"For men, who have been hit hard by this recession, and for minority men in particular, the official unemployment numbers underestimate the severity of their unemployment situation."
Read the full report.
9/20/2009
It's Not 2000 Anymore
A New Lecture: “Anti-Black Discrimination in the Age of Obama” by Dr. Algernon Austin
The simplistic idea that impoverished African Americans have only themselves to blame for their poverty, due to their poor cultural values—a notion advanced by many, including black public figures such as Bill Cosby—is believable only if a blind eye is turned to those inconvenient things social scientists like to call “facts.” Algernon Austin soundly refutes the “culture of poverty” argument by paying careful attention to marco-economic data about long-term poverty trends and sociological case studies about persistent discrimination. In other words, unlike the glib punditry, Austin actually looks at the “facts.”
--Dr. Andrew Hartman, professor and audience member, Illinois State University
Contact Dr. Austin to arrange a speaking engagement.
________________________________________________________________________
The year 2000 was the economic high point for black America. The black median household income was its highest on record; the black poverty rate reached its lowest point on record. The latest data [income (Table H-6), poverty (Table 2), report (PDF)] from the Census Bureau shows the beginning of what is likely to be a significant multi-year decline in the economic fortunes of blacks.
In 2000, the median black household income was $37,093 (2008 dollars). By 2007, the median had fallen $1,873 dollars or 5 percent to $35,219. From 2007 to 2008, the median black household income fell another $1001 dollars to $34,218. Overall, the median black household was down 8 percent from 2000 in 2008.
In 2000, the black poverty rate was 22.5 percent. By 2004, it was up to 24.5 percent. Luckily, from 2007 to 2008, the black poverty rate only increased 0.2 percentage points to 24.7 percent. Most likely, it will go higher in the near future.
2008 was a bad year, but 2009 has been far worse. Sadly, unemployment is likely to increase into 2010. So, 2010 will be a bad year also.
Pray for a strong recovery starting in 2010.
Share this article with a friend. Use the email icon below.
--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.
Copyright © 2005-2009 by Thora Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
The simplistic idea that impoverished African Americans have only themselves to blame for their poverty, due to their poor cultural values—a notion advanced by many, including black public figures such as Bill Cosby—is believable only if a blind eye is turned to those inconvenient things social scientists like to call “facts.” Algernon Austin soundly refutes the “culture of poverty” argument by paying careful attention to marco-economic data about long-term poverty trends and sociological case studies about persistent discrimination. In other words, unlike the glib punditry, Austin actually looks at the “facts.”
--Dr. Andrew Hartman, professor and audience member, Illinois State University
Contact Dr. Austin to arrange a speaking engagement.
________________________________________________________________________
The year 2000 was the economic high point for black America. The black median household income was its highest on record; the black poverty rate reached its lowest point on record. The latest data [income (Table H-6), poverty (Table 2), report (PDF)] from the Census Bureau shows the beginning of what is likely to be a significant multi-year decline in the economic fortunes of blacks.
In 2000, the median black household income was $37,093 (2008 dollars). By 2007, the median had fallen $1,873 dollars or 5 percent to $35,219. From 2007 to 2008, the median black household income fell another $1001 dollars to $34,218. Overall, the median black household was down 8 percent from 2000 in 2008.
In 2000, the black poverty rate was 22.5 percent. By 2004, it was up to 24.5 percent. Luckily, from 2007 to 2008, the black poverty rate only increased 0.2 percentage points to 24.7 percent. Most likely, it will go higher in the near future.
2008 was a bad year, but 2009 has been far worse. Sadly, unemployment is likely to increase into 2010. So, 2010 will be a bad year also.
Pray for a strong recovery starting in 2010.
Worth Reading
Incomes of young in 8-year nose diveShare this article with a friend. Use the email icon below.
--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.
Copyright © 2005-2009 by Thora Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
9/13/2009
Three Lessons about Black Poverty
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
________________________________________________________________________
The new poverty numbers released by the Census Bureau today shows the black poverty rate inching upward. The good news is that in 2008 the black poverty rate increased only a statistically-insignificant two-tenths of a percentage point to 24.7 percent. The worst of the recession, however, has been in 2009. The bad news is that next year's poverty increase will certainly be larger. If we have only weak job creation after the official end of the recession--a "jobless recovery"--then the black poverty rate could increase for additional years.
