3/30/2008

Condoleezza Rice: Blacks Loved U.S. When U.S. Did Not Love Blacks

Algernon Austin presents an excellent, concise, and wonderfully read scholarly examination of the complicated landscape of race, class and popular perception. Besides the prison industrial complex, black strides in education, poverty rates, crime and other indices contradict claims that blacks are “moving backward.”
--Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar, Director, Institute for African American Studies, University of Connecticut and author of Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity (The Johns Hopkins University Press), 2004 and Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap (University Press of Kansas), 2007.


Purchase Getting It Wrong: How Black Public Intellectuals
Are Failing Black America
by Algernon Austin
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[On the Need for Comprehensive Criminal Justice Reform.]
________________________________________________________________________


Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently made quite candid remarks that race still matters today. Below are quotes taken from the Washington Times article.

Condi Quotes

“descendants of slaves did not get much of a head start, and I think you continue to see some of the effects of that. That particular birth defect [during the founding of the United States] makes it hard for us to confront it, hard for us to talk about it, and hard for us to realize that it has continuing relevance for who we are today.”
“[Race is] a paradox and contradiction in this country, [which] we still haven't resolved.”
“[Race] continues to have effects [on public discussions and] the deepest thoughts that people hold.”
“America doesn't have an easy time dealing with race. [Members of my family have] endured terrible humiliations.”
“What I would like understood as a black American is that black Americans loved and had faith in this country even when this country didn't love and have faith in them — and that's our legacy.”




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--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.

Copyright © 2005-2008 by Thora Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Reprint this article in your newspaper or magazine. Contact the Thora Institute to purchase reprint rights.
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3/24/2008

Is Entrepreneurship for Everyone?

Algernon Austin presents an excellent, concise, and wonderfully read scholarly examination of the complicated landscape of race, class and popular perception. Besides the prison industrial complex, black strides in education, poverty rates, crime and other indices contradict claims that blacks are “moving backward.”
--Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar, Director, Institute for African American Studies, University of Connecticut and author of Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity (The Johns Hopkins University Press), 2004 and Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap (University Press of Kansas), 2007.


Purchase Getting It Wrong: How Black Public Intellectuals
Are Failing Black America
by Algernon Austin
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[On the Need for Comprehensive Criminal Justice Reform.]
________________________________________________________________________


I recently came across yet another call for black entrepreneurship as a means to black economic development. I think this is a big mistake. I see this idea on par with recommending that people buy lottery tickets to achieve wealth.

Now, I do think that having a successful business is a supreme way to build wealth and income. I also believe that there should be more successful black businesses.

So, why am I not big on entrepreneurship?

The simple reason is that most businesses fail. There is a high reward to having a successful business because it is a high-risk venture. If it were easy to have a successful business everyone would have done it already.

Some people have a brilliant idea and those people should start a business. Some people have a great passion to own their own business and they should probably do it. Some have the wealth so that if they lose their investment they can easily continue with their lives. These folks can do it if they have sufficient interest. But even when you tally up the numbers of people in these three categories, you still end up with a small minority.

There are many pitfalls in the way of business success. According to Patricia Schaefer, starting a business just to make money is one of the top wrong reasons to start a businesses. Schaefer sees the singular-focus on getting rich as one of the leading reasons businesses fail.

Starting a business is like becoming a professional athlete or a skilled musician. It’s not for everybody. Some people—a small number—have what is necessary and most people don’t.

A better solution for most people is to find the best job they can, save and invest wisely. People should also support government policies that lead to a broadly shared prosperity. There are investments that the government can make to improve people’s job and educational opportunities. There are investments that would make America a stronger country economically. These policies are as important as any personal action one can take.

There is somewhat of a compromise position. Michael E. Gerber, author of The E-Myth Revisited, points to franchising as an easier path to business success. How does a small-businessperson compete with gigantic businesses like McDonalds, Toyota and Starbucks? She doesn’t have to. She can open a McDonalds or a Toyota dealership or a Starbucks. Now, this path is not easy either, but it can be easier than starting from scratch.

Entrepreneurship for the right people is a great idea. For the wrong people, it can lead to disaster. In many ways homeownership is different from entrepreneurship. Homeownership, for one, is a policy for a wide range of people; entrepreneurship is not. But even a wise general policy like homeownership, when engaged under the wrong terms, can lead to disaster. See what the subprime housing crisis is costing black America. If we can’t tell every black person to go out and purchase a home, we have to realize that we also cannot tell the masses of black people to go out and start a business.


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--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.

Copyright © 2005-2008 by Thora Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Reprint this article in your newspaper or magazine. Contact the Thora Institute to purchase reprint rights.
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3/17/2008

“Smart on Crime” Options

Algernon Austin presents an excellent, concise, and wonderfully read scholarly examination of the complicated landscape of race, class and popular perception. Besides the prison industrial complex, black strides in education, poverty rates, crime and other indices contradict claims that blacks are “moving backward.”
--Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar, Director, Institute for African American Studies, University of Connecticut and author of Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity (The Johns Hopkins University Press), 2004 and Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap (University Press of Kansas), 2007.


