Opportunity for All: Inequity, Linked Fate and Social Justice in Detroit and Michigan
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Transcript of Opportunity for All: Inequity, Linked Fate and Social Justice in Detroit and Michigan
Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion
Keynote AddressJanuary 30, 2009
john a. powellExecutive Director, Kirwan Institute for the
Study of Race and Ethnicity & Williams Chair In Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Moritz
College Of Law
Opportunity for All: Inequity, Linked Fate and Social
Justicein Detroit and Michigan
OverviewReport update: a few things have changed since
summer…Economic recessionSubprime catastropheProposed auto relief packagesTARPPresident Obama’s proposed stimulus plan
August report findingsHow does race matter today?How do we think (consciously or not) & talk about
race?How do we re-think policy to be genuinely inclusive?Where do we go from here?
Crisis … Etymology: Middle
English, from Latin, from Greek krisis, literally, decision, from krinein to decide
The Chinese symbol for crisis is a combination of the symbols for danger and opportunity
Courtesy Hill Holiday Communications
Danger…Michigan has been in a recession for five yearsUnemployment rate 3x 2000 levelsClose to 20% of the Michigan population are on
some form of public assistance (state record)Food banks strugglingDoctors reporting more anxiety and depression130,000 Michiganders ran out of regular
unemployment benefits by 9/20081.7 million residents have “basic skill challenges”½ the people employed nationwide by the Big 3
live in MI
Danger…No industry or state is immune …
Sad Day For Microsoft: 5,000 Laid Off, Ear
nings And Revenues Down
Cascading layoffs hit workers at Pfizer, Caterpillar, Home Depot; no relief in sightBy JEANNINE AVERSA , Associated Press Last update: January 26, 2009
Opportunity…Detroit’s “frog in a pot” is cooked.
Everyone else’s is just warm…
19th Century
21st Century
Detroit …the epicenter of changeDetroit historically redefined manufacturing
worldwide and has many advances to be proud of: Innovation (product & process)Mass-marketing, affordabilityIntegrated work forceUAW integration Pay, benefits lifted an entire generation into the
middle classNow that manufacturing is being re-thought and
re-engineered globally, Detroit is at the epicenter of change and the dislocations of change
Detroit’s lessons…The dislocations of change do not impact
everyone equallyBailout and stimulus packages have inherent
priorities and valuesIs everyone represented at the table to
rebuild not only Detroit -- but a nation and a world challenged by: RecessionManufacturing, technology & communications
shiftsClimate change / environmental sustainabilityMajor demographic shifts
Detroit’s lessons con’t… For every step toward diversity and inclusion, did we
take two steps back? (We are conflicted…and learning)Integrated workplace … but not residential neighborhoodsBetter pay and benefits … but gender inequalityBuilding urban anchors … but federal and state $$ for
suburbsSeparate is unequal … Milliken v. BradleyA generation was lifted into the middle-class via industry
jobs…but will slide backward without education and training…this was a historical anomaly. The CEO of Nationwide
Insurance recently said there is not one job across the entire company for someone without a college education
You say crisis, I say opportunity“You never want a serious crisis to go to
waste," Rahm Emanuel, Mr. Obama's new chief of staff, told a Wall Street Journal conference of top corporate chief executives A crisis creates a sense of urgencyNo one can deny that the system is brokenAn opportunity to learn what worked and what
did notDepression….New DealCivil War … Reconstruction2008-2009 Recession … ?
Detroit’s experience is criticalWe can’t predict the future, but we can
think about how to move forwardHow do we nurture an adaptable work force?What are the critical infrastructures for the
21st century?What is sustainable growth?How do we balance the needs of capital and
labor?What is government’s role?
Opportunity: stimulus $ is public $What are our public values for the next
century?Fair investment in all people Economic and environmental sustainabilityAccountability – personal, institutional, and
regulatoryDid the bank bailouts advance these
values?Executive Pay Limits May Prove ToothlessLoophole in Bailout Provision Leaves Enforcement in Doubt(Washington Post, 12/15/08)
Economist explains why
credit still frozen
Opportunity: green infrastructureLeading civic, business, environmental &
transportation coalition (America 2050) advocates for “Fix, Phase, Green, Train, Count”Fix: Fix-It-FirstPhase: Phase in strategic projects, job training,
capacity building in construction, engineering and project management
Green: Prioritize projects that promote healthy & compact communities
Train: Invest in job training and make jobs accessible to people in hardest hit communities
Count: Funding must be set aside to assess impact, results
Green infrastructure con’t…“Not just any old infrastructure will do”Divide country into “megaregions” (like Boston-to-
DC corridor) and ask governors to work together on projects that transcend state boundaries
Instead of new highways, fix-it-firstEmphasize mass transit Retrofit old buildingsUpdate antiquated water and wastewater systems
Source: Armando Carbonell, “A blueprint for a green agenda” Boston Globe Dec. 4, 2008.
