DOCUMENT RESUME ED 438 383 UD 033 353 AUTHOR Spriggs, William, Ed. TITLE The State of Black America, 1999: The Impact of Color-Consciousness in the United States. INSTITUTION National Urban League, Inc., New York, NY. ISBN ISBN-0-914758-98-5 PUB DATE 1999-00-00 NOTE 240p. AVAILABLE FROM National Urban League, Publications Dept., 120 Wall Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY ($24.95). Tel: 212-558-5316; Fax: 212-344-5189; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.nul.org. PUB TYPE Books (010) Collected Works General (020)-- Reports - Descriptive (141) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC10 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Accountability; *Affirmative Action; *Blacks; Economic Factors; Elementary Secondary Education; Foreign Countries; *Racial Attitudes; Urban Problems IDENTIFIERS *African Americans; Europe ABSTRACT The economic state of black America has never been healthier, vet persistent racial gaps leave African American unemployment at levels more typical of recession for whits in the United States. By challenging the predominant use of race, this compilation refocuses attention on the effects of discrimination and on the lost term "institutional racism." In so doing, it helps maintain the defense of affirmative action. These essays reinforce the position that race is not a biological category but a social category, one that becomes a marker for creating or denying access to wealth. The essays are: (1) "The Cancer Gap: Research Needs of African Americans" (Brian D. Smedley); (2) "Family Environment and Intergenerational Well-Being: Some Preliminary Results" (Patrick L. Mason); (3) "The State of Black Europe" (Clarence Lusane); (4) "Color-Blind Redistricting and the Efficacy of Black Representation" (Ronald Walters); (5) "Unfinished Business: African-American Political Economy during the Age of 'Color-Blind' Politics" (Rhonda M. Williams); (6) "History, Discrimination, and Racial Inequality" (William Darity, Jr.); (7) "A Critical Assessment of Skills Explanations of Black-White Employment and Wage Gaps" (William M. Rodgers, III); (8) "The Reliance of African Americans on the Public Sector" (Lynn C. Burbridge); and (9) "Education Accountability: First the School Systems--Then the Students" (Hugh B. Price). Five appendixes contain a history of the National Urban League, a statistical overview of the progress of African Americans, an index of authors and articles, profiles of the authors, and selected tables from "The Shape of the River: Long-term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions" by William G. Bowen and Derek Bok, 1998. (Contains 67 tables and 1 figure.) (SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. A 44 II& a a I a U S DEPARTMENTOF EDUCATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE = ND Office of Educational Researchand Improvement INFORMATION DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES BEEN GRANTED BY CENTER (ERIC) This document has beenreproduced as organization received from the person or C. Cto (.0 originating it Minor changes have beenmade to (n improve reproductionquality CO TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Points of view or opinionsstated in this INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) C:0 document do not necessarilyrepresent official OERI position orpolicy 1 BESTCOPYAVAILABLE I ' I I I I I 1 BniE,SAITaOk AMERICA 1 9 9 9 PUBLISHED BY NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE 0 BLACK AMERICA 1 9 9 9 EDITOR William Spriggs SENIOR EDITOR Lee A. Daniels MANAGING EDITORS Doug Miller Lisa Bland Malone ASSOCIATE EDITORS Dachell McSween Rose Jefferson-Frazier David W. Brown IMAGE PARTNERS CUSTOM PUBLISHING PRESIDENT AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR John Shearer VICE PRESIDENT Marianne Shearer DESIGN DIRECTOR Lisa Weber ART DIRECTOR Jeffry A. Braun SALES Dave Weiner and Associates Copyright° National Urban League, 1999 Library of Congress Catalog Number 77-647469 ISBN 0-914758-98-5 $24.95 4 NATIONAL URBANLEAGUE Our Children0 Our Destiny JONATHAN S. LINEN Chairman HUGHB. PRICE President and Chief Executive Officer MILTON J. LITTLE, JR. Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer M. GASBYGREELY Senior Vice President, Development and Communications MILDRED L. LOVE Senior Vice President of Operations PAUL WYCISK Senior Vice President, Finance and Administration ANNELLE LEWIS Vice President, Affiliate Development Cover photo by Alan Haywood/ Digitalretouching by Dennis Chalkin Interior illustrations by David Wariner Charts by Bruce Armenante BLACK AMERICA 1 9 9 9 TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD: Volume overview 9 ARTICLE 1 "The Cancer Gap: Research Needs of African Americans" by Brian D. Smedley 21 ARTICLE 2 "Family Environment and Intergenerational Well-being: Some Preliminary Results" by Patrick L. Mason 45 ARTICLE 3 "The State of Black Europe" by Clarence Lusane 91 ARTICLE 4 "Color-Blind Redistricting and the Efficacy of Black Representation" by Ronald Walters 107 ARTICLE 5 "Unfinished Business: African-American Political Economy During the Age of 'Color-Blind' Politics" by Rhonda M. Williams 137 ARTICLE 6 "History, Discrimination and Racial Inequality" by William Darity Jr 153 ARTICLE 7 "A Critical Assessment of Skills Explanations of Black- White Employment and Wage Gaps" by William M. Rodgers III 167 continued on the next page TABLE OF CONTENTS ARTICLE 8 "The Reliance of African Americans on the Public Sector" by Lynn C. Burbridge 185 ARTICLE 9 "Education Accountability: First the School Systems Then the Students" by Hugh B. Price 193 APPENDIX I A History of the National Urban League 205 APPENDIX II African Americans Then and Now: A Statistical Overview 211 APPENDIX III Index of Authors and Articles, 1987-1999 215 APPENDIX IV About the Authors 227 APPENDIX V Selected Tables from The Shape of the River: Long-term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions 229 7 FOREWORD Volume Overview BY HUGH B. PRICE The economic state of Black America has neverbeen healthier. Unemployment is at a record low, the share of adults with jobs is at a record high, every segment of income distributionfrom the bottom fifth to the topis at a record high. Clearly at such levels, it is difficult to maintainclaims about the lack of skills among African Americans in a modern econ- omy. After all, the unemployment ratefor African-American men in this highly competitive, well-functioning economythe envyof the worldis lower than the unemployment rate formales in most European countries. So . it follows that national economicpolicies may have much more to say to usthan we have focused on. Yet, despite a 1990s growth pattern that has benefitedAfrican Americans far more than the growth path of a decade ago, persistent racial gaps leave African-American unemployment at levels more typical of recessions for white America. The African-American unemployment rate has slid just below a level that is doublethe national average, where it persistently hovers. Continued growth may push it lower. But why did the effectof economic policy on African Americans drift into thebackground of discussion? Why did the national debate move awayfrom the effects of racism to a discussion on race? The State of BlackAmerica 1999 looks at a philosophy of approaching racial differences.It lifts 9 FOREWORD and a veil onsocial science researchthat clouds our view of race policies addressingracial disparities inincome, wealth and life chances. By challenging thepredominant use of race, thiscompila- tion refocuses us on theeffects of discrimination, aswell as on a it helps to main- lost term: "institutionalracism." And by so doing, tain the defense ofaffirmative action. Surprisingly, most socialscience research on racialdisparities begins with no definitionof race. To many, that maybe surprising; to others it maybe self-evident. Buthow race is defined deter- mines how we understandracial disparities. Imagine reading an articlethat examines "success."Immediately, you would want toknow how the authordefines success, since it probably would affect theauthor's conclusion. Wethink we know what we mean by race,but do we really? When aresearcher con- cludes, like the authorsof The Bell Curve, thatracial differences are genetic differences, that is onedefinition of raceanaturally occur- ring, gene-based grouping. Yet, writing on the samesubject, using the samedata sets, a different set of authorsconcluded that racial differences werereal- ly differences inunobserved child-rearingpracticesa social con- struct of racebased on ethnic affinities, acultural definition of race. Where did those definitions comefrom? How did thoseauthors assert thosemeanings of race? Understanding racialdifferences plunges us deepinto the methodologies of socialscience. Unlike physicalscientists who can one field do controlledexperimentsfor instance, giving water to of corn, water and fertilizer toanother field of corn andnothing to another field of cornsocialscientists must rely onexisting differ- with ences, andhow those differences, orvariations, relate. People higher-than-average education,for instance, tend to earnhigher- than-average incomes. But because social sciencedeals with real-worldissues, there People are manydifferent variations. Not alleducation is the same. 10 THE STATE OF BLACK AMERICA get educated in verydifferent settings, and some study harder than others. Some variations are observed, likethe number of years of schooling, and the data is collected for thesocial scientist to see. Other variations, such as the effort expendedin getting an educa- tion, are not collected. So the meaning of racebecomes very impor- tant in understanding how tointerpret differences in