Oregon's Paradox
White Supremacy, Liberal Politics, and the Authoritarian Threat
Oregon's simultaneous identity as both a progressive stronghold and a hotbed of white nationalism represents a powerful case study in how America's racial history continues to shape our politics. This analysis examines the historical roots of Oregon's contradictions - between racial exclusion and democracy - and how they create openings for authoritarian movements today.
Oregon as a White Utopia
Oregon was explicitly founded as a white settler colony with racial exclusion at its core. Unlike other Western states, Oregon took extraordinary measures to ensure white supremacy through law:
Oregon's 1844 "Lash Law" prohibited Black people from settling in the territory, threatening violators with whippings every six months "until he or she shall quit the territory." When Oregon entered the Union in 1859, it was the only state admitted with a constitutional exclusion clause explicitly banning Black people from residing, owning property, or making contracts in the state.
This wasn't just about slavery. Oregon rejected slavery while simultaneously rejecting Black people altogether. As historian Walidah Imarisha explains, "The idea was that white folks would come here and build the perfect white society." This vision of a white utopia has persisted through generations, with racial exclusion laws remaining in Oregon's constitution until 1926 and racist language not removed by voters until 2002, with 30% voting to keep it.
As a result, waves of race sensitive whites have migrated to Oregon seeking a “safe” and “clean” state to live in. This, over time, has contributed to the political demographic of the state - at once populist, and often deeply anti-democratic.
The ban on slavery is viewed by some as an indication of an anti-racist commitment on the part of early settlers. However, it is likely that these settlers, having been forced to migrate to the West to escape the market advantages and monopolies created by slavery for the Southern Slaveocracy, banned slavery in order to discourage competition with slavery-enriched oligarchs.
The Paradox Develops: Progressive Politics in a White State
The racial homogeneity created by Oregon's exclusion laws established conditions for a particular kind of politics to flourish:
Progressivism without racial reconciliation: Oregon developed progressive traditions around labor, environmentalism, and direct democracy while avoiding meaningful confrontation with its racist foundations. This allowed for the development of "white progressivism" - progressive economic and environmental policies that primarily benefit the white majority.
Populism without pluralism: Oregon's homogeneity enabled populist movements that could claim to represent "the people" without truly accounting for diversity, creating vulnerability to authoritarian appeals.
As a result, Oregon, like many other liberal, predominantly white states, trails the country on the major indicators of racial equity by significant margins, even in the liberal stronghold of Portland, the population center of the state.
White Nationalist Targeting
Oregon's white demographic profile has made it a strategic target for white supremacist organizing for decades:
In the 1920s, Oregon became home to one of the nation's largest Ku Klux Klan movements, with membership estimated at around 58,000 and approximately 50 chapters throughout the state . The Klan gained significant influence, even meeting openly with Portland city leaders including the police chief and district attorney.
In the 1980s-90s, neo-nazi skinhead groups established a significant presence in Portland. By some estimates, there were as many as 300 neo-nazis in a city of approximately 300,000 (or, 1 in 1000 who belived the Holocaust was a benefit to humanity and that the survival of the white race would require the genocide of Jews and people of color).
Most significantly, in the 1970s-80s, white supremacist leaders developed the "Northwest Territorial Imperative," a plan to establish a white ethno-state in the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and western Montana). This strategy targeted the region specifically because of its whiteness.
Today, a new network of white nationalist organizations continues to organize in Oregon, strategically targeting smaller communities.
Housing, Racial Exclusion, and Contemporary Crisis
The legacy of racial exclusion has directly contributed to Oregon's current housing and homelessness crisis:
Historical exclusionary zoning policies, redlining, and racial covenants confined Black residents to specific neighborhoods like Portland's Albina district. As one researcher notes, "African Americans in Portland were first pushed into Albina and then contained there through exclusionary zoning, predatory lending, and racist real estate practices." The home ownership rate in Black communities was, as result of these practices, relatively low, making these neighborhood very easy to gentrify, driving up housing costs in general, and contributing to a housing affordability crisis in Portland’s core neighborhoods that affects renters and potential home buyers across race. This, then, is driving urban sprawl in the city, as prospective homeowners and those seeking affordable rentals are driven into the peripheral neighborhoods of the city.
Oregon currently has the fourth-largest homeless population per capita in the nation, with the highest rate of chronic homelessness . This crisis disproportionately impacts people of color. In Oregon, Black people are 3 times more likely, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders 3.25 times more likely, and American Indian/Alaska Native people 3.5 times more likely to experience homelessness than white people .
The Authoritarian Opening
This confluence of factors creates a dangerous opening for authoritarian politics in Oregon today:
Class understood through race: Oregon's history means that economic issues are invariably filtered through racial lenses. Appeals to "working class" interests often implicitly mean white working-class interests.
Housing crisis as authoritarian opportunity: As homelessness has become more visible in Portland and other urban centers, business interests and political actors are increasingly advocating for aggressive enforcement approaches against unhoused people. This punitive turn opens space for authoritarian "law and order" politics.
Liberal/authoritarian coalition potential: Oregon's unique configuration allows for potential coalition-building between economically liberal whites concerned about urban disorder and explicitly racist groups that may potentially be united by authoritarianism.
Single-issue authoritarianism: Hard-right groups have effectively exploited land-use and environmental issues to build coalitions across ideological lines. This approach has roots in Oregon's past - from the Posse Comitatus to the Oregon Citizens Alliance (which focused the bulk of their attacks on limiting abortion rights and LGBTQ exclusion), to the Malheur occupation. Each in turn hitched their ideology to land-use issues.
Resistance Traditions
Despite this troubling landscape, Oregon also has strong traditions of anti-racist organizing. In 1995, when the Aryan Nations attempted to make Josephine County the center of an organizing drive, a broad anti-racist march in Grants Pass drew 1,500 people, forcing them to cancel their plans. Similarly, in 2010, when a neo-Nazi group attempted to relocate to John Day, Oregon, community resistance prevented them from establishing a foothold.
Oregon as a Mirror
Oregon's paradoxical combination of progressive politics and deep-seated white supremacy reflects broader American contradictions in concentrated form. Understanding this dynamic helps explain how authoritarian movements can gain traction even in seemingly liberal environments.
The challenge for democracy defenders is to build coalitions that directly confront the racial foundations of economic inequality while addressing legitimate concerns about urban disorder and economic insecurity. This requires moving beyond both colorblind progressivism and punitive approaches to social problems, toward a genuinely multiracial democracy that acknowledges historical harms while building common cause across difference.
What’s the story in your state? How has historical white supremacy opens doors to authoritarianism where you live?