Opportunity: stimulus planning How do we make it fair, sustainable,
accountable?Incentives for inclusion of people of colorInvestment in public transit (prioritize
projects that connect people to jobs)Grants and loans for small and minority-,
women-, and community-disadvantaged businesses
Collect data by race and gender to understand impacts of economic recovery policySource: Maya Wiley, Center for Social Inclusion
Opportunity: foreclosure reliefHow do we make it fair, sustainable,
accountable?Sustainable credit options for low-income
families and credit-deprived neighborhoods (fair investment in all communities)
Living-wage jobs and “green” housing standards (economic and environmental sustainability)
Disciplined, fair and flexible underwriting standards; a robust retooling of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; and an overhaul of financial regulation (accountability)
August Report Key FindingsOver 1/3 of the region’s population lives in
an area of low opportunity1 out of 4 Wayne County households pay
more than 30% of their income for housingLess than 4% of the African Americans in
the region live in areas of high opportunityNearly 1 million African Americans live in
low opportunity areas in the regionMore than half of the region’s Latino
population lives in low opportunity areas
Racial Disparity and Opportunity
Education and Poverty
OpportunityMappingHigh opportunity
exclusive to suburban areas of greater Detroit
Limited access to opportunity in inner-city Detroit
90% of regional African Americans live in an area of low-opportunity
How does race work today?There are still practices, cultural norms and
institutional arrangements that help create & maintain (disparate) racialized outcomesWe call this “structural racialization”It is a very different way of looking at race from “Is
he a racist?”The way race matters changes over time
(progress/retreat)We must consider how we each stand differently
with respect to our opportunities for work, education, parenting, retirement…
We must understand the work our institutions do, not what we wished they would do
…in order to make them more equitable and fair
History shapes our present & future
23
We were separated from each other…
http://www.albany.edu/jmmh/vol2no1/sugrue.html
Detroit’s “Wailing Wall” being constructed
Opportunity still plays out across space
Measures of segregation (i.e. the “dissimilarity index”) have nudged downward a tiny bit but are still high
Outward growth can pull resources away from existing communities
The “favored quarter” has a disproportionate share of high quality opportunity structures
24
Segregation leads to disparate (racialized) outcomes
Lower EducationalOutcomes
Increased Flightof Affluent
Families
Neighborhood Segregation
SchoolSegregation &
Concentrated Poverty
But…what does your neighborhood have to do with your IQ?Living in “concentrated disadvantage” reduces student
IQ by 4 points, roughly the equivalent to missing one year of school Sampson, Robert et. al., “Durable effects of concentrated disadvantage on verbal ability among African-
American Children.” PNAS 105(3): 845-852.
Children growing up in very poor families with low social status experience unhealthy levels of stress hormones, which impair their neural development
In high-poverty communities, children have levels of lead in their blood that are nine times above average. High levels of lead are linked to attention deficit disorder and irreversible loss of cognitive functioning
Sources: Cookson, Clive. “Poverty mars formation of infant brains.” Financial Times.com 2/16/2008. (The biggest negative effects were found on language and memory.) ; Richard L. Canfield, Ph.D., et. al., (April 17, 2003). “Intellectual Impairment in Children with Blood Lead Concentrations below 10 µg per Deciliter.” New England Journal of Medicine. Vol. 348, no. 16: 1517-1526. Joel T. Nigg et. al, “Blood Lead Levels Associated with Clinically Diagnosed Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Mediated by Weak Cognitive Control.” Biological Psychiatry Vol. 63, Issue 3: 325-331.
Do we have the conditions for a meritocracy?
High OpportunityLow OpportunityDifferent opportunities for children
What happens if we don’t change?
Figure from Atkinson and Wial, “Boosting Productivity, Innovation, and Growth through a National Innovation Foundation,” Brookings Policy Brief available at http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2008/04_federal_role_atkinson_wial.aspx
How do we do it?
Put your outcome first: what do you want to achieve?
Work backwards from there … how do you achieve it, for everyone?
