A lawsuit says racism motivated Oregon’s largest city to destroy Black residents’ homes and force them out of their neighborhood decades ago. The lawsuit filed Thursday by 26 Black people with ties to the neighborhood targets Portland, the city’s economic and urban development agency and a hospital. The case is another example of urban improvement projects or construction of the nation’s highways often coming at the cost of neighborhoods that aren’t predominantly white. Between 1971 and 1973, the Portland Development Commission demolished an estimated 188 properties, purportedly to make way for a hospital expansion that never happened. Of the forcibly displaced households, 74% were Black.
Oregon lawsuit spotlights destruction of Black neighborhoods
