Today’s equity news

“Learning Curve: Diverse and poorer,” - Atlanta Journal Constitution

The South has become the first region in the country in which more than half of public school students are poor and more than half are minorities, according to a report by the Atlanta-based Southern Education Foundation.

The foundation found that African-American, Latino, Asian-Pacific Islander, American Indian and multi-racial children constituted a little more than half of all students attending public schools in the 15 states of the South by the end of the last school year.

“A Modern Heschel-King Alliance: The Struggle for Food Access,” - The Jewish Journal

Like Veterans Day or Memorial Day, the annual celebration of the birth of Martin Luther King Jr. has, over time, become just another three-day weekend for many Americans. Forty-two years after King’s assassination, the holiday presents us with an opportunity for reflection. How does our society compare to the one he fought for? Have we put an end to the discrimination and grinding poverty that King called upon us to heal? Are we capable of a mass movement equal to the millions who marched and practiced civil disobedience, reforming our country from within? Where is the Jewish community in modern struggles for justice and equality?

During the Civil Rights movement, another great lion of justice called the Jewish community to task. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel established a lasting friendship with King, one filled with mutual admiration and affection and based on shared purpose, values and experience. Both were survivors of systems that legalized discrimination and oppression: King in the segregated South, Heschel in pre-war Nazi Germany.

“Poll: Feeling of progress rises among African Americans,” - The Washington Post

Despite being hit especially hard by the bad economy, job losses and the high rate of foreclosures, African Americans’ assessment of race relations and prospects for the future has surged more dramatically during the past two years than at any time in the past quarter-century, according to a new poll.

In a survey of American racial attitudes released Tuesday, researchers reported that the feeling of progress is driven in large part by the election of President Obama, along with a greater sense of local community satisfaction and a more positive outlook. The majority of African Americans say they are better off now than they were five years ago.

 A recap of this week’s equity

“Sweat Equity Put to Use Within Sight of Wall St. ” - The New York Times

Red Hook, an ancient finger of city waterfront that is lined with the husks of faded industry and old piers, sits two clear miles across New York Harbor from Wall Street. It is another galaxy.

There, on nearly three acres of asphalt that have been covered with 18 inches of topsoil, the Red Hook Community Farm operates in an economy that rises from the actual, not the imaginary: lettuce, spinach, chard, kale, collard greens, arugula, dandelion, radicchio, Chinese cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, beets, radishes, squash, cucumber, zucchini, and beans and herbs — oregano, sage, thyme, mint, six different basils.

“Villaraigosa addresses perceived tensions between blacks and Latinos,” - Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday said Latinos and African Americans must “face up to” existing racial strains over jobs, language differences and violent crime by addressing the underlying causes of those tensions, primarily poverty and the lack of opportunity.

At the same time Villaraigosa dismissed those who believe that such tensions define the relationship between blacks and Latinos “as if it’s endemic to our DNA to have conflict.”

“Poverty still plagues U.S. cities: survey,” - Reuters

Most U.S. mayors and city officials say poverty is a growing problem, with many families unable to get by, according to a survey released on Monday.

Some 90 percent of city officials in the National League of Cities survey of mayors and leaders of towns of 30,000 people or more say that during the last decade poverty rates have either increased or stayed the same in their towns.

A recap of the week’s equity news

 “Latino-vs.-black violence drives hate crimes in L.A. County to 5-year high,” - Los Angeles Times

Hate crimes in Los Angeles County rose to their highest level in five years last year, led by attacks between Latinos and blacks, officials said Thursday.

The annual report by the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission showed hate crimes rose by 28%, to 763, with vandalism and assault leading the way.

In what commission Executive Director Robin Toma called an alarming trend, hate crimes based on race, religion and sexual orientation all rose, increasing against nearly all groups — including blacks, gays, Jews, Mexicans, whites and Asians — even as crime in general declined.

 “Billions needed to shore up nation’s bridges ,” -  USA TODAY

The fatal collapse of a bridge in Minneapolis a year ago jolted states into better inspections of the nation’s 600,000 bridges, but they aren’t coming up with the billions of dollars needed to ensure that all of them are sound.

