I was just in Portland for a couple of days and I was utterly shocked by the level of human suffering happening on the streets there. You can’t go a block in downtown without passing homeless people who are clearly addicted to pick a drug. Fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, xylazine. In several short strolls, I saw tons of addicts smoking, needles strewn on the street, all forms of bizarre behavior and plenty of people who appeared mentally and/or physically ill in various ways.

Something really struck me when observing the homeless population. Obviously this experience was entirely anecdotal, but the homeless population I encountered seemed to be well over 95% male and over 90% white. Calling Portland a progressive city politically is an understatement. BLM graffiti and signs cover building everywhere. People continue to mask against COVID in numbers far greater than anywhere I’ve seen in other parts of the U.S. Trans and lgbtq advocacy is advertised everywhere. Every bookshelf in Powell’s was an advertisement to hear trans-voices.

Yet nary a peep about the unprecedented human suffering happening right under the population’s nose. So this got me thinking, is the reason that the homeless problem in Portland is one the local population seems to not care about because it is mainly effecting white males? As an out group among progressive circles, does this form of human suffering just not register?