University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014 1997 Racial integration policy : finding solutions. Mario M. S. Martins University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses Martins, Mario M. S., "Racial integration policy : finding solutions." (1997). Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014. 2549. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses/2549 This thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RACIAL INTEGRATION POLICY: FINDING SOLUTIONS A Thesis Presented by MARIO M. S. MARTINS Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS May 1997 Political Science RACIAL INTEGRATION POLICY: FINDING SOLUTIONS A Thesis Presented by MARIO M. S. MARTINS Approved as to style and content by ome Mileur, Member Eric Einhorn, Department Head Political Science ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to: Dr . Dean Robinson Dr. Jerome Mileur and the entire Political Science Department for all the helpful suggestions and support Special Thanks to: Lisa L. Cowell for her undying support in everything I do iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS LIST OF TABLES Chapter 1 . INTRODUCTION 1 2 . METHODOLOGY 4 3. FINDINGS 7 A. The Test for Social Parity 7 1 . Education 2. Criminal Conviction 12 3 . Health B. The Test for Economic Parity 16 1. Unemployment 16 2 . Income 18 3 . Poverty 19 C. The Test for Political Parity 19 1 . Voting 19 2. The 104th Congress 22 3. Federal Judgeships 24 D. The Black Middle Class 25 E. The Test for Parity Concluded 27 4. POLICY DISCUSSION 28 A. Universalism as a Guiding Principle 28 B. Affirmative Action 31 C. Education 35 1. For the Public 35 2. For the Children 37 D. Housing 43 E. City Clean-Up 46 F. Transportation 47 G. Minimum Wage and Job Creation 48 5. CONCLUSION 51 REFERENCES 56 IV LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 . Social Indicators . .8 2. Economic Indicators 1 7 3. Political Indicators .21 v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In the post Civil Rights Movement era, America has experienced a backlash against the gains of the 1960s. Affirmative action programs have come under attack for supposedly creating "reverse discrimination" (Omi and Winnant 1994, 116). The Democratic party, known as the party of inclusion since the formation of the New Deal coalition that supported Franklin D. Roosevelt and was composed of such diverse blocs of voters as blacks, union members, and the South, has begun to retreat from affirmative action and other social programs (Holmes 1996, A1 ) . The Republican party, which is widely recognized as the party of the "economic elite" who tend to be white, has stepped up its attack on race-specific public policies since the presidency of Ronald Reagan (Edsall 1984, 67). Questions need to be asked of those who believe that affirmative action (as the major race-specific public program) should be eliminated. First, does reverse discrimination exist, and if it does, how serious of a problem is it? Secondly, does a level playing field exist? That is, are blacks collectively less capable than whites, or are there impediments to black (collective) success that can be broken down with effective public policies? To demonstrate that "reverse discrimination" exists, most use anecdotal evidence, citing a story about a friend who was denied a job in favor of a black person who was 1 a (supposedly) less competent candidate, Claims of reverse discrimination, however, are problematic in that the criteria of ability and "excellence" that are widely assumed to be legitimate when judging candidates for employment and college admissions are often problematic. These criteria will be discussed below. Further, discrimination is defined by those who criticize affirmative action as an individual, case-by- case phenomenon. Certainly discrimination on an individual basis exists, and does so on many different levels: neatness of dress, articulation, politeness, past work experience, gender are all factors that have been known to affect hiring decisions. However, for discrimination to be socially harmful, it must be demonstrated that one group has an unfair advantage over another that results in collective disenfranchisement of the disadvantaged group. Individual instances of discrimination are harmful only to the individual who loses. Discrimination as a broad trend of collective disenfranchisement, however, is harmful to a great portion of the population (in the American case, to blacks and other minorities) and also to society as a whole. If policy-makers choose to eliminate (or further weaken) affirmative action they should do so not on the basis of "reverse discrimination," but because other policies will work better and because the stigma attached to affirmative action (because of such claims of reverse 2 discrimination) cannot be alleviated and thus prevents the program from accomplishing its goals. My study will include a challenge to the traditional measures of "excellence" (i.e. standardized tests and grades) that employers and universities use when searching for employees and students, respectively. By challenging these measures, I will refute claims that blacks considered less qualified than whites are actually less qualified. I will also establish that parity between blacks and whites in the political, social and economic arenas does not exist (which is a well-known fact) and illustrate the extent of the disparity between the two groups. The data will also serve to demonstrate that the most serious form of discrimination (i.e. collective disenfranchisement of whites) has not been realized under affirmative action. Other questions that need to be asked are whether affirmative action is defensible as a current and continuing program given the contemporary political attitude toward race-specific public policy. I contend that some sort of public policy(-ies) that addresses minority social, economic and political improvement needs to be implemented (or continued), because a level playing field does not exist. The policy proposals discussed will involve almost exclusively public sector response to race issues for the purpose of narrowing the scope of the study. 3 CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY I will test for parity in the three broad areas of political, social and economic influence. If parity is found in these areas, I will then consider whether affirmative action should be abolished immediately, phased out over time, or continued in order to maintain parity. If I find that parity does not exist (and I expect that it does not), then I will proceed to discuss whether affirmative action benefits blacks as a group and also whether its continuation is likely or even feasible given Public sentiment. I will also discuss public policies that could ameliorate the status of blacks in America. The broad policy areas of education, housing, transportation and city clean-up will be examined and a plan for how favored policies should be marketed given the current political environment will be presented. Three variables have been chosen for each of the three broad areas to test for parity, and all data have been obtained from the Statistical Abstract of the United States unless otherwise noted. Social parity will be tested first by checking whether the percentage of prisoners who are black or white is greater than the percentage of blacks or whites in the United States population. The second variable is education level, and the third, life expectancy. The first two variables allow a view of how people are likely to respond to one race or another if a group is 4 . collectively regarded positively as educated or negatively as criminal. Questions will also be raised if parity is not found , as to why one race is incarcerated more than another or , educated more highly than another. The third variable in the social category, life expectancy, affords insight into various contributors to length of life, such as stress levels, types of occupation, quality of health care and so on. Economic parity will be tested by looking at unemployment rates, median family income, and poverty levels. If parity is not found, possible causes of the ^ ff er © nce will be considered, such as discriminatory hiring practices and segregation through housing codes into impoverished inner-cities where jobs are difficult to obtain Political parity will be measured by percent of each race voting, by percent of congressional office-holders who are black compared to those who are white, and by distribution of federal judgeships among blacks and whites. These variables will allow examination of broad, basic political activity (voting), as well as a look at whether one race is more likely to win (or perhaps even run) for public office, and finally, whether blacks are in positions, through both education and effective networking, to be appointed to prestigious positions in the federal branch of government. 5 I will also consider how one issue affects another. For example , a difference in earning levels is likely to have been influenced by a difference in education level. 6 CHAPTER 3 FINDINGS A * The Test for Social Parity 1 . Education When looking at the education level of blacks as compared to that of whites, one finds a large gap between the races in attainment of higher education. Only 12.9 percent of blacks age 25 and over have completed four years of college or more, while 22.2 percent of whites have done so (see Table 1-A). The proportion of the white population earning degrees is nearly twice that of blacks; the gap is 9.3 percentage points. Statistics that show disparity in educational achievement /attainment have fostered misconceptions about ties , such as the myth advanced in Richard Herrnstein s and Charles Murray's The Bell Curve that blacks are inherently inferior.