Raising Cain...

White Families Have 20 Times the Wealth of Black Families: How Racism's Legacy Created a Crushing Depression In Black America | | AlterNet

Racism is real and measurable, and it definitely impacts economic outcomes. But at a time when overt, in-your-face institutional racism is largely a thing of the past, discrimination alone can't explain the entire black-white achievement gap – African Americans' lower average incomes and persistently higher levels of poverty and unemployment.

But a large part of that gap can be explained by differences in accumulated wealth. If you look at black and white families with the exact same incomes, the white families will have far more accumulated wealth – cash in the bank, retirement savings, investments, real estate, etc.

via www.alternet.org

NAACP says coal-fired plants hurting low-income, minority areas

Nearly half of Indiana coal-fired power plants are being called "top environmental offenders" in a report the NAACP released Wednesday, and the State Line Energy plant in Hammond was rated as the fifth-worst in the nation.

The organization's report, "Coal Blooded: Putting Profits Over People," also said the plants do significant and disproportionate amount of harm to low-income communities and communities of color.

Analyzing plants' emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides and demographic factors of where the plants are located, the NAACP said "environmental justice scores" were given for each of the nation's 431 coal-fired power plants. The State Line electric generating plant was rated as the fifth-worst in the nation and the Michigan City Generating Station also received a failing grade. Two of the top three worst offending plants are in Chicago.

via www.nwitimes.com

How to Succeed at a Summer Job: Look White and Christian | | AlterNet

While young prospective workers in general are saddled with record levels of unemployment, young workers of color face an even bleaker economic outlook.

via www.alternet.org

Jeff Biggers: Arizona Senate President Pearce Has Been Recalled

Jeff Biggers -- who I first connected with via his writing on coal mining, mountaintop removal and environmental justice -- has been staying in touch with significant racial justice and immigrant rights issues in Arizona. Biggers has personal connections to Arizona that give his coverage an implicit, if not explicit, viewpoint. Here's an excerpt from his report  yesterday that Russell Pearce, who has been serving as  president of the Arizona State Senate, has been recalled:

In a swift affirmation of Arizona's fast-growing and powerful new political movement, Secretary of State Ken Bennett notified Gov. Jan Brewer that the once seemingly invincible architect of the state's controversial SB 1070 "papers please" immigration law has officially been recalled. Bennett confirmed that the recall petitions delivered by the Citizens for a Better Arizona "exceeds the minimum signatures required by the Arizona Constitution."

"Let's make no mistake about it," said Randy Parraz, co-founder of the Citizens for a Better Arizona. "Russell Pearce has been recalled."

According to Bennett's statement, Pearce has two options: Resign from office within five business days, or become a candidate in the recall election. Either way, Pearce becomes the first state senate president in recent memory to be recalled in the nation.

"No one expected this or picked up on this political earthquake," said Parraz, one of the main organizers behind the extraordinary grassroots campaign, which electrified a bipartisan effort in Pearce's Mesa district. Parraz credited a "dramatic shift" over the past six months due to Pearce's often extremist leadership in state senate.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Melissa Harris Perry: Is Newt Gingrich Right About Black Voters?

As I see the Republican Party slide more toward what I'd call the lunatic fringe, I've certainly thought more about how those of us who still hold out hope for a racially-just America can reach across colorlines -- and any other lines we have to reach across -- to ditch the craziness and get on with rebuilding a system that works for everybody.

That's why I was interested in this article by Melissa Harris-Perry that recently appeared in The Nation. I'm looking forward to reading the book she references here as well:

Hurricane Katrina was a powerful visual cue that Republicans are not the allies for black interests. In a matter of days it returned black voters solidly to the Democratic fold. Less than two years later Democrats won a majority in Congress. And in the next presidential election black voters formed the coalition base for the election of the first African-American president.

But as memories of Katrina become more distant and the reality of a black president becomes more routine, the possibility of shifting partisan alliances may re-emerge. In his forthcoming book, Not in Our Lifetimes, political scientist Michael Dawson maps the electoral consequences of the racial divide that reopened following Katrina. He shows that although black Americans responded with enthusiastic support for Obama’s candidacy, his election alone will not reverse decades of loosening attachment to Democrats. It is too early to predict whether black voters will go to the polls at the same levels they did in 2008, but Democrats should not take black votes for granted. The detachment of even a small percentage of African-Americans in the next election would be a boon for Republicans. It is not necessary for African-Americans to become Republican voters; only that they fail to become voters at all.

via www.thenation.com

Stephanie Shonekan: Living Color in Naperville -- In These Times

I found this article by Stephanie Shonekan to be very engaging, enjoyable reading. She is yet another voice challenging notions of a "post-racial" America, with words from her own experience as a woman of color. Here's an excerpt...the whole article is worth reading...

The life of a minority is full of oppressive potholes that “majority folks” never have to think of. We constantly pull out our race lenses to study each daily encounter in this white world, to see if there is more than meets the naked eye, to see if our perceptions of race and racism are legitimate. Living in a predominantly white neighborhood, this impulse is magnified. I’ve had lots of conversations with white friends who talk about “post-racial America” and the incredible fact that the U.S. president is a black man. My response: You cannot assume to know whether racism exists if you are not a racial minority yourself.

via www.inthesetimes.com

How Racism, Global Economics, and the New Jim Crow Fuel Black America's Crippling Jobs Crisis | | AlterNet

D.C.'s divide is America's writ large. Nationwide, the unemployment rate for black workers at 16.2% is almost double the 9.1% rate for the rest of the population. And it's twice the 8% white jobless rate.

The size of those numbers can, in part, be chalked up to the current jobs crisis in which black workers are being decimated. According to Duke University public policy expert William Darity, that means blacks are "the last to be hired in a good economy, and when there's a downturn, they're the first to be released."

That may account for the soaring numbers of unemployed African Americans, but not the yawning chasm between the black and white employment rates, which is no artifact of the present moment. It's a problem that spans generations, goes remarkably unnoticed, and condemns millions of black Americans to a life of scraping by. That unerring, unchanging gap between white and black employment figures goes back at least 60 years. It should be a scandal, but whether on Capitol Hill or in the media it gets remarkably little attention. Ever.

via www.alternet.org

This Land Is Our Land -- In These Times

Great article on an important class action lawsuit brought by Native Americans against the United States government -- the injustices that led to it and questions about how much injustice remains uncompenasated despite the settlement:

In December 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law a $3.4 billion settlement to end a 14-year-old class-action suit against the federal government. Cobell v. Salazar accused the government of mismanaging income earned from leasing out 11 million acres of reservation land. Elouise Cobell, a banker from the Blackfeet Nation in Montana, filed suit in 1996 after noticing inconsistencies in paying landowners the lease income they were due. In other words: Indians were getting ripped off.

When announcing the settlement in December 2009, President Obama said, “With this announcement, we take an important step toward a sincere reconciliation between the trust beneficiaries and the federal government, and lay the foundation for more effective management of Indian trust assets in the future.”

Cobell is less sanguine. “This is significantly less than the full benefit to which Indians are entitled,” she said. “We are compelled to settle now by the sobering realization that our class grows smaller every year, every day, as our elders die.”

via www.inthesetimes.com