In recent years, there has been a lot of hot air about black poverty. This is a good moment to clarify what causes blacks to have such a high poverty rate and what can be done about it.
The first important point to emphasize is the crucial link of poverty to a lack of jobs. When blacks lose jobs, as they do during recessions, the black poverty rate increases. The reverse is also true. When there is strong job growth in the country, the black poverty rate declines.
Over the 1990s, there was strong job growth and the black poverty rate dropped 9.4 percentage points from 31.9 percent in 1990 to 22.5 percent in 2000. The black poverty rate in 2000 was the lowest black poverty rate on record. The 1990s decline was the biggest drop in black poverty since the 1960s. It was amazing to see the black poverty rate cut by almost a third in a mere 10 years.
The number one priority in fighting black poverty must be the creation of jobs with good wages. It is unfortunate that no one made a big deal about the 1990s decline in black poverty. The decline in black poverty over the 1990s meant that there were over 3 million fewer poor blacks in 2000.
Looking beyond the recession, the question to ask is "Will we see strong job creation or a 'jobless recovery' that causes black poverty to rise or remain high?"
The second lesson is that the United States has such a high poverty rate because we choose to. Similar to the situation with health insurance, all other rich nations do a better job at fighting poverty than we do. In 2000, the child poverty rate in the United States was 1.5 times the rate in Canada, 3 times the rate in France and 9 times the rate in Denmark. All of these countries have a stronger commitment to reducing poverty through progressive taxation. We could do better, but we don't.
If we had a stronger commitment to fighting poverty we would see better outcomes for black children. A recent study [PDF] by the Pew Economic Mobility Project showed that a large number of middle-class black children grew up to be worse off economically than their parents. An important reason for this downward mobility was because middle-class black children are much more likely to grow up in neighborhoods with high rates of poverty than middle-class white children. Other research also shows that childhood poverty increases the likelihood that children will have negative economic outcomes as adults.
Children who grow up in an impoverished home or in a poor neighborhood are more likely to be poor as adults. If we wish to reduce poverty in the long-term, we have to be committed to reducing poverty today.
The third lesson is that racial discrimination is still an obstacle to black economic success. Audit or paired-tester studies where black and white job applicants present basically the same qualifications in the same way to employers consistently find that the white applicant is much more likely to be offered the job. Among blacks with jobs, researchers consistently find wage disparities. For example, a recent study from the Urban Institute found that black workers earn 12 percent less than similar white workers in similar jobs.
There are three necessary ingredients to reducing black poverty: (1) strong job growth that reaches black communities, (2) a national commitment to lowering the poverty rate, and (3) a renewed commitment to fighting discrimination in the labor market. Without these three ingredients, we will continue to see a large black-white poverty gap into the future.
Worth Reading
The Recession’s Racial DivideShare this article with a friend. Use the email icon below.
--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.
Copyright © 2005-2009 by Thora Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
9/01/2009
Do Poor Blacks Live in a Police State?
A New Lecture: “Anti-Black Discrimination in the Age of Obama” by Dr. Algernon Austin
The simplistic idea that impoverished African Americans have only themselves to blame for their poverty, due to their poor cultural values—a notion advanced by many, including black public figures such as Bill Cosby—is believable only if a blind eye is turned to those inconvenient things social scientists like to call “facts.” Algernon Austin soundly refutes the “culture of poverty” argument by paying careful attention to marco-economic data about long-term poverty trends and sociological case studies about persistent discrimination. In other words, unlike the glib punditry, Austin actually looks at the “facts.”
--Dr. Andrew Hartman, professor and audience member, IllinoisStateUniversity
Contact Dr. Austin to arrange a speaking engagement.
________________________________________________________________________
Like Henry Louis Gates Jr., all black men in America, are likely to have at least one negative experience with the criminal justice system. For poor black men in America's cities, however, these negative experiences are not rare events, but can occur monthly, weekly or even daily.
