Hidden Bias

Shankar Vedantam, The Hidden Brain

Take a bias test here.

Don't be fooled: race matters

My friend and colleague, Dr. Timothy Bray, Director, Institute for Urban Policy Research at the University of Texas at Dallas, shared the following reality with me about "concentrated poverty" (neighborhood or census tract in which 40% of population live at or below federal poverty line) in the city of Dallas:

• 11% of the 96 predominantly Hispanic census tracts experience concentrated poverty
• 40% of our 48 predominantly African American, non-Hispanic census tracts experience concentrated poverty
• 0% of our 90 predominantly non-Hispanic, white census tracts experience concentrated poverty

Apparently, race still matters.

Racism drives illness

The Impact of Racism on the Health and Well-Being of the Nation A four part webinar series The recent events in Charleston, South Caroline, Baltimore, Maryland, and Ferguson, Missouri, remind us that stigma, inequalities and civil rights injustices remain in our society today. Unfortunately, skin color plays a large part in how people are viewed, valued and treated. We know that racism, both intentional and unintentional, affects the health and well-being of individuals and communities and stifles the opportunity of many to contribute fully to the future and growth of this nation. Join the leadership of the American Public Health Association in a summer webinar series about racism's impact on health and disparities. Naming and Addressing Racism: A Primer July 21, 2015 | 2 p.m. EDT  Shiriki Kumanyika, PhD, MPH, and Camara P. Jones, MD, MPH, PhD This kick-off webinar featuring APHA’s executive director, president and president-elect will take a look at some of the nation’s leading health inequities. APHA President Shiriki Kumanyika will discuss how racism is one of the most challenging tools of social stratification we face when trying to improve the health of the public. She also will reflect on the evidence and research needs related to how racism limits our ability to make America the healthiest nation. APHA President-Elect Camara Jones will tell the Gardener's Tale and present a framework for understanding racism on three levels. This framework is useful for understanding the basis for race-associated differences in health, designing effective interventions to eliminate those differences and engaging in a national conversation. Register now! Upcoming webinars in this series: Community Violence Well-Being August 4, 2015, 2 p.m. EDT Unequal Treatment: Disparities in Access, Quality and Care August 18, 2015, 2 p.m. EDT Racism: The Silent Partner in High School Dropout and Health Disparities September 1, 2015, 2 p.m. EDT

Home  |  About APHA  |  Join APHA  |  Advocacy  |  APHA Meetings  |  Donate  |  Publications                                  American Public Health Association. 800 I St. NW, Washington DC  20001  202-777-APHA  © 2015 All rights reserved.

Dallas Faces Race

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Wisdom from a good friend

Donor concern: Hatred? Really?

Rev. Gerald Britt published another compelling essay in The Dallas Morning News yesterday.  His comments focused on the tragic Trayvon Martin incident.  I hope you'll read and consider his thoughts here.

I received the following email from a person who has been a long-time CitySquare donor.  I found it amazing and thoroughly disappointing.   Here's what he said along with my reply and his final word:

Larry, 

Trayvon Martin's killing brought on a lot of debate, some healthy and constructive, some unhealthy and destructive.  Gerald Britt's article in this morning's paper is the most hate-filled, irrational article I have seen from either side of the issue.  Take me off of your lists.  I can't support an organization that is actively promoting hate in our community.

Signed his name

 ____________________________________________

Thank you for contacting me with your opinion about Rev. Britt’s editorial.

Frankly, your reaction is surprising to me.  I can’t find the hatred to which you refer anywhere in the article.  It would be helpful to me if you could elucidate more specifically to what you are referring.  I would love to talk to you by phone or face-to-face, as I am sure Gerald would as well. 

As I have considered the entire case, my question is why didn’t young Trayvon Martin fall under the protection of the “stand your ground” law in Florida?  He was pursued by an armed stranger.  If he “stood  his ground” in his own defense, how could he be blamed and how could an armed assailant be declared “not guilty.” 

Again, please direct me to the hatred or to the irrationality of Gerald’s article.  I really need your help on this one.

Best regards,

Larry

___________________________________________

Thanks Larry,  That's all I needed to know.  If that article speaks for City Square, we're done.    

