Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Segregation in the Present Tense
At the Policy Link Advancing Regional Equity Conference in Philadephia, Sheryll Cashin, former law clerk to Thurgood Marshall and a Clinton advisor on urban policy, spoke about the failure of integration to take hold in contemporary America. Cashin posited that residential segregation is still a huge obstacle to a truly integrated society. She noted that the costs of segregated housing patterns are distributed to all segments of America, not just to those excluded by the informal apartied.
An excerpt from Cashin’s book expresses her point:
(upper-middle class white suburban segregation)…”like the black ghetto, represents an extreme of American separatism. It also represents the mythic American dream. But there is another dimension to the dream that is America: the shibboleth of all boats rising. Everyone who works hard and plays by the rules is supposed to be able to get ahead in this land of opportunity. American mythology has a powerful hold on us in part because there are real-life rags-to-riches stories. Those who are celebrated in American popular culture mirror this possibility for the masses. Likewise, our separate neighborhoods offer up the promise that one day, we too might be able to trade up to an ideal we wish for, even if we can't live with that ideal today. But this separated system comes with serious costs. The costs of separatism to whites are enormous, yet they are the ones who are likely to be least conscious of separatism's insidious effects. Currently, whites are also the segment of the population that is most apt to live a separated existence. Without an altered consciousness on the part of many more whites, I fear, our nation will never be able to transcend the separate an unequal society we have created.”
***
Also at the conference, the documentary, “Race: The Power of an Illusion” (Episode 3, “The House We Live In”) ties residential segregation and the soaring value of segregated homes to the huge descrepancy between the net worth of black and white families in America today. In the film, a pair of quotes make the point:
“In 1966, the Frisbys moved from Queens to suburban Roosevelt, only a few miles from Levittown. Like the Frisbys, many non-white families would discover the economic value of race in the real estate market. They watched as their homes and neighborhoods in suburbia declined precisely because they had moved into them…”
Sociologist Dalton Conley : “Today, the average Black family has only one-eighth the net worth or assets of the average white family. That difference has seemingly grown since the 1960's, since the Civil Rights triumphs. And is not explained by other factors (than housing), like education, earnings rates, savings rates. It is really the legacy of racial inequality from generations past. No other measure captures the legacy, the sort of cumulative disadvantage of race, or cumulative advantage of race for whites, than net worth or wealth.”
The pernicious effects of segregated housing can be seen in so many areas of American life, yet the problem is largely ignored in our political life. The Policy Link Conference is a breath of fresh air in addressing this elephant in our kitchen.
An excerpt from Cashin’s book expresses her point:
(upper-middle class white suburban segregation)…”like the black ghetto, represents an extreme of American separatism. It also represents the mythic American dream. But there is another dimension to the dream that is America: the shibboleth of all boats rising. Everyone who works hard and plays by the rules is supposed to be able to get ahead in this land of opportunity. American mythology has a powerful hold on us in part because there are real-life rags-to-riches stories. Those who are celebrated in American popular culture mirror this possibility for the masses. Likewise, our separate neighborhoods offer up the promise that one day, we too might be able to trade up to an ideal we wish for, even if we can't live with that ideal today. But this separated system comes with serious costs. The costs of separatism to whites are enormous, yet they are the ones who are likely to be least conscious of separatism's insidious effects. Currently, whites are also the segment of the population that is most apt to live a separated existence. Without an altered consciousness on the part of many more whites, I fear, our nation will never be able to transcend the separate an unequal society we have created.”
***
Also at the conference, the documentary, “Race: The Power of an Illusion” (Episode 3, “The House We Live In”) ties residential segregation and the soaring value of segregated homes to the huge descrepancy between the net worth of black and white families in America today. In the film, a pair of quotes make the point:
“In 1966, the Frisbys moved from Queens to suburban Roosevelt, only a few miles from Levittown. Like the Frisbys, many non-white families would discover the economic value of race in the real estate market. They watched as their homes and neighborhoods in suburbia declined precisely because they had moved into them…”
Sociologist Dalton Conley : “Today, the average Black family has only one-eighth the net worth or assets of the average white family. That difference has seemingly grown since the 1960's, since the Civil Rights triumphs. And is not explained by other factors (than housing), like education, earnings rates, savings rates. It is really the legacy of racial inequality from generations past. No other measure captures the legacy, the sort of cumulative disadvantage of race, or cumulative advantage of race for whites, than net worth or wealth.”
The pernicious effects of segregated housing can be seen in so many areas of American life, yet the problem is largely ignored in our political life. The Policy Link Conference is a breath of fresh air in addressing this elephant in our kitchen.
