There are many ways in which the country acknowledges the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Most retrospectives focus on his speeches and how his eloquence inspired a nation. Unfortunately, too often the reason why King and his generation were making demands of the country in the first place is lost. The fierce, stubborn, and systemic racism that served as one of the pillars on which America was built left Black people in a degraded social, economic, and political state that has shackled African Americans for generations. The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) recently released a report that lays bare that with all of King's successes, much more needs to be done to bring about the fairness and equality he and his generation fought so courageously to attain.
The report -- 40 Years Later: The Unrealized Dream -- examines some of the racial disparities that exist in important societal indicators. While enormous strides have been made in educational attainment, poverty reduction, income and wealth, asset development, and social development, the date are incontrovertible in showing where we are as a nation.
In education attainment, for example, the change has been astonishing. Fewer than 30 percent of African Americans were graduating high school in the mid-1960s; now that figure is about 80 percent. The African American high school graduation rate has increased by over 214% despite the fact that a majority of African American high school students attend resource-poor public schools. At this rate, however, African Americans will reach equality with white Americans by 2018 -- 64 years after Brown v. Board of Education.
White opponents of affirmative action in higher education appear to be driven, in part, by a fear that Blacks are overrunning American colleges and universities and pushing out Whites. The report makes clear that while the African American college graduation rate has increased by almost 400% since 1968, there is still room for significant improvement. At the current rate, it will take another 80 years to overcome the inequality in Black and White college degree attainment.
Educational attainment is a major factor in wealth accumulation and these educational improvements would suggest that income disparities are closing. The reality is that there has been a scant reduction in income disparities between Whites and Blacks. African Americans, on a per capita basis, earn less than 60 percent of what Whites earn. Even with inflation-adjusted Black incomes increasing by 150 percent during the last 40 years, "African Americans have closed the gap with whites by only 3 cents on the dollar over the course of nearly four decades." At that rate, it will take more than five centuries to reach income parity.
Not all of these problems lend themselves to policy solutions. However, acknowledgment of the current state of play is necessary if we are to ever get beyond the surface, gut-level reactions to race that pollute our discussions of racism and its impact on our society. Too many people, White and non-White alike, want to ignore these issues in hopes that they will just fade away.
Senator Barack Obama's recent speech that touched on race has led many commentators to hope that we are on the verge of open and honest discussion on the role race places in American society, not just politics. I believe that America is in desperate need of such a discussion and hope that the facts presented in this report lie at the forefront of the conversation. For those who are serious about moving the country onto higher ground, the continuing significance of racial disparities, despite all of the great changes that have taken place in the nation, should drive any discussion.
Michael K. Fauntroy is an assistant professor of public policy at George Mason University and author of the recently published book Republicans and the Black Vote. A registered Independent, he blogs at: www.MichaelFauntroy.com.
Follow Michael Fauntroy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MikeFauntroy
The above link is to a blog posted February 29. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Second, white flight, suburbanization led to a disinvestment in inner cities. As a result, jobs, good schools, banks and other critical infrastructure disappeared, replaced with pawnshops, gun stores, check cashers and liquor stores. The great exodus of educated blacks all but spelled the end of the thriving black community. Globalization and the disappearance of good paying blue-collar jobs continue to create more ghettos--full of hopelessness and despair.
There are also racist and discriminatory practices that (i.e., Redlining, a practice that prevents blacks from moving to certain communities) forced people of color to move to undesirable neighborhoods.
Finally, ask yourself, "Why did we need affirmative action in the first place?" Oh yeah, whites did not want to hire people of color, and men (in general) did not want to hire women. Now people of color are able to get jobs that were once off limits--but at a cost. Whites now accuse blacks of not being qualified. A black got into Yale only because of affirmative action. I suppose affirmative action took all of the tests, wrote the reports, did the presentations, passed the bar, obtained the medical license. Here is the double standard: white men do not condemn their daughters, wives, mothers and so forth. White women have benefited from affirmative action more than any other racial group. That is the best keep secret.
Whites can be blamed for discrimination but the a common attitude that blacks have about getting an education and speaking in an articulate manner is "acting white," blacks put more money into high priced sneakers and video games than in books and educational materials for their children.
Blacks need to look in the mirror and judge what they are doing to their selves. Racism and bigotry has not undermined the black community as much the black community has undermined its own potential.
Mr. Fauntroy why are the schools in Washington DC in such disrepair and the student's test scores so low. Washington DC spends more money per pupil than nearly every school district in this country.
Mr. Fauntroy why is the black on black crime rate so high in your city, and people won't assist law enforcement because they "don't snitch?"
Mr. Fauntroy why has the black flight into Prince Georges County Maryland turned that county into a high crime area with property values falling at astronomical rates because blacks are so over extended in credit that they are loosing their homes at a disproportional rate?
Mr. Fauntroy you and other blacks have a lot of soul searching to do before turning all the blame on whites.
Malcom and Martin were right it's just that blacks only want to focus on one aspect of racisim
The point I am making is that blacks have to do their part but it does not help when the powerful in this country continuously have put up hurdles. Many black Americans view their history in this country as a pattern by many white Americans to keep black Americans from achieving the American dream and allowing one’s hard work instead of skin color to determine the policies, actions, and allocation of tax dollars to their communities. We also see this pattern as giving white Americans a big head start in the race of life that has created many of the racial disparities (education, housing wealth, family income, unemployment, life expectancy, etc) today.
No doubt what you say reflects your views and the views of a great many others.
When you say "Many black Americans," do you include all those "black" Americans who have the blood of the white-racist slave-owners in their veins -- and who now claim to be the victims of the white descendants of those white ancestors whose anti-slavery beliefs were so strong that they were willing to fight to free black slaves?
Sure you do.
Do you want to see the descendants of the white racists, just look around. If racism runs in the blood, then they have it in theirs.
So you see a "pattern by many white Americans to keep black Americans from achieving the American dream?"
It is in your imagination. Quite frankly, many white Americans don't think about blacks at all. They don't want to keep anyone from achieving the American dream. That's just too much effort, and they are thinking about other things.
Thanks for another eloquent essay/post. I must say that I agree with ya. Agape.
P.S. I live in the town where they left for the war. The FIRST troops to answer Lincoln's call to arms.
Some of your stated wrongs could be answered by something other than racism. Being from the Caribbean, I have a slightly different slant or viewpoint; so I'm truly interested in your comment.
I appreciated the article and felt it put forth some very salient points. I agree that America has a long 'row to hoe' in order to mitigate the disparities caused by years of discrimination due to race. The above quote does more damage than good. The real statistics are damning enough. You cannot compare apples to oranges unless your desire is to manipulate the outcome to prop up a point. The real comparison would be a like job to like job ratio,not per capita. Per capita can be skewed by too many outside influences such as population growth, etc.
What about 'mixed' race individuals; how did the study count them?
Just because someone is fired and a black man is hired shouldn't be attributed to an unequal system. Try looking at it like a balancing act-you sometimes have to lean more in one direction to stop yourself from falling in the other.