Poll: Significant Progress Toward Racial Equality?
Today is the 48th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom:
The march was initiated by A. Philip Randolph, the president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, president of the Negro American Labor Council, and vice president of the AFL-CIO. Randolph had planned a similar march in 1941. The threat of the earlier march had convinced President Roosevelt to establish the Committee on Fair Employment Practice and ban discriminatory hiring in the defense industry.
The 1963 march was an important part of the rapidly expanding Civil Rights Movement. It also marked the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln.
In the political sense, the march was organized by a coalition of organizations and their leaders including: Randolph who was chosen as the titular head of the march, James Farmer (president of the Congress of Racial Equality), John Lewis (president of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), Martin Luther King, Jr. (president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference), Roy Wilkins (president of the NAACP), Whitney Young (president of the National Urban League).
I didn’t realize a march was planned to take place 22 years earlier, not sure a march in 1941 would have been as successful as 1963. Think about the milestones that took place between 1941 and 1963,  those in quotes are from CNN:
- 1948 – The Supreme Court rules the state cannot enforce restrictive covenants (Shelley v. Kraemer), the case originated in St. Louis in 1945.
- 1948 Â – “President Truman issues an executive order outlawing segregation in the U.S. military”
- 1954 – ” The Supreme Court declares school segregation unconstitutional in its ruling on Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.”
- 1955 – “Rosa Parks is jailed for refusing to move to the back of a Montgomery, Alabama, bus. A boycott follows, and the bus segregation ordinance is declared unconstitutional.The Federal Interstate Commerce Commission bans segregation on interstate trains and buses.”
- 1957 Â – “Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus uses the National Guard to block nine black students from attending Little Rock High School. Following a court order, President Eisenhower sends in federal troops to allow the black students to enter the school.”
- 1960 Â – “Four black college students begin sit-ins at the lunch counter of a Greensboro, North Carolina, restaurant where black patrons are not served.”
- 1961 Â – “Freedom Rides begin from Washington, D.C., into Southern states. Student volunteers are bused in to test new laws prohibiting segregation.”
- 1962 – “President Kennedy sends federal troops to the University of Mississippi to end riots so that James Meredith, the school’s first black student, can attend.The Supreme Court rules that segregation is unconstitutional in all transportation facilities.The Department of Defense orders complete integration of military reserve units, excluding the National Guard.”
For many the road to equality was simply taking too long. Â The post-march period saw a change in strategy from younger activists who didn’t want to wait a lifetime for equality .
The poll question this week is the same as a January 2011 Associated Press poll: “Do you think there has been significant progress toward Martin Luther King’s dream of racial equality, or don’t you think so?” The answer choices are also the same:
- Has been significant progress
- Don’t think so
- Unsure
The poll is in the upper right of the blog, mobile users need to switch off the mobile theme to vote from your phones.
Yes, there has been significant progress, but there still is an incredible amount of racism out there, it’s just not as overt as it was 50 years ago.
Yes, there has been significant progress, but there still is an incredible amount of racism out there, it’s just not as overt as it was 50 years ago.
Forty-eight years later and we’re still marching, touring and pleading for jobs and freedom, only to find ourselves in a worst state of affairs. History and the present speaks to and answers your question. African-Americans are significantly worst off economically, educationally, socially and politically in 2011 than in 1963.  Protective laws have been dilutely to the extent they are marginally effective as the courts are stacked w/anti-equality jurist at the state level; and, far too often the expense of fighting civil rights cases in the federal courts makes the challenge prohibitive.Â
Economic disparities have replaced the written restrictive convenants and every so-called protective class has substantially benefited from Dr. King’s Dream w/minimal benefit to the people whose conditions propelled him into the international spotlight of martydom.Â
Even the elitist of the civil rights movement are finding themselves in a precarious position of having to defend the movement’s shortfalls as witnessed by Marc Morial’s speech at the opening ceremony of Dr. King’s memorial dedication on Friday. They too can no longer justify the widening socio-economic disparities between Blacks and Whites and the “priviledged” Blacks as our frustrations with their rhetorical devices begin to resonate louder and louder.
Report after report after report and study after study including the recently released 2010 census data clearly substantiate the disparate socio-economic indicators of African-Americans and that the progress of racial equality in America is far from stubstantial.  To think or try to purport otherwise is simply an attempt to deny the truthful facts that the “equality/integration” experiment of the 60s has been a social and economic failure and that institutional and systemic racism is just as REAL in 2011 as in 1963, albeit more subtle!!
Forty-eight years later and we’re still marching, touring and pleading for jobs and freedom, only to find ourselves in a worst state of affairs. History and the present speaks to and answers your question. African-Americans are significantly worst off economically, educationally, socially and politically in 2011 than in 1963. Protective laws have been dilutely to the extent they are marginally effective as the courts are stacked w/anti-equality jurist at the state level; and, far too often the expense of fighting civil rights cases in the federal courts makes the challenge prohibitive.
Economic disparities have replaced the written restrictive convenants and every so-called protective class has substantially benefited from Dr. King’s Dream w/minimal benefit to the people whose conditions propelled him into the international spotlight of martydom.
Even the elitist of the civil rights movement are finding themselves in a precarious position of having to defend the movement’s shortfalls as witnessed by Marc Morial’s speech at the opening ceremony of Dr. King’s memorial dedication on Friday. They too can no longer justify the widening socio-economic disparities between Blacks and Whites and the “priviledged” Blacks as our frustrations with their rhetorical devices begin to resonate louder and louder.
Report after report after report and study after study including the recently released 2010 census data clearly substantiate the disparate socio-economic indicators of African-Americans and that the progress of racial equality in America is far from stubstantial. To think or try to purport otherwise is simply an attempt to deny the truthful facts that the “equality/integration” experiment of the 60s has been a social and economic failure and that institutional and systemic racism is just as REAL in 2011 as in 1963, albeit more subtle!!
I’m afraid I have to agree with you Romona. Too many (people and businesses) have used economic rules to substitute for racisim. I recall the community that wanted partial brick homes knowing that would outprice the lower income, which…no suprise…are African-American/blacks. Then there is the education slant where some communities prefer to keep that population (sorry to be blunt, but) dumb.
Then there are those in a position of power to change that instead of changing use the issue to their own advantage (Sharpton and Jackson at too many times) or in my example above, the educators dumb down the lessons …because they can’t learn. I know a teacher who does this and what the ????? claims she isn’t racist, “it’s just the way it is.” The businesses that pay a lower wage because ‘those people’ would just gamble more money away, etc. etc etc.
There is racism and many times now it is overtly done by people who think they aren’t racist at all to the African-American/black community and then there is that done boldly to the other races….gays, lesbians, vietnamise (or any asian decendent), middle eastern, eastern europe…do I really need to go on?
I’m afraid I have to agree with you Romona. Too many (people and businesses) have used economic rules to substitute for racisim. I recall the community that wanted partial brick homes knowing that would outprice the lower income, which…no suprise…are African-American/blacks. Then there is the education slant where some communities prefer to keep that population (sorry to be blunt, but) dumb.
Then there are those in a position of power to change that instead of changing use the issue to their own advantage (Sharpton and Jackson at too many times) or in my example above, the educators dumb down the lessons …because they can’t learn. I know a teacher who does this and what the ????? claims she isn’t racist, “it’s just the way it is.” The businesses that pay a lower wage because ‘those people’ would just gamble more money away, etc. etc etc.
There is racism and many times now it is overtly done by people who think they aren’t racist at all to the African-American/black community and then there is that done boldly to the other races….gays, lesbians, vietnamise (or any asian decendent), middle eastern, eastern europe…do I really need to go on?
And if I may make an additional comment:Â I think that if Mr. King were alive today, he would be ashamed of the progress made (not enough) and the lack of effort by those to change things now.
And ok, another comment: I’ve seen the movie The Help. Sure some of it was a bit over done for dramatics…but as I’ve told some people that think that the movie is just an exaggeration or worse, it was never that way….this is why we (the people) should not just strive to be better than we were….we MUST be better than we were, whether it was a year ago or 50 years.
And if I may make an additional comment: I think that if Mr. King were alive today, he would be ashamed of the progress made (not enough) and the lack of effort by those to change things now.
And ok, another comment: I’ve seen the movie The Help. Sure some of it was a bit over done for dramatics…but as I’ve told some people that think that the movie is just an exaggeration or worse, it was never that way….this is why we (the people) should not just strive to be better than we were….we MUST be better than we were, whether it was a year ago or 50 years.
