Urban Powder-Keg

04/27/2008

Paul Munnis


Adding to the pressures that we have in America these days are American cities that are once more becoming racial powder-kegs.

In New York the 50 shot killing of a groom on the way to his wedding resulted in acquittal for the police involved and is leading urban dwellers to levy charges of racially inspired murder. In Chicago, gangs are once more acting as urban black marauders and are endangering the public safety with high levels of crime.

Cities like Atlanta and Los Angelis are powder-kegs just waiting for someone or something to ignite them.

Frankly, if I were in the terrorism business this is what I would use to make war on America. It is tailor-made for trouble. That means that we have added incentive to defuse this ticking time-bomb of increased racial tension.We really all do have skin in the issue.

When we look at Martin Luther King and his advice to America – keep demonstrations peaceful and non-violent – and keep civil-rights issues moving ahead -- we are struck by how little progress we have made in managing race relations in America since his death. We are also struck that it is the onset of deep recession that makes these issues suddenly so apparent.

The Rev. Wright, speaking out against the white race in Illinois embarrassed Barack Obama with his strident and angry and bigoted statements. Obama rushed to try to seal the cracks that these statements created for his campaign but he can’t hide that the structure of American society is under great racial stress. Further complicating the problems are the recession, job losses, income disparity that has grown under the Bush Administration, and a sense that America is moving backwards in civil rights.

Barak Obama’s candidacy is an important milestone in American civil rights and the source of much black pride in America. Democrats want to build upon that legacy for we fancy ourselves a group that has advanced minority rights in America and that includes black civil rights. Our record is pretty good and we’d like to extend that record.

When Bill Clinton brought up the race matter in North Carolina he uncovered more cracks in our society and the manner in which his remarks were taken show that there is still a lot of sensitivity to race matters in our nation. Racial sensitivity is mostly found in the inner cities of America.

Al Sharpton is not helping things in New York when he makes statements that indicate he will shut down the city. First it is unlikely that he can do that and second, New Yorkers, among all of the urban cities in North America, have shown that they can manage racial issue pretty well.

How do we tame these fires of hate and how do we move ahead in terms of civil rights?

The very first thing that we must do is realize that a bad economy hurts blacks because they tend to be working in industries that suffer first from the effects of inflation and recession. This makes workers in those industries vulnerable and exposes them to economic hardship long before the majority of whites see their paychecks shrink. I don’t think that it is racial prejudice that is the major factor in layoffs. If the truth be known I think the prejudice is an age based prejudice and exists regardless of race.

I think that black unemployment is the consequence of low education levels and poor job placement. For example, black professors are not being let go and black medical doctors are in high demand. Black waitresses and blacks who are working in blue collar jobs are very vulnerable. Blacks have a higher education opportunity now but both races are facing the problems of affording college education. Taken in the aggregate the black urban teen seeking to go to college has a tough route to obtaining a higher education. Colin Powell did by applying at a military academy - West Point - and he was accepted because he had a good academic record and a record of community service. He also had a black congressman to sponsor him.

Blacks have a special education problem and it is the poor quality of urban neighborhood schools in America. Education is a big problem in the south where white bigots seek to deny blacks their educational opportunity. In many high schools you can find black students who do not want to settle down and study and learn. The result is that they are left behind. Also as many have pointed out, black urban teens hurt themselves when they promote the image of blank gangsta's and engage in gang activities. The result is that society tags them as low-lives and ignorant these two labels nobody can afford to have hung on them.

When it comes to blacks the GOP has been bigoted. We have also seen a lot of black bigotry toward whites.

The lobby for educational vouchers for education is an attempt to use GOP government control to get a long sought after GOP benefit but most Americans know that vouchers are a way to further damage public education and to bring back racial segregation once more into our schools. To our credit white America has rejected that call from the GOP and has trashed the proposal to a point where it is a non-starter. The GOP criteria for “No Child Left Behind,” is to close schools that don’t measure up on educational goals and for blacks this puts the already shoddy urban school system at further risk. When neighborhood schools are closed then even more blacks drop out of school. These closed schools often get replaced with church-run schools that charge tuition and making education out of reach for many inner city kids.

Given those realizations we must concentrate on improving urban schools and focus on trying to deal with the rebellious black student. During a recession not too much of that focus is going to happen because it requires raising local school taxes -- something that is not feasible during recession.

We must work on getting black urban students to get their homework and home studies done outside of the classroom. The black family is often the failure here and perhaps something by way of study halls can be put in as after school programs. Here the student can come and get their homework done in tranquility and peace and even get tutoring help with homework assignments. It would cost very little and it could create the needed climate. If blacks will use such a facility or not and if it would be run well are all problematic questions that I don’t have the answers for.

If we can get students through High School the next problem is getting them into college. The solution to that is more government grants for low income students and better college financing programs from our Federal and State governments.

Next in the hierarchy comes jobs for blacks. For most young Americans this may be the last recession where this is an issue for quite awhile. That is because Americans workforce is shrinking and there will soon be far more jobs than there are young people to fill them. This recession will find many Americans driven into early retirement and will tend to accelerate retirement of the Baby-Boomers. As early retirement happens those with good education will make good income while those with poor education will have to fill the service sector jobs. That will not be all bad either as Democrats in office will likely strengthen the opportunity for fair labor practices and allow Unions to make a comeback. That means that workers will have worker protection by government and that will help workers a lot.

If we can keep the lid on our urban areas this long-hot summer then Democrats should be able to win the election and institute reforms that will permit blacks to continue to advance in society. If Democrats are returned to office they will once more establish a social safety net. Until that happens then Mr. Bush and his Party will continue with their sad history of applied bigotry.

In the meantime the best way for blacks to get a fair shake in their community is to apply for and to take government jobs. If they are police and firemen and social workers and on school boards and in the classroom as teachers then they can see to it that the important things to a black community are materialized and they can protect that which matters the most to them.

We need to keep the lid on American cities and in doing so we need to commit ourselves to improvements in civil-rights for all Americans. The GOP has had a wicked impact on human rights, civil rights, and basic civility in American society. We need to change all of that.