Safety class

Chapter 2: Saturation of Racial Inequalities in US

Susan T. Gooden

Racial Inequities

 Racial inequities are persistent characteristic of US

 Public sector administrators & agencies partially culpable for their development and maintenance

 How resources distributed by public agencies and to whom relevant in understanding history of US social inequity

Public Policy & Resource Distribution

 Policy involves distribution of resources – ◦ whether material, e.g. money, taxes, houses or

◦ less tangible, e.g. chances of military services, getting sick, being a crime victim

 3 fundamental questions of delivery of policy 1. Who are recipients & many ways of defining

them?

2. What is resource & ways of defining it?

3. What is social process of determining distribution?

 Answers influenced by public administrators

Saturation of Inequities

 Patterns of racial distributions mutually compounding; permeates multiple public policies areas that affects life chances ◦ e.g. housing > environmental inequities > health >

education > employment > income/poverty > crime ◦ See Fig. 2.1 pg. 23

 Patterns can be intergenerational; though diminished overtime due to societal changes, racial disparities maintained; ◦ e.g. Jim Crow laws replaced by less overt laws but

racial disparities persist

 Subgroups of race, e.g. very wealthy, may be less affected by disparities, but cumulative racial effect intact for racial group overall

Housing

 Housing key determinant in overall family well-being  Provides access to safe neighborhood, social capital, health

care, employment, public safety, quality schools, & financial capital/wealth

 Federal policies promoted homeownership, land acquisition, & asset accumulation among whites ◦ FHA & banking industry practice of redlining promoted

disinvestment & blight of racially segregated minority neighborhoods & suburbanization of whites

◦ Blacks/Latinos denied loans despite credit worthiness, disproportionately given subprime loans

◦ Fair Housing Act (1968) goal to elimination differential treatment, reduce ghettoization of minorities, create stable, diverse neighborhoods

◦ Housing discrimination persists across public agencies, homeowners, bankers, real estate agents, government officials

Housing Choice Voucher Program

 Section 8 – federally subsidized voucher designed to provide low-income families, elderly, disabled safe, quality, affordable housing on private market

 Landlords discriminate against voucher recipients; refuse to rent to families

 Lack of effective enforcement of anti- housing discrimination policies, e.g. FHA ◦ Ohio state legislature bill to prohibit fair housing testing

Education

 Educational investment seen as best investment to offset racial discrimination

 Government allocation of funding for education implicated in historical racial disparities ◦ Majority of 1892 land-grant college funding went to

white colleges

 Brown v. Board of Education (1954) found Plessy v. Ferguson’s (1896) “separate but equal” unconstitutional; ruled “separate” is inherently “unequal”

Education

 Racial educational inequities persist ◦ 34% whites & 50.8% Asians 16 > have college degree compared to

20.2% blacks, 14.1% Hispanics ◦ Persistent black/white labor market wage differential despite higher

educational attainment for blacks

 Function of access to quality teachers & curriculum more than race

 Native American/Alaskan Natives have lowest graduation rate of 46.6%, compared to 69.8% whites, 54.7% blacks, 77.9 Asians, 50.8% Hispanics

 1928 Meriam Report sought to “civilize” Native Americans & eradicate language/culture

 US deals with Native Americans through treaties; inequitable funding; ◦ institutionalization of inequities through allocation of resources to

privileged, rewarding cultural capital, & standardizing of test

Environment

 Environmental Justice Movement evolved in 1980s ◦ Environmental quality if a basic human right

◦ Environmental racism: policies/practices disadvantage persons/groups/communities based on race; include exclusion from decision-making processes

 Minorities/poor disproportionately live in areas affected by negative externalities from producers of waste (resource depletion, pollution)

 Government complicit in location of waste facilities, levying of fines, & slow response to contaminates in communities of color

Environmental Justice Legislation

• Title VI (1964) Civil Rights Act protects against discriminatory/exclusionary policies/practices by federally funded agencies/programs

 National Environmental Policy Act (1969) provide “safe, healthful, productive, pleasing surrounding to all”

 Federal-Aid Highway Act (1970) equitable treatment of communities impacted by transportation projects

 Executive Order 12898 (1994; Clinton) avoid disproportionately high & adverse effects on minority/low-income populations ◦ DOT & FHWA implemented & expanded on EO 12898

Environmental Racial Disparities

 Patterns of urban landfills, incinerators, & polluting industries in minority/low-income neighborhoods

 9 or 12 states with worst environmental records located in South, which has > % blacks

 Poor regulation of uranium mining in Native American Communities

 More than half of air toxins exposure explained by black/white poverty rate, % manufacturing employment, degree of segregation

 80% Hispanic areas fail EPA air quality standards ◦ Child lead poisoning highest among Hispanics renting in

older homes/apartments ◦ Causes learning disabilities, damage to central nervous

system, blood cell functioning

Conclusions

 Racial inequities cumulative & mutually reinforcing

 Rules alone won’t eradicate historical inequities

 Requires attentive public administrators to monitor, assess, & eradicate

 To do so requires talking about race