RENEWING BELOVED COMMUNITYUNDERSTANDING STRUCTURAL RACIALIZATION AND OPPORTUNITY

john a. powellExecutive Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and EthnicityWilliams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Moritz College of Law

Presentation to Genesis

First Unitarian Church of Oakland

August 29, 2010

Overview

My Opportunity Story: thinking through a structural racialization lens

A Brief Snapshot of Opportunity in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fresno Area

Renewing Our Communities Thinking, talking, acting in new ways

Activity: Telling your own Opportunity Story

Thinking through a structural racialization lens

My Opportunity Story

My Opportunity Story

I was born…

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My Opportunity Story contd.

I grew up…

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My Parents

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My parents were sharecroppers in the South.

They left the South in search of opportunity.

HOME

They moved north seeking opportunity and bought a house.

Today I would say they bought into a low opportunity neighborhood.

They moved north seeking opportunity and bought a house.

Today I would say they bought into a low opportunity neighborhood.

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My Old Neighborhood

The vacant grassy plots are not parks.

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Where I Grew Up

I grew up in a low opportunity structure in a declining opportunity city. 9

It is also known as Detroit.10

I now live in a high opportunity area.

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A Tale of Two Neighborhoods…

• Less than 25% of students in Detroit finish high school

• More than 60% of the men will spend time in jail

• There may soon be no bus service in some areas

• It is difficult to attract jobs or private capital

• Not safe; very few parks

• Difficult to get fresh food

• The year my step daughter finished high school, 100% of the students graduated and 100% went to college

• Most will not even drive by a jail

• Free bus service

• Relatively easy to attract capital

• Very safe; great parks

• Easy to get fresh food

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Low Opportunity High Opportunity

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Some people ride the “Up” escalator to reach

opportunity

Others have to run up the “Down” escalator to get there

My Opportunity Story

I was born…

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My Opportunity Story contd.

I grew up…

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My Parents

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My parents were sharecroppers in the South.

They left the South in search of opportunity.

HOME

They moved north seeking opportunity and bought a house.

Today I would say they bought into a low opportunity neighborhood.

They moved north seeking opportunity and bought a house.

Today I would say they bought into a low opportunity neighborhood.

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My Old Neighborhood

The vacant grassy plots are not parks.

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Where I Grew Up

I grew up in a low opportunity structure in a declining opportunity city. 19

It is also known as Detroit.20

I now live in a high opportunity area.

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A Tale of Two Neighborhoods…

• Less than 25% of students in Detroit finish high school

• More than 60% of the men will spend time in jail

• There may soon be no bus service in some areas

• It is difficult to attract jobs or private capital

• Not safe; very few parks

• Difficult to get fresh food

• The year my step daughter finished high school, 100% of the students graduated and 100% went to college

• Most will not even drive by a jail

• Free bus service

• Relatively easy to attract capital

• Very safe; great parks

• Easy to get fresh food

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Low Opportunity High Opportunity

Which community would you choose?

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Some people ride the “Up” escalator to reach

opportunity

Others have to run up the “Down” escalator to get there

Opportunity is….

Racialized…• In 1960, African-

American families in poverty were 3.8 times more likely to be concentrated in high-poverty neighborhoods than poor whites.

• In 2000, they were 7.3times more likely.

Spatialized…• marginalized people

of color and the very poor have been spatially isolated from opportunity via reservations, Jim Crow, Appalachian mountains, ghettos, barrios, and the culture of incarceration.

Globalized…• Economic

globalization

• Climate change

• the Credit and Foreclosure crisis

Systems Thinking We are all situated within “opportunity structures”

Outcomes

Social

Physical

Cultural

These structures interact in ways that produce racialized outcomes for different groups…

27Ongoing Racial Inequalities

Outcomes: Racial Disparities

Racial inequalities in current levels of well-being

Capacity for individual and community improvement is undermined

Current Manifestations: Social and Institutional Dynamics

Processes that maintain racial hierarchies Racialized public policies and institutional practices

Context: The Dominant Consensus on RaceNational values Contemporary culture

Structural Racialization

Adapted from the Aspen Roundtable on Community Change. “Structural Racism and Community Building.” June 2004

Who’s to blame?

28Photo source: (Madoff) AP

Historic Government Role

A series of mutually reinforcing federal policies across multiple domains have contributed to the disparities we see today School Desegregation Homeownership/Suburbanization Urban Renewal Public Housing Transportation

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ExampleThe Government and Homeownership Policies: Redlining

“If a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same social and racial classes. A change in social or racial occupancy generally contributes to instability and a decline in values.”

–Excerpt from the 1947 FHA underwriting manual

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Example: How historic Redlining impacts opportunity in the Portland region today….

The areas of lowest opportunity today (lightest) are also the same areas that were redlined (red and yellow) beginning in the 1930s.

From Redlining to Reverse Redlining…

Unsustainable credit: The darkest areas with the highest concentrations of persons of color also have the highest concentrations of Notices of Defaults, indicating unsustainable mortgage lending.

In Oakland, Big Bank lenders made 70% of their high-cost loans in neighborhoods of color.

Source: California Reinvestment Coalition. “From Foreclosures to Re-redlining: How America’s largest financial institutions devastated California communities.” February 2010.

…And Reverse Redlining to Re-redlining: Banks unwilling to work out loan modifications…

In Oakland, there were an average of 21.87 foreclosures for every loan modification made each month in the sample report in 2009. In the US, there were 6.77.

