Portland City Commissioner Mingus Mapps talks about racial harassment

PORTLAND, OR (KOIN) – Portland city commissioner and mayoral candidate Mingus Mapps is speaking out about the racist hate mail and emails he receives.

KOIN 6 News Political Director Ken Boddie spoke with Mapps on Friday and said the hate has increased in recent months and has gotten worse as we get closer to the November election.

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When asked why he wanted to talk about this, Mapps said, “Frankly, it’s part of our political system now. I hope that pg

Portlanders recognize that despite the kind and caring community in which we live, racist threats and racist intimidation are part of our political culture.”

One email has the headline “Let go of the (N-word).”

The writer rants about “DEI equity idiots” and asks, “Aren’t you just (N-words) worth the infrastructure you enjoy?”

Another expresses the wish that Oregon was purely white, calling Mapps and all black people “pathological in nature” and black people “blood-sucking leeches.”

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Another actually praises mapps for running as a black man in a predominantly white city. But goes on to say that Portland doesn’t need to take a chance with another Black person in a position of power, citing former Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty. The writer fears that Mapps will attempt to create an “office of black supremacy and reparations.”

That’s just the tip of the iceberg and doesn’t count the race-related trolls on social media.

“One of the things I’ve seen over the last 15 years is that it’s gotten worse. I thought we were actually avoiding these kinds of conversations. In practice, I think it has gotten worse over the last decade,” Mapps said.

Mapps said the threats have had an effect on his family’s sense of personal safety, that there is more security around him in certain environments and that his situation is not unique to other black men and women in prominent positions.

“I believe that if we continue our efforts to make this a better city, our children and grandchildren can avoid conversations like today’s,” Mapps said.

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You can catch the entire conversation with Commissioner Mapps this Sunday on Eye on Northwest Politics at 6pm on KOIN 6 and at 4:30pm on Portland’s CW.

KOIN 6 News Political Director Ken Boddie has openly shared similar experiences with racial harassment, something he spoke about in the 2020 special, In his own words: Ken Boddie responds to racist letter.

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