Reframing Race & Poverty In America

 

"The challenge facing those of us who seek to change outcomes for the poor and the marginalized is to frame the issues so that the American public comes to recognize that structural inequities are the most powerful forces shaping individual and family responses, and that cultural programs, although desirable, should be combined with strong efforts to attack structural inequities." -- William Julius Wilson in "More Than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City."

 

What William Julius Wilson feels is key to a national reframing for hope are policies that would directly benefit "...all groups, not just people of color."  Thus his plea for America to focus on fairness and justice to combat inequities and inequalities.  And yet, we continue to recognize the challenge Plato articulated, i.e., "as space is to size, time is to value."  Meaning the difficulty Americans have in sustained attention on the future -- as contrasted with a national obsession on the short-term. Despite the realities, Wilson in his new book, as Linda Darling-Hammond in hers, or columnists such as Herbert, Brooks, and Klugman, argue that our country would be better off if issues of poverty were seriously addressed and eliminated. 

 

Besides public school segregation, poorly funded schools and racist school policies, legalized statistical discrimination in hiring negatively impacting the lives of African American males, construction of public housing, access to transportation and jobs, Wilson writes there are the "...impact of political, economic, and policy decisions that [are] at least influenced by race. In this book, Wilson changes his position from a prior focus on the impact of culture as causality (the individual causes his/her problems, and has the responsibility to lift themselves up by their bootstraps), to a recognition of the structural obstacles which have the most effect on achievement.  This runs counter to public opinion polls which "...routinely reflect the notion that people are poor and jobless because of their own shortcomings or inadequacies." Sadly few people who remain trapped by their stereotypes and prejudices, trapped by their cognitive dissonance, trapped by their insecurities, recognize the role larger forces in society play -- segregation, discrimination, a lack of economic opportunity, and failing public schools which adversely affect inner-city people struggling with poverty:

 

 "A 2007 survey by the Pew Research Center revealed that fully two-thirds of all Americans believe personal factors, rather than racial discrimination, explain why many African Americans have difficulty getting ahead in life; just 19% blame discrimination."

 

Contrast this national belief with those in a survey conducted in twelve European countries where a substantial majority of the citizens in each of the countries favored structural over individual explanations for the causes of poverty and joblessness in their own nations.

 

Though some might be frustrated at President Obama's "nuanced style on race," the challenge we as educators working to improve equal opportunity for all students, is to assume responsibility in the classrooms and communities we work -- avoiding the polemics of the blame game.  We, as other Americans share in the responsibility for improving life trajectories.  The quality of our teaching and advocacy I might add, remains the single most important in-school factor in student achievement.  As such, for the school dependent students we serve, as well as the larger community, we assume an awesome responsibility for hope in the face of continued despair.  Where ever we are, whomever we associate, as a member of the NUA family, we have a responsibility to avoid the mundane, expose the structural difficulties in school and instructional policies, and work to eliminate those circumstances which inadvertently or not, may demean an individual or a group. 

 

Wilson: "I conclude now with a strong call for similar hopeful, positive, candid and critical national framings for our discussion about race and poverty in America. I believe that such framing is necessary to generate and sustain broad political support for comprehensive programs to address both the structural and cultural forces of inequality ["...belief systems of the broader society that either explicitly or implicitly give rise to racial inequality and cultural traits that emerge from patterns of intragroup interaction in settings created by racial segregation and discrimination."]

 

As we reflect on the state of our nation and the state of a people during black history month, consider the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

 

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.  Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction...The chain reaction of evil -- hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars -- must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation." 

 

The United States is said to be the only nation founded not on the ethnicity of its citizens, but on their shared commitment to certain ideas and values, including -- but not limited to -- courage, respect, consideration, perseverance, industry, responsibility, justice, initiative, moderation and integrity.  Being an American is a shared way of thinking and life.  Our future needs to focus on what connects us and less on what divides us.  As educators we have been graced with the opportunity to improve lives -- no matter the lack of funding, the problems of communities, the challenges of despair and families.  Notwithstanding the

huge responsibilities of parents in enabling the child, as educators, we know we share in the responsibility during those time the child is placed in our schools. 

 

Eric @

www.nuatc.org