PSU Magazine Winter 1989

The vast majority of Oregon's whites, the inheritors of this history, are not overtly rac ist, Millner said . That is not to say they are not rac ist, it's just that since they rarely, if ever, come into contact with blacks, they are not conscious of their own racial attitudes. Given the advantage of numbers, and a hi story that has given them a head start , they have little occasion to be hostile toward minorities. But when they find themselves in competition with a person of co lor - for a job or even a seat on a bus - "sometimes that racism emerges to a striki ng, remarkable and surpri sing degree ," Millner said . B efore the Seraw murder, the most overt forms of racism centered around white supremacist groups such as The Order, headquartered in northern Idaho. The Order committed a variety of violent acts, one of which was the bombing of the Coeur d'Alene home of one of the ir more vocal opponents, Bill Wassmuth . Wassmuth , now the Executive Director of Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment , ex pl ained at the PSU sympos ium that white supremaci st groups view the Northwest as the one of the few areas of the country where they can save the last vestiges of a white-dominated America. "They want the five Northwest states to be the homeland of the white race , where they can bu ild their nation," he sa id . The Order's presence in Idaho is fadi ng, he added , and some white supremac ist groups are giving up on the Northwest and turning toward the South . But the Northwest , and particul arl y Oregon, is still home to groups such as Aryan Nation , National Sociali st Vanguard, Christian Patriots, the Covenant Church, Church of the Creator, Rac ist Constitutionalists and the Ku Klux Kl an. The Ski nheads , members of which murdered Mulugeta Seraw, are the most visible group , simply because of their appearance shaved heads or extremely short hair, suspenders, camouflage clothing, boots (often steel-toed for fi ghting) . Aggressive, with a gang mentality, the Skinheads often roam the city, gathering at night in outdoor public areas such as Pioneer Courthouse Square. They pick on blacks , but also on an increasing number of physica lly vulnerable white men. PSU 14 Skinheads originated in Great Britain in the 1970s as a group of unemployed young men sufferi ng the effects of a bad economy. Their targets were Pakistanis and gays - both of whom were seen by them as either threats to their li ve lihoods or symptoms of a Great Britain that was becoming weak and wishy-washy. They saw long hair as another symptom of weakness, and so adopted the tough, shaved head look. When Skinheads emerged in the United States, they were not so much a raci st hate group as they were fans of " punk" rock music, which originated in England and which the British Skinheads identified with , Wassmuth said . But the raci st ideology was not far behind. "We must keep alive our dismay, our nonsupport (of racism) ." Wassmuth , whose group compiles stati stics on acts of bi gotry, said there are some 3,000 Skinheads in the United States, and Portland is considered a Mecca. "Skinheads from Seattle come here on the weekends to get re-energized ," he said . Speakers at the sympos ium noted that Skinheads share a psychologica l makeup that is common to a broader spectrum of bigots. Fear and anger, Wassmuth said , are two prevalent traits. They fear they are losing control , and that minorities are taking over. Their anger may stem from be ing denied a job in an affirmative action case, or that they were the victims of a criminal assault. They often come from dysfunctional, violent families. They feel isolated , and so they seek the acceptance of an outside group . They need a target. And their targets need not be black. Millner said bigoted ideology gives its believers the feeling that they have the right to control and dominate other groups. Once instilled with that attitude, they apply it not only to race , but to sex, national origin , reli gion and sex ual ori entation. "Once you have internali zed and accepted the concept that you can treat someone different because of a defined category, then it 's not going to be just one of the categories ," Millner said. L oren Christiansen , a paneli st at the symposium who serves on a Portland police unit focusing on gang acti vity, said the number of reported white supremacist incidents in Portland is increasing, go ing from an average of two per month in the spring and summer of 1988, to as many as 20 per month in the summer of 1989. Wassmuth 's Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment reported a 338 percent increase in hate crimes from 1988 to 1989 in its five-state coverage area. Oregon had the higher number with 135 incidents, which included bombings, assaults, cross burnings, threats and incidents of destroying or defac ing property. It also had the dubious di stinction of hav ing the region's onl y prejudice– moti vated murder: that of Seraw. Christiansen sa id Skinheads are now wearing their hair longer and blending in with the rest of society, at least in appearance. But , he said , although Skinheads are slowly diminishing, white upremac ist groups remain active . While the po lice routinely talk to reporters about rac ist violence, 99 percent of the racially moti vated crimes in the city never make the news, he noted . Yet with all these troubling stati stics, Millner believes that the state of rac ist behavior is getting better when taken in hi storical context. Even though most rac ial incidents are ignored by the medi a, Millner said the reporting of them today is considerably more than when state sanctioned racism was official law and when soc iety itself played the role that Skinheads play today. "Because we are no longer a ' rac ist' society on an official level, incidents of rac ism become news. Also, because we created a generational consc iousness that makes rac ial acts repugnant, when they do occur our reaction is more extreme ," said Millner. Building upon this repugnant reaction to racism , and setting the foundation for a non-racist soc iety wi ll depend in large part on education. Millner sees thi s as a major function of the symposium and hi s own Bl ack Studies department. "I have young white students frequently in my classroom who never have known a black person until they get to college. That 's not unusual in Oregon life. They have never had any personal contact with an individual of another race," Millner said .