Minorities still feel Eugene, Oregon’s historical link to the Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan came to Oregon in 1921.

By 1922, the KKK had a foothold in the state and held its first parade through the streets of Eugene and burned a cross atop Skinner Butte.

Today, the KKK doesn’t march or burn crosses in public.

Yet black people like former UO law professor Robin Morris Collin don’t think much has changed. Collin has lived all over the country, including the South, and says Eugene is the most racist place she has ever lived.

“It got to the point where I tensed my shoulders every time I walked down the sidewalk,” Collin said. “Because I could tell that when I came up on a group of people I was expected to step off of the sidewalk to get out of their way.”

At UO, administration has been trying to increase its faculty diversity for the last five years, but the administration has to overcome a long history of white supremacy in Eugene.