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Simone Myers interviewing Kimberlin D. Butler and Crystal Roberts of the Urban League of Portland Young Professionals for the upcoming State  of Black Oregon. The ULPDXYP is a volunteer auxiliary of the Urban League that targets young professionals ages 21-40 to empower their communities and change lives through the Urban League Movement. Find the ULPDXYP at ulpdxyp.org.

- At Urban League of Portland   N. Russell St. 

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I began working with the Urban League of Portland as photographer for The State of Black Oregon in May of 2014. Since that time I’ve been out in the field off and on, traveling throughout Oregon State with writer and journalist Bruce Poinsette. There’s something important and necessary to be communicated about this experience, what it means, meant, and the kind of promise that’s yet to be born from it. I’m still finding the meaning.  In some ways the travel component of it started out as a dream. Urban League of Portland’s Katie Sawicki contacted me about helping with the photography aspect of the project. She talked about traveling throughout Oregon to photograph Black Oregonians. As an image-maker and one who creates mental maps through images… this was my dream. It’s the kind of work I’ve been working towards and working through all of my life. Finding or showing the presence of the African Diaspora in its various forms has been my process since about the age of 19.

There is something immense within the identity of Black Americans and people of the African Diaspora within the global landscape. There is something huge - and interconnected -within our stories and inside of the journey we are moving through. And here, there is something about the journey of people of African descent against and within the Oregon landscape.  This something stretches back  to the lives of Black Oregonians who made their way here or were brought here, those who left, or lived and died here. It stretches up to us today. Their had a place here. We do too. In traveling throughout Oregon state to document we interrogated Oregon’s present in relation to people of African descent, but we were also able to access its past. They were inseparable, really. One unspoken question became, “What are and were the states of Black Oregon?”  I feel as if the travels themselves were a kind of seed being planted.  They happened. We went there, but we won’t really see their effects until down the road. 

Bruce and I traveled near enough to the four corners of this state, experiencing a range of Oregon’s topographies. Throughout this journey, a host of Oregonians of diverse backgrounds welcomed us, invited us into their homes, shared integral information, and assisted us at different turns.  Slowly out of the darkness, an image and impulse began to be illuminated and take form. Out of the looming geography of Oregon, an image, a picture, pictures began to be illuminated…  Starting out, we knew no one of African descent in Astoria or Bend or Klamath Falls.  We had few connections in the other locations. We did not know their names.  We did not know their stories.  But we knew they were out there.  that was the critical juncture.  That was the critical piece. … And we knew we could do it. 

So began the task of sending out our hearts, words, intentions, and questions. Making calls.  Sending out emails. Asking many friends. Asking you all for help. So began my task, as photographic researcher and finder, of believing it could happen. So began the task of believing that we could find the right people to talk to and that a kind of way would be made. Information. Many adventures began this way. Of walking into the darkness of not knowing, but knowing there are lights out in the field. There were lights in the field.  There is necessarily a great history out Black Oregonians out there, but also a great present.  There’s a legacy of Black Oregonians who’ve made their way here throughout the whole history of Oregon. There’s a legacy of many many dreams working then and now. This process of discovery felt and was groundbreaking. This edition of The State of Black Oregon is groundbreaking and is a first of its kind. This has ever been done before.  The State of Black Oregon honors, names, and makes place for Oregonians of African descent within the ongoing history and present of Oregon State. Critically and importantly it will provide us with a host of information tools and policy guidelines to change the course of Oregon and support the lives and communities of Black Oregonians. There is so much about our diverse and collective experience here that is wonderful, but looking at the past and the present… there is so much that must be changed. It can be. It must be. This is our charge.

The State of Black Oregon is and will be a guide, an atlas of sorts, laying out the geography of the current lived landscape for a diverse representation of Black Oregonians while charting and elucidating possible pathways for the future. I’m honored to have been able to represent the Urban League on these journeys, to use my eyes, heart, and craft in search of a larger vision, to add my work to the work of many others skilled in a variety of means.  Even more than its individual parts, it is a great collaborative working. The seed of this work is just being planted.  My hope is that it will be a living and a working document, a testament to the work and the promise of our time. Along this journey we traveled to and documented in Portland, Ashland, Eugene, Astoria, Bend, Pendleton, La Grande, and Klamath Falls.  Thanks to the amazing team at The Urban League, the writers, journalists, specialists, researchers, designers, academics, interviewees, and case study subjects who have and are lending their unique form of genius to this effort. 

Looking forward,  Intisar Abioto Photographer for State of Black Oregon 2015

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Sharita Townes ... On the road to Bend, OR

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Field Roberson From Swainsboro, GA I hate Portland. I love this town right here. We ran into Mr. Roberson on our way to our interview with Dr. Donald Easton Brooks in La Grande. Bruce was driving and we glimpsed him on the street. Of course, we had to turn around. Originally from Georgia, Mr. Roberson came to La Grande in the 60s and has been here ever since.

