Barriers Broken, Barriers Remain

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

Comments

[Rockerbabe]

Life is hard; get over it. My father, god rest his soul (a cab driver), once told me and my brothers that "the world don't owe you a living", so you had better find a job, save some money of a rainy day and make your plans. WORK towards those plan. . .if you don't care about your life, no one else will. Well, all of us kids took him to task; we all graduated from high school, 3 of us 6 kids went to college (worked our way through), 1 went on to do a journymanship as a sheet metal fabricator and the other is a laborer and one learned to lay cable and now has his own crews (he works 60 hours a week). We never believe life would be easy and respect has to be earned. In fact, EVERYTHING IN LIFE HAS TO BE EARNED, the truth be told. Be white only goes so far and there are far more poor white folks than there are black. It is time to bury the past and look to the future.

[mjc]

As has been pointed out here, many of the barriers, especially in education, are still there Middle class blacks have moved into suburban school districts. Money, a "nice" home, kids going off to college are available to any skin color in balanced districts, black or white. But in small cities I am familiar with the black population still lives in a certain part of the city The young people, black and Hispanic with some "whites", are getting a high school education, most completing 12 years, but not all. It is these children who people in the community complain about having "attitude" and racial tension is often expressed in the local sports arenas. But the driving difference behind MOST racial problems is income. In the depressing economic times of today not having enough for vacations, cars...for the income earner as well as one graduating child...,or higher education are determiners of "attitudes". Volunteering for the military in some areas are not based on patriotism necessarily but on a chance for a higher education, although George Bush is certainly not any hope that that will happen. But the idea that there is some sort of bland, "nice", middle class goal for all Americans is just not there. Young people, black, Hispanic, and white, all seem to want more than just a good living, house, car, vacation, etcetera. Making it big is way too important....from this middle class point of view....but it is there and anything else is just settling.

[FemWorkingClass]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-ridley/forty-years-on-kerner-an_b_89261.html

The above link is to a blog posted February 29. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[jeskiley]

I'd be excited to hear the proposed discussion. You said, "America is in desperate need of such a discussion" and you helped the task by putting the facts in the foreground. It's a simple approach, and I like it!

[WillfromSF]

This column itself is a sad commentary on the racial situation 40-years post MLK, because it totally points to affirmative action/raced-based government (pickyour jargon) solutions to alleviate the problems in the black community when it is clear that they not only haven't worked, they have backfired in some cases. I'm a 62-year-old white guy who grew up in segregated Richmond. VA (the capital of the Confederacy) and marched for civil rights back when it was an idealistic movement about breaking down segregation and insuring equal opportunity and I'm proud I did so. At the time the segregated black community had its own businesses and though the discrimination was blatant and total, the crime/violence level was low and there was a thriving middle class. So how can we look at the past 40 years and not be amazed that despite equal opportunity and affirmative action the black underclass has grown, the violence has soared, and as the writer shows many indications show negative progress. We can not say the opression of slavery, bigotry, and segregation is greater now than it was 40 or 50 years ago when it was still the law of the land. So the problems have to be in how the black community has adapted to these seemingly positive social changes. Throwing more money into more failed programs or more affirmative action is clearly not the way to go.

[chamberslee]

WillfromSF, there are problems with your assertion that "the problems have to be in how the black community has adapted to these seemingly positive social changes." First, resegregation has ensured that more schools are segregated today compared to the first two decades after integration. As a result, blacks attend schools that are no better today than they were pre-Brown v. Board of Education. They lack adequate rescources to compete with schools in wealthy suburbs. Yet, all standardized tests are based on the assumption that all students have the same curriculum and resources. Many inner city and rural school do not have basic technology courses. How are kids supposed to compete in a technological world when their schools are deficient?

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.

[chamberslee]

Third, most people are indifferent to the conditions and plight of the black community, until they see the opportunity to make lots of money. They reclaim the rundown community and build schools, parks, shopping centers, banks--essentially creating jobs and a safe community that draws people back to the community. Displacing several thousand poor people is a small price. For decades, these very communities were neglected and deemed undesirable, because people of color lived there. Gentrification takes care of that small problem.

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.

[indypete]

And don't forget george bush got into Yale through affirmative action (the oldest kind of affirmative action) and you don't hear many white folk complain about that.