Alice Goffman, a sociologist who spent six years studying the men in a poor, black, Philadelphia neighborhood, documented the intense policing that she saw in her first year and a half of research.
One reason for the intense policing of this neighborhood is probably a high crime rate. But what Goffman illustrates in her article is that our criminal justice policies ultimately encourage crime and incarceration among poor, black men.
Criminologists have shown that work and family ties keep men from returning to criminal activity. The criminal justice policies that black, male ex-offenders are subject to often disrupt their relationship to work and to family thereby increasing the men's likelihood of returning to criminal activity.
Many people criticize young black men for not having ties to children they father. These people should, therefore, be upset that the police work to sever these ties from the day of the birth of the child. Goffman reports that one young black man, Alex, was arrested on the hospital delivery room floor after the birth of his son. Goffman states, "After Alex was arrested, other young men expressed hesitation to go to the hospital when their babies were born" (p. 345). On the day, Alex was arrested, the police also took into custody two other men on the delivery room floor.
Some might say that Alex simply should not have committed the crime that led to his arrest. What exactly led to Alex's arrest in the hospital? He violated his parole by drinking alcohol. Alex is 22 years old. Lots of 22 year olds of all races and classes drink alcohol, but our criminal justice system disproportionately imprisons poor, young, black men for this "crime."
The citizens of Pennsylvania spent roughly $30,000 [PDF] in tax dollars to punish Alex with a year in prison for drinking alcohol. Imprisoning someone like Alex in this situation strains his relationship to his girlfriend, child and extended family which means that upon release from prison he is more likely to commit an actual crime as opposed to the "crime" of drinking alcohol when one is 22 years old. In essence, the state of Pennsylvania has spent $30,000 in the hopes of making Alex into a hardened, career criminal who will neglect his son.
Another person Goffman knew was Mike, a 24 years old who was also parole. Mike managed to find work at a Taco Bell. She writes,
It is very difficult for young, black, men with a criminal record to find work. For the "crime" of sleeping at his girlfriend's house, Mike loses his job at Taco Bell and will probably have a more difficult time finding legal work in the future. If Mike cannot find legal work in the future he is more likely to resort to criminal activity to make a living. To encourage Mike to become a hardened, career criminal the citizens of Pennsylvania spent about $30,000.
Goffman reports that nearly 40 percent of the young men in the neighborhood had been issued warrants for their arrest for these technical violations of their probation or parole. Technical violations include drinking and missing a curfew. Given that most young adults drink alcohol and stay out late, requiring young adult paroles to desist from this behavior is to design a system that guarantees a high rate of failure. The Pew Center on the States reported that in 2005 in California statewide nearly 40 percent [PDF] of paroles were returned to prison for technical violations. Incarcerating individuals for technical violations is an extremely expensive policy that definitely increases the incarceration rate and probably increases the crime rate in the long run.
Poor, young, black men are also disproportionately sent back to prison essentially for being poor. Goffman tells of Anthony "who was 22 years old and homeless" and who "had a bench warrant out for his arrest because he had not paid $173 in court fees" (p. 344). Anthony cannot afford to find a place to live, but our legal system expects him to find $173 to pay for court fees. Poor ex-offenders may find themselves in this situation, but middle-class and rich ex-offenders will not. For many of the nonpoor, $173 is a trivial amount. For the poor, it is not. The poor will therefore be overrepresented among those re-incarcerated for the failure to pay fees.
Many of the young, black men Goffman studied were involved in drug dealing. They were also all struggling financially to some degree. Anthony was not the only homeless one. Contrary to the stories told in rap music and to what is shown in music videos, most real-life street-level drug dealers are poor. They are not spending "Benjamins" like Diddy or Fifty Cent. For example, Goffman tells of Mike who was too embarrassed to attend Parent's Day at his son's school. Mike fell behind on his son's Catholic school fees because he was not making enough money from dealing drugs to afford it.
