Explaining a neighborhood's controversial namefrom @lovecertt

Themes

• Social justice
• Local identity
• Racial history
• Urban neglect
• Personal narrative

Techniques

• Monologue delivery
• Direct address
• Historical context setting

Post caption

Let’s talk about Felony Flats … this is the Portland I grew up in. Raised on 83rd, right off Flavel. On the surface, people see crime, cheap rent, n the lil grimy reputation people love to tell stories about … but underneath there’s a lot of history. See Portland was designed to be white, n places like Felony Flats became home to the families no one else wanted. Black families, immigrants, all trying to live where the city didn’t bother investing. The city says they’re working on it, but all I’m seeing are little hipster bars n overpriced apartments. Portland is still around 77% white, one of the whitest cities in America, n that explains why pockets of neighborhoods like this exist. Resources, opportunities, even basic attention were rarely shared, shaping how kids like me grew up. You either learned to fit in with all the white kids or you felt invisible. Felony Flats became a place where people made life happen anyway, ‘cause complaining ain’t gon help nothing. Families, small businesses, the streets, man that’s where the heart is. Even if the city doesn’t care. It’s a neighborhood shaped by neglect but ALIVE because of the people who stayed. My family never left n man, I love it here. I just want to see it grow, n I think without being honest about it, Portland just gon keep tryna be Portlandia. We need to make the city care, n if we just pretend like it’s cool, the city’s gon run with that. Anyway, heavy way to start the new year, my bad lol I do that sometimes. Just needed to get it off my chest. Hope all of you have a beautiful new year n reach all your goals. OH & thank you to that nice Indian Uber driver for motivating me to make this video. Sorry you had such a bad experience in the city. She was way too nice to have to experience that. Anyway, love 🖤

Text overlays

• title · beginning

  FELONY FLATS PORTLAND, OREGON

• informational · beginning

  The Oregon black exclusion laws were attempts to prevent black people from settling within the borders of the settlement and eventual U.S. state of Oregon. The first such law took effect in 1844, when the Provisional Government of Oregon voted to exclude black settlers from Oregon's borders. The law authorized a punishment for any black settler remaining in the territory to be whipped with 'not less than twenty nor more than thirty-nine stripes' for every six months they remained.[1] Additional laws aimed at African Americans entering Oregon were ratified in 1849 and 1857.[2] The 1857 law was not repealed until 1926.[3] The laws, born of a pro-slavery and anti-black climate,[4] were often justified as a reaction to fears of black people instigating Native American uprisings.[5]