[chamberslee]

As for crime and violence, crime has dropped dramatically over the past 20-30 years, yet incarceration rates continue to increase in the black community. Why? They are policy driven. The FBI statistics and reports show that less than five percent of residents in black communities are violent, habitual criminals. That means more than 95 percent are law-abiding citizens who work hard every day to achieve a piece of the American dream. I know the media portrayal suggest otherwise, but it is called generating ratings. School shootings, infanticide, terrorism, arson serial killers are reserved for whites. They commit these violent crimes more than any other racial group. Is it there inability to adapt to their great social situation? The point is that we have to look beyond sensationalism to root causes and provide practical solutions.

Look, I respect what you did by marching with MLK, but your rosy assessment is a myth.

[TankerRat]

A good post to be sure. However. Would someone please explain to me why it still seems any questions or criticism of such a post by someone other than an African American is automatically considered racist. Or don't you people listen to your own words? Racism works in both directions folks. Just in case you hadn't noticed.

[ResidentChimp]

It's pretty hard to have a "frank discussion of race" when all contrary views are deleted.

[plafayette]

Amen!

[PioneerKing]

When are blacks going to hold their selves accountable for allowing drugs, and the thug life style of hip-hop culture to supersede attaining an education and hard work?
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.

[indypete]

That's the sort of attitude that will keep racism going! Why do blacks...? When will blacks...? Blacks have the attitude... Get a grip, Pioneer, listen to what you are saying!

[PioneerKing]

if it's not the truth then you explain the drop out rate and incarciration rates.
Malcom and Martin were right it's just that blacks only want to focus on one aspect of racisim

[jazzo65]

The FHA (federal agency) in the 1930's denied housing loans to American blacks and mixed communities, while helping to build the suburbs of this country for American whites while blacks were stuck in the cities. Millions of white men were hired to build the country’s interstate highway system (one of the biggest government social programs in its history) while most American blacks were mainly left unemployed. The federal government paid a lot of money through defense spending bills to Detroit auto companies which benefited their employees – healthcare insurance, good paying jobs, pensions, etc, which excluded blacks from these jobs for too many years. When carpenter, electrician, police, firemen, steelworkers, and other unions became a way for many white Americans to achieve the American dream and move into the middle class while American blacks were basically excluded.

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.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

"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 ..."

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.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

"When are blacks going to hold their selves accountable for allowing drugs, and the thug life style of hip-hop culture to supersede attaining an education and hard work?"

The answer is this: When this country (1) re-adopts the policy of favoring an emerging middle-class by re-raising trade barriers so that goods are manufactured here and more jobs are available and (2) re-adopts the policy of favoring American workers over those who are invading this country across the Southern border.

I am not young, I'm not Black, and I'm not unemployed, but I can certainly see and understand the results of the economic policies that have been adopted. And no, I do not favor hip-hop (which I find damn annoying), nor drug usage, nor the thug life-style.

Do you want to make a difference? Get politically active. Push your politicians to bring prosperity back to the middle class and it will reduce the drug, thug, hip-hop style that annoys so many of us.

[chamberslee]

King, how many black people from the hood do you think can fly a plane, navigate a ship or put up the money necessary to get tons of illegal drugs into this country? The answer is NONE. White people who pass themselves off as legitimate businesspersons are responsible for the flow of drugs into poor communities. When are white people going to accept this fact? Young black men selling drugs on the corner is the result of whites distributing large quantities of drugs throughout black communities. Let us not forget Oliver North.

Fact: more white people use drugs in American than any other race. Fact: Older white people abuse prescription drugs more than any other group. Fact: more whites commit mass murder in the U.S. (school and public shootings) than any other group.

The point is that law enforcement targets one group and not the other. The same problems in the hood occur in suburbia.

Blacks have had full rights for 42 years while whites have always had full rights that included the right to terrorize blacks for nothing more than their skin color. I am referring to 100 years post slavery and all of the elaborate methods used to oppress blacks.

And you want to know why blacks have not caught up. I mean, isn't 42 years longer enough to catch up to several hundreds years of prosperity.

[indypete]

Wish I'd said that! Spot on, Chambers.

