This document discusses structural racialization and how racial disparities persist even as explicit racist attitudes and laws have declined. It argues that seemingly neutral policies and institutions can reproduce racial inequalities without racial intent. It provides examples of persistent racial disparities in areas like unemployment, incarceration, income, wealth, and concentrated poverty. It advocates using a structural perspective and systems thinking to understand how disparate impacts accumulate over time through mutually reinforcing relationships between policies, institutions, and spatial aspects of opportunity. Transformational change is needed that addresses implicit biases and links individual and community fates rather than viewing them in isolation.

1. The Structure of Disparities: Advancing Structural Equality john a powellKirwan Institute for theStudy of Race and Ethnicity

2. The problem [of equality] is so tenacious because, despite its virtues and attributes, America is deeply racist and its democracy is flawed both economically and socially … justice for Black people cannot be achieved without radical changes in the structure of our society … Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

3. Race in the U.S. 3 http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_reducingracialdisparity.pdf

4. Framing Matters Both these perspectives are true –how we frame issues of race matters. Consider the false dichotomies we often use when we think and talk about race. These binaries are actually frames. Black / White Post-racialism / Civil Rights Race is not important / Race matters 4

6. Move from de jure segregation to de facto segregation

7. Move from explicit racist laws/attitudes to seemingly neutral structures that reproduce disparities

8. Shifting the focus from attitudes to manifestation - stop focusing on racial intent as determining factor in talking about existence of “racism”5 Towards a Structural View

9. Colorblindness v. Color-Consciousness Colorblindness The logic: Since we know race is socially constructed (not scientific), we should eliminate racial categories This perspective assumes “that the major race problem in our society is race itself, rather than racism.” Attempting to ignore race is not the same as creating equality Source: john a. powell. “The Colorblind Multiracial Dilemma: Racial Categories Reconsidered.” (1997)

10. 7 Disparities: Snapshots African-American men were 1.8x more likely than white men to be unemployed in 1980, by 2000 that had risen to 2.4x more likely – 2007 estimates indicate this has increased even further. If incarcerated populations are included in the jobless count, African-American men are now over 3x more likely than white men to be unemployed, a larger disparity than even the 1950s.

11. What’s happening now? Video of unemployment growth in the United States 8 CLICKPICTURETOSTARTMOVIE

12. What’s happening now? But unemployment is not equal….. 9

13. 10 Disparities: Snapshots The Black-White disparity in incarceration was close to 3-1 in 1930. Today it is higher than 8-1, and still increasing exponentially. Incarceration for drug-related offenses peaked at a 20-1 disparity in the mid 90s and is currently holding steady at 15-1. (In 2007, nearly 7% of African-American children had one or both parents currently in prison, a higher percentage than ever before in history) The likelihood of a poor African-American child living in concentrated poverty compared to her white counterpart was about 3x in the 1960s, it is now 7.2

14. 11 Disparities: Snapshots The typical Black family had 60% as much income as a white family in 1968, but only 58% as much in 2002. Black infants are almost two-and-a-half-times as likely as white infants to die before age one – a greater gap than in 1970. At the slow rate that the Black-white under poverty gap has been narrowing since 1968, it would take until 2152, to close. For every white dollar earned, African Americans earned 55 cents in 1968 – and only 57 cents in 2001. IT’S NOT ONLY ABOUT DISPARITIES, BUT WE CAN’T IGNORE THEM

15. 12 THE RACIAL LANDSCAPE HAS CHANGED DRASTICALLY FROM 1947-2006, YET INCOME DISPARITIES ARE ESSENTIALLY UNCHANGED

16. Where are we at? LOCALLY INSERT MAPS/DATA ROCHESTER SPECIFIC UPSTATE NY SPECIFIC

18. Structural racialization addresses inter-institutionalarrangements and interactions.

19. It refers to the ways in which the joint operation of institutions produce racialized outcomes.

20. In this analysis, outcomes matter more than intent.14

21. Term Clarification 15

22. Structural Racialization Produces Racialized Outcomes 16 Adapted from the Aspen Roundtable on Community Change. “Structural Racism and Community Building.” June 2004

23. Structural Racialization Analysis Applied 17 Housing Challenges

24. Understanding Structural Arrangements Example: A bird in a cage Examining one wire cannot explain why a bird cannot fly. But multiple wires, arranged in specific ways, reinforce each other and trap the bird. 18

25. Situatedness Different communities are situated differently with respect to institutions. 19 Example: Universal Healthcare Community B has no insurance, but there’s a hospital down the street. Community C has access to both insurance an a hospital. Community A has no insurance and no hospitals in the area.

