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Mayor Ted Wheeler on Friday afternoon called reports of racist harassment directed at black Portlanders over the past several days "unconscionable," and vowed his police force would investigate.
Wheeler’s statement comes after reports of threats to the Good in the Hood festival, an annual event in the heart of Portland’s historically African-American neighborhood, and racist slurs directed at a child waiting at a Southeast Portland bus stop Friday morning, the Oregonian reported.
Martin Luther King, Jr. School this afternoon cancelled its summer carnival out of fears the school could be targeted in a racist attack—concerns the principal said were likely overblown.
The city continues to grapple with the aftershocks of a double murder on a Portland MAX train on May 26. It is also dealing with questions from police tactics at dueling rallies by dueling protesters on June 4—where riot cops cracked down on left-wing protesters even as right-wing protesters were giving speeches extolling nationalism.
Wheeler’s statement today cites a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center showing Oregonians reported more hate incidents per capita than any other state in the days following the election of President Donald Trump.