A Framework for Understanding the Causes of Racial Inequalities in 21 st Century America

1. A Framework for Understanding the Causes of Racial Inequalities in 21st Century America

2. DisparateOutcomes

3. DisparateOutcomes Source: Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project. 2006. http://depts.washington.edu/civilr2/slides/today/Equality_today.pdf

4. DisparateOutcomes Source: U.S. Census Bureau. Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007. January 2009

5. DisparateOutcomes Black males earn 2/3rds of what white males at the same education level earn. Source: Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project. 2006. http://depts.washington.edu/civilr2/slides/today/Equality_today.pdf

6. DisparateOutcomes Source: Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project. 2006. http://depts.washington.edu/civilr2/slides/today/Equality_today.pdf

7. DisparateOutcomes Source: http://www.ofm.wa.gov/pop/poptrends/default.asp and http://www.doc.wa.gov/aboutdoc/statistics.asp

8. Why are “race” and “racism” such difficult issues to grasp and deal with? • We are still struggling over the meanings of race and equality • We are reluctant to acknowledge the legacies of our racial history and how much race has been a fundamental axis of social organization • We are proud of our civil rights accomplishments • We think of ourselves as an “equal opportunity” society where anyone who works hard enough can succeed • We often prefer to address symptoms rather than the roots of social problems

9. Leaders who work on racial equity need… • A language to talk about race • A framework for understanding how race and ethnicity operate in modern America (post-civil rights legislation) • New ideas and strategies for reducing racial inequities in key opportunity domains and promoting racial equity

10. What is race and how do we understand it? • No biological or scientific basis behind it • Best understood in social and political terms • Race is a “Social Construct”

11. New Language – we need to identify and talk about: • The ongoing advantages associated with being "white” – sometimes referred to as a white privilege • The ongoing disadvantages associated with being a person of “color”— which we refer to as structural racism

12. How is structural racism different? Common explanations of entrenched racial and/or ethnic disparity: Structural Institutional Individual

13. Racism at the individual or inter-group level: • Personal prejudice • Racial slurs, the n-word • Inter-group tensions • Diversity and multi-culturalism • Cultural competence …these are important, and these personal attitudes and beliefs color decision-making and actions.

14. Individual Racial Attitudes “Are racial disparities due to inborn learning ability?” Source: General Social Surveys: 1972-2006. http://www.norc.org/GSS+Website/

15. Individual Racial Attitudes “Are racial disparities due to blacks’ lack of will?” Source: General Social Surveys: 1972-2006. http://www.norc.org/GSS+Website/

16. Individual Racial Attitudes “Would you favor a law against interracial marriage?” Source: General Social Surveys: 1972-2006. http://www.norc.org/GSS+Website/

17. Individual Racial Attitudes “Would you vote for a Black candidate for President?” Source: General Social Surveys: 1972-2006. http://www.norc.org/GSS+Website/

18. The bigger problem… Racism at the institutionaland structural levels

19. Institutional Racism

20. Examples of Institutional Racism • Discriminatory practices, intentional or not • Redlining or “steering” • Occupational segregation • Racial profiling

21. Does racial profiling still exist? In 2002, Black and Hispanic drivers were stopped by police at the same rate as Whites. The cover of this report from the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics might make you think that racial profiling is no longer a problem…

22. But the data inside tells a more complex story Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Contacts Between Police and the Public: Findings from the 2002 National Survey. April 2005.

23. Disparities Beneath the Surface As the cover of the report advertised, police stopped black, white, and Hispanic drivers at roughly equal rates. • However, among stopped drivers, police searched blacks and Hispanics roughly three times as often as whites. • Even though black drivers were searched much more often than whites, searches of black drivers yielded less criminal evidence than one quarter as often as searches of white drivers.

24. Institutional Racism in Education Source: The Education Trust. Core Problems: Out-of-Field Teaching in Key Academic Courses and High Poverty Schools. November 2008.  Note: “Out-of-Field Instructors” refers to teachers without either a certification or major in the subject they teach.

25. Institutional Racism in Employment The Net Job Loss for Black Workers was disproportionately high compared to white workers during the recession in the early 1990’s. Source: Rochelle Sharpe. 1993. “Losing Ground: In Last Recession, Only Blacks Suffered Net Employment Loss” Wall Street Journal, (September).

26. Institutional Racism in Employment Changes in New England Civilian Employment Age 16 and Older 2007-2009. Source: Sum, Andrew, IshwarKhatiwada, and Joseph McLaughlin. The 2007-2009 Recession’s Impact on New England's African American Males. Communities and Banking . 2010.

27. Institutional Racism: A Systems Perspective

28. Structural Racism History Attitudes Beliefs Values

29. What is Structural Racism? • It describes the complex ways that • history • national values • cultural representations • public policies and institutional practices • interact to maintain racial hierarchy and inequitable racial group outcomes; so that privilegesassociated with “whiteness” • and disadvantages associated with “color” • to endure and adapt.