26. Racialized Structures Structures and policies are not neutral. They unevenly distribute benefits and burdens. 20 Source: Barbara Reskin. http://faculty.uwashington.edu/reskin/

27. Introducing Systems Thinking Relationships are neither static nor discrete. 21

28. A B

29. Systems Thinking 23 Lower Educational Outcomes School Segregation & Concentrated Poverty Think in loops, not just cause & effect Disparities may be reinforcing Gains in one area are often undone over time because of structures – not intent Increased Flight of Affluent Families Racial & Economic Neighborhood Segregation Mutually Reinforcing

30. 24 FHA Loans – Racialized Input Post WWII FHA Loans - mostly available for whites only and new suburbs being built had racial covenants - (less than 1% of African-American Households able to receive mortgages from 1930-1960) By 1984, When GI Bill mortgages had mostly matured White net worth = $39,135 AA net worth = $3,397 By 2002 Avg white wealth = $88,000 and Avg AA wealth = $8,000 WEALTH DISPARITIES GROW EXPONENTIALLY IN A CAPITALIST SOCIETY WITHOUT STRONG PROGRESSIVE TAXATION

31. Systems Thinking 25

32. Black ghettos have come to contain a disproportionate share of the nation's poor, creating an intensely disadvantaged environment that only blacks face. The key issue, in the end is not whether it is race or class that explains the plight of African-Americans in the late twentieth century but how race and class interact to produce barriers to black socioeconomic progress that are unique in their intensity, severity and durability. Douglas Massey The Nation Urban sprawl is the new face of Jim Crow john powell Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity 26 Spatial Aspects of Opportunity

33. Who Lives in Concentrated Poverty Neighborhoods? 27 OVER 3.1 MILLION AFRICAN AMERICANS LIVED IN CONCENTRATED POVERTY NEIGHBORHOODS IN 2000, BLACKS AND LATINOS REPRESENT NEARLY 3 OUT OF 4 RESIDENTS IN THESE NEIGHBORHOODS NEARLY 1 OUT OF 10 BLACKS LIVED IN A CONCENTRATED POVERTY NEIGHBORHOOD IN 1999, COMPARED TO 1 OUT OF 100 WHITES

34. 15 most segregated metro areas Detroit, MI Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI New York, NY Newark, NJ Chicago, IL Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria, OHBuffalo-Niagara Falls, NY Cincinnati, OHSt. Louis, MONassau-Suffolk, NY Bergen-Passaic, NJPhiladelphia, PAIndianapolis, IN Miami, FL Kansas City, MO

35. 15 most segregated metro areas Detroit, MI Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI New York, NY Newark, NJChicago, IL Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria, OHBuffalo-Niagara Falls, NY Cincinnati, OHSt. Louis, MONassau-Suffolk, NY Bergen-Passaic, NJPhiladelphia, PAIndianapolis, IN Miami, FL Kansas City, MO BOLDED CITIES are 9 out of the 10 poorest major metro areas in the US

36. 15 most segregated metro areas Detroit, MI Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI New York, NY Newark, NJChicago, IL Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria, OHBuffalo-Niagara Falls, NY Cincinnati, OHSt. Louis, MONassau-Suffolk, NY Bergen-Passaic, NJPhiladelphia, PAIndianapolis, IN Miami, FL Kansas City, MO A few other stats…… PERCENTAGE OFBLACKS LIVING UNDER POVERTY MIAMI (1) BUFFALO (9)ST LOUIS (11)CLEVELAND (13)CINCINNATI (15)MILWAUKEE (16)NEWARK (18)

37. 15 most segregated metro areas Detroit, MI Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI New York, NY Newark, NJChicago, IL Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria, OHBuffalo-Niagara Falls, NY Cincinnati, OHSt. Louis, MONassau-Suffolk, NY Bergen-Passaic, NJPhiladelphia, PAIndianapolis, IN Miami, FL Kansas City, MO A few other stats…… WORST CHILDHOOD WELLBEING DETROIT (1)NEWARK (4)CLEVELAND (7) ST LOUIS (8) BUFFALO (12) CINCINNATI (13)MILWAUKEE (14)PHILLY (17)

38. 15 most segregated metro areas Detroit, MI Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI New York, NY Newark, NJChicago, IL Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria, OHBuffalo-Niagara Falls, NY Cincinnati, OHSt. Louis, MONassau-Suffolk, NY Bergen-Passaic, NJPhiladelphia, PAIndianapolis, IN Miami, FL Kansas City, MO A few other stats…… MOST VIOLENT CRIMES PER CAPITA ST LOUIS (1)DETROIT (2)PHILLY (7) MIAMI (8) CLEVELAND (19) BUFFALO (21)