Source: California Reinvestment Coalition. “From Foreclosures to Re-redlining: How America’s largest financial institutions devastated California communities.” February 2010.

Re-redlining contd.: And credit once again unavailable

In Oakland: Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo are more likely to deny loans for communities of color than for non-minority neighborhoods

Source: California Reinvestment Coalition. “From Foreclosures to Re-redlining: How America’s largest financial institutions devastated California communities.” February 2010.

In Oakland: there were three times as many PRIME loans in 2006 than in 2008…

Today,

Institutions continue to

support, not dismantle, the

status quo. This is why we

continue to see racially

inequitable outcomes even

if there is good intent

behind policies, or an

absence of racist actors. (i.e.

structural racialization)

How we allocate our resources in terms of People, Places, andLinkages matters….

Lesson:

What are some key intervention points to improve opportunity for children?

A Brief Snapshot of Opportunity for Children in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fresno region

Focus: Children in Poverty

Source U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 Census, Summary File 4.

ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES:Child Poverty Rate by Race/Ethnicity (1999)

Metro Area

Black 28.0%

American Indian 16.0%

Asian/Pac. Islander 10.0%

Hispanic 15.0%

Non-Hispanic White 5.0%

What will the fallout from the recession mean for our children?

In 1999, child poverty was already alarming for certain groups in the metro area, for example Black children at 28%.

We can expect that poverty rate for children will only grow as the recession continues… As one pediatrician has warned, “We are seeing the

emergence of what amounts to a ‘recession generation.’”

Increases in child poverty, homelessness, and temporary relief indicate that children across the U.S. are experiencing “a quiet disaster.”

Source: Bob Herbert, “Children in Peril.” New York Times Op-Ed published April 20, 2009. Herbert is quoting Dr. Irwin Redlener, president of the Children’s Health Fund in New York.

Focus: Segregation in Schools

EDUCATION:Segregation of Public Primary School Students, Dissimilarity by Race/Ethnicity (2007-08)

Metro Area

Hispanic---Non-Hispanic White 61.1%

Non. Hisp Asian---Non-Hispanic White

54.9%

Non. Hisp. Indian---Non-Hispanic White

35.4%

Non-Hispanic Black---Non-Hispanic White

63.7%

Source National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data. Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey. Downloaded from Diversity Data.org

Focus: Poverty in Schools

Source National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data. Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey. Downloaded from Diversity Data.org

EDUCATION:Poverty Rate of School Where Average Primary School Student Attends by Race/Ethnicity (2007-08)

Metro Area

Hispanic 63.3%

Non-Hispanic White 21.0%

Non-Hispanic Black 62.3%

Non-Hispanic American Indian 42.8%

Non-Hispanic Asian/Pac. Islander 36.6%

What does segregation and poverty in schools mean for our children?

Research shows: A consistent “negative effect of high poverty concentrations

in school on students’ academic achievement.” (Trent, 1997)

The poverty of a school, far more than the poverty of an individual, determines students’ educational outcomes and impoverished students do better if they live in middle-class neighborhoods and/or attend more affluent schools. (Schellenberg, 1998)

When a school reaches a tipping point of 50%, all students outcomes are depressed. And once poverty in a school district reaches 60% or above, the district can no longer rely on its own internal efforts to improve outcomes. (Schellenberg, 1998)

Growing opportunity for all

Renewing our Communities

Strategies for Growing Together

Think in new ways Talk in new waysAct in new ways

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Transformative Thinking

transformative thinking to combat structural racialization; we need to find new approaches.

personal and social responsibility are important: we should maintain them in our advocacy and analysis

approaches should consider the structures and systems that are creating and perpetuating these disparities and work to reform them for lasting change. Challenging policies, processes, and assumptions

Talking in New Ways

I. How do we talk about race?II. Targeted universalism—a new frame for dialogue

(beyond disparities)

I. How to Talk about Race

Focus on structures and systems rather than explicit individual action/reaction

Focus on the subconscious—the implicit bias that is stored within the mind

Focus on relationships—build collaborations and engage in real discussion

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II. Targeted universalism as communication strategy

Moves beyond the disparities frame

Focuses on the universal goals shared by all the communities while being sensitive to the targeted strategies that are responsive to the situation of marginalized communities

Acting in New Ways

I. Engagement and empowermentII. Targeted universalism as policy

III. Strategies for connecting to opportunity

I. Engagement and Empowerment

The less resourced a community is, the more critical organizing becomes

How Institutions can strengthen engagement

Not just “outreach”. That is, anchor institutions cannot simply make their offer and “sell” the community hoping they will buy it.

II. Promote Universal Policies in Targeted Ways

• There is no “one size fits all”

• “One vision, many paths”

• Process:• What is the goal?• How do we tailor

strategies to different groups, who are differently situated, to lift them to that goal?

III. Strategies for Connecting to Opportunity

Activity: Telling your own Opportunity Story

Personal lens: What in my life and my parents’ life opened up and created opportunities for

me?

What in my life and my parents’ life has restricted opportunity for me?

How has this impacted me? How has it shaped the story of my life?

How does access to and restriction from opportunity impact my children’s lives?

Community lens: Do opportunity structures exist in my community? What’s there, what’s missing,

and for whom?

Are they responsive to community needs?

How do I impact these structures? How can the community?

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