Understand our linked fatesTalk about race – it is part of the American
story
Outcome: every school a high performing school…how?No school has concentrated poverty rate over 40%
Concentrated poverty reduces everyone’s performance
Early childhood educationResearch shows critical growth in early years
Link P-12 to Universities, community colleges, hospitalsConnect to anchors & their resources
District magnet & charter schoolsSchool-to-career programs; collaborative educationDe-trackingService learning
Understand and communicate our linked fates
Racialized structures and policies have created the correlation of race and poverty. People assume that only people of color are harmed.
BUT: these effects are far reaching and impact everyone – we share a linked fate
Example: credit tightened for everyone after the subprime fiasco
Talking about Race…post Obama
A post-racial society? Anxiety over racial identity … and humor
Tracy Morgan accepting a Golden Globe for 30 Rock
“I am the face of post-racial America. Deal with it, Cate Blanchett!”
Talking about race…productively
Acknowledge racial progressRecognize our racial history and connect it to
our futureExplain how past injustices still matter today
Create empathetic spaceEveryone needs help now and then; we all
want to do betterWe share deep values, concerns, and hopes
Provide potential solutionsWe need to be able to articulate what we
support - not just what we oppose.Martin Luther King, Jr. did not start a speech with: “I
have a complaint…”http://www.equaljusticesociety.org/2008/12/talking-about-race-in-the-obama-era/
Acknowledge “Implicit Bias”Most of us have implicit
(unconscious) biases that can impact our behavior and understanding We are complex,
conflicted internally, and our biases can be activated (+ or -) without consciously recognizing it
We need to talk about race in ways that are not divisive
Talking about race … productively
Don’t frame issues around “what’s fair”
Reinforce the belief of opportunity for all
Assert that system flaws hurt everyone
Don’t focus on who or what is responsible for present inequities
Steer the conversation toward the results being sought (i.e., a quality education for everyone)
Don’t focus on exceptional individuals
Talk about where systems we all rely upon break down and how we can fix those systems
UNPRODUCTIVEUNPRODUCTIVE PRODUCTIVEPRODUCTIVE
Frameworks Institute Message Brief: Framing Race
What is a truly universal policy? “Universal” policies are often based on a non-
universal standard (i.e. social security: able-bodied white males working outside the home full-time for pay)
Instead, a targeted universal strategy is inclusive, but pays particular attention to the needs of those falling behindEx: Every school a performing schoolWhat does each school need to get there?What does each student, family, teacher,
community need?What are their strengths and constraints?
Undercapitalized Regions Undercapitalized
regions are characterized by significant urban decline (population loss, vacancy, limited investment)
Undercapitalized regions are highly fragmented and have stark racial and social disparities
The Core “Rust Belt” Region tends to be undercapitalized today
Rust Belt cities in comparison…
Unemployment Rates
Undercapitalized CitiesCharacteristics
Population decline or stagnation
Home value depreciation or stagnation
High poverty, disrupted social networks and concentrated poverty
Vacant land and declining tax base
Employment de-concentration and limited new commercial/residential investment
Single gentrified neighborhood may exist, but majority of neighborhoods are in decline
ThreatsContinued disinvestment
and declineContinued isolation of
central city from opportunity and investment
Existing tools for community development (place based affordable housing projects) may be accelerating central city decline
Sinking tide lowers all boats
Source: Building a New Framework for Community Development in Weak Market Cities, prepared by Community Development Partnership Network (April 2003)
Targeted neighborhood planning and use of funds for redevelopment activities
Promote access to suburban opportunity structuresEx: Opportunity-based regional affordable
housing strategiesRegional coalition building (equitable regionalism)
Ex: Build coalitions among local governments, business community, CDC’s, philanthropic institutions and anchor institutions
Strongly encourage reinvestment Stimulate private sector (subsidies, market
analysis)
Strategies for Undercapitalized Cities
Strategies for Undercapitalized Cities con’t…Promote economic development strategies that
widen opportunity for low-income residentsLeverage place-rooted anchor institutions for
equitable revitalizationImprove resident mobility with equitable
transportation policiesReclaim & rehabilitate vacant and abandoned
propertyMake all neighborhoods in the region
neighborhoods of high opportunityIncrease affordable housing in high-opportunity
neighborhoods
Source: Shared Prosperity, Stronger Regions: An Agenda for Rebuilding America’s Older Core Cities by PolicyLink
Multi-pronged strategy
Thank you! Questions or comments?
www.Kirwaninstitute.org