Portland helps buy homes for people but only if they're black

Some black people were forced to move out of Portland, Oregon because of the construction of a highway, which razed homes, and gentrification, which raised housing prices beyond their means.  Only 6% of Portland is black, a statistic that the city finds unacceptable.  (What is the right percentage?  The masterminds haven't told us.)

So Portland created a $20-million program to pay for "down payment assistance" for black people who wanted to move back to Oregon.  The criterion for applying was that you had to have resided in Portland's historically black neighborhoods, so, effectively, this program is available only to black people.

Can you imagine the uproar if Oregon offered to pay white people to move to Oregon?  That would be racism.  But $20 million targeted at black people – that's okay.  That's redistribution of income.  More importantly, that's racial justice.

The program has some problems.  For one thing, some residents don't want to move back.

Take Germaine Flentroy.  Germaine's family was forced out of Portland due to higher housing prices, but for Germaine, Portland is no longer germane.

He says he no longer recognizes his former home because it has been invaded by white people.

I don't feel welcome here.  Back then, white people wouldn't come to this neighborhood.  And all of a sudden you start seeing 'hipsters', and all of a sudden we started seeing community gardens, and I was like, what are these people doing, why are they so weird?

The PBS reporter did not criticize this perspective.  You can imagine if a white person had said something similar.  The reaction of the PBS reporter would have been totally different.  When blacks say they don't want to live with white people, that's accepted without comment.  It's the approved form of racism.

In any event, the pay-black-people-to-buy-homes program hasn't worked out very well.  The problem?  Blacks don't have high enough income to afford the later payments on the home, even after Portland helps them out.

Perhaps Portland, which is eager to be involved in racial and social engineering, will consider requiring home-builders to have two prices for homes – one for white people and one for minorities.

I never cease to be amazed at how the media, without shame or dismay, promotes racism as a progressive policy agenda.  And by the way, the PBS reporter happened to mention that there are similar programs in New York, San Francisco, and other cities across America.  How many Supreme Court justices do you think President Trump would have to appoint before the court would strike down such blatantly racist practices?

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/06/portland_helps_buy_homes_for_people_but_only_if_theyre_black.html