[OriginalRisky1]

I was very moved by Obama's speech about race in America. One of the points he made very well is that both sides of fence have legitimacy and finger pointing will not help. Personally I find the taxonomic classification of "race" within phyla to be problematic in that it displays an ideology of superiority which does not exist in reality. We all need to get on board with the fact that we are all humans and of the same exact family tree.
Perhaps it should also be noted that classism and the seperation of classes in society today is large problem that is not being addressed. I will not disagree that a disproportionate amount of young black men are sent to prison, or that laws made are often harder on the street dealer than the guy who has the money to buy justice. However, if we do not begin to embrace the tenet that a society is only as strong as its weakest and most disenfranchised citizen then all the discussion in the world is not going to help us out if that discussion devolves into fingerpointing and blame. The problems in America today are more closely related to the corporatization of this country than any systemic ethnocentricism. Yes we need to help the disenfranchised, yes we need to accept the anger and pain of our brothers and sisters, but we will never reach that until we recogize we are all brothers and sisters.

[Dap]

Dear Dr. Fauntroy,

Thanks for another eloquent essay/post. I must say that I agree with ya. Agape.

[ResidentChimp]

What I'd like to see in this "frank race discussion" is acknowledgement that millions of whites have been supportive of equal rights since before the Civil War. That 300,00 northerners gave their lives to perserve the Union. That millions of whites have not tried to impede African Americans from advancing. That white America is not responsible for black crime or black drug use. It seems as if blacks always want to point out supposed deficiencies where white America isn't doing a good enough job in enabling blacks to reach the level of success they feel they are entitled to.

[TankerRat]

It was more like 600,000 ResidentChimp. Including 82% of the 1st Minnesota at a little place called Gettysburg. Say buddy. WHERE you been? Good to see you back.

P.S. I live in the town where they left for the war. The FIRST troops to answer Lincoln's call to arms.

[spaceman3838]

it all seemed pretty meaningless to me. i have lived my whole life in a integrated envirment. it is without a doubt that most black and most whites have a whole lot more in commen then not. they want a decent job a loving spouse and kids that have it better then they did. most whites are not racist but way to many allow the racist members of their race to be the most vocal. most blacks are not racists but they allow excuses for criminality in their neighborhoods and somehow glorify bad behavior as somehow being caused by a rebelist spirit the is trying to free itself after so many years of racism.

[TankerRat]

A good post spaceman. One in which I concur. I have no use what so ever for such morons. Didn't Rodney King say it pretty well with "Can't we all get along?"

[Ecoutez]

Yes, your article hits on very key points. Problem is, after we get our education we have to face racism in getting a job. Years ago, Black men who got a college degree were only hired at the post office., and the "p.o". became the job of last resort, the Black man's job.. Now in applying for jobs we face the problem of "too many Blacks". It's urgent that we have a forum on race so we can understand each other's history, especially Blacks. Prop. 209 in California was primarily aimed at keeping Blacks out. The effect of this legislation is now there is a dearth of Black applicants to the University of California campuses. Wonder why? The point is why attend a school in which you receive no positive reinforcement in your studies.; no encouragement; unequal grading, etc. We have a long way to go in race relations. The late Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, the first person of color who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950, championed the principle of equal rights for everyone, regardless of race or creed. He believed in "the essential goodness of all people, and that no problem in human relations is insoluble". Sadly, in spite of his work in mediating for peace in the Middlle East, he was not immune from racism, his son was denied membership in a tennis club in Forest Hill,s New York.

[CruzanKenny]

Where do you get your facts on unequal grading? Most of your comment was on the mark; when I grew up it was the railroad that was the job of last resort.
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.

[Ecoutez]

My facts on unequal grading come from my own experience as a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley. I did a group paper with 4 other students. All of them got an A, and I got the B+ (Black plus). It took me back to high school in New York City when I scored 90 on my four-year French Regents. All the students in my accelerated French class received an honor at graduation except moi. Yes, my grandfather and many other Black fathers and grandfathers were Pullman porters.

[CruzanKenny]

"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 income 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."

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?

[ResidentChimp]

All large companies have quotas to hire blacks regardless of their qualifications. I have seen whites fired so the Company could hire a black and meet their federally mandated quotas. Every year companies have to file a minority report that shows they are complying to the quotas the Government sets. It's also absurd to think that blacks are being paid less for jobs requiring a degree.

[TankerRat]

My niece was one of them. One that got fired. Nice to see you back ResidentChimp. Where have you been for so long?

[CruzanKenny]

Those quotas are in place because these very same companies neglected or refused to give equal opportunity in hiring.
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.

