Center for Reconciliation
For the last two years, ORP has been developing organizational partnerships for the creation of a narrative museum located in Portland, OR chronicling the evolution of Oregon’s Black exclusionary laws from foundation, to sundown towns, to restrictive covenants, to redlining, to gentrification, to the displacement of the 21st century.
Similar to Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Case for Reparations, ORP will use Oregon’s evolution of Black exclusionary laws to make the case for reparations in physical form, specifically focusing on the way that African Americans have been excluded from institutions, opportunities, and wealth.
Our Philosophies
The Center for Reconciliation will serve as a hub for historical education, community engagement, and harm rectification. The museum will highlight the contemporary ways communities across Oregon have come together to remember, repair, and redeem their local histories of injustice.
The underlying philosophies of the Center for Reconciliation are: 1) Don’t let your inability to do everything stop you from doing one thing; and 2) You don’t have to be an extraordinary person to do extraordinary things. The goal of the Center for Reconciliation is to empower ordinary citizens to leave with that one thing they can do to advance racial justice in their community, create a legacy of historical reconciliation, and be the change they want to see in this world.
