J Afr Am St DOI 10.1007/s12111-013-9264-3 B R I E F R E P O RT
Why Race Still Matters 50 years After the Enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act Bryan Warde
# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
With the presidential election and re-election of Barack Obama and the increasing presence of successful black people in all spheres of life, one could be justified in seeing this as evidence that 50 years after the enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, race is no longer a barrier to success for black people in contemporary America. Indeed, there are many who believe that America is now in a post-racial era where class is more relevant than race in determining the life chances of black people. To be sure, black people have made unprecedented strides in the 50 years since the enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In higher education, a record of 4.5 million black people has a 4-year college degree. Moreover, from 1985 to 2005/6, the number of black people with a professional degree (e.g., medicine, law, dentistry, etc.) or master's degree doubled and quadrupled respectively. Furthermore, more than 100,000 living black people hold doctoral degrees, also a record-high number (The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 2013). Equally impressive is the unprecedented number of blacks that have or do a hold a key presidential cabinet position. For example, since 1990, two black people have held the position of US Security of Defense, four have held the position of US Surgeon General, and Eric Holder currently holds the office of US Attorney General, the first black person to do so. Finally, the term black middle class has entered the lexicon of discourse to describe the sizeable number of educated black people who, by virtue of movement into a wider range of professions and higher income brackets than what was possible prior to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, are increasingly differentiated economically from the so-called black underclass (Harris 2010). Yet as tempting as it is to embrace the notion that these developments are evidence of a post-racial era, a black/white comparison across some of the most significant quality of life indicators suggest that the gains some black people have made has not vanquished American prejudice, injustice, or the racial disparities in access to resources. Rather, they have obfuscated them, making them less apparent but no less B. Warde (*) Social Work Department, Lehman College/CUNY, 250 Bedford Park Blvd West, Bronx, New York, NY 10465, USA e-mail:
[email protected]
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deleterious in their impact. To illustrate this, the current article examines and compares blacks and whites across the following six quality of life indicators: economic standard of living, employment, home ownership, education, health, and civil and political rights. Following this examination and comparison, competing perspectives on why quality of life disparities between blacks and whites remain are discussed. The article concludes with its own position on why the quality of life disparities continue.
Economic Standard of Living Income, net worth, and net financial assets of household are the indicators used for assessing household wealth, as well as economic standard of living. According to a Pew Center analysis of government data from 2009, and an analysis released in 2010 by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University, the median income, net worth, and net financial assets of white households is 20 times than that of black households (Kochhar et al. 2011; Wheary et al. 2010). Most notable about this lopsided household wealth ratio is that it is the largest since the government started publishing such data 25 years ago. In fact, it is twice the size of the ratio that existed two decades prior to the bursting of the housing market bubble in 2006 and the end of the great recession in 2009 (Kochhar et al. 2011; Wolff 2012). Indeed, the Pew Center analysis found that while the inflation-adjusted median wealth of white households fell by 16 % because of the bursting of the housing market bubble and recession that followed between 2007 and 2009, the toll on the wealth of black households was far greater. For example, in 2005, the median net worth of black households in dollars was $12,124 compared to $134, 992 for white households. In 2009, the median net worth for black households in dollars was $5,677 compared to $113, 149 for white households (Kochhar et al. 2011).
Employment Over the last four decades, there have been some notable changes in the labor market that have positively impacted employment opportunities for black people. One of these changes was the rapid desegregation of occupations between 1996 and 1980, giving successive generations of black people greater access to employment in the professions (Tomaskovic-Devey et al. 2006). There is also the trend of black people becoming an increasing share of the labor market, growing from 10.9 % in 1991 to 11.6 % in 2011(US Department of Labor 2012). Finally, over the last decade, the number of black workers with a college degree has increased by over a quarter, compared to a fifth among whites (US Department of Labor 2012). Despite these positive changes, the black and white experience in the labor market is one of significant and persistent disparities in earnings. In 2010, for example, the median usual weekly earnings of white men ($1, 273) working in the highest paying occupation group (i.e., full-time in management, professional, and related occupations) was significantly above black men in the same occupation group ($957) (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2013). For black women in the highest paying occupation group, there was also a wage disparity ($812) when compared to their white
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counterpart ($932) (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2013). In fact, when compared across all occupations with their white counterparts, both black men and women earn significantly less on average. In 2011, for example, black men working full-time earned 76 % of the average salary earned by white men working full-time while black women working full-time earned 84.6 % of the average salary earned by white women working full-time (US Department of Labor 2012).
Home Ownership Home ownership is an essential ingredient of the American dream, not least because home equity represents the largest component of non-annuitized wealth for most Americans (Bucks et al. 2009). Continuing trends started in the 1990s and fueled by favorable mortgage terms in the early 2000s, 2004 saw the national homeownership rate in the US reach a historic peak of 69 %. Black people were a part of this trend, albeit at a relatively modest level (49.1 %) when compared to whites (75 %) and Asians (60 %) (McArdle et al. 2012). However, these modest gains in homeownership evaporated with the bursting of the housing bubble in 2006, which saw a decline in homeownership for all racial and ethnic groups. The decline was steepest, however, for blacks, whose homeownership rate went from a record high 49.1 % in 2004 to 44.9 % in 2011, the lowest of any racial or ethnic group (McArdle et al. 2012). The catalyst for this decline was black homeowners' disproportionate rates of foreclosures relative to their share of mortgage originations. Indeed, between 2007 and 2009, black and Hispanic homeowners were foreclosed on at nearly twice the rate of white homeowners—8 and 4.5 %, respectively (Gruenstein-Bocian et al. 2010). The racial disparity in these foreclosures held even when controlling for differences in income patterns between demographic groups (Gruenstein-Bocian et al. 2010). Much, if not all, of the blame for these foreclosures have been laid at the feet of predatory lending practices of banks and other financial institutions that targeted blacks for subprime loans. In fact, as far back as 1998, data retrieved as a result of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act found that subprime mortgage lending was much more prevalent in black communities than white communities (US Department of Housing and Urban Development 1998). For example, in 1998, subprime mortgage lending was five times more likely in black neighborhoods than white neighborhoods, accounting for 51 % of home loans for blacks and 9 % for whites. Even in highincome black neighborhoods, subprime loans accounted for 39 % of mortgage loans, compared to 18 % in low-income white neighborhoods (US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 1998). The aforementioned disparities remain reaching a record high in the mid 2000s with 53.3 % of all subprime home loans being issued to black borrowers, compared to 17.7 % of white borrowers (Been, Vicky et al. 2013). The cost of these subprime loans and the disproportionately high foreclosure rates has had a devastating effect on wealth creation through home ownership in the black community. Among these effects are depreciation in property values, compromised credit, and loss of equity (Gruenstein-Bocian et al. 2010). No surprise, then, that as a result of the housing crises, blacks, who draw a larger share of their net worth (59 %) from home equity than whites (44 %), now have a net worth that is lower than in 1984. (Kochhar et al. 2011).
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Education In contemporary America, higher education is a critical strategy toward gaining access to a better life. In this area, blacks have made significant progress in decreasing the historical disparity with whites. According to the US Census, between 2000 and 2010, there was a 48 % increase in the number of black people 25 years of age and older holding a bachelor's degree. In 2010, 18.2 out of every 100 black adults held a bachelor's degree, compared to 14.3 out of 100 in 2000. The engine of this increase was and is black women, who attend college at twice the rate of black males, and at higher rates than white men and women. In fact, the disparity in higher education achievement that still exists between blacks and whites is as much a function of the relatively low levels of black men who both attend and graduate from an institution of higher education with a degree, as it is with anything else. Research suggests, however, that a real problem for black males maybe what happens in middle and high school education, where they graduate at only half the rate of their white counterparts (Holzman 2012). In fact, such is the extent of the problem that without some abatement, generations of young black males will not be graduating from high school, let alone college. Some of the implications of this are already present in the low-income black communities, where primarily undereducated black males are disproportionately underemployed/unemployed or incarcerated (Mauer 2011). Furthermore, they are the only group of men from any ethnic or racial group where they have a lower representation in the labor force than the females of the group (US Department of Labor 2012).
Health According to the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ), the last three decades have seen significant improvement in the overall health of the nation, but blacks have not shared equally in these improvements, particularly when compared to whites (Agency for Health Care Research and Quality 2013). Specifically, there is ample research evidence of persistent racial and ethnic disparity in access to health care, as well as treatment and diagnosis. For example, findings from the AHRQ's (2013) Medical Expenditure Panel Study indicated that, as regards to access to health care service (i.e., primary physician), 20 % of blacks lack a usual source of health care, compared to less than 16 % of whites. In fact, the only racial or ethnic group with a larger percentage lacking access to health care services is the Hispanics at 30 %. It is no surprise, then, that both black and Hispanics are far more likely to rely on hospitals and clinics for their usual source of care than whites—16 and 13 %, respectively, vs. 8 %—(AHRQ 2013). Also, it is not surprising given the aforementioned, but no less troubling are the findings on the disparities in treatment and diagnosis of heart disease, asthma, breast cancer, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, and nursing home care. For example, despite a higher prevalence of coronary heart disease and heart failure among blacks than whites, blacks are 13 % less likely to undergo life saving coronary angioplasty and one third less likely to undergo bypass surgery than whites (AHRQ 2013). Again, despite higher incidence of asthma among pre-school children, only
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7 % of black pre-school children, compared to 21 % of white children are prescribed routine medications to prevent future asthma-related hospitalizations (AHRQ 2013). For breast cancer screening and diagnostic testing for women, the amount of time between screening and follow-up diagnosis test to determine the presence of cancer is twice as long for black women, as well as Asian and Hispanic women, as it is for white women (AHRQ 2013). As it relates to HIV-infection treatment, blacks are less likely than whites and other persons with HIV to be on antiretroviral therapy, less likely to receive prophylaxis for Pneumocystis pneumonia, and less likely to be receiving protease inhibitors, all of which are powerful agents in suppressing the infection (AHRQ 2013). In nursing homes, blacks, as well as Asians and Hispanics, are far less likely than white residents to have sensory and communication aids, specifically, glasses and hearing aids (AHRQ 2013).
Civil and Political Rights Since the enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, black people have ostensibly enjoyed full civil and political rights, particularly in the areas of segregation in public areas, employment discrimination on the grounds of race, and opportunities to participate fully in all areas of the political process. Indeed, as regards to political participation, there are more black mayors and other elected officials than at any other time in American history. Moreover, in the 2012 presidential elections blacks voted at a higher rate than whites, which is an unprecedented first (Thom 2013). This being said, the last 30 years has ushered in a war on crime and drugs that while ostensibly color blind, has without doubt been waged primarily in black communities, which has had and has massive implications for the civil and political rights of at least two generations of black men (Alexander 2010; Mauer 2011). The war on crime and drugs began in earnest, in the late early 1980s, and spawned criminal justice legislation that included mandatory minimum sentencing, three strike laws, the restraining of judicial discretion, and sentencing guidelines for possession of crack cocaine that far outweighed those for powered cocaine and methamphetamines (Mauer 2011). The result of this legislation and resulting law enforcement actions over the last 30 years has seen an unprecedented rise in the prison population, of which black males now comprise 60 %, despite being only 5.5 % of the overall population (Mauer 2011). In fact, such is the level of disparity that 1 in 4 black males born today can expect to spend some time in prison or jail, compared to 1 in 17 white males (Mauer 2011). Indeed, Michelle Alexander (2010) has coined the term the new Jim Crow to describe the debilitating impact the disproportionate incarceration rates have had on the civil rights of black males. For example, even after paying their debt to society in full, the civil penalties that attach a felony conviction, particularly those for drug-related offenses, impede or prohibit, depending on state of residence, voting rights, and access to certain welfare services and higher education loans. In fact, because of past incarceration, in three states, Florida (23 %), Kentucky (22 %), and Virginia (20 %) more than one in five blacks are permanently disenfranchised (Uggen et al. 2012). This, as well as the disproportionality in things such as traffic stops, stop and search, arrests, and incarceration has led Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to conclude that the civil rights of black people are
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routinely breached and that law enforcement and criminal justice system actions in this matter are anything but colorblind (ACLU 2003; Fellner 2009).
Explaining the Disparities There are several schools of thought as to why quality of life disparities are persistent between blacks and whites despite the passing of significant federal legislation, changing racial attitudes, and the unprecedented success of some blacks. These schools of thought fall into the social underclass perspective and the institutional and structural racism perspective.
Social Underclass Perspective The social underclass perspective posits that in a post-civil rights era, racism alone cannot explain the persistent quality of life disparities that exist between blacks and whites. A way to explaining it, argues social scientists such as William Julius Wilson (2012), is a burgeoning black underclass whose behavior contrasts sharply with that of mainstream America. Heterogeneous and primarily located in racially and economically segregated inner-city communities, the black underclass lack education, training and or experience of long-term employment or membership in the work force (Wilson 2012). As such, there are high levels of welfare dependency, incarceration, and unstable family patterns, characterized by a preponderance of out-of-wedlock births and single-parent families (Wilson 2012). There is also the presence of persistent poverty and the intergenerational transmission of this poverty to children. Indeed, according to the US Bureau of the Census (2010), a higher percentage (27.4 %) of black people live in the aforementioned poverty than any other racial/ethnic sub-group. This is also the case for black children under the age of 18 (38.2 %). Furthermore, the poverty rate was highest for those families headed by single women (US Bureau of the Census 2010). Given that household wealth is inextricably linked to all of the quality of life indicators, it is easy to see why there is such a disparity between the so-called black underclass, who have little in the way of household wealth, and the larger black and white population, who have more household wealth. After all, their poverty rate greatly exceeds the national average for all racial/ethnic sub-groups other than Hispanic (National Poverty Center 2013).
Institutional and Structural Racism The institutional and structural racism perspective posits that the persistent wealth gaps between black and white households are best explained by historical and ongoing unequal access to resources (Yosso 2005). Undergirding this unequal access is a combination of policies, practices, and procedures that are embedded in bureaucratic structures that systematically lead to unequal outcomes for different groups (Barker 2003). Over the course of American history, policies, practices, and procedures such as Jim Crow, de-facto racial segregation, redlining, exclusion from labor unions, predatory lending practices, and inferior municipal services, to name but a
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few, have denied generations of black families the opportunity to build wealth resources beyond income from a salary (Bowser 2007; Oliver and Shapiro 1995). Without these wealth resources, which include home ownership, rental properties, other real estate, stocks, and mutual funds, 401K and thrift accounts, and unsecured liabilities, black families have been far more vulnerable to changes in employment patterns. Moreover, they are less able to pass on wealth from one generation to the next. Indeed, even with the official dismantling of Jim Crow and the passing of federal legislation barring practices such as redlining, the last 25 years have not seen the black middle-class households make significant inroads into narrowing the wealth gap. In fact, the gap has grown to its largest in recorded history. For example, in 1984, the median net worth of black households was $6,679, compared to $76, 951 for white households. By 2009, the median net worth for black households had fallen to $5,677, compared to $113, 149 for white households (Kochhar et al. 2011). As such, despite the illusion of full inclusion, unfettered access to the resources that would allow for equalizing the disparities remain elusive and out of reach for all but a few blacks.
So Who Is Right? This article takes the position that the institutional and structural racism perspective best explains the persistent quality of life disparities between blacks and whites in the US. To be sure, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, affirmative action initiatives, more elected officials, and the apparent softening of racial attitudes toward blacks have created opportunities that were unimaginable just 50 years. Yet, even with these opportunities, institutional and structural racism continues to deny most blacks regardless of socio-economic status “full” and “fair” access to all of the resources that would lessen the quality of life disparities. As one illustration of this, consider the Bank of America's recent 335-million dollar settlement of the Justice department's complaint alleging racial discrimination in mortgage lending by its Countrywide subsidiary. The complaint alleged and found that Countrywide charged some 200,000 black and Hispanic homeowners across the nation higher interest rates and fees on mortgages than white borrowers with similar incomes and credit ratings. The complaint also alleged and found that Countywide did not offer black and Hispanic homeowners the conventional mortgages for which they qualified and would have been offered if they were white. Rather, loan officers systematically pushed black and Hispanic borrowers into expensive subprime mortgages (Rothstein 2012). Lest one thinks this example is an isolated incident, consider the findings and conclusions of the Economic Policy Institute's review of existing research on mortgage lending patterns (Rothstein 2012). These findings and conclusions indicate the following: (1) Bank of America's Countrywide subsidiary was not alone in charging black and Hispanic borrowers' higher interest rates and fees than similarly qualified whites (see the City of Memphis suit against Wells Fargo as an example). They were also not alone in shifting black and Hispanic borrowers into subprime loans that were so expensive that foreclosure and loss of homeownership was widespread, particularly for blacks (Rothstein 2012).
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(2) Such is the extent and systematic nature of racially discriminatory practices in mortgage lending (known as “reverse redlining”) that that top bank officials, as well as federal and state regulators, must or should have known, of their existence and taken necessary action (Rothstein 2012). (3) Complicity in racial discrimination by federal and state banking and thrift regulators is not a new phenomenon. This is evidenced by past complicity in the blanket denial of mortgages to blacks by way of redlining. The aforementioned illustration is particularly poignant, not least as a reference point to illuminate how institutional and structural racism restrains black peoples' acquisition of the resources needed to lessen the quality of life disparities with whites. Indeed, nothing in recent years has been arguably more responsible for helping to maintain the quality of life disparities between blacks and whites than the institutional and structural racism of the banks and other financial organizations. It is also a timely reminder that, despite federal legislation prohibiting institutional and structural racism (e.g., 1964 Civil Rights Act, 1968 Fair Housing Act, etc.), race still matters.
Conclusion Fifty years after the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, black people have made unprecedented strides, culminating in the presidential election and re-election of Barack Obama. Yet, because of continued institutional and structural racism, these strides are not proof that race is no longer a barrier to black success. Furthermore, they should not be used, as they have been, to allow the dismantling of the very policies and initiatives (e.g., affirmative action initiatives in higher education and the 1965 Voting Rights Act) that have contributed to black progress. Indeed, if anything, now is the time to use the available evidence to challenge the post-racial narrative, not least because the quality of life disparities between black and whites in America are growing and show no sign of abating any time soon.
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