The Role of Race in Public Policy & How We Move Forward

Lynda Turet, Advocacy Coordinator22nd Annual Texas United

Methodist Women's Legislative Event

January 25, 2010

Center for Social Inclusiono CSI is a national

policy advocacy organization with the goal of building opportunity for all by dismantling structural racism

How:o Ideaso Leadershipo Communicatio

ns

Structural Racism Defined

Structure is multi-institutionalThe ways our public and private institutions interact to produce barriers to opportunity and racial disparities.

Intent to discriminate is irrelevant Structures just do what they do and reinforce disinvestment and disparities.

FoodSecurity

Transportation

Housing

Civic Participation

EmploymentEducation

Environment

Why We Need to Deal with Race Head Ono People of color are the miner’s canary, signaling where

we need focus and create solutionso Communities of color must be part of fights for different

policies because of how they are impacted and changing demographics

o Race is used as a wedge in policy debates that impact everyone1946 2009

Looking Only at Class is Not Enough

Net worth by income$134

$50

$17

$44

$15$2

$-

$30

$60

$90

$120

$150

Upper Middle Working

Wealth ($Thousands)

Income Class

White net worth

Black net worth

Poverty Doesn’t Explain It All

o African American male and female life expectancy rates are lower than those with much lower incomes in China, Jamaica, Costa Rica and parts of India.*

o Minority patients are less likely than whites to receive the health care they need, even after taking into account racial differences in health insurance coverage and other economic and health conditions.**

*Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom** Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, “Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care” 2003.

Policy Produces Structural Arrangements

Social Security

Federal Housing Administration

The G.I. BillFederal Aid

Highway Act

People of Color More Likely to Live in Concentrated Poverty

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, “U.S. Interim Projections by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin” and U.S. Census 2000

People of color and immigrants in the economic crisis

o Hit first and hardesto Great Depression: more likely to be laid off

or lose a business, lead to wider wealth inequality

o Today: targeted for predatory loans, more likely to foreclose

o Blamedo Great Depression: “illegal immigration”

from Europe, mass deportation of Mexican Americans

o Today: immigrants “stealing” jobs/services, minority lending, CRA

o Left out of recoveryo Great Depression: Social Security, Farm Aid,

housing programso Today: ??

Inequalities in Texaso Texas is one of the most unequal states in the country.

The gap between the state’s richest and poorest families is the 9th largest in the nation, and in the last decade the top 20% income earners experienced a 9% growth compared to a -1.8% growth for the bottom 20%.*

o 12 of the 15 states most impacted by the recession have a higher than average percentage of people of color, including Texas (38% compared to 35% nationally).**

o 24% of Texas in uninsured, but more so for African Americans (28%) and Latinos (38%) compared to only 16% of non-Hispanic Whites.***

*”Pulling Apart: A State By State Analysis of Income Trends” Center on Budget and Priorities 2008.** Measuring the Recession: An Impact Index Center for Social Inclusion 2009**Texas Department of Health “Disease Prevention News” Vol 63 No 8 May 7, 2003.

11

Opportunity Segregation in AustinResearch by The Kirwan

Institute at Ohio State University shows that opportunity is not equal across race in Austin.

o60% of Latinos and African Americans are concenrated in very low- or low-opportunity census tracts compared to 39% of Whites in the region.

o2 out of 3 African American and Latino children live in low opportunity areas

Reframing the Immigration “problem”o Structural arrangements

limit opportunities for all communities, leaving some exploited and others excluded.

We need…o Proactive solutions, not

reactionary oneso Multiracial coalition to

combat tensions and create policies that work for all

How To Transform Our Communities

Fixing Things For The First And Hardest Hit Helps Us All

Efforts to address inequality by investing in a region’s poor communities have lowered

poverty and spurred economic growth throughout the region. -Manuel Pastor, UC Santa Cruz

How to Think Structurally on Raceo Look at problems in the context of a

community’s infrastructureo What access to education, jobs, transportation, or

healthcare do communities have based on where they are located?

o Look at where the money is going (investment vs. disinvestment)

o Look at the intersections of institutions/systems to understand where the solution to a problem might lie

o Understand how race is being used in policy discourse

How to Work Structurally on Race

Measure and address unequal impacts of

policies

Create access to credit and wealth for a new political

economy

Build alliances with unlikely suspects with

shared interests

Combat colorblindness by taking race on

constructively

Build the capacity of community-led vision

and policies

Moment of Opportunity

o Economic crisis helps us all see our linked-fate

o Changing demographicso 36% (8.4 million) of Texas is Latino, ¼ of eligible voterso By 2050 people of color will constitute the New Majority

o Administration in Washington more open to considering community-oriented, “sustainable” solutions

Lynda Turetlturet@thecsi.org

www.centerforsocialinclusion.org