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Portland to pay $8.5M settlement to descendants of displaced Black families
OPB ^ | 6/5/2025 | Kyra Buckley

Posted on 06/08/2025 5:45:19 PM PDT by simpson96

The city of Portland will pay $8.5 million in settlement funds to 26 descendants of Black Portlanders driven from homes and businesses for development projects from the late 1950s through the ’70s.

The group of descendants filed a federal lawsuit in late 2022 arguing that the city of Portland, Emanuel Legacy Medical Center and Prosper Portland conspired to destroy a previously thriving Black neighborhood. The civil rights suit filed in U.S. District Court described how the three organizations destroyed the homes and businesses of the descendants.

On Thursday, Portland City Council unanimously signed on to a settlement between the parties. The original financial settlement proposed to the council was $2 million. After testimony from a dozen community members, including descendants, all 12 councilors voted to increase the amount another $6.5 million.

Council president Elana Pirtle-Guiney said the actions taken last century left a gaping hole in the community.

“It was taken not by accident,” Pirtle-Guiney said. “It happened through public policy. The urban renewal and eminent domain and rezoning and decisions made by [the] government, including by our predecessors on this city council — and it displaced Black Portlanders and disrupted generational progress.”

She acknowledges that the process has been painful for the families involved.

“I want to be clear that this settlement, it’s not a full restoration, because it never can be,” Pirtle-Guiney said. “But nonetheless, it is important.”

As part of the settlement, the lawsuit will be dismissed, and the descendants will get financial and land retribution, in addition to other terms.

North Portland’s Central Albina neighborhood was a bustling hub for the city’s Black-owned businesses in the 1940s. In the 1950s, the city began to displace hundreds of residents in the majority Black neighborhood to make way for Interstate 5.

Later that decade, the city, Portland Development Commission (now called Prosper Portland) and Emanuel Legacy Medical Center garnered federal urban renewal grants to expand the hospital and “remove blight” from the area, resulting in the displacement of more than 150 residents.

The hospital expansion was never fully realized. Instead, until 2025, plots of land at North Williams Avenue and Russell Street that had been single family homes in the 1940s have sat empty or have been used for parking.

Royal Harris is one of the survivors. His family owned a single family home near Legacy Emanuel hospital, where Harris was born.

“We are talking about significant numbers that changed the direct trajectory of communities and families,” Harris, a 56-year-old plaintiff in the suit, told city councilors. “What we are here for is redress, the acknowledgement of harm that includes a reversal from that practice and includes the true and proper compensation for that victimization.”

In an unusual move, city councilors voted to increase the settlement amount after hearing testimony at Thursday’s meeting. When councilor Loretta Smith read the motion to increase the amount, an emotional outburst of snaps, cheers, and gasps rippled through the room.

The city will pay $7.5 million to the descendants, and Prosper Portland will add another $1 million. It amounts to around $327,000 for each of the 26 descendants listed on the lawsuit. Legal settlements from cities are often paid from a pool of money separate from the general fund.

The settlement states that the city of Portland acknowledges it engaged in “systemic discrimination and displacement that harmed Black communities.” The actions of the city and hospital denied Black Portlanders homeownership that contributes to generational wealth while contributing to segregation. The zoning codes and lending practices used by the city perpetuated harmful stereotypes, the settlement reads.

In addition to the financial settlement, the agreement requires the city to turn over ownership of two parcels of land in North Portland to the descendants at no cost. Three plots have been identified for consideration.

The settlement has a clause directing the city to declare a Descendants Day starting this year, and will run for at least five years. Additionally, the city will provide letters of support for a grant-funded film documenting the displacement of the Albina neighborhood families.

It also includes a uniquely Portland aspect: should the Keller Auditorium continue on a path to renovation, at least two of the descendants will be included in the renovation and design committees.

The historic performing arts center was renamed to Keller Auditorium in 2000. The change came after Richard Keller gave a $1.5 million donation in honor of his father, Ira Keller. In 1958 Ira Keller became the first chairman of what is now known as Prosper Portland.


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To: simpson96

Shouldn’t native Americans get compensation for land taken in violation of treaties?

What about descendants of slave owners? Shouldn’t they get something for “property” taken without compensation?


21 posted on 06/08/2025 7:48:00 PM PDT by xxqqzz
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To: HartleyMBaldwin
I guess not too many colored folk hang out at Powell's.

22 posted on 06/08/2025 7:48:11 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie ( O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious, and His mercy endures forever. — Psalm 106)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?
And how many of those interned were Japanese citizens?

Don't care. It didn't matter if the Japanese held citizenship here, they were still rounded up.
Just like the Japanese did to our people over there.
With exception that many were never heard from again.

23 posted on 06/08/2025 7:52:12 PM PDT by TangoLimaSierra (⭐⭐To the Left, The Truth is Right Wing Violence⭐⭐)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

Ah, Powell’s. I was a regular customer for over 30 years, from when I was still in high school in 1971 until I stopped going to Portland entirely. There were other used-book stores, but none like Powell’s.

Not worth going to Portland now even for Powell’s, though.


24 posted on 06/09/2025 5:27:22 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: conservative_cyclist; ten18; Twotone; VeryFRank; Clinging Bitterly; Rio; aimhigh; Hieronymus; ...
If you would like more information about what’s happening in Oregon, please FReepmail me. Please send me your name by FReepmail if you want to be on this list.
25 posted on 06/13/2025 4:38:15 PM PDT by Twotone ( What's the difference between a politician & a flying pig? The letter "F.")
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To: popdonnelly
The only slaves in Portland were the Chinese.

The term "shanghaied" originated from Portland. You can still visit the bar there where the really drunk guys were thrown into a basement which had tunnels going straight to the docks. Then they wake up on a cargo ship to Shanghai or wherever and are forced to work as a deckhand just to get back home. Things were tough all over.
26 posted on 06/13/2025 8:19:05 PM PDT by fr_freak (So foul a sky clears not without a storm.)
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To: EinNYC
Then Portland is even more stupid than I thought. Gullible white libtards being played.

The leftist playbook is at work here:

“1. Identify a respected institution. 2. Kill it. 3. Gut it. 4. Wear its carcass as a skinsuit, while demanding respect. #lefties.”

In this case the organization is the local government. Once it gets infiltrated by enough leftists, then its resources are used to promote the narrative. It's not just Portland. When Obama got into the presidency, he went around the world doing an apology tour, telling everyone how much the USA sucked and pouring federal money into every leftists endeavor possible. The USAID debacle was nothing but a commie slush fund.

In this case, the leftists in the local Portland government get to reinforce, officially, the narrative that whitey is evil and blacks are oppressed, while redirecting a lot of tax payer money to leftists pockets (it's a cinch that much of this money will go to leftist groups and nefarious actors, rather than any "innocent" displaced individuals).
27 posted on 06/13/2025 8:31:36 PM PDT by fr_freak (So foul a sky clears not without a storm.)
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