39. What do these cities have in common? Detroit, MI Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI Newark, NJCleveland-Lorain-Elyria, OHBuffalo-Niagara Falls, NY Cincinnati, OHSt. Louis, MOPhiladelphia, PA Highly Segregated “Northern” Rapid Expansion into Suburbs in 1950s De-industrialization // “Rust Belt” Jurisdictional Fragmentation Mostly African-American Urban Core

40. Systems Thinking Non-Linear Small changes  large effects or large changes  no effects Dynamic Not only are the parts always changing, but so is the relationship between the parts and how they effect each other Not concerned with “prime cause”, concerned with relationships and structure Good for answering questions about complex/messy problems

41. 35 RACIAL MEANING RACE RACIAL DISPARITIES RACIAL ATTITUDES

42. Systems Thinking: Three Types of Problems Easy, Complicated, Complex [messy] Easy Problems -> baking a cake, fixing a car, diagnosing an illness Complicated problems -> building a rocketship, designing a statewide curriculu, managing a hospital Compelx

45. Systems Thinking: Input lingers through feedback effects

46. Systems Thinking: Input lingers through feedback effects

47. Systems Thinking: Input lingers through feedback effects

48. 42 FHA Loans – Racialized Input Post WWII FHA Loans - mostly available for whites only and new suburbs being built had racial covenants - (less than 1% of African-American Households able to receive mortgages from 1930-1960) By 1984, When GI Bill mortgages had mostly matured White net worth = $39,135 AA net worth = $3,397 By 2002 Avg white wealth = $88,000 and Avg AA wealth = $8,000

49. Systems Thinking: Policy Resistance TODAY’S PROBLEMS WERE OFTEN YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION

50. Systems Thinking: Policy Resistance Widening Highways Problem: Highways are too crowded  Solution: Make highways wider  Result: Highways are less crowded -> driving becomes more desirable -> more people drive -> Problem: Highways are too crowded again TODAY’S PROBLEMS WERE OFTEN YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION

51. Systems Thinking: Policy Resistance Brown vs Board of ED Strategy – If we could address educational disparities from very young, other disparities would start to work themselves out Schools seen as key battleground for both Civil Rights activists and Civil Rights opponents What else was happening at the time? Suburbanization and beginnings of urban sprawl Jurisdictional Fragmentation Construction of a myth of “America = Suburb” 50 years later -> do we still have white schools? Do we still have unequal schools?

52. Systems Thinking: Policy Resistance BAD OLD DAYS PICTURE

53. Systems Thinking: Initial Disparities Reinforce Themselves In 1980s -> lots of operating systems vying for dominance -> Microsoft Windows starts being used in some businesses Other businesses start using MS to make compatibility easier Soon – computers coming with Windows preinstalled, all corporations using Windows Until -> major disruptions -> mobile computing OS becomes less important

54. Systems Thinking: Initial Disparities Reinforce Themselves THEN CONTINUES INTERGENERATIONALLY

55. Concluding Thoughts 49

57. A Transformative Agenda Transformative change in the racial paradigm in the U.S. requires substantive efforts in three areas: Talking about race: Understanding how language and messages shape reality and the perception of reality Thinking about race: Understanding how framing and priming impact information processing in both the explicit and the implicit mind Linking these understandings to the way that we act on race and how we arrange our institutions and policies 51

58. US has one of the highest percentages of childhood poverty, infant mortality, and incarceration in the world, despite its affluence as a country. It has lower life expectancies than most industrialized countries, and the least social mobility of any industrialized country. The single largest predictor of wealth in the United States is the wealth of your parents The US is in the “top” countries for the average wealth of a national elected representative compared to the average wealth of its citizens. The US has one of the highest rates of income inequality and wealth inequality (Gini Coefficient) in the industrialized world. 52

59. Wrapping it Up Political Structures are not subordinate to us as individuals – nor are our values in a vacuum 53

60. Linked Fates…Transformative Change Our fates are linked, yet our fates have been socially constructed as disconnected, especially through the categories of race, class, gender, nationality, religion… We need to consider ourselves connected to - instead of isolated from -“thy neighbor” 54

61. “We need to look at the individual in terms of many different relationships to him/herself, many things in relationship to his/her community and to the larger community, not just in isolation. If we take this approach seriously, it affects how we see the world, how we experience ourselves, how we do our work, and helps move us to a truly inclusive paradigm.” 55 ~john a. powell

62. 56 www.KirwanInstitute.org www.race-talk.org KirwanInstitute on: