Full Article:
http://www.blackisonline.com/2011/09/50-indispensable-african-american-novels
Showing posts with label Black. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black. Show all posts
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Monday, September 13, 2010
How Ruthless Banks Gutted the Black Middle Class and Got Away With It
http://www.alternet.org/economy/148068/how_ruthless_banks_gutted_the_black_middle_class_and_got_away_with_it/
AlterNet / By Devona Walker
How Ruthless Banks Gutted the Black Middle Class and Got Away With It
The real estate and foreclosure crisis has stripped African-American families of more wealth than any single event in history.
September 4, 2010
The American middle class has been hammered over the last several decades. The black middle class has suffered to an even greater degree. But the single most crippling blow has been the real estate and foreclosure crisis. It has stripped black families of more wealth than any single event in U.S. history. Due entirely to subprime loans, black borrowers are expected to lose between $71 billion and $92 billion.
To fully understand why the foreclosure crisis has so disproportionately affected working- and middle-class blacks, it is important to provide a little background. Many of these American families watched on the sidelines as everyone and their dog seemed to jump into the real estate game. The communities they lived in were changing, gentrifying, and many blacks unable to purchase homes were forced out as new homeowners moved in. They were fed daily on the benefits of home ownership. Their communities, churches and social networks were inundated by smooth-talking but shady fly-by-night brokers. With a home, they believed, came stability, wealth and good schools for their children. Home ownership, which accounts for upwards of 80 percent of the average American family’s wealth, was the basis of permanent membership into the American middle class. They were primed to fall for the American Dream con job.
Black and Latino minorities have been disproportionately targeted and affected by subprime loans. In California, one-eighth of all residences, or 702,000 homes, are in foreclosure. Black and Latino families make up more than half that number. Latino and African-American borrowers in California, according to figures from the Center for Responsible Lending, have foreclosure rates 2.3 and 1.9 times that of non-Hispanic white families.
There is little indication that things will get much better any time soon.
The Ripple Effect
If anything, the foreclosure crisis is likely to produce a ripple effect that will continue to decimate communities of color. Think about the long-term impact of vacant homes on the value of neighborhoods, and about the corresponding increase in crime, vandalism and shrinking tax bases for municipal budgets.
"The American dream for individuals has now become the nightmare for cities," said James Mitchell, a councilman in Charlotte, NC who heads the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials. In the nearby community of Peachtree Hills, he says roughly 115 out of 123 homes are in foreclosure. In that environment, it's impossible for the remaining homeowners to sell, as their property values have been severely depressed. Their quality of life, due to increases in vandalism and crime, diminished. The cities then feel the strap of a receding tax base at the same time there is a huge surge in the demand for public services.
Charlotte, N.C. Baltimore, Detroit, Washington D.C. Memphis, Atlanta, New Orleans, Chicago and Philadelphia have historically been bastions for the black middle class. In 2008, roughly 10 percent of the nation’s 40 million blacks made upwards of $75,000 per year. But now, just two years later, many experts say the foreclosure crisis has virtually erased decades of those slow, hard-fought, economic gains.
Memphis, where the majority of residents are black, remains a symbol of black prosperity in the new South. There, the median income for black homeowners rose steadily for two decades. In the last five years, income levels for black households have receded to below what they were in 1990, according to analysis by Queens College.
As of December 2009, median white wealth had dipped 34 percent while median black wealth had dropped 77 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute’s "State of Working America" report.
'Emerging' Markets Scam v. Black Credit Crunch
While the subprime loans were flowing, communities of color had access to a seemingly endless amount of funding. In 1990, one million refinance loans were issued. It was the same for home improvement and refinance loans. By 2003, 15 million refinance loans were issued. That directly contributed to billions in loss equity, especially among minority and elderly homeowners. Also at the same time, banks developed “emerging markets” divisions that specifically targeted under-served communities of color. In 2003, subprime loans were more prevalent among blacks in 98.5 percent of metropolitan areas, according to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
One former Wells Fargo loan officer testifying in a lawsuit filed by the city of Baltimore against the bank says fellow employers routinely referred to subprime loans as “ghetto loans” and black people as “mud people.” He says he was reprimanded for not pushing higher priced loans to black borrowers who qualified for prime or cheaper loans. Another loan officer, Beth Jacobson, says the black community was seen “as fertile ground for subprime mortgages, as working-class blacks were hungry to be a part of the nation’s home-owning mania.”
“We just went right after them,” Jacobson said, according to the New York Times, adding that the black church was frequently targeted as the bank believed church leaders could convince their congregations to take out loans. There are numerous reports throughout the nation of black church leaders being paid incentives for drumming up business.
Due in part to these aggressive marketing techniques and ballooning emerging market divisions, subprime mortgage activity grew an average of 25 percent per year from 1994 to 2003, drastically outpacing the growth for prime mortgages. In 2003, subprime loans made up 9 percent of all U.S. mortgages, about a $330 billion business; up from $35 billion a decade earlier.
Now that the subprime market has imploded, banks have all but abandoned those communities. Prime lending in communities of color has decreased 60 percent while prime lending in white areas has fallen 28.4 percent.
The banks are also denying credit to small-business owners, who account for a huge swath of ethnic minorities. In California ethnic minorities account for 16 percent of all small-business loans. In the mid-2000s roughly 90 percent of businesses reported they received the loans they needed. Only half of small businesses that tried to borrow received all or most of what they needed last year, according to a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business.
In addition, minority business owners often have less capital, smaller payrolls and shorter histories with traditional lending institutions.
Further complicating matters is the fact that minority small-business owners often serve minority communities and base their business decisions on things that traditional lenders don’t fully understand. Think about the black barber shop or boutique owner, who knows there is no other “black” barber shop or boutique specializing in urban fashions within a 30-minute drive. While that lender may understand there is such a niche market as "urban fashions," they likely won't understand the significance of being "black-owned" in the market as opposed to corporate-owned. Or think of the Hispanic grocer with significant import ties to Mexico who knows he can bring in produce, spices and inventory specific to that community’s needs, things people cannot get at chain grocery stores. That lender might only understand there is a plethora of Wal-Marts in the community where he wants to grow his business.
Minority business owners are often more dependent upon minority communities for survival, which of course are disproportionately depressed due to subprime lending. Consequently, minority business owners have a lower chance of success. Banks, understanding that, are even less likely to lend. It’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy, and it’s beginning to resemble the traditional “redlining” of the 1980s and 1990s.
“After inflicting harm on neighborhoods of color through years of problematic subprime and option ARM loans, banks are now pulling back at a time when communities are most in need of responsible loans and investment,” said Geoff Smith, senior vice president of the Woodstock Institute.
Believe it or not, no one in a position of power to stop all this from unfolding was blindsided. Ben Bernanke was warned years ago about the long-term implications of the real estate bubble and subprime lending. Still, he set idly by. He told the advocates who warned him that the market would work it all out. Perhaps they thought the fallout would be limited to minority communities, or perhaps they just didn’t care.
Devona Walker has worked for the Associated Press and the New York Times company. Currently she is the senior political and finance reporter for theloop21.com.
AlterNet / By Devona Walker
How Ruthless Banks Gutted the Black Middle Class and Got Away With It
The real estate and foreclosure crisis has stripped African-American families of more wealth than any single event in history.
September 4, 2010
The American middle class has been hammered over the last several decades. The black middle class has suffered to an even greater degree. But the single most crippling blow has been the real estate and foreclosure crisis. It has stripped black families of more wealth than any single event in U.S. history. Due entirely to subprime loans, black borrowers are expected to lose between $71 billion and $92 billion.
To fully understand why the foreclosure crisis has so disproportionately affected working- and middle-class blacks, it is important to provide a little background. Many of these American families watched on the sidelines as everyone and their dog seemed to jump into the real estate game. The communities they lived in were changing, gentrifying, and many blacks unable to purchase homes were forced out as new homeowners moved in. They were fed daily on the benefits of home ownership. Their communities, churches and social networks were inundated by smooth-talking but shady fly-by-night brokers. With a home, they believed, came stability, wealth and good schools for their children. Home ownership, which accounts for upwards of 80 percent of the average American family’s wealth, was the basis of permanent membership into the American middle class. They were primed to fall for the American Dream con job.
Black and Latino minorities have been disproportionately targeted and affected by subprime loans. In California, one-eighth of all residences, or 702,000 homes, are in foreclosure. Black and Latino families make up more than half that number. Latino and African-American borrowers in California, according to figures from the Center for Responsible Lending, have foreclosure rates 2.3 and 1.9 times that of non-Hispanic white families.
There is little indication that things will get much better any time soon.
The Ripple Effect
If anything, the foreclosure crisis is likely to produce a ripple effect that will continue to decimate communities of color. Think about the long-term impact of vacant homes on the value of neighborhoods, and about the corresponding increase in crime, vandalism and shrinking tax bases for municipal budgets.
"The American dream for individuals has now become the nightmare for cities," said James Mitchell, a councilman in Charlotte, NC who heads the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials. In the nearby community of Peachtree Hills, he says roughly 115 out of 123 homes are in foreclosure. In that environment, it's impossible for the remaining homeowners to sell, as their property values have been severely depressed. Their quality of life, due to increases in vandalism and crime, diminished. The cities then feel the strap of a receding tax base at the same time there is a huge surge in the demand for public services.
Charlotte, N.C. Baltimore, Detroit, Washington D.C. Memphis, Atlanta, New Orleans, Chicago and Philadelphia have historically been bastions for the black middle class. In 2008, roughly 10 percent of the nation’s 40 million blacks made upwards of $75,000 per year. But now, just two years later, many experts say the foreclosure crisis has virtually erased decades of those slow, hard-fought, economic gains.
Memphis, where the majority of residents are black, remains a symbol of black prosperity in the new South. There, the median income for black homeowners rose steadily for two decades. In the last five years, income levels for black households have receded to below what they were in 1990, according to analysis by Queens College.
As of December 2009, median white wealth had dipped 34 percent while median black wealth had dropped 77 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute’s "State of Working America" report.
'Emerging' Markets Scam v. Black Credit Crunch
While the subprime loans were flowing, communities of color had access to a seemingly endless amount of funding. In 1990, one million refinance loans were issued. It was the same for home improvement and refinance loans. By 2003, 15 million refinance loans were issued. That directly contributed to billions in loss equity, especially among minority and elderly homeowners. Also at the same time, banks developed “emerging markets” divisions that specifically targeted under-served communities of color. In 2003, subprime loans were more prevalent among blacks in 98.5 percent of metropolitan areas, according to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
One former Wells Fargo loan officer testifying in a lawsuit filed by the city of Baltimore against the bank says fellow employers routinely referred to subprime loans as “ghetto loans” and black people as “mud people.” He says he was reprimanded for not pushing higher priced loans to black borrowers who qualified for prime or cheaper loans. Another loan officer, Beth Jacobson, says the black community was seen “as fertile ground for subprime mortgages, as working-class blacks were hungry to be a part of the nation’s home-owning mania.”
“We just went right after them,” Jacobson said, according to the New York Times, adding that the black church was frequently targeted as the bank believed church leaders could convince their congregations to take out loans. There are numerous reports throughout the nation of black church leaders being paid incentives for drumming up business.
Due in part to these aggressive marketing techniques and ballooning emerging market divisions, subprime mortgage activity grew an average of 25 percent per year from 1994 to 2003, drastically outpacing the growth for prime mortgages. In 2003, subprime loans made up 9 percent of all U.S. mortgages, about a $330 billion business; up from $35 billion a decade earlier.
Now that the subprime market has imploded, banks have all but abandoned those communities. Prime lending in communities of color has decreased 60 percent while prime lending in white areas has fallen 28.4 percent.
The banks are also denying credit to small-business owners, who account for a huge swath of ethnic minorities. In California ethnic minorities account for 16 percent of all small-business loans. In the mid-2000s roughly 90 percent of businesses reported they received the loans they needed. Only half of small businesses that tried to borrow received all or most of what they needed last year, according to a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business.
In addition, minority business owners often have less capital, smaller payrolls and shorter histories with traditional lending institutions.
Further complicating matters is the fact that minority small-business owners often serve minority communities and base their business decisions on things that traditional lenders don’t fully understand. Think about the black barber shop or boutique owner, who knows there is no other “black” barber shop or boutique specializing in urban fashions within a 30-minute drive. While that lender may understand there is such a niche market as "urban fashions," they likely won't understand the significance of being "black-owned" in the market as opposed to corporate-owned. Or think of the Hispanic grocer with significant import ties to Mexico who knows he can bring in produce, spices and inventory specific to that community’s needs, things people cannot get at chain grocery stores. That lender might only understand there is a plethora of Wal-Marts in the community where he wants to grow his business.
Minority business owners are often more dependent upon minority communities for survival, which of course are disproportionately depressed due to subprime lending. Consequently, minority business owners have a lower chance of success. Banks, understanding that, are even less likely to lend. It’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy, and it’s beginning to resemble the traditional “redlining” of the 1980s and 1990s.
“After inflicting harm on neighborhoods of color through years of problematic subprime and option ARM loans, banks are now pulling back at a time when communities are most in need of responsible loans and investment,” said Geoff Smith, senior vice president of the Woodstock Institute.
Believe it or not, no one in a position of power to stop all this from unfolding was blindsided. Ben Bernanke was warned years ago about the long-term implications of the real estate bubble and subprime lending. Still, he set idly by. He told the advocates who warned him that the market would work it all out. Perhaps they thought the fallout would be limited to minority communities, or perhaps they just didn’t care.
Devona Walker has worked for the Associated Press and the New York Times company. Currently she is the senior political and finance reporter for theloop21.com.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Rep. Maxine Waters and the Upside Down Morality of Congress
http://blackagendareport.com/?q=content/rep-maxine-waters-and-upside-down-morality-congress
Rep. Maxine Waters and the Upside Down Morality of Congress
Wed, 08/04/2010
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
Wall Street reversed its fortunes by seizing total control of the U.S. state and its treasure. No greater conflict of interest can be imagined than that which exists between bought-off Democratic and Republican office holders and corporations that are deemed "too big to fail." Yet "they're trying to burn" Black Congresswoman Maxine Waters "for the crime of giving the little guy an opportunity to plead his own case."
“"The Black banks had one reliable friend: Congresswoman Maxine Waters."
In a society in which government policy now dictates that some enterprises are "too big to fail," it is obscene that Los Angeles Black Congresswoman Maxine Waters faces political ruin because she championed Black-owned banks. The principles most valued by civilized human beings, including helping the little guy, are turned upside down when huge corporations dominate every aspect of national life, as is the case in the United States. In today's corporate moral madhouse, billion-dollar bailouts are reserved for the filthy rich and their huge, predatory corporations, while smaller enterprises must sink or swim on their own. If someone tries to balance the scales even a little bit, there is hell to pay - as Congresswoman Waters has discovered.
Waters faces probable congressional trial on ethics charges, for arranging a meeting between Black bankers and officials of the Bush Treasury Department, back in 2008. Waters has long sat on the House Financial Services Committee, which handles banking legislation. For decades, Waters has been a strong advocate of minority business. She arranged a sit-down between Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and representatives of the National Bankers Association, the trade group for the nation's Black-owned banks. Paulson, if you remember, was the fellow that panicked Congress, when the bottom fell out of Wall Street shortly before the presidential elections, crying that life as we know it would cease to exist if the biggest banks were not bailed out immediately to the tune of $700 billion. Paulson was well-placed to make the case for the big bank bailout, having previously served as CEO of one of the main beneficiaries of the people's largess: Goldman Sachs.
“"In today's corporate moral madhouse, billion-dollar bailouts are reserved for huge, predatory corporations, while smaller enterprises must sink or swim on their own."
Black banks were in crisis, too, but who did they have to call on? Not Paulson, who would make sure that his old comrades in crime at Goldman Sachs made out like the greatest bandits of all time. Not Robert Rubin, Barack Obama's banking guru, also a former CEO of Goldman Sachs and later chairman of Citigroup, another prime recipient of bailout billions. No, the Black banks had one reliable friend: Congresswoman Maxine Waters. She succeeded in hooking the Black bankers association up with Secretary Paulson. At the meeting, however, only one Black bank was represented, OneUnited Bank. Naturally, the bank's chief executive made his case for a bailout of only $12 million - thousands of times smaller than the bailouts given to Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. Rep. Waters was not at the meeting, and Treasury Department officials say that Waters had no influence on the loan to the Black bank.
The alleged conflict stems from the fact that Congresswoman Waters' husband owned stock in the bank, although he no longer sat on the board. The reality is, Waters' husband could not have sold his stock in 2008, even if he wanted to, because the bank was in danger of going under. Maxine Waters never had enough influence to create a conflict of interest. She had no checkbook, no budget, no real clout. All Waters could do was set up an appointment. Now they're trying to burn her for the crime of giving the little guy an opportunity to plead his own case. The Paulsons and Rubins dispense trillions to their friends on Wall Street, and that is not considered a conflict. But, Maxine Waters can't even set up a meeting for a small Black bank, without putting her career at risk. For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford. On the web, go to www.BlackAgendaReport.com.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com
Rep. Maxine Waters and the Upside Down Morality of Congress
Wed, 08/04/2010
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
Wall Street reversed its fortunes by seizing total control of the U.S. state and its treasure. No greater conflict of interest can be imagined than that which exists between bought-off Democratic and Republican office holders and corporations that are deemed "too big to fail." Yet "they're trying to burn" Black Congresswoman Maxine Waters "for the crime of giving the little guy an opportunity to plead his own case."
“"The Black banks had one reliable friend: Congresswoman Maxine Waters."
In a society in which government policy now dictates that some enterprises are "too big to fail," it is obscene that Los Angeles Black Congresswoman Maxine Waters faces political ruin because she championed Black-owned banks. The principles most valued by civilized human beings, including helping the little guy, are turned upside down when huge corporations dominate every aspect of national life, as is the case in the United States. In today's corporate moral madhouse, billion-dollar bailouts are reserved for the filthy rich and their huge, predatory corporations, while smaller enterprises must sink or swim on their own. If someone tries to balance the scales even a little bit, there is hell to pay - as Congresswoman Waters has discovered.
Waters faces probable congressional trial on ethics charges, for arranging a meeting between Black bankers and officials of the Bush Treasury Department, back in 2008. Waters has long sat on the House Financial Services Committee, which handles banking legislation. For decades, Waters has been a strong advocate of minority business. She arranged a sit-down between Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and representatives of the National Bankers Association, the trade group for the nation's Black-owned banks. Paulson, if you remember, was the fellow that panicked Congress, when the bottom fell out of Wall Street shortly before the presidential elections, crying that life as we know it would cease to exist if the biggest banks were not bailed out immediately to the tune of $700 billion. Paulson was well-placed to make the case for the big bank bailout, having previously served as CEO of one of the main beneficiaries of the people's largess: Goldman Sachs.
“"In today's corporate moral madhouse, billion-dollar bailouts are reserved for huge, predatory corporations, while smaller enterprises must sink or swim on their own."
Black banks were in crisis, too, but who did they have to call on? Not Paulson, who would make sure that his old comrades in crime at Goldman Sachs made out like the greatest bandits of all time. Not Robert Rubin, Barack Obama's banking guru, also a former CEO of Goldman Sachs and later chairman of Citigroup, another prime recipient of bailout billions. No, the Black banks had one reliable friend: Congresswoman Maxine Waters. She succeeded in hooking the Black bankers association up with Secretary Paulson. At the meeting, however, only one Black bank was represented, OneUnited Bank. Naturally, the bank's chief executive made his case for a bailout of only $12 million - thousands of times smaller than the bailouts given to Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. Rep. Waters was not at the meeting, and Treasury Department officials say that Waters had no influence on the loan to the Black bank.
The alleged conflict stems from the fact that Congresswoman Waters' husband owned stock in the bank, although he no longer sat on the board. The reality is, Waters' husband could not have sold his stock in 2008, even if he wanted to, because the bank was in danger of going under. Maxine Waters never had enough influence to create a conflict of interest. She had no checkbook, no budget, no real clout. All Waters could do was set up an appointment. Now they're trying to burn her for the crime of giving the little guy an opportunity to plead his own case. The Paulsons and Rubins dispense trillions to their friends on Wall Street, and that is not considered a conflict. But, Maxine Waters can't even set up a meeting for a small Black bank, without putting her career at risk. For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford. On the web, go to www.BlackAgendaReport.com.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Sea of white faces at Republican convention
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080905164053.kt1koqqw&show_article=1
Sea of white faces at Republican convention
Sep 5, 2008
There is such a thing as a black Republican, but they have been all but invisible at the party's national convention which is hardly representative of America's diverse population.
Among the party's 2,380 delegates gathered in St. Paul only 36 are African Americans and very few other visible minorities were to be found on the convention floor.
This is the first time in 40 years that there has been such a weak representation of minorities at a major political party convention, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who did not appear at the convention, is like a tree hiding in the forest of the Republican landscape.
For the past six years there has not been a single black Republican governor, senator or representative in the US Congress.
Blacks comprise 12.4 percent of the US population while 14.8 percent are Hispanics, according to the most recent census data.
By comparison, nearly a quarter of Democratic delegates at the party's convention in Denver last month -- some 1,087 -- were black.
Democrats have one black senator -- presidential nominee Barack Obama -- and 42 representatives in Congress.
The party is heavily favored by African Americans: polls show that nine in ten support Obama's bid to become the nation's first black president.
Deborah Honeycutt, a doctor from Georgia who is running for a seat in the house of representatives in the November 4 elections, hopes to be the first black Republican woman elected to Congress.
But it's a nearly impossible proposition: her district is overwhelmingly Democratic.
"We've given 90 percent of our vote to one party basically since the 60s and are we where we thought we would be by doing that?" Honeycutt told AFP, adding that as a private doctor she had become angered by all the red tape, rules and regulations she felt were holding back small businesses.
"Are our children better educated? Are our neighborhoods safer? Are we economically better off? The answer is a resounding No!"
"The reasons I chose the Republican party is because the values and principles of the Republican are similar to mine."
Only one African American was given the opportunity to address the convention during prime time -- former Maryland governor Michael Steele.
He spoke for about 10 minutes Wednesday ahead of Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Rudolph Giuliani, who all lost out to John McCain in the party's primary, and briefly touched upon the color of his skin.
"The ideal of a colorblind society is worth fighting for because each man, woman, and child is an individual and not a member of some hyphenated class or group," he told the convention.
But when asked about the lack of black representation, Steele admitted to the Washington Post: "It's hard to look around and not get frustrated."
The Maryland delegation, a state whose population is 29 percent black, did not have any other African American in attendance.
Other visible minorities, most notably Hispanics, were given the chance to address the convention, but not during the time when it was being broadcast live on local television.
The Republicans were the first party, however, to elect a governor of Indian heritage.
Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, the son of Punjabi immigrants, is a rising star in the Republican party, but was forced to miss the convention in order to coordinate the state's response to Hurricane Gustav.
Sea of white faces at Republican convention
Sep 5, 2008
There is such a thing as a black Republican, but they have been all but invisible at the party's national convention which is hardly representative of America's diverse population.
Among the party's 2,380 delegates gathered in St. Paul only 36 are African Americans and very few other visible minorities were to be found on the convention floor.
This is the first time in 40 years that there has been such a weak representation of minorities at a major political party convention, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who did not appear at the convention, is like a tree hiding in the forest of the Republican landscape.
For the past six years there has not been a single black Republican governor, senator or representative in the US Congress.
Blacks comprise 12.4 percent of the US population while 14.8 percent are Hispanics, according to the most recent census data.
By comparison, nearly a quarter of Democratic delegates at the party's convention in Denver last month -- some 1,087 -- were black.
Democrats have one black senator -- presidential nominee Barack Obama -- and 42 representatives in Congress.
The party is heavily favored by African Americans: polls show that nine in ten support Obama's bid to become the nation's first black president.
Deborah Honeycutt, a doctor from Georgia who is running for a seat in the house of representatives in the November 4 elections, hopes to be the first black Republican woman elected to Congress.
But it's a nearly impossible proposition: her district is overwhelmingly Democratic.
"We've given 90 percent of our vote to one party basically since the 60s and are we where we thought we would be by doing that?" Honeycutt told AFP, adding that as a private doctor she had become angered by all the red tape, rules and regulations she felt were holding back small businesses.
"Are our children better educated? Are our neighborhoods safer? Are we economically better off? The answer is a resounding No!"
"The reasons I chose the Republican party is because the values and principles of the Republican are similar to mine."
Only one African American was given the opportunity to address the convention during prime time -- former Maryland governor Michael Steele.
He spoke for about 10 minutes Wednesday ahead of Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Rudolph Giuliani, who all lost out to John McCain in the party's primary, and briefly touched upon the color of his skin.
"The ideal of a colorblind society is worth fighting for because each man, woman, and child is an individual and not a member of some hyphenated class or group," he told the convention.
But when asked about the lack of black representation, Steele admitted to the Washington Post: "It's hard to look around and not get frustrated."
The Maryland delegation, a state whose population is 29 percent black, did not have any other African American in attendance.
Other visible minorities, most notably Hispanics, were given the chance to address the convention, but not during the time when it was being broadcast live on local television.
The Republicans were the first party, however, to elect a governor of Indian heritage.
Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, the son of Punjabi immigrants, is a rising star in the Republican party, but was forced to miss the convention in order to coordinate the state's response to Hurricane Gustav.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Obama Resigns From Black Nation
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=643
Obama Resigns From Black Nation
Wednesday, 04 June 2008
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
How far is Barack Obama willing to run from the very same Black nationalism that was fundamental to his victories in so many state Democratic primaries? The nominee-apparent is in pell-mell flight from everything that does not conform to his own "race-neutral" worldview. Obama's political contradictions compel him to reject his most fervent supporters, and apparently to reexamine his ties to the Black Church as an institution. The "journey" to Black identity that Obama describes in his book Dreams From My Father seems in conflict with the Road to the White House. Longtime friends - maybe Black people as a whole - are left by the wayside. Perhaps "Obama ought to just keep on steppin' out of Black America entirely."
Obama Resigns From Black Nation
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
"Obama's lurching exit from Trinity Church shows that he can't tolerate Black nationalism of any kind."
Having this weekend severed a 16-year relationship with Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, Barack Obama might as well let the final shoe drop and resign once and for all from Black America, a polity he refuses to recognize or respect despite garnering 90 percent of Black electoral support. Never in African American history have Black people's collective affections been so callously rebuffed by an individual Black recipient. The fact that Black people's "love" for the Illinois Senator is wholly unrequited is obvious to everyone except wishful Obamites - a pitiful spectacle to behold.
If there is a tie that binds more tightly and unthinkingly than the romantic urges of adolescents, it is the pull of nationalism. African Americans have the misfortune to be self-shackled to Obama by deep historical yearnings to wield power through their own racial representatives, as other "nations" of people do. The problem is, Black Americans find themselves trapped in a threesome, in which the object of their Black nationalist aspirations is hopelessly enamored of someone else: the mythical white American nation.
"Barack Obama is true-blue to the slaveholding forefathers and heroic blond mothers of the storybook U.S. of A."
"I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country," said Obama, in banishing Trinity's retiring senior pastor Jeremiah Wright from his inner circle, in April. Obama believes in One-Love - of the white fairy tale kind that despises the "use [of] incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation." Barack Obama is true-blue to the slaveholding forefathers and heroic blond mothers of the storybook U.S. of A. His intense (white) nationalist fealty to the Indian-killer and slave-whipper compels him to reject out of hand the African American version of U.S. and world history - to compulsively dismiss both the Black counter-narrative and narrators, like Rev. Wright. And if some stray white man in a clerical collar wanders in, assaulting white sensibilities with denunciations of white skin privilege and other unwelcome language, Obama can be counted on to slap the wayward priest down, forthwith.
"I am deeply disappointed in Father [Michael] Pfleger's divisive, backward-looking rhetoric," said Obama, appalled at the effrontery of a man whose parishioners call a practitioner of "blue-eyed black soul," who mocked a Hillary Clinton character bawling that "a black man" was "stealing my show." Pfleger, pastor of predominantly Black St. Sabina Catholic Church since 1981, has been described in the corporate press as "Chicago's renegade priest." He was invited to Trinity Church specifically to expose "white entitlement and supremacy wherever it raises its head." Otis Moss III, the 37-year-old "hip-hop pastor" who took over from Rev. Wright, seemed thoroughly pleased with 59-year-old Father Pfleger's performance, as were the knee-slapping deacons arrayed behind him. Nevertheless, Father Pfleger found it necessary to make a blanket apology for his joyful exuberance, and to specifically beg the pardon of Barack Obama for mixing the presidential frontrunner's name into the skit.
"My words are inconsistent with Senator Obama's life and message," said Pfleger. He was right. Obama's life and message have nothing to do with Black liberation, of the theological or secular variety. Both Reverends Pfleger and Wright support in practice African American political self-determination and general Black nationalist aspirations - goals that are repugnant to Obama, who behaves as if on constant guard against perceived insults to white folks' (and America's) sacred honor.
"Obama's life and message have nothing to do with Black liberation."
Rev. Wright was also correct a month ago in characterizing the shameless corporate media attacks on his liberationist teachings as an "attack on the Black church." Obama pulled his family out of the 8,000 member congregation because, in his words, "our relations with Trinity have been strained by the divisive statements of Reverend Wright, which sharply conflict with our own view." But Wright had already retired. Clearly, Obama is not comfortable with the youthful new minister, Rev. Moss, either, or with the congregation that supports him, or with Trinity's political ties to the radical Catholic priest, Rev. Pfleger - who until a few weeks ago was actively working on Obama's campaign. Obama is distraught with the whole Black church scene - which seems to attract trouble with white people. As the Washington Post reported on Sunday:
"Obama acknowledged that joining another black church, where ‘there's a different religious tradition or a worshiping style' might be equally problematic as his membership in Trinity. He said he probably will not make a decision about a new church until January."
By all rights, Obama ought to just keep on steppin' out of Black America entirely, since his real problem lies with the two-edged sword of Black nationalism. The great irony of the Obama phenomenon is, his fundamental strength in the Democratic primaries - near-universal Black support - is based on an ideology that is a nightmare to white voters and to Obama, himself: Black nationalism. As cunning and cynical as Obama may be, he cannot tame the nationalist impulses of his Black supporters and thus lives in terror that they will spoil his game among white voters.
Of course, Obama constantly claims that most Black folks are as politically deracinated - rootless - as he is, but that's never been true. Black nationalism has always been pervasive in Black America, and Obama can no more wish it away than he can pretend white racism out of existence. As the late, great historian Herbert Aptheker noted in his 1971 volume Afro-American History: The Modern Era, in a chapter titled Consciousness of Afro-American Nationality: "No other people" express this concept of nationalism so consistently "over 200 years." Arch enemies Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois at the turn of the 20th Century both spoke in Black nationalist terms. Dubois referred to African Americans as "a nation," while Washington described southern Blacks as "a nation within a nation." Even the politically passive pre-Revolutionary poetess Phillis Wheatley remarked in 1772 how pleased she was that "so many of my nation" [Blacks] were embracing Christianity.
"Obama is distraught with the whole Black church scene."
Black nationalism is everywhere that African Americans exist. It's the bond that makes perfectly sane people collectively embarrassed by the antics of Michael Jackson. In 2008, it causes millions of normally sober African Americans to binge on Obama'laide, to drink constantly to the political health of a man who gives not a damn about them, and who actually flees from their presence like a plague.
Black nationalism has scared Obama at least temporarily out of The Church!
In his ceaseless attempts to meld Black realities and white illusions, Obama tries to marginalize Rev. Wright by calling Wright's belief system "generational" - another word for outdated - only to have Wright replaced in the pulpit by a "hip hop pastor" whose politics is perfectly compatible with Wright's, and with the radical white clerical elder, Rev. Pfleger. At that point, Obama must head for the door, family in tow, never to return.
University of Chicago Black political scientist Michael Dawson writes that "the black movement that is developing in support of [Obama's] campaign has some of the markings of black nationalism." Specifically, Obama is buoyed by a "middle-class" type of Black nationalism - the kind that is more common in politicized Black Christian churches and professional groupings than Nation of Islam circles. Obama's lurching exit from Trinity Church shows that he can't tolerate Black nationalism of any kind, if it gets in the way of white outreach.
In the end, Black people's one-sided love affair with Barack Obama can never be consummated. He recoils at every stage, answering love with unconcealed revulsion. One day soon, we'll take the hint.
Of course, the real deal is former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, presidential candidate for the Green Party ticket. McKinney reports she's leading in the Greens' delegate count. Unlike Obama, whose politics is substantially to the Right of most Blacks, Cynthia McKinney loves you back.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com .
Obama Resigns From Black Nation
Wednesday, 04 June 2008
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
How far is Barack Obama willing to run from the very same Black nationalism that was fundamental to his victories in so many state Democratic primaries? The nominee-apparent is in pell-mell flight from everything that does not conform to his own "race-neutral" worldview. Obama's political contradictions compel him to reject his most fervent supporters, and apparently to reexamine his ties to the Black Church as an institution. The "journey" to Black identity that Obama describes in his book Dreams From My Father seems in conflict with the Road to the White House. Longtime friends - maybe Black people as a whole - are left by the wayside. Perhaps "Obama ought to just keep on steppin' out of Black America entirely."
Obama Resigns From Black Nation
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
"Obama's lurching exit from Trinity Church shows that he can't tolerate Black nationalism of any kind."
Having this weekend severed a 16-year relationship with Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, Barack Obama might as well let the final shoe drop and resign once and for all from Black America, a polity he refuses to recognize or respect despite garnering 90 percent of Black electoral support. Never in African American history have Black people's collective affections been so callously rebuffed by an individual Black recipient. The fact that Black people's "love" for the Illinois Senator is wholly unrequited is obvious to everyone except wishful Obamites - a pitiful spectacle to behold.
If there is a tie that binds more tightly and unthinkingly than the romantic urges of adolescents, it is the pull of nationalism. African Americans have the misfortune to be self-shackled to Obama by deep historical yearnings to wield power through their own racial representatives, as other "nations" of people do. The problem is, Black Americans find themselves trapped in a threesome, in which the object of their Black nationalist aspirations is hopelessly enamored of someone else: the mythical white American nation.
"Barack Obama is true-blue to the slaveholding forefathers and heroic blond mothers of the storybook U.S. of A."
"I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country," said Obama, in banishing Trinity's retiring senior pastor Jeremiah Wright from his inner circle, in April. Obama believes in One-Love - of the white fairy tale kind that despises the "use [of] incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation." Barack Obama is true-blue to the slaveholding forefathers and heroic blond mothers of the storybook U.S. of A. His intense (white) nationalist fealty to the Indian-killer and slave-whipper compels him to reject out of hand the African American version of U.S. and world history - to compulsively dismiss both the Black counter-narrative and narrators, like Rev. Wright. And if some stray white man in a clerical collar wanders in, assaulting white sensibilities with denunciations of white skin privilege and other unwelcome language, Obama can be counted on to slap the wayward priest down, forthwith.
"I am deeply disappointed in Father [Michael] Pfleger's divisive, backward-looking rhetoric," said Obama, appalled at the effrontery of a man whose parishioners call a practitioner of "blue-eyed black soul," who mocked a Hillary Clinton character bawling that "a black man" was "stealing my show." Pfleger, pastor of predominantly Black St. Sabina Catholic Church since 1981, has been described in the corporate press as "Chicago's renegade priest." He was invited to Trinity Church specifically to expose "white entitlement and supremacy wherever it raises its head." Otis Moss III, the 37-year-old "hip-hop pastor" who took over from Rev. Wright, seemed thoroughly pleased with 59-year-old Father Pfleger's performance, as were the knee-slapping deacons arrayed behind him. Nevertheless, Father Pfleger found it necessary to make a blanket apology for his joyful exuberance, and to specifically beg the pardon of Barack Obama for mixing the presidential frontrunner's name into the skit.
"My words are inconsistent with Senator Obama's life and message," said Pfleger. He was right. Obama's life and message have nothing to do with Black liberation, of the theological or secular variety. Both Reverends Pfleger and Wright support in practice African American political self-determination and general Black nationalist aspirations - goals that are repugnant to Obama, who behaves as if on constant guard against perceived insults to white folks' (and America's) sacred honor.
"Obama's life and message have nothing to do with Black liberation."
Rev. Wright was also correct a month ago in characterizing the shameless corporate media attacks on his liberationist teachings as an "attack on the Black church." Obama pulled his family out of the 8,000 member congregation because, in his words, "our relations with Trinity have been strained by the divisive statements of Reverend Wright, which sharply conflict with our own view." But Wright had already retired. Clearly, Obama is not comfortable with the youthful new minister, Rev. Moss, either, or with the congregation that supports him, or with Trinity's political ties to the radical Catholic priest, Rev. Pfleger - who until a few weeks ago was actively working on Obama's campaign. Obama is distraught with the whole Black church scene - which seems to attract trouble with white people. As the Washington Post reported on Sunday:
"Obama acknowledged that joining another black church, where ‘there's a different religious tradition or a worshiping style' might be equally problematic as his membership in Trinity. He said he probably will not make a decision about a new church until January."
By all rights, Obama ought to just keep on steppin' out of Black America entirely, since his real problem lies with the two-edged sword of Black nationalism. The great irony of the Obama phenomenon is, his fundamental strength in the Democratic primaries - near-universal Black support - is based on an ideology that is a nightmare to white voters and to Obama, himself: Black nationalism. As cunning and cynical as Obama may be, he cannot tame the nationalist impulses of his Black supporters and thus lives in terror that they will spoil his game among white voters.
Of course, Obama constantly claims that most Black folks are as politically deracinated - rootless - as he is, but that's never been true. Black nationalism has always been pervasive in Black America, and Obama can no more wish it away than he can pretend white racism out of existence. As the late, great historian Herbert Aptheker noted in his 1971 volume Afro-American History: The Modern Era, in a chapter titled Consciousness of Afro-American Nationality: "No other people" express this concept of nationalism so consistently "over 200 years." Arch enemies Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois at the turn of the 20th Century both spoke in Black nationalist terms. Dubois referred to African Americans as "a nation," while Washington described southern Blacks as "a nation within a nation." Even the politically passive pre-Revolutionary poetess Phillis Wheatley remarked in 1772 how pleased she was that "so many of my nation" [Blacks] were embracing Christianity.
"Obama is distraught with the whole Black church scene."
Black nationalism is everywhere that African Americans exist. It's the bond that makes perfectly sane people collectively embarrassed by the antics of Michael Jackson. In 2008, it causes millions of normally sober African Americans to binge on Obama'laide, to drink constantly to the political health of a man who gives not a damn about them, and who actually flees from their presence like a plague.
Black nationalism has scared Obama at least temporarily out of The Church!
In his ceaseless attempts to meld Black realities and white illusions, Obama tries to marginalize Rev. Wright by calling Wright's belief system "generational" - another word for outdated - only to have Wright replaced in the pulpit by a "hip hop pastor" whose politics is perfectly compatible with Wright's, and with the radical white clerical elder, Rev. Pfleger. At that point, Obama must head for the door, family in tow, never to return.
University of Chicago Black political scientist Michael Dawson writes that "the black movement that is developing in support of [Obama's] campaign has some of the markings of black nationalism." Specifically, Obama is buoyed by a "middle-class" type of Black nationalism - the kind that is more common in politicized Black Christian churches and professional groupings than Nation of Islam circles. Obama's lurching exit from Trinity Church shows that he can't tolerate Black nationalism of any kind, if it gets in the way of white outreach.
In the end, Black people's one-sided love affair with Barack Obama can never be consummated. He recoils at every stage, answering love with unconcealed revulsion. One day soon, we'll take the hint.
Of course, the real deal is former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, presidential candidate for the Green Party ticket. McKinney reports she's leading in the Greens' delegate count. Unlike Obama, whose politics is substantially to the Right of most Blacks, Cynthia McKinney loves you back.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com .
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Black is finally in fashion at Vogue
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/black-is-finally-in-fashion-at-vogue-816213.html
Black is finally in fashion at Vogue
By Ian Johnston and Photini Philippidou
Sunday, 27 April 2008
It's an open secret in the fashion industry: black models rarely get jobs on catwalks, in magazines and on billboards. According to executives, they do not inspire women to spend money.
Apart from Naomi Campbell in one Louis Vuitton advertisement this season, it would be difficult to find a single black model in a prominent position in a magazine. Carole White of the Premier Model Agency says she has received casting briefs requesting "no ethnics" and adds: "According to magazines, black models don't sell."
The leading British photographer Nick Knight says: "The fashion industry and the advertising industry are steeped in racism. You just have to look around at the number of black girls you see in ads – virtually nil. Among the main fashion brands, they are completely under-represented. It's shocking and atrocious."
Mr Knight blames business people at the top of the industry. A common attitude among them, he says, is that black models are "not aspirational" or "don't sell in Asia". He goes on: "I have tried to redress the balance. It is enormously important to use black models and models of different ethnic backgrounds."
Now a counterattack to the racism of the fashion industry is coming from an unlikely source: Vogue Italia. The July issue of the fearsomely cutting-edge quarterly will feature black models almost exclusively, shot by the photographer Steven Meisel.
Franca Sozzani, editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia, told The Independent on Sunday: "We are using a lot of black models, like Iman, not only the models of today – a lot of different girls." Asked why she had decided to do this, she said: "Because nobody is using black girls. I see so many beautiful girls and they were complaining that they are not used enough."
Ms Sozzani admitted the issue could yet prove to be unpopular among some in Italy, where the xenophobic Northern League is part of the new coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi: "Maybe in our country it is not the best idea. But I don't care. I think it is not my problem if they don't like it – it's their problem."
Sarah Doukas, managing director of model agency Storm, says: "There has been frustration over the years from a lot of ethnic models, stylists and editors who have felt that they were not working as much as some of their Caucasian counterparts."
But she added: "There has been a shift recently: supportive media coverage has had an impact on the fashion industry."
Nick Knight welcomes the prospect of Vogue Italia's all-black edition but adds a note of caution: "I hope all the advertising goes in that issue."
Black is finally in fashion at Vogue
By Ian Johnston and Photini Philippidou
Sunday, 27 April 2008
It's an open secret in the fashion industry: black models rarely get jobs on catwalks, in magazines and on billboards. According to executives, they do not inspire women to spend money.
Apart from Naomi Campbell in one Louis Vuitton advertisement this season, it would be difficult to find a single black model in a prominent position in a magazine. Carole White of the Premier Model Agency says she has received casting briefs requesting "no ethnics" and adds: "According to magazines, black models don't sell."
The leading British photographer Nick Knight says: "The fashion industry and the advertising industry are steeped in racism. You just have to look around at the number of black girls you see in ads – virtually nil. Among the main fashion brands, they are completely under-represented. It's shocking and atrocious."
Mr Knight blames business people at the top of the industry. A common attitude among them, he says, is that black models are "not aspirational" or "don't sell in Asia". He goes on: "I have tried to redress the balance. It is enormously important to use black models and models of different ethnic backgrounds."
Now a counterattack to the racism of the fashion industry is coming from an unlikely source: Vogue Italia. The July issue of the fearsomely cutting-edge quarterly will feature black models almost exclusively, shot by the photographer Steven Meisel.
Franca Sozzani, editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia, told The Independent on Sunday: "We are using a lot of black models, like Iman, not only the models of today – a lot of different girls." Asked why she had decided to do this, she said: "Because nobody is using black girls. I see so many beautiful girls and they were complaining that they are not used enough."
Ms Sozzani admitted the issue could yet prove to be unpopular among some in Italy, where the xenophobic Northern League is part of the new coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi: "Maybe in our country it is not the best idea. But I don't care. I think it is not my problem if they don't like it – it's their problem."
Sarah Doukas, managing director of model agency Storm, says: "There has been frustration over the years from a lot of ethnic models, stylists and editors who have felt that they were not working as much as some of their Caucasian counterparts."
But she added: "There has been a shift recently: supportive media coverage has had an impact on the fashion industry."
Nick Knight welcomes the prospect of Vogue Italia's all-black edition but adds a note of caution: "I hope all the advertising goes in that issue."
Saturday, June 2, 2007
New Demographic Racial Gap Emerges
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/17/us/17census.html
May 17, 2007
New Demographic Racial Gap Emerges
By SAM ROBERTS
With the number of nonwhite Americans above 100 million for the first time, demographers are identifying an emerging racial generation gap.
That development may portend a nation split between an older, whiter electorate and a younger overall population that is more Hispanic, black and Asian and that presses sometimes competing agendas and priorities.
“The new demographic divide has broader implications for social programs and education spending for youth,” said Mark Mather, deputy director of domestic programs for the Population Reference Bureau, a nonpartisan research group.
“There’s a fairly large homogenous population 60 and older that may not be sympathetic to the needs of a diverse youthful population,” Dr. Mather said.
The Census Bureau estimated yesterday that from July 1, 2005, to July 1, 2006, the nation’s minority population grew to 100.7 million from 98.3 million; that is about one in three of all Americans. The new figures also suggest that many states are growing more diverse as minorities disperse.
As a result of immigration and higher birthrates among many newcomers, the number of Hispanics grew by 3.4 percent nationwide and Asians by 3.2 percent. Meanwhile, the black population rose by 1.3 percent, and that of non-Hispanic whites by 0.3 percent. (The number of American Indians and Alaska Natives increased by 1 percent, and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders by 1.7 percent.)
More than 20 percent of children in the United States either are foreign-born or have a parent who was born abroad. Nearly half the children under age 5 are Hispanic, black or Asian.
Over all, the median age of Americans reached 36.6 years, another record high. It ranged from 27.4 among Hispanics to 40.5 among non-Hispanic whites.
The census counted more than 73,000 centenarians (about 14,000 men and 59,000 women) and also 78 million baby boomers (those born from 1946 to 1964), who, as they turn 60, are helping to drive the racial generation gap.
While growth rates fluctuated, many states are becoming more racially and ethnically diverse.