The plunge that killed 13 people when the span crumpled into the Mississippi River on Aug. 1 was “a wake-up call” to take care of aging bridges, says Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell. “We can’t wait for another Minneapolis.”

“Looking for Equity in Arts Financing ,” - New York Times

In Harlem, Marline A. Martin, the executive director of the Children’s Art Carnival, figures that losing her financing from the city’s Cultural Affairs Department means she will have half the number of students this fall in her school-day program for children whose schools don’t offer art.
Downtown, near Stuyvesant Park, Diane Fraher Thornton, the director of American Indian Artists Inc., squeezes dollars from her budget for a project of readings by Indian playwrights.
Ms. Martin and Ms. Thornton are among the dozen or so leaders of a coalition of arts organizations in New York City called the Cultural Equity Group. In a proposal to city officials the group asked for $15 million in the city budget that would go to so-called culturally specific organizations, serving blacks, Hispanics, Asian-Americans and American Indians. The money — to be used for things like programs and administrative support — would be separate from financing awarded by city agencies, like the Cultural Affairs Department.

The United States is moving inexorably toward a future of greater diversity.  Latest Census figures show that minorities make up 34 percent of the total U.S. population, numbering 102.5 million people.

Latinos especially gained ground in 2007 remaining the largest minority group at 45.5 million people. African Americans are close behind at 40.7 million.  Minority groups are pushing statewide demographic trends.  Four states and the District of Columbia have a larger share of minorities than non-minorities:  Hawaii (75 percent), District of Columbia (68 percent), New Mexico (58 percent), California (57 percent) and Texas (52 percent).  Close behind are Nevada, Maryland, and Georgia at 42 percent each.

Is America prepared to reap the benefits of diversity and embrace a bright future?

One issue that remains a stumbling block is the rate of incarceration for drug-related offenses.  A May 10 editorial in The New York Times highlights two new reports by The Sentencing Project and Human Rights Watch  which show “large disparities in the rate at which blacks and whites are arrested and imprisoned for drug offenses, despite roughly equal rates of illegal drug use.”

The editorial concludes that “all is not gloomy,” pointing to an emerging shift in policy toward drug treatment as an alternative to prison and to a change in federal sentencing guidelines.

Last month, there was also positive news with the signing of the Second Chance Act, a bipartisan solution that authorizes $165 million in spending per year to help released prisoners reintegrate into society.

At a time when one in nine black men aged 20 to 34 are serving time, along with 1 in 36 adult Hispanic men, we need to take stock of what can be done to tap the abilities and potential of all Americans. We’re starting to move in the right direction but it will take all of our efforts to ensure continued progress toward that bright future.

A new study in the journal Health Affairs says black and Latino children are more than 12 times as likely as white children to live in “double jeopardy”—to be poor and to live in neighborhoods with limited opportunity. The study argues that public health policies should:

“improve access to opportunity-rich neighborhoods through enhanced housing mobility, and increase the opportunities for healthy living in disadvantaged neighborhoods.”

The article is included in the March/April 2008 issue that focuses on health disparities and is based on results from studies of neighborhood opportunity in 100 metropolitan areas.

Some facts from the article:

• Nearly 17 percent of African-American children and 20.5 percent of Latino children live in “double jeopardy,” compared to 1.4 percent of white children
• The typical poor white child lives in a neighborhood where the poverty rate is 13.6 percent; for the African-American and Latino child, the rate is nearly 30 and 26 percent respectively
• Differences between African-American and white children were most pronounced in Detroit, Memphis, New Orleans, Chicago, and Birmingham, Alabama
• Disparities between Latino and white children were most blatant in the communities of McEllen, El Paso, and San Antonio, Texas; and Los Angeles and Fresno, California

Problems and solutions to issues related to neighborhood opportunity and health were just some of the hot topics discussed at Regional Equity 08. We heard about the New Orleans Food and Farm Network and other efforts across the country that are helping low-income community residents find good food close to home. Can anyone recommend other articles or organizations focused on this work?