Beyond PostRacialism, Toward Opportunity and Social Justice

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Beyond Post-Racialism, Toward Opportunity and
Social Justice
Presentation at the MOSES 12th Annual Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. Banquet January 19, 2009

• john a. powell,
• Executive Director of the Kirwan Institute for
  the Study of Race and Ethnicity,
• and Williams Chair in Civil Rights Civil
  Liberties,
• Moritz College of Law

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Todays Conversation

• Reflecting on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• Our current situation
• Difficulties faced by Detroit
• Recognizing the relevance of race
• Moving forward
• Opportunity, coalition building and targeted
  universalism
• Importance of community organizations like MOSES

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Dr. King and Barack Obama

• Let us rise up tonight with a greater
  readiness. Let us stand with a greater
  determination. And let us move on in these
  powerful days, these days of challenge to make
  America what it ought to be. We have an
  opportunity to make America a better nation.
• -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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Dr. King and Barack Obama

• This is our moment. This is our time, to put our
• people back to work and open doors of opportunity
• for our kids to restore prosperity and promote
  the
• cause of peace to reclaim the American Dream
• and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of
• many, we are one that while we breathe, we hope.
• And where we are met with cynicism and doubts
• and those who tell us that we can't, we will
• respond with that timeless creed that sums up the
• spirit of a people Yes, we can.
• -Barack Obama

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Dr. King on Economic Justice

• Called for an economic bill of rights and a
  massive jobs program and worked on the Poor
  Peoples campaign
• It must not be just black peopleWe must include
  American Indians, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and
  even poor whites.
• In 1968, Dr. King supported a sanitation workers
  strike in Memphis
• Our only hope today lies in our ability to
  recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out
  into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal
  hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.

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Poverty by the Numbers

• The official 2007 poverty rate was 12.5 percent
• 37.3 million people were in poverty, up from 36.5
  million in 2006.
• Poverty did not change for Whites (8.2 percent),
  Blacks (24.5 percent), and Asians (10.2 percent)
  from 2006, however they increased for Hispanics
• The poverty rate increased to 18 for children
  under 18 years old while it remained unchanged
  for people 18-64 years old and people over 65
• Over 3 times as many families fall below family
  budget thresholds as opposed to the poverty line

Source US Census Bureau
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The Impact of Concentrated Foreclosures

• Foreclosures pull wealth/equity and assets out of
  the neighborhood
• Widespread displacement of renters homeowners
  tears disrupts the social fabric and creates
  instability for school age children
• Vacant property encourages crime, disinvestment
  and public safety risks
• These challenges eventually ensnare all residents

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Disproportionate Impact

• Surge in foreclosures
• Nearly 900,000 homes repossessed by banks in just
  the last 12 months
• Foreclosures rose 81 ensnaring 2.3 million U.S.
  households during 2008
• A global crisis with racially disparate impacts
• Nearly half of all subprime loans went to African
  American and Latino borrowers
• even though many qualified for prime loans
• African American and Latino homeowners are
  expected to lose between 164-213 billion in
  assets due to the crisis

Sources United for a Fair Economy, Foreclosed
State of the Dream 2008 Detroit Free Press,
Foreclosures up by 81 in US.
http//www.freep.com/article/20090115/BUSINESS07/9
01150357/-1/rss07
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Detroit and Foreclosures

• According to RealtyTrac Inc, Wayne County fell to
  10th place in 2008 foreclosure filings after
  being 1st in the nation in 2007
• Filings fell by 7.7 from 2007
• The rest of metro Detroit (Oakland, Macomb, St.
  Clair, Lapeer and Livingston counties) was up 42
  from 2007.
• Bank repossessions rose 19 in Michigan last year
  and the state ranked 6th nationwide in the number
  of foreclosure filings
• Filings are up 107 from 2006

Source Detroit Free Press, Foreclosures up by
81 in US. http//www.freep.com/article/20090115/
BUSINESS07/901150357/-1/rss07
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The Undercapitalized City of Detroit

• Detroit (like other rust belt cities) is an
  undercapitalized city with significant urban
  decline and limited new investment.
• Other large undercapitalized cities include
  Cleveland, St. Louis, Pittsburg, Philadelphia,
  Baltimore, Newark.
• Undercapitalized cities are categorized
  as being highly fragmented and having
  great racial and social disparities

The Core Rust Belt Region
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Undercapitalized Cities
Hot Market Cities
Midrange
Austin
Cleveland
San Fran.
Detroit
Portland
Seattle
Indianapolis
Columbus
Raleigh
Chicago
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Regionalism in a Detroit Context An
equity-based regional agenda in a
undercapitalized city