Purchase Getting It Wrong: How Black Public Intellectuals
Are Failing Black America
by Algernon Austin
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[On the Need for Comprehensive Criminal Justice Reform.]
________________________________________________________________________


Have you ever missed an appointment? Maybe you forgot; maybe you overslept; maybe you were stuck in traffic; maybe there was an emergency of some sort? Well, if you were on parole, missing an appointment with a parole officer could lead you back to prison.

Does this make sense?

Should people be incarcerated for the “crime” of missing an appointment? Should we be paying $25,000 or more a year in prison costs on people who missed appointments? Should we be building new prisons to accommodate inmates who missed appointments? Is this a wise use of our tax dollars?

My presentation here is likely too simplistic, but it does point to a real issue in our dysfunctional criminal justice system. Many people released from prison are re-incarcerated for technical violations which include missing an appointment.

One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008, a report from the Pew Center on the States, observes:
While some violators are re-incarcerated for new crimes, a significant number wind up back in prison for so-called “technical” violations—transgressions such as a failed drug test or missed appointment with a supervisory agent. California locks up massive numbers of violators, scrambling to accommodate them in a sprawling, 171,444-inmate system so crowded that a three-judge panel may order a population reduction. A 2005 study showed that more than two-thirds of parolees in the Golden State were returned to prison within three years of release; of those, 39 percent were due to technical violations. (p. 18)

There are alternatives to re-incarceration for technical violations.
These include a mix of day reporting centers, electronic monitoring systems, and community service. This strategy makes offenders pay for their missteps but keeps prison beds free for more violent and chronic lawbreakers. And, it makes it more likely the violators will be able to pay victim restitution, child support and taxes. (p. 19)
These alternatives are more proportionate to the offense, and they are a lot less costly to society as a whole and to the ex-offender. Most states, however, do not take this sensible route, but instead rely on re-incarceration.

Much of the attention One in 100 received focused on America’s incredibly high incarceration rate. But the report also contained several “smart on crime” recommendations for making our criminal justice system more effective, less expensive and more humane. The report advocated the use of what I’m calling “smart sentencing,” “smart parole and probation,” and “smart release” policies.

“Smart” Sentencing and Diversion Policies
  • Drug courts that break the cycle of crime and addiction with frequent drug tests, a continuum of treatment services and increasing penalties for violations.

  • Targeted penalty changes that steer selected low-risk offenders to community corrections programs or modify mandatory minimums.

  • Comprehensive sentencing guidelines that allow states to decide as a matter of policy which types of offenders should go to prison and which are appropriate for community corrections.

“Smart” Parole and Probation Policies
  • Intermediate sanctions such as day reporting centers for offenders who break the rules of their release, to ensure that each violation receives a swift, certain and proportionate response.

  • Short-term residential facilities for persistent rule violators with substance abuse problems.

  • Performance incentives that shorten terms of supervision for offenders who comply with their conditions and fulfill obligations such as victim restitution and child support.

“Smart” Release Policies
  • Risk reduction credits that allow slightly earlier release for inmates who complete treatment and education programs designed to reduce recidivism.

  • Risk-based release instruments that use analysis of actual recidivism patterns to help releasing authorities decide who should remain behind bars and who is ready for release.

  • Sufficient program availability in prisons and the community so release isn’t delayed because inmates cannot complete requirements.
  • (p. 20)



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--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.

Copyright © 2005-2008 by Thora Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Reprint this article in your newspaper or magazine. Contact the Thora Institute to purchase reprint rights.
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3/10/2008

The Real “Cultural Malignancy” in America

Algernon Austin presents an excellent, concise, and wonderfully read scholarly examination of the complicated landscape of race, class and popular perception. Besides the prison industrial complex, black strides in education, poverty rates, crime and other indices contradict claims that blacks are “moving backward.”
--Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar, Director, Institute for African American Studies, University of Connecticut and author of Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity (The Johns Hopkins University Press), 2004 and Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap (University Press of Kansas), 2007.


Purchase Getting It Wrong: How Black Public Intellectuals
Are Failing Black America
by Algernon Austin
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[On the Need for Comprehensive Criminal Justice Reform.]
________________________________________________________________________


Washington Post columnist, Richard Cohen should be commended for his concern about the high incarceration rate of black men. But his understanding and diagnosis of the problem is off base. He repeats the mantras of the leading black public intellectuals and claims that “a kind of cultural malignancy has taken root in parts of the African American underclass.”

Let’s look at the actual violent crime data by race from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.