To say there has been no progress is intellectual dishonesty of an activist mindset that fears admitting progress will relieve the urgency of “the movement”. There is no question, racism still exists almost everywhere and unless you willfully blind yourself you’re at least aware of the fact, even if you never have to experience it firsthand. But the question is about progress. When we say racism today is less overt, more subtle, what does it mean? It has gone underground because more people recognize it as counterproductive and even immoral. That should be recognized for progress so we never go back to before and keep trying to move forward.
Disparity is two sided, to look at this thing from one perspective doesnt see the picture. There’s a huge class of people who are worse off than they were 50 years ago, and it isnt just Black people in that group. That’s what’s been happening in America, the erosion of all the power of people. African-Americans have suffered from the overall problem, disproportiantely so. But it’s not in the main a racial issue. Some have said the new Dr King memorial acknowledges this with its absence of race in the quotations carved in the granite, which basically reflects a shift in his focus in the last 3-4 years of his life.
As happend back when workers were fighting for unions, we are getting into a situation today where a bunch of people of differing identities are together in the same sinking little boat, but instead of plugging the hole theyre fighting over the lifesaver, and the guys over in the yacht are egging them on.
To say there has been no progress is intellectual dishonesty of an activist mindset that fears admitting progress will relieve the urgency of “the movement”. There is no question, racism still exists almost everywhere and unless you willfully blind yourself you’re at least aware of the fact, even if you never have to experience it firsthand. But the question is about progress. When we say racism today is less overt, more subtle, what does it mean? It has gone underground because more people recognize it as counterproductive and even immoral. That should be recognized for progress so we never go back to before and keep trying to move forward.
Disparity is two sided, to look at this thing from one perspective doesnt see the picture. There’s a huge class of people who are worse off than they were 50 years ago, and it isnt just Black people in that group. That’s what’s been happening in America, the erosion of all the power of people. African-Americans have suffered from the overall problem, disproportiantely so. But it’s not in the main a racial issue. Some have said the new Dr King memorial acknowledges this with its absence of race in the quotations carved in the granite, which basically reflects a shift in his focus in the last 3-4 years of his life.
As happend back when workers were fighting for unions, we are getting into a situation today where a bunch of people of differing identities are together in the same sinking little boat, but instead of plugging the hole theyre fighting over the lifesaver, and the guys over in the yacht are egging them on.
These are the thoughts of a 58-year-old white guy, someone who remembers when Martin Luther King was on the evening news, civil rights marchers were being murdered in the south, back before the days when students were bused for integration and when the “historically black” high schools in my district were athletic powerhouses.
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One, people, individually, will always discriminate, for irrational reasons. We may like fat or skinny, blonde or redhead, same sex or opposite sex, teeth or no teeth. You can, and should, legislate away blatant, legal discrimination, but you’ll never completely eliminate all discrimination – we like who we like.
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Two, being poor sucks. It doesn’t matter if you’re black in north city, white in Appalachia or brown in east LA. But the question remains, are people poor because of their color or because they haven’t taken advantage of opportunities provided to better their economic condition? The equality of oportunity versus equality of outcomes argument? Dropping out of high school and/or spending time in jail are not career-enhancing moves.
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Three, getting a job and getting promoted means playing by “the man’s” rules. This old hippie doesn’t like the idea that long hair and facial hair are a detrement to getting a job, but compromising one’s personal style is pretty much a given. And, being able to communicate, both verbally and in writing, are critical.
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Four, compared to 50 years ago, when white males truly were kings, things have changed, significantly. Women’s “sports” were limited to field hockey – there was no Title IX. Separate but equal was perfectly acceptable in public education. Affirmative action quotas were but a dream. And men like Barrack Obama, Colin Powell and Dan Isom would have had no chance of being in the positions they’re in today.
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Five, quit blaming what happened to your ancestors. Yes, coming to America in chains is not the same as coming here in steerage to escape famine, war or persecution, nor is it the same of coming across our southern border illegally and trying to avoid the INS. Most of our ancestors were discriminated against – that was then, this is now. 40 years ago, many Cubans and Vietnamese were our enemy. 30 years ago, they were refugees. Today, their children are quickly integrating into and succeeding in the american melting pot.
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And six, while time and tastes will eventually move beyond this, rap music and gangsta style have done nothing to advance the cause of equality. Scaring whitey and being hard and sullen may work in the ‘hood, but it doesn’t play well in the corporate world, and that, unfortunately, is where most of the money and opportunity are . . . .