• In contrast the only Midwestern regions with
  relatively low levels of disparity are
  Indianapolis and Columbus
• Both regions have more regionalized government
  structures (Indianapolis through consolidation,
  Columbus through proactive annexation)
• Research by David Rusk, David Miller and others
  supports this theme, finding that less fragmented
  regions as have more racial equity than their
  fragmented peers
• Researchers feel that fragmentation (and
  corresponding exclusionary policies) produce
  greater levels of segregation and greater
  exclusion from opportunity for people of color,
  ultimately leading to greater inequity

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Detroits Demographics Race
http//factfinder.census.gov
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Opportunity in Detroit

• Low opportunity communities are clustered in
  inner city, high opportunity areas are found in
  the suburbs
• Based on an analysis of multiple indicators of
  neighborhood opportunity (poverty rates, vacancy
  rates, population change, unemployment rates,
  home values and job change, etc.)

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Detroit Automakers and Race

• Detroit car companies employed blacks at a time
  when other industries would not
• The decent wages provided a route to the middle
  class for blacks
• As of December 2008, nearly 20,000
  African-American auto workers had lost jobs, a
  13.9 percent decline in employment, since the
  recession began
• African-Americans earn much higher wages in the
  auto industry than in other parts of the economy,
  and the loss of these solid, middle-class jobs
  would be devastating

Source Economic Policy Institute
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Race and the Economic Situation

• White unemployment was at 6.6 percent in
  December, but black unemployment was nearly 12
  percent.
• The unemployment rate for black men was 13.4
• According to report by the Economic Mobility
  Project, African-American children were less
  likely than their white children to earn more
  than their parents did.
• This is true even for middle class blacks
• 45 of African American children fell to the
  bottom of the income scale as adults compared to
  only 16 of whites

Source U.S. Intra-generational Economic Mobility
from 1984-2004 http//www.economicmobility.org/ass
ets/pdfs/PEW_EMP_MOBILITY_1984_TO_2004_KEY_FINDING
S.pdf New York Times, As Detroit Suffers, Black
Workers Hurt. http//www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/b
usiness/30detroit.html?_r1partnerMOREOVERNEWSe
i5040
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The Continuing Relevance of Race

• Why does race continue to play such a critical
  role in determining societal outcomes?
• Havent we entered a post-racial moment with the
  election of Barack Obama?
• While significant in many ways, Obamas victory
  does not erase the persistent inequalities that
  hinder the life chances for marginalized groups

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Myth of Post-racialism

• Conservative and liberal political commentators
  termed Obama as a post-racial candidate much
  different from Rev. Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson
• This was a color-blind election Deneen
  Borelli, National Center for Public
  Policy Research
• Many others question the notion of past-racialism
  and worry about Obamas desire to transcend a
  critical black narrative about America
• My fear is that, should Obama succeed with his
  effort to renegotiate the implicit American
  racial contract, then the prophetic African
  American voice which is occasionally strident
  and necessarily a dissident, outsider's voice
  could be lost to us forever. Glenn Loury,
  Brown Univ.

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Racial Disparities and Inequity

• Although racial attitudes are improving, racial
  disparities persist on every level.
• Inequity arises as disenfranchised groups are
  left out of the democratic process.

www.cartoonstock.com
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Spatial Racism and Inequality

• The government plays a central role in the
  arrangement of space and opportunities
• These arrangements are not neutral or natural
  or colorblind
• Social and racial inequities are geographically
  inscribed
• There is a polarization between the rich and the
  poor that is directly related to the areas in
  which they live

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Mutual Institutional Interactions
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The Cumulative Effects of Racial and Opportunity
Segregation

• Zoning laws prevent affordable housing
  development in many suburbs
• Municipalities subsidize the relocation of
  businesses out of the city
• Transportation spending favors highways,
  metropolitan expansion and urban sprawl
• Court decisions prevent metropolitan school
  desegregation
• School funding is tied to property taxes

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The Cumulative Effects of Racial and Opportunity
Segregation
Segregation impacts a number of life-opportunities
Impacts on Health
School Segregation
Impacts on Educational Achievement
Exposure to crime arrest
Transportation limitations and other inequitable
public services
Job segregation
Neighborhood Segregation
Racial stigma, other psychological impacts
Impacts on community power and individual assets
Adapted from figure by Barbara Reskin at
http//faculty.washington.edu/reskin/
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Other Manifestations of Race

• Historically, the notion of religio-racism
• In 17th century, many Irish Catholics and native
  Irish (Celtic tribes) lost a considerable amount
  of landholdings due to an Act passed by the
  English government
• From 1652 onward, racial oppressionwas anchored
  in the very bedrock of the Irish colonial
  economy, (p. 51)
• Irish Catholics, Anglo-Irish landlords, and
  native Irish became a combined racialized
  other

