Community Gardens
Black community gardeners in Portland, Oregon face significant barriers that are bound up with the city’s history of racial segregation. In-depth interviews with 17 Black community gardeners in the metropolitan area revealed that the majority of Portland’s community gardens are tailored to meet the needs of the city’s predominantly white population. However, some interviewees identified garden spaces that were created by, and for, the city’s Black community. Our research finds that Portland’s community gardens are racialized spaces, with a dichotomy emerging between white and Black community gardens.
The Black community gardeners we interviewed characterized the majority of the city’s community gardens, particularly those run by Portland Parks and Recreation, as white spaces. They noted significant barriers that deterred Black folks from participating in community gardening, including a lack of racial diversity – especially of African Americans – among community gardeners and community garden leadership, which led many Black gardeners to feel unwelcomed in specific community gardens.
Our interviewees also identified a relationship between community gardens and institutions that have been historically associated with structural racism in the city. The City of Portland has historically played a significant role in perpetuating the displacement of Black folks by supporting development benefitting its white residents. This includes projects such as the construction of the I-5 Freeway and Memorial Coliseum, which displaced hundreds of Black families and businesses in Portland. The City’s role in managing community gardens – as well as the location and structure of many of these predominantly white gardens – led many Black gardeners to conceptualize the recent proliferation in community gardening within the city as part of the process of gentrification.
The Black gardeners who participated in predominantly white community gardens faced social barriers they explicitly tied to racial discrimination. For example, participants cited the “White Gaze” as an explicit microaggression they frequently experienced while gardening. White gardeners often questioned the food that Black gardeners grew and critiqued their approach to gardening. Many of these critiques and interactions were unsolicited, which made Black gardeners feel unwelcomed in these spaces. Many Black gardeners also cited a lack of adequate gardening spaces and the feeling of isolation when gardening within predominantly white spaces as additional barriers that prevented participation of more Black gardeners.
However, a number of the Black gardeners we interviewed participated in community gardens run by Black organizations, such as the Urban League. These interviewees noted that – in contrast to predominantly white community gardens – Portland’s Black community gardens embody an explicit commitment to food justice and social equity. They identified these gardens as spaces where gardeners participate in food justice activism and combat the inequitable distribution of food within the city. Those who participated in these gardens argued that these spaces created a strong sense of belonging and community for Black gardeners that was visibly absent from garden spaces that were predominantly white.
In conclusion, Black community gardeners are disenfranchised socially and politically from the majority of Portland’s community gardens due to the preexisting landscape within which these gardens are built. Those who participate in predominantly white community garden spaces often face racial discrimination in the form of micro-aggressions, and note that the lack of welcoming community gardening spaces continues to be a barrier that prevents many Black gardeners from participating. While those we interviewed were not opposed to gardening alongside white individuals, they felt that the historical legacy of racial discrimination in the city – and more subtle manifestations of such forms of racism today – makes it difficult for Black gardeners to integrate into predominantly white community garden spaces.
For further reading, see White Space, Black Space: Community Gardens in Portland, Oregon.
Text by Julius McGee based on research conducted by Julius McGee and Doc Billings.
The Black community gardeners we interviewed characterized the majority of the city’s community gardens, particularly those run by Portland Parks and Recreation, as white spaces. They noted significant barriers that deterred Black folks from participating in community gardening, including a lack of racial diversity – especially of African Americans – among community gardeners and community garden leadership, which led many Black gardeners to feel unwelcomed in specific community gardens.
Our interviewees also identified a relationship between community gardens and institutions that have been historically associated with structural racism in the city. The City of Portland has historically played a significant role in perpetuating the displacement of Black folks by supporting development benefitting its white residents. This includes projects such as the construction of the I-5 Freeway and Memorial Coliseum, which displaced hundreds of Black families and businesses in Portland. The City’s role in managing community gardens – as well as the location and structure of many of these predominantly white gardens – led many Black gardeners to conceptualize the recent proliferation in community gardening within the city as part of the process of gentrification.
The Black gardeners who participated in predominantly white community gardens faced social barriers they explicitly tied to racial discrimination. For example, participants cited the “White Gaze” as an explicit microaggression they frequently experienced while gardening. White gardeners often questioned the food that Black gardeners grew and critiqued their approach to gardening. Many of these critiques and interactions were unsolicited, which made Black gardeners feel unwelcomed in these spaces. Many Black gardeners also cited a lack of adequate gardening spaces and the feeling of isolation when gardening within predominantly white spaces as additional barriers that prevented participation of more Black gardeners.
However, a number of the Black gardeners we interviewed participated in community gardens run by Black organizations, such as the Urban League. These interviewees noted that – in contrast to predominantly white community gardens – Portland’s Black community gardens embody an explicit commitment to food justice and social equity. They identified these gardens as spaces where gardeners participate in food justice activism and combat the inequitable distribution of food within the city. Those who participated in these gardens argued that these spaces created a strong sense of belonging and community for Black gardeners that was visibly absent from garden spaces that were predominantly white.
In conclusion, Black community gardeners are disenfranchised socially and politically from the majority of Portland’s community gardens due to the preexisting landscape within which these gardens are built. Those who participate in predominantly white community garden spaces often face racial discrimination in the form of micro-aggressions, and note that the lack of welcoming community gardening spaces continues to be a barrier that prevents many Black gardeners from participating. While those we interviewed were not opposed to gardening alongside white individuals, they felt that the historical legacy of racial discrimination in the city – and more subtle manifestations of such forms of racism today – makes it difficult for Black gardeners to integrate into predominantly white community garden spaces.
For further reading, see White Space, Black Space: Community Gardens in Portland, Oregon.
Text by Julius McGee based on research conducted by Julius McGee and Doc Billings.