In the neighborhood with such intense policing, everyone knows that one need not be guilty of a crime to be arrested. One of the young men Goffman knew, Reggie, left a gun in his home that was found during a police search. Although it was Reggie's gun, Reggie's mother was arrested. The police "told her she would be charged for the gun unless she told them where to find Reggie" (p. 350). Reggie and his mother lived at Reggie's grandfather's home. The grandfather kicked Reggie out of his house knowing that if the police kept returning to his house "they going to find some reason to book my Black ass" (p. 350). Another Goffman informant states that "whoever they [the police] looking for , even if it's not you, nine times out of ten they'll probably book you" (p. 344).
Poor, young, black men live in a different world from the world of Henry Louis Gates Jr. These men regularly have negative interactions with the police. Once they get on wrong path, our criminal justice system encourages them to stay on the wrong path. Instead of working to foster strong relationships to work and family, the criminal justice system blithely disrupts these fragile relationships. Instead of recognizing that a homeless young man simply does not have $173, the state spends $30,000 to punish the young man for being poor. Without question, America has the worst criminal justice system that money can buy.
Share this article with a friend. Use the email icon below.
--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.
Copyright © 2005-2009 by Thora Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
The simplistic idea that impoverished African Americans have only themselves to blame for their poverty, due to their poor cultural values—a notion advanced by many, including black public figures such as Bill Cosby—is believable only if a blind eye is turned to those inconvenient things social scientists like to call “facts.” Algernon Austin soundly refutes the “culture of poverty” argument by paying careful attention to marco-economic data about long-term poverty trends and sociological case studies about persistent discrimination. In other words, unlike the glib punditry, Austin actually looks at the “facts.”
--Dr. Andrew Hartman, professor and audience member, IllinoisStateUniversity
Contact Dr. Austin to arrange a speaking engagement.
________________________________________________________________________
Like Henry Louis Gates Jr., all black men in America, are likely to have at least one negative experience with the criminal justice system. For poor black men in America's cities, however, these negative experiences are not rare events, but can occur monthly, weekly or even daily.
Alice Goffman, a sociologist who spent six years studying the men in a poor, black, Philadelphia neighborhood, documented the intense policing that she saw in her first year and a half of research.
I watched the police stop pedestrians or people in cars, search them, run their names to see if any warrants came up, ask them to come in for questioning, or make an arrest at least once a day, with five exceptions. I watched the police break down doors, search houses, and question, arrest, or chase suspects through houses 52 times. Police helicopters circled overhead and beamed search lights onto local streets nine times. I noted blocks taped off an traffic redirected as police searched for evidence or "secured a crime scene" 17 times. I watched the police punch, choke, kick, stomp on, or beat young men with night sticks 14 times during this first year and a half. ("On the Run: Wanted Men in a Philadelphia Ghetto," American Sociological Review 74, June: 343.)Over a year and a half, only five days passed with Goffman not seeing some sort of police action.
One reason for the intense policing of this neighborhood is probably a high crime rate. But what Goffman illustrates in her article is that our criminal justice policies ultimately encourage crime and incarceration among poor, black men.
Criminologists have shown that work and family ties keep men from returning to criminal activity. The criminal justice policies that black, male ex-offenders are subject to often disrupt their relationship to work and to family thereby increasing the men's likelihood of returning to criminal activity.
Many people criticize young black men for not having ties to children they father. These people should, therefore, be upset that the police work to sever these ties from the day of the birth of the child. Goffman reports that one young black man, Alex, was arrested on the hospital delivery room floor after the birth of his son. Goffman states, "After Alex was arrested, other young men expressed hesitation to go to the hospital when their babies were born" (p. 345). On the day, Alex was arrested, the police also took into custody two other men on the delivery room floor.
Some might say that Alex simply should not have committed the crime that led to his arrest. What exactly led to Alex's arrest in the hospital? He violated his parole by drinking alcohol. Alex is 22 years old. Lots of 22 year olds of all races and classes drink alcohol, but our criminal justice system disproportionately imprisons poor, young, black men for this "crime."