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At Good In The Hood, Portland OR June 28 2014 #StateofBlackOregon © 2014 Intisar Abioto 

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Sheyanne Astoria, OR August 2014

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Portland Emergency Action in response to the grand jury's decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting of Michael Brown. Justice Center 11/25/14

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Today, 11/25/14, the day after the Grand Jury decision in the Michael Brown case, the AMA Coalition for Justice and Police Reform, along with community partners including the Urban League of Portland, will hold an emergency action at 4:00 PM in front of theJustice Center at SW 3rd and Madison Streets in downtown Portland, focusing on police accountability and justice for Michael Brown.

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The Urban League of Portland is seeking to speak with Black Oregonians across the state about their individual experiences with racial profiling. Some experiences will be published in the upcoming 2015 State of Black Oregon publication. Responses are confidential and only those who consent will have their stories published in the report. Find our confidential form here. To find out more information about the State of Black Oregon, please visit our website at StateofBlackOregon.org.

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A portrait from the State of Black Oregon is being exhibited at Powell's City of Books as a part of a very small showing of images from The Black Portlanders Project. The images are up until the end of November. Find it in the photography section of Powell's. Check it out! Intisar Abioto Photographer with the State of Black Oregon

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Kemboi Chesimet Astoria, OR From Kenya I ran into Kemboi on the Astoria Riverwalk during my first trip down to Astoria. We were later able to interview him for the State of Black Oregon on a second trip to the coast. A runner, Kemboi came to the US in 1991 through an athletic scholarship with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.  He currently teaches at Tongue Point Job Corps in Astoria, OR. Intisar Abioto, Photographer with the State of Black Oregon

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Julie Grey Jacksonville, Oregon    We were able to meet up with and interview Julie Grey of Medford, Oregon this summer. Julie is Managing Partner at Complete Home Repairs and Remodels in Jacksonville, OR. Complete Home Repairs and Remodels is one of the only Black-owned businesses in the Medford/Ashland area. Julie sits on Oregon Commission on Black Affairs, the Medford Chamber of Commerce, the Women Entrepreneurs of Southern Oregon, and the Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administrations's Workforce and Small Business Advisory Committee. 

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Sharita and Solomon Siblings and Oregon natives    This September Bruce Poinsette and I road-tripped down to Bend, OR to interview and connect with people of African descent for Urban League of Portland's upcoming State of Black Oregon publication. This trip was special in that we were honored to have Portland-based artist Sharita Towne along for the ride. Sharita works in education, printmaking, video, and interdisciplinary arts. She recently completed her MFA in Contemporary Art Practices as PSU.

Sharita has produced work in Germany, Spain, Palestine, Chile, and Mexico, but her family has a long history in Oregon. From Arizona originally, her father's family would come up to Oregon in the summer to pick berries. Her father made the move to Salem as a young man, with others of the family soon following suit. Most of their family resided in Salem before some of the family moved to Bend in the early 90s.  Here Sharita is with her younger brother Solomon not long after we arrived. Later on in the evening I was able to meet and hear from others of their family about their experiences growing up and living in Oregon. Find Sharita's work at cargocollective.com/sharitatowne - Intisar Abioto for the State of Black Oregon

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S. Renee and Sakile I ran into artist S. Renee Mitchell and her daughter Sakile at Alberta Community Cycling Center's Take Back The Streets Ride. They were in the middle of fundraising for Black Lives Matter Portland Chapter's journey to  join the Ferguson protests in the wake of the police killing of Michael Brown. Intisar Abioto, Photographer for State of Black Oregon

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Gordon Price Bend, Oregon "Don’t forget about Central Oregon because we’re here." Journalist Bruce Poinsette and I met Gordon Price, director of student affairs at Central Oregon Community College, on our trip to Bend. We had an amazing conversation about the presence and experiences of people of African descent in Central Oregon and Oregon at large. Look for his interview in the Urban League of Portland's upcoming State of Black Oregon.

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Leon Ransom Native Pendletonian

"I like doing what I do... horses, cows, wheat, barley."

We met Leon early Friday morning. I heard about him through his sister Fran. We knew nothing about him beforehand and ended up spending about three hours with him. He invited us to his family home, fed us breakfast, took us around town, and told us more than what I can relate here. His family came to Pendleton in 1952 from Inverness, Mississippi. His father worked for the railroads. He grew up knowing George Fletcher. Don't know who George Fletcher is? I didn't either!

There's so much to tell. There's so much to tell. It's coming... Temporarily, it will suffice to say the trip out to Eastern Oregon was more than successful.. So many things fell into place.. It's all coming.

© Intisar Abioto

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Today Bruce Poinsette, Hanifah Abioto, and I are heading out to Eastern Oregon to document for Urban League of Portland’s State of Black Oregon. We’ll be in Pendleton today meeting with a few Black elders. Tomorrow we are heading out to La Grande and perhaps Baker City.  I’m still excited to be doing this, excited to get out another region of Oregon, excited to hear more experiences and perspectives. Excited to make some important connections through the journey. I hope to have some time today - or at least by end of day - to share some images, revelations, thoughts.  Intisar Abioto of .. The Black Oregonians