[plafayette]

The companies you speak of get an incentive tax break and/or attain a status that makes them eligible to receive federal grant monies. Without these incentives in place most of these companies would not hire any blacks at all. The minority report that you speak of also applies to number of women hired (regardless of color). And it may be hard for you to believe that blacks are paid less for jobs requiring a degree - but it is still none the less true.

[jazzo65]

All large companies are not required by law to hire a specific number or non-whites or black Americans. Please inform everyone where this information comes from because it is not factual in the U.S.A.

Since the U.S. collects and analyzes all kinds of data, companies do report on employees and racial and ethnicities, but it is not a minority report as you call it.

Yes, white men earn more for the same positions than white women, black Americans, and every other non-white in this country whether they have degrees or not. As a matter fact, white men together earn on average more than college educated black men.

[riconap]

Bill Cosby has it right; only those changes taking place from inside the African American family will lead to positive changes in the results outside.

[OhMyGoodness]

I can certainly understand where you are coming from riconap... However, to lay this entirely at the feet of African Americans is to disbelieve that there are still racial inequalities that African Americans have to overcome in order for this change to take place in our homes. Don't get me wrong I believe wholeheartedly that we as a people have got to move past expecting something from America. It has been proven time and time again that "it ain't gone happen." Yes we have obstacles that the majority in this country can never understand or relate to but I choose not to let that deter me. Having said that I realize that not all blacks had the mother I have. My mother stressed and enforced the importance of education and because of that all 4 of her children have at least Master degrees in our chosen fields. Among friends and family we are some what of an enigma because it's not something that is often seen. Again I want to point out that I understand the statements that we have to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and in a sense I agree. However, unless you are armed with strong parents it can be quite difficult to do.

[stlswest]

How do you recommend breaking the cycle?

[stlswest]

Let me be more clear. Viable families are crucial to the success of African Americans in this country. Like you, my parents stressed education, and I have benefitted. We seem to be the exception. How do you recommend we go about reaching those African American parents who aren't stressing education and supporting their children in ways that would help African Americans rise faster?

[nightwind928]

The idea of blaming parental misfortune for a lack of success bothers me. And it's not limited to racial issues either. Everyone, across the color line, faces some of the same challenges. We are given choices in life. Some good and some bad. Education is a choice. If you choose to sit out the day in school, absorbing nothing as those around you hone the skills that will advance them forward in life then it's not your parents fault. When, in later life, your shown opportunities that could make a difference but choose to ignore them because they require hard work and commitment you can't blame your home life.Opportunities abound but you must be quick enough to sieze them and smart enough to recognize them. Many great people of every color have had to overcome the hardships of broken homes and terrible social enviormnents but they did it and became beacons of hope for all of us.That's the thing about America, everything's possible. But you have to recognize the beacon for it to matter. I have always said, "show me a kids heros and I'll show you who they will be " We are all, at some point, required to take stock of ourselves and admit we won or lost in the game of life, not because we didn't get a chance at the plate, but because we either struck out or got a hit on our own.

[john85msy]

True and I agree with you but what does the African American family have to do with Police Profiling/Brutality, gross injustice in the justice system across the U.S., Hate crimes that go unprosecuted....etc. And as far as Katrina the Media did'nt focus on the majority of the people that made the right decisions and or were self-efficient they only talked about the small number that got cuaght in the storm most not wanting to leave home and everything in it behind.

[jazzo65]

Yes, changes from the inside are very important, but they should not have to take place before changes on the outside take place as you stated. Everyone that is responsible has to do their part and this does not depend on one group going first or second.

It is better to simply realize that your group is part of the problem and will need to start making changes.

[WillfromSF]

"Changes on the outside" have been taking place for the past 45 years. No country in history has ever done as much to make up to a discriminated minority what this country has done for the African-American community, not only in enforcing equal opportunity, but in actually favoring that minority for jobs, contracting, education -- discriminating against whites to do so. And unfortunately it just hasn't worked out very well. And as many African-Americans (such as Bill Cosby) as well as others have pointed out, the problems in the black community now can only be solved in the black community. Other minorities have also been discriminated against, but they have done better economically and socially because they have less expected and received "changes on the outside."

[ray3]

HuffPost's Pick

Thank you for the numbers, it helps to continue the discussion we have a ways to go towards equity but posts like this move us forward.