The citizens of Pennsylvania spent roughly $30,000 [PDF] in tax dollars to punish Alex with a year in prison for drinking alcohol. Imprisoning someone like Alex in this situation strains his relationship to his girlfriend, child and extended family which means that upon release from prison he is more likely to commit an actual crime as opposed to the "crime" of drinking alcohol when one is 22 years old. In essence, the state of Pennsylvania has spent $30,000 in the hopes of making Alex into a hardened, career criminal who will neglect his son.
Another person Goffman knew was Mike, a 24 years old who was also parole. Mike managed to find work at a Taco Bell. She writes,
Mike refused to return to the halfway house in time for curfew one night, saying he could not spend another night cooped up with a bunch of men like he was still in jail. He slept at his girlfriend's house, and in the morning found that he had been issued a violation and would likely be sent back to prison . . . . Two parole officers arrested him the next day as he was leaving the Taco Bell. (p. 345-346)Here we see the zero tolerance of the parole system preventing a young man from working a legal job.
It is very difficult for young, black, men with a criminal record to find work. For the "crime" of sleeping at his girlfriend's house, Mike loses his job at Taco Bell and will probably have a more difficult time finding legal work in the future. If Mike cannot find legal work in the future he is more likely to resort to criminal activity to make a living. To encourage Mike to become a hardened, career criminal the citizens of Pennsylvania spent about $30,000.
Goffman reports that nearly 40 percent of the young men in the neighborhood had been issued warrants for their arrest for these technical violations of their probation or parole. Technical violations include drinking and missing a curfew. Given that most young adults drink alcohol and stay out late, requiring young adult paroles to desist from this behavior is to design a system that guarantees a high rate of failure. The Pew Center on the States reported that in 2005 in California statewide nearly 40 percent [PDF] of paroles were returned to prison for technical violations. Incarcerating individuals for technical violations is an extremely expensive policy that definitely increases the incarceration rate and probably increases the crime rate in the long run.
Poor, young, black men are also disproportionately sent back to prison essentially for being poor. Goffman tells of Anthony "who was 22 years old and homeless" and who "had a bench warrant out for his arrest because he had not paid $173 in court fees" (p. 344). Anthony cannot afford to find a place to live, but our legal system expects him to find $173 to pay for court fees. Poor ex-offenders may find themselves in this situation, but middle-class and rich ex-offenders will not. For many of the nonpoor, $173 is a trivial amount. For the poor, it is not. The poor will therefore be overrepresented among those re-incarcerated for the failure to pay fees.
Many of the young, black men Goffman studied were involved in drug dealing. They were also all struggling financially to some degree. Anthony was not the only homeless one. Contrary to the stories told in rap music and to what is shown in music videos, most real-life street-level drug dealers are poor. They are not spending "Benjamins" like Diddy or Fifty Cent. For example, Goffman tells of Mike who was too embarrassed to attend Parent's Day at his son's school. Mike fell behind on his son's Catholic school fees because he was not making enough money from dealing drugs to afford it.
In the neighborhood with such intense policing, everyone knows that one need not be guilty of a crime to be arrested. One of the young men Goffman knew, Reggie, left a gun in his home that was found during a police search. Although it was Reggie's gun, Reggie's mother was arrested. The police "told her she would be charged for the gun unless she told them where to find Reggie" (p. 350). Reggie and his mother lived at Reggie's grandfather's home. The grandfather kicked Reggie out of his house knowing that if the police kept returning to his house "they going to find some reason to book my Black ass" (p. 350). Another Goffman informant states that "whoever they [the police] looking for , even if it's not you, nine times out of ten they'll probably book you" (p. 344).
Poor, young, black men live in a different world from the world of Henry Louis Gates Jr. These men regularly have negative interactions with the police. Once they get on wrong path, our criminal justice system encourages them to stay on the wrong path. Instead of working to foster strong relationships to work and family, the criminal justice system blithely disrupts these fragile relationships. Instead of recognizing that a homeless young man simply does not have $173, the state spends $30,000 to punish the young man for being poor. Without question, America has the worst criminal justice system that money can buy.
Share this article with a friend. Use the email icon below.
--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.
Copyright © 2005-2009 by Thora Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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