What one sees here is that violent crime in black America is way down from where it was in the 1970s and 1980s. If one were to presume a simple and direct relationship between bad cultural values and crime—I don’t, but the pundits do—then one should be arguing that black America has much better cultural values today than in past decades. Also, one should note that the black violent crime rate is lower now than the white violent crime rate was in the 1970s. Did anyone declare that a “cultural malignancy” had taken root in white America during the 1970s? For anyone bothering to look at the data, there is no basis on which to claim that a “cultural malignancy has taken root” in black America.

Where people routinely “get it wrong” is by presuming that the incarceration rate is a simple reflection of the crime rate—it isn’t. America’s so-called tough on crime policies and war on drugs have dramatically increased the incarceration rate. We saw above that there has been no huge upward trend in violent crime since the 1970s. Below we can see the overall violent crime and property crime trends. Both show declines since the 1970s.



Now, look at the incarceration rate trend below.


It just keeps going up. So, although the crime rate for black males has decreased, the incarceration rate keeps increasing. If there is a “cultural malignancy” in American society it is our criminal justice system which has an insatiable appetite for black bodies. When, when, when will our so-called leaders bother to actually look at the data and speak out about this? When!?!


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--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.

Copyright © 2005-2008 by Thora Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Reprint this article in your newspaper or magazine. Contact the Thora Institute to purchase reprint rights.
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3/03/2008

Remembering the Poor People’s Campaign

Algernon Austin presents an excellent, concise, and wonderfully read scholarly examination of the complicated landscape of race, class and popular perception. Besides the prison industrial complex, black strides in education, poverty rates, crime and other indices contradict claims that blacks are “moving backward.”
--Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar, Director, Institute for African American Studies, University of Connecticut and author of Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity (The Johns Hopkins University Press), 2004 and Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap (University Press of Kansas), 2007.


Purchase Getting It Wrong: How Black Public Intellectuals
Are Failing Black America
by Algernon Austin
Barnes & Noble.com Amazon.com

[On the Need for Comprehensive Criminal Justice Reform.]
________________________________________________________________________


When Martin Luther King Jr. died, he did not think that the civil rights struggle was over. He and his organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was about to embark on a new, major phase of activism called the Poor People’s Campaign. During this time of year when we celebrate King’s birthday and think about black history, no one talks about the Poor People’s Campaign; but we should.

People forget the Poor People’s Campaign for a good reason. If King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was the highpoint of the civil rights movement, the Poor People’s Campaign was the low. The consensus is that the Campaign was largely a failure.

While there were many factors behind the Poor People’s Campaign’s lack of success, an important one was that the Campaign was simply way ahead of its time. The Campaign was based on the insight by SCLC that blacks could not be full, equal participants in American society while burdened by high rates of poverty. SCLC when further and argued that no Americans—of any race—could realize their full potential while living in poverty. The Campaign was committed to all poor people and to multiculturalism decades before “multiculturalism” entered the popular lexicon.

Poor whites involved in the Campaign issued demands for “adequate medical and dental care for all Americans.” Forty years later, our elected officials are finally realizing that this is a good and feasible idea. We haven’t realized these demands yet, but at least we are talking about it seriously.

The number one goal of the Poor People’s Campaign was full employment. In a full-employment economy everyone who wants a job has one. For anyone concerned about reducing black poverty, full employment is a silver bullet. From 1959 to 1970, the black poverty rate declined from 55 percent to 33 percent. Over the 1970s and 1980s, there were no sustained reductions in black poverty. Between 1990 and 2000, the black poverty rate declined from 32 percent to 23 percent.

Why did we see big declines in black poverty over the 1960s and 1990s, but not over the 1970s and 1980s? The answer is full employment. When the nation is at full employment many poor blacks are able to find jobs and obtain wages that allow them to lift themselves out of poverty. Employers who might usually prefer not to hire blacks are so in need of workers that they put aside their prejudices to keep their businesses thriving. Nothing in American history has been as effective at reducing black poverty as full employment. Nothing.

Full employment is probably even more effective at reducing black poverty than the statistics above convey. The unemployment rate for blacks is typically more than twice that of whites, so when all whites have jobs, many blacks are still looking for work. If America ever achieves full employment for blacks, the black poverty rate would drop dramatically. The black-white poverty gap would also be substantially reduced.

In making a demand for “a meaningful job at a living wage for every employable citizen,” the SCLC showed that it understood the fundamental facts of poverty: people without work or who work at poverty wages are poor.

As we face the likelihood of the second recession of the decade and the likelihood of increased black poverty, we need to remember SCLC’s poverty fundamentals: full employment at good wages fights poverty. Our elected officials have to power to tell the Federal Reserve to make full employment a national goal. But as SCLC knew, only a movement of the people can make sure that our elected officials do so.

Reference
Robert T. Chase, “Class Resurrection: The Poor People’s Campaign of 1968 and Resurrection City,” Essays in History 40, 1998.


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--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.

Copyright © 2005-2008 by Thora Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Reprint this article in your newspaper or magazine. Contact the Thora Institute to purchase reprint rights.
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