Signed his name

___________________________________________

I'm trying folks, really, I am.  But, I can't see or hear the "hatred."  

Can you?  

The fact that we can't have a sensible conversation is a huge tip off that we have a major problem about race and culture in this nation.  

Sad.  

Take a moment to read this. . .

You will not waste your time if you stop to read this very important post by Rev. Gerald Britt!

After you read, let me know your reaction!

Four Little Girls

D Magazine, Race and Dallas

So, Wick Allison, top guy at D Magazine. certainly not known as a liberal or socially "on the edge" rag in these parts, published a stunning essay in his June 2010 issue on race and the rich in Big D.  His questions and his concerns should be addressed by political and religious leaders.  In fact, Allison calls both groups out on the matter.  Here's how he begins: 

Why are the Best Neighborhoods in Dallas Still Segregated?

The homogenous Park Cities, Preston Hollow, and Greenway Parks could hurt the city's future.
by Wick Allison
From D Magazine JUN 2010

Tom Leppert, Dick Davis, and Bill Seay are the three mayors of the four most prestigious neighborhoods in Dallas: Preston Hollow, Greenway Parks, University Park, and Highland Park. These neighborhoods—still, in 2010—are almost entirely lily white. In Dallas, usually we talk about race and the poor. It’s time to talk about race and the rich. Race is the one thing that could derail Dallas from becoming the nation’s No. 1 center of corporate headquarters.

In 2009, New York had 94 Fortune 500 companies, California had 98, and Texas had 118, of which 46 are in North Texas. If a relocation decision is based purely on costs, taxes, convenience, and labor, Dallas wins hands down. But as we found with Boeing, other factors can come into play. Would a CEO move to downtown Dallas if his top executives only felt comfortable living in Trophy Club or Grapevine? Why not go to Atlanta instead?

It’s time to face some serious questions. Why don’t successful upper-income black families live in the most affluent neighborhoods nearest downtown Dallas? If it is because they don’t feel comfortable raising their families there, why don’t they?

To read the entire essay click here. 

I understand not everyone is so keen on Allison's questions and point of view.  I'm proud of him.  It's a conversation long overdue in this city.  What do you think?

A knock on the door. . .

Dr. King and his family paid a price to secure justice for millions and to liberate both oppressed and oppressors.

In the following clip we witness his own inner struggle with the work he had been called to perform.

Powerful.

Can our religion come to grips with our world today?

Race in America

In view of the current "conversation" regarding race and racism in the United States, I found Melissa Harris-Lacewell's essay, Can We? A Brief History of American Racism, published on The Nation website (September 16, 2009) worth a read:

Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798. These four acts of Congress were meant to protect the new nation from French immigrants. They reflected a broad paranoia that French newcomers would poison American minds and weaken the new American government.

By 1802 President Thomas Jefferson led the repeal of most of these acts because they overstepped federal authority and instituted unjust restrictions.

In 1845 the Know Nothing movement in the United States formed a national political party based in nativist sentiment. This "Native American Party" rested on populist fears of Irish immigration. The Irish, they argued, were streaming into the United States. The Know Nothings argued that these Irish were unwelcome labor competition, and that these new immigrants were bringing with them foreign values, specifically Catholicism, which were a threat to American values.

By 1860 this party was extinguished.

In 1882 President Arthur signed into federal law the Chinese Exclusion Act. Chinese immigrant labor was the infrastructure backbone of the 19th century California Gold Rush, but by the 1880s a significant economic downturn increased competition and turned up animosity. Fueled by scarcity-stoked fear, nativists pushed an anti-immigration agenda, culminating in the 1882 Act that excluded Chinese workers from entering the United States.

In 1943 this act was repealed.

In the 1880s Reconstruction ended in the U.S. South. States of the former Confederacy began to enact legislation that stripped black citizens of the right to vote, ejected black office holders from their posts, and forcibly segregated public accommodations and public transportation. Architects of these Jim Crow Laws justified the exclusion of black Americans from the public sphere as a protection of the values and culture of Southern life.

To read the entire, instructive post click here.