Donald Trump’s latest threat to send federal troops to Portland is not new, nor is it just about recent protests. Portland has long been a fixation for the far right, fascists, and white supremacist groups—from the Proud Boys to neo-Nazis. To understand why, you have to go deeper into Oregon’s history.
Oregon was founded as a white utopia. The state constitution in 1859 explicitly banned Black people from living here. But Black people did come and have been in the state since the enslaved man York kept Lewis and Clark alive on their expedition, only to be written out of the story. While York and other Black pioneers paved the way that led to the Kaiser shipyards for many Black Americans fleeing the terrorism of the American South, that exclusionary foundation shaped the demographics of the state, which remains overwhelmingly white today. Portland is often described as liberal, but race has always been a determining factor in the experiences of people of color, from the VanPort flood and gentrification that dislodge an entire community to discriminatory housing and employment polices.
The city’s reputation as a progressive enclave grew after a series of high-profile moments: protests against the Iraq War, the Burnside Bridge laydown in honor of George Floyd, and its consistent push for social justice. For the far right, these moments became flashpoints. The Floyd protests in particular sparked conspiracies about white children being indoctrinated with critical race theory, an idea that galvanized right-wing backlash against higher educational institutions.
But Portland’s history with fascism and resistance goes back further. In 1988, Mulugeta Seraw, a young Ethiopian student, was murdered by white supremacists in Portland. His death symbolized the city’s status as a hub of neo-Nazi activity in the 1980s and early 1990s. What changed was the community’s response: loose coalitions of anti-racist residents organized to confront and push out skinheads and fascists. They weren’t official organizations with dues or structures; they were people who refused to let Portland be hospitable to fascism.
When the president talks about cracking down on Portland, what he really means is cracking down on perceived white resistance to white supremacy. In the white supremacist worldview, Portlanders committed the cardinal sin: they rejected the culture. Think of Stephen Miller’s spit-filled tirade at Union Station, when he sneered at those who protested him and JD Vance: “So we’re going to ignore these stupid white hippies… and we’re going to get back to the business of protecting the American people.” In this worldview, “bad whites” who resist are more dangerous than anyone else.
That is the real reason why Portland is “dangerous.” It is where anti-fascists pushed back hard enough to change the cultural landscape. And for that, the far right has never forgiven it. Ever since, groups from Washington and Idaho have come in the summers to harass the “bad whites” and bring them to heel. Now, the president of the United States is leading the charge.
Portland is no utopia. It has all the problems of any major city and then some: drug abuse, houselessness, untreated mental illness, crime, and the lingering scars of the pandemic. At times, it tries the patience of those who live here. But the idea that Portland is an on-fire wasteland is a curated social media phenomenon, a highlight reel of worst hits designed to feed a narrative.
The true issue is not graffiti or tents on sidewalks. The true issue, for the right and for white supremacists, is that Portland represents a fight for the soul of a once—and in many ways still—white utopia. It represents the possibility of white people refusing to go along with white supremacy. And that is why Portland remains their target.