Source Allen, Theodore. The Invention of the
White Race Racial Oppression and Social Control.
London, UK Versa, 1994
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Misconceptions about Obamas Faith

• 46 of Americans unable to identify Obama as a
  Christian
• 3-in-10 say he is a Muslim or that they have
  heard different things
• 2-in-10 McCain supporters say that Obama is a
  Muslim
• Fewer than one-in-ten Obama supporters (7)
  identify him as a Muslim
• More than three times as many white as African
  Americans voters think Obama is Muslim

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Distribution of Religious Centers in the
Metropolitan Detroit
Source Pluralism Project
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Moving Forward Effectively and Proactively

• How do we make sense of all of this?
• Understanding Opportunity
• Recognizing our interconnectedness
• Targeted Universalism as an approach
• Coalition building and the role of community
  organizations like MOSES

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Opportunity is Mediated

• For much of human history, we interacted
  exclusively on a face-to-face basis within small
  communities
• How we understand discrimination, prejudice, and
  identity
• Now, many of our relationships are mediated
• Technology
• Distance
• Institutions
• People in foreclosure cannot find a person to
  talk to
• And our opportunities are strengthened or
  truncated by these mediating factors

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Opportunity is Global

• Our world today is more complex and
  interconnected. Current and future changes will
  not be only driven by local/national issues, but
  influenced by systemic global trends and
  challenges
• Examples
• Globalization
• Climate change
• The credit and foreclosure crisis
• Growing diversity and widening inequality
• We must adjust our lens of analysis to reflect
  these changing conditions
• Moving towards a systems approach of problem
  solving and identifying solutions

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Opportunity is Racialized

• Structural racialization the joint operation of
  institutions produces racialized outcomes.
• Structures unevenly distribute benefits, burdens,
  and racialized meaning.
• In 1960, African-American families in poverty
  were 3.8 times more likely to be concentrated in
  high-poverty neighborhoods than poor whites.
• In 2000, they were 7.3 times more likely.
• This uneven distribution has negative
  consequences not just for those with the greatest
  need, but all of us.

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Emphasizing our Linked Fateand Interconnectedness

• All members of a society share a linked fate
• Inequality is a sign of an economically/socially
  inefficient society, where proper investments are
  not made in human capital, and where much of the
  population can not meet its creative potential.
  These disparities and inequities make our nation
  less competitive, depressing opportunities for
  all
• should be collaborative and focus on coalition
  building
• recognize the interconnectedness of our being and
  fate
• re-conceptualize society to promote the
  political, economic, spiritual, and psychological
  health of all

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Targeted Universalism

• Through collective imagination, we need to define
  what the future should look like
• A New Paradigm! Targeted Universalism
• What is our alternative vision?
• A model where we all grow together
• A model where we embrace collective solutions
• This vision requires collective action and will
  require coalitions to be successful

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Challenge False Universalism

• An example of Transactional thinking
• Uneven distribution of pathways to opportunity
• Universal programs do not account for the
  differences in experience among Whites and people
  of color
• Examples Poverty-reduction programs, social
  security
• Inability to reach opportunity through these
  universal programs is seen as an individual
  failure

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Coalition Building

• Move from transactional level to a deeper
  transformative level
• Coalition across groups, space, ideology
• Ethics of connectedness and linked fate
• Structures, policies, institutions actively
  disconnect us whereas they could proactively
  connect us

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Coalition Building and Collaboration

• Action-linked intervention should focus on
  multi-racial and multi-ethnic coalitions
• Leadership and coalition building will be vital
  to creating the political momentum for change
• Regional actors must have an inclusive series of
  conversations that foregrounds equity
• The capacity to coordinate and move various
  initiatives forward must be developed
• Residents can help build public support for
  policy reforms

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Importance of community organizations MOSES

• Community organizations play an essential role
  especially with an administration that is likely
  to be more receptive
• MOSES is geared toward the community and its
  mission is conducive to coalition-based
  grass-roots activism
• Faith serves as important anchor
• Broad engagement in a number of social issues
  including employment, healthcare, immigration,
  land banks, civil rights

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MOSES Initiatives and Greening

• Efforts to enrich and expand the mass transit
  system in Southeastern Michigan
• Pushing for wider availability of high quality,
  healthy, and affordable foods
• These initiatives are critical in terms of
  community building and going green
• Pressure on Detroit automakers provides an
  opportunity for groups like MOSES to push for
  new, more environmentally friendly car product
  lines

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• Let us rise up tonight with a greater
  readiness. Let us stand with a greater
  determination. And let us move on in these
  powerful days, these days of challenge to make
  America what it ought to be. We have an
  opportunity to make America a better nation.
• -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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