30. The Context: Dominant Consensus on Race Current Manifestations: Social and Institutional Dynamics Inequitable Outcomes in Major Opportunity Areas Capacity for Individual and Community Improvement is Undermined Production and Reproduction of Racial Inequities

31. The Context: Dominant Consensus on Race WE ARE HERE Current Manifestations: Social and Institutional Dynamics Inequitable Outcomes in Major Opportunity Areas Capacity for Individual and Community Improvement is Undermined Production and Reproduction of Racial Inequities

32. Historically Accumulated White Privilege Whites’ historical and contemporary advantages in access to: • quality education • decent jobs • livable wages • home ownership • retirement benefits … have helped create and sustain advantages in wealth accumulation.

33. What is White Privilege? • “As a white person, I had been taught about racism as something that puts • others at a disadvantage, • but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, • which puts me at an advantage.” • Peggy Macintosh, “White Privilege: • Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.”

34. Net Worth by Race Source: Federal Reserve Bank of the United States. 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances Chartbook. May 6, 2009.10

35. Homeownership Rates by Race Seattle – Everett Metropolitan Area, 2006 Source: Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project:. 2006. http://depts.washington.edu/civilr2/slides/today/Equality_today.pdf

36. Homeownership Values by Race Seattle –Everett Metropolitan Area, 2006 Source: Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project. 2006. http://depts.washington.edu/civilr2/slides/today/Equality_today.pdf

37. Parents/Grandparents of WHITE AMERICANS: Parents/Grandparents of BLACK AMERICANS: • Had higher incomes/earned salaries • Accumulated retirement through union membership, participation in social security, etc. • Benefited from home ownership policies and were able to buy property in rising neighborhoods. • Had lower incomes because of educational segregation and discrimination in employment. • Were denied access to suburban real estate because of exclusionary brokering and community planning • Were denied low-interest Federal Housing Authority mortgage loans due to “redlining” How do we explain this difference in wealth accumulation?

38. Recent Causes of Wealth Disparity • Wealth disparity is not merely a consequence of past policies, such as redlining and segregation. Current practices perpetuate it. So, for example: • The recent financial crisis was triggered, in part, by financial deregulation, which led to an increase in “subprime” mortgage lending. • Subprime lending grew from 5 percent of the mortgage market in 1994 to 20 percent in 2005.

39. Racial Disparity in Lending Blacks and Hispanics received these loans at a much higher rate than whites. Source: Robert B. Avery et al. “The 2006 HDMA Data.” The Federal Reserve Bulletin. December 21, 2007.

40. The Racial Remainder Credit ratings do not fully explain the disparity. A 2004 study found that black borrowers were more likely to receive higher-rate home purchase and refinance loansthan whites, even while controlling for borrower credit score, loan-to-value ratio, ability to document income, and other underwriting factors. Source: Debbie GruensteinBocian et al. Unfair Lending: The Affect of Race and Ethnicity on the Price of Subprime Mortgages. Center for Responsible Lending. May 31, 2006.

41. Possible Explanations of Disparity • Lack of banks in majority-minority communities, which leads minority borrowers towards higher-cost mortgage brokers. • Prevalence of predatory mortgage brokers, who profit from selling high-interest loans, in poor minority communities. • Lending criteria that consider the location of the property, and local delinquency rates, in setting interest rates. • Lack of financial education and historical distrust of conventional lenders in minority communities, which leads borrowers to higher-costs brokers.

42. The Consequences for Minority Wealth A 2008 report from United for a Fair Economy estimates that the total loss of wealth for people of color from subprime loans taken out between 2000 and 2008 will be between $164 and $213 Billion. Source: Amaad Rivera et al. Foreclosed: State of the Dream, 2008. United for a Fair Economy. January 15, 2008.

43. Structural Racism in Mortgage Finance Racially-neutral policy decisions to deregulate the financial sector, and thus enable high-cost, high-risk lending at a huge scale, interacted with existing inequalities to strip people of color of their wealth. Homeowners in California seek assistance at an event to help people restructure high-risk loans (Washington Post, Dec 2009

44. The Context: Dominant Consensus on Race WE ARE HERE Current Manifestations: Social and Institutional Dynamics Inequitable Outcomes in Major Opportunity Areas Capacity for Individual and Community Improvement is Undermined Production and Reproduction of Racial Inequities

45. National Values • Such as: • Equal opportunity: • A “level playing field” • Meritocracy: • Advancement depends on talent and effort • Individualism/ Personal Responsibility: • Individual choices and behaviors determine outcomes

46. National Values For too many people of color, these national values do not apply: Negates the material and psychological advantages of some groups Reinforces the myth that individual skills and effort wholly determine outcomes Often implies inherent laziness and a poor work ethic for many people of color. These views can be held by whites or POC Equal Opportunity

47. Race: The Power of an Illusion 25-minute video

48. The Context: Dominant Consensus on Race WE ARE HERE Current Manifestations: Social and Institutional Dynamics Inequitable Outcomes in Major Opportunity Areas Capacity for Individual and Community Improvement is Undermined Production and Reproduction of Racial Inequities

49. Contemporary Culture Societal norms, values and practices reinforce racial stereotypes and emphasize “innate” capacities of different groups. The media’s creation and perpetuation of racial stereotypes has been particularly pernicious. For example…

50. Cultural Representations in Television and Print News • 76% of people say they form opinions about crime from the news • African Americans are over reported as perpetrators of crime • African Americans are presented as more threatening than their white counterparts • Paucity of positive information about and images of young men of color