“Hispanics are dispersing, especially from California,” said William H. Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution. “Texas is gaining from all racial groups, a true multicultural magnet.”
The changes have potential implications for national politics. In Nevada, where the share of whites has declined to 59 percent from 66 percent since 2000, the voting-age population has soared 25 percent, with minorities accounting for 63 percent of that increase. Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee have recorded the greatest percentage gains in their Hispanic population since 2000, with the biggest numerical gains, predictably, registered by California, Texas and Florida.
The biggest percentage increases in black residents were registered by Maine, South Dakota, New Hampshire and Idaho, and in Asian residents by Nevada, Arizona and New Hampshire.
In New York and Maryland, the departure of non-Hispanic whites has accelerated since 2005. (California has lost nearly 100,000, more than any other state). In the same period, New York and Michigan have recorded a loss in black residents. (Louisiana, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, recorded losses across the board.)
The racial generation gap, Dr. Mather said, emerged relatively recently and may turn out to be temporary as the growing proportion of Hispanics, blacks and Asians gets older.
As recently as 1980, he said, the share of minorities in each generation varied by only five percentage points or less.
According to the latest figures, 80 percent of Americans over age 60 are non-Hispanic whites, compared with only 60 percent among those in their 20s and 30s, and 58 percent among people younger than 20.
Dr. Mather said the widest racial generation gaps were found in California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. In Arizona, minorities account for more than half the people under the age of 20, but only one in six who are 60 and older.
The smallest gaps were found in Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and West Virginia.
Dr. Mather said the three most homogeneous states — Maine, Vermont and West Virginia — spent the highest proportion of their gross state product on public education.
“There does seem to be a correlation,” he said.
John B. Diamond, a professor of education at Harvard, said that “there are patterns of school funding that suggest that may be a problem down the line.” But he also said the impact might be mitigated by two factors. Because of persistent residential segregation, he said, elderly white voters do not necessarily live in the same school districts as young members of minorities. And, altruism aside, older voters may be persuaded that their pensions and other benefits depend on the income and taxes generated by a better-educated work force.
The census found that fully 21 percent of the nation’s minority population lives in California, and 12 percent in Texas.
Hispanic Americans, the largest minority, accounted for nearly half the nation’s population growth in the year ended last July 1.
The nation’s black population surpassed 40 million for the first time, the Census Bureau said, and the number of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders topped one million.
Minorities constitute a majority in four states: Hawaii (75 percent), New Mexico (57 percent), California (57 percent) and Texas (52 percent).
May 17, 2007
New Demographic Racial Gap Emerges
By SAM ROBERTS
With the number of nonwhite Americans above 100 million for the first time, demographers are identifying an emerging racial generation gap.
That development may portend a nation split between an older, whiter electorate and a younger overall population that is more Hispanic, black and Asian and that presses sometimes competing agendas and priorities.
“The new demographic divide has broader implications for social programs and education spending for youth,” said Mark Mather, deputy director of domestic programs for the Population Reference Bureau, a nonpartisan research group.
“There’s a fairly large homogenous population 60 and older that may not be sympathetic to the needs of a diverse youthful population,” Dr. Mather said.
The Census Bureau estimated yesterday that from July 1, 2005, to July 1, 2006, the nation’s minority population grew to 100.7 million from 98.3 million; that is about one in three of all Americans. The new figures also suggest that many states are growing more diverse as minorities disperse.
As a result of immigration and higher birthrates among many newcomers, the number of Hispanics grew by 3.4 percent nationwide and Asians by 3.2 percent. Meanwhile, the black population rose by 1.3 percent, and that of non-Hispanic whites by 0.3 percent. (The number of American Indians and Alaska Natives increased by 1 percent, and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders by 1.7 percent.)
More than 20 percent of children in the United States either are foreign-born or have a parent who was born abroad. Nearly half the children under age 5 are Hispanic, black or Asian.
Over all, the median age of Americans reached 36.6 years, another record high. It ranged from 27.4 among Hispanics to 40.5 among non-Hispanic whites.
The census counted more than 73,000 centenarians (about 14,000 men and 59,000 women) and also 78 million baby boomers (those born from 1946 to 1964), who, as they turn 60, are helping to drive the racial generation gap.
While growth rates fluctuated, many states are becoming more racially and ethnically diverse.
“Hispanics are dispersing, especially from California,” said William H. Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution. “Texas is gaining from all racial groups, a true multicultural magnet.”
The changes have potential implications for national politics. In Nevada, where the share of whites has declined to 59 percent from 66 percent since 2000, the voting-age population has soared 25 percent, with minorities accounting for 63 percent of that increase. Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee have recorded the greatest percentage gains in their Hispanic population since 2000, with the biggest numerical gains, predictably, registered by California, Texas and Florida.
The biggest percentage increases in black residents were registered by Maine, South Dakota, New Hampshire and Idaho, and in Asian residents by Nevada, Arizona and New Hampshire.
In New York and Maryland, the departure of non-Hispanic whites has accelerated since 2005. (California has lost nearly 100,000, more than any other state). In the same period, New York and Michigan have recorded a loss in black residents. (Louisiana, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, recorded losses across the board.)
The racial generation gap, Dr. Mather said, emerged relatively recently and may turn out to be temporary as the growing proportion of Hispanics, blacks and Asians gets older.
As recently as 1980, he said, the share of minorities in each generation varied by only five percentage points or less.
According to the latest figures, 80 percent of Americans over age 60 are non-Hispanic whites, compared with only 60 percent among those in their 20s and 30s, and 58 percent among people younger than 20.
Dr. Mather said the widest racial generation gaps were found in California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. In Arizona, minorities account for more than half the people under the age of 20, but only one in six who are 60 and older.
The smallest gaps were found in Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and West Virginia.
Dr. Mather said the three most homogeneous states — Maine, Vermont and West Virginia — spent the highest proportion of their gross state product on public education.
“There does seem to be a correlation,” he said.
John B. Diamond, a professor of education at Harvard, said that “there are patterns of school funding that suggest that may be a problem down the line.” But he also said the impact might be mitigated by two factors. Because of persistent residential segregation, he said, elderly white voters do not necessarily live in the same school districts as young members of minorities. And, altruism aside, older voters may be persuaded that their pensions and other benefits depend on the income and taxes generated by a better-educated work force.
The census found that fully 21 percent of the nation’s minority population lives in California, and 12 percent in Texas.
Hispanic Americans, the largest minority, accounted for nearly half the nation’s population growth in the year ended last July 1.
The nation’s black population surpassed 40 million for the first time, the Census Bureau said, and the number of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders topped one million.
Minorities constitute a majority in four states: Hawaii (75 percent), New Mexico (57 percent), California (57 percent) and Texas (52 percent).
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