. While this caused many other chapters to have internal dissonance and to ultimately disband, the Portland chapter continued to operate their core programs including their health and dental clinics until 1972 when their visibility in the media began to wane.

Winning the War? Regime Change, the Triumph of Community Politics, and the Emergence of Black Leadership in Portland

This chapter opens with the change in the Black Panther Party at the national level with Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown running for mayor and city council hence moving away from the community survival programs. This time served as a period of transition for Black Panther Party chapters throughout the nation, and for many, this meant phasing out their programs as well. For the Portland chapter, however, this was not an option, rather they continued serving their community as they had always done.

During this time, Neil Goldschmidt, a lifelong advocate of civil rights and community activism, became the mayor of Portland. His goal as mayor was to continue his work with black community leadership and to work toward community control over planning and development of neighborhoods. He also focused on change within the Portland Police Bureau calling for the resignation of Police Chief Donald McNamara as well as community control of the police department. Along with a change in position in regards to the mayor of Portland, there was also an emergence of black political leadership as state senators and city council members for the first time in Portland history.

Due to lack of funding opportunities as well as local manpower stemming from the issues at the national level, the Portland Black Panthers were focused to discontinue their busing to prison program. Eventually, due to the newly created Office of Neighborhood Association, the BPP’s programs dwindled down to just the health and dental clinics. The Panther’s commitment to confronting injustice, however, did not falter and in fact, continued with their involvement with the United Farm Workers boycott of grapes due to farmworkers dehumanizing and unjust working conditions.

Conclusions: Legacy and Life After the Party

The book closes by outlining the lives of the members after the party ceased to operate. This includes a section surrounding Kent Ford’s son Patrice Lumumba Ford who was sentenced to eighteen years in a maximum security prison after his supposed involvement in terrorist activities. This case is highly contested, and Kent Ford has committed his life after the Panthers fighting for his son’s release.

See also

• Black Panther Party
• Racism in the United States
• African-American history

References