Portland City Commissioner Mingus Mapps opens up about facing racist harassment

PORTLAND, Ore. () — Portland city commissioner and mayoral candidate Mingus Mapps is speaking out about the racist hate mail and emails he's been getting.

KOIN 6 News Political Director Ken Boddie spoke with Mapps on Friday, saying the hate has ramped up in the past several months and it's gotten worse the closer we get to the November election.

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When asked why he wanted to talk about this, Mapps said, "Well frankly, it's part of our political system now. I hope that p

Portlanders recognize that, despite the kind and caring community we live in, racial threats and racial harassment are part of our political culture."

One email has the heading "Let the [N-word] go."

The writer rants about "DEI equity idiots" and asks, "Are you just plain [N-words] not worth of the infrastructure you enjoy"

Another expresses the wish that Oregon was pure white, calling mapps and all Black people "pathological in nature" and calling Black people "blood sucking leeches".

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Another actually commends mapps for running as a Black man in a mostly white city. But then goes on to say Portland doesn't need to take a chance on another Black person in a position of power, referring to former Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty. The writer fears that Mapps may try to establish an "office of Black supremacy and reparations."

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

"One of the things I think I've seen over the past 15 years is, I think it's gotten worse.I thought we were actually moving away from conversations like this. In practice, I think it's gotten worse in the past decade or so," Mapps said.

Mapps said the threats have had an effect on his family's feeling of personal safety, that there is increased security around him in certain settings and that his situation is not unique to other Black men and women in prominent positions.

"I believe that if we continue to lean into making this a better city, our children and our grandchildren can avoid conversations like the one we're having today," Mapps said.

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You can see the entire conversation with Commissioner Mapps this Sunday on Eye on Northwest Politics at 6 p.m. on KOIN 6 and at 4:30 p.m. on Portland's CW.

KOIN 6 News Political Director Ken Boddie has openly shared similar experiences of racist harassment, something he talked about in the 2020 special, In his own words: Ken Boddie reacts to racist letter