These are the thoughts of a 58-year-old white guy, someone who remembers when Martin Luther King was on the evening news, civil rights marchers were being murdered in the south, back before the days when students were bused for integration and when the “historically black” high schools in my district were athletic powerhouses.
One, people, individually, will always discriminate, for irrational reasons. We may like fat or skinny, blonde or redhead, same sex or opposite sex, teeth or no teeth. You can, and should, legislate away blatant, legal discrimination, but you’ll never completely eliminate all discrimination – we like who we like.
Two, being poor sucks. It doesn’t matter if you’re black in north city, white in Appalachia or brown in east LA. But the question remains, are people poor because of their color or because they haven’t taken advantage of opportunities provided to better their economic condition? The equality of oportunity versus equality of outcomes argument? Dropping out of high school and/or spending time in jail are not career-enhancing moves.
Three, getting a job and getting promoted means playing by “the man’s” rules. This old hippie doesn’t like the idea that long hair and facial hair are a detrement to getting a job, but compromising one’s personal style is pretty much a given. And, being able to communicate, both verbally and in writing, are critical.
Four, compared to 50 years ago, when white males truly were kings, things have changed, significantly. Women’s “sports” were limited to field hockey – there was no Title IX. Separate but equal was perfectly acceptable in public education. Affirmative action quotas were but a dream. And men like Barrack Obama, Colin Powell and Dan Isom would have had no chance of being in the positions they’re in today.
Five, quit blaming what happened to your ancestors. Yes, coming to America in chains is not the same as coming here in steerage to escape famine, war or persecution, nor is it the same of coming across our southern border illegally and trying to avoid the INS. Most of our ancestors were discriminated against – that was then, this is now. 40 years ago, many Cubans and Vietnamese were our enemy. 30 years ago, they were refugees. Today, their children are quickly integrating into and succeeding in the american melting pot.
And six, while time and tastes will eventually move beyond this, rap music and gangsta style have done nothing to advance the cause of equality. Scaring whitey and being hard and sullen may work in the ‘hood, but it doesn’t play well in the corporate world, and that, unfortunately, is where most of the money and opportunity are . . . .
You had me until point two. When poor schools have less funding and can’t hire the qualified teachers, the children do not have an equal opportunity to learn as the white ‘kings’ kids do. Dropping out of high school may not be a career move, but when mom is working two or three minimum wage jobs to keep food on the table and can’t be there to raise their child, who suffers? So no, they do not have equal opportunities.
Add to that that when one mentions food stamps or welfare assistance or single mothers, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Dumb, black inner city. Yet it is proven that there are more food stamps, welfare assistance, and single mothers getting help that are white and live in typical white cities (jefferson county, arnold, and yes, even Kirkwood). THAT my friend, is discrimination. And that has nothing to do with blaming ancestors.
Granted, no two schools are equal, not even within the same district. Funding levels, however, are a false indicator of success or failure – compare home schools and parochial schools (that receive much less funding than) to public schools – they typically produce superior results in the same parts of town. I’d argue that the parochial school’s advantage isn’t that their teachers are more motivated, it’s that they have a greater ability to maintain control in the classroom. I’d also argue that parents paying tuition are almost always more motivated to be an active part of their child’s education.
Bigger picture, I’m going to make what probably will sound like an eliptical argument – If you let any one trait define who you are, it will define how other people perceive you. In reality, we are all complex, not one-dimensional, people. Steve may be a disabled gay caucasian okie, but I like (and support and challenge) him because of his positions on many urban issues that are important to me, even though I’m not disabled, gay or from anywhere near Oklahoma. I’m also impressed by his incredible work ethic and his ability to research and present a broad range of local topics. In contrast, if one continues to insist on being hired or “respected” simply because one is African American, one will most likely continue to be viewed simply as a token black.
Successful people, of all races, succeed because they add value to society. We also all have an ethnicity and a history behind each one of us. None of us should abandon our heritage, but none of us should expect it to be an entitlement, either. Dr. King focused on this in his “I have a Dream” speech, the one where he states that there will come a day where “We are all God’s children”. Too many current leaders of the African American community have forgotten that, focusing, instead, on the one-dimensional issue of race.
My grandparents came to this country not speaking the language and having few resources. We have a whole community of Bosnians in St. Louis that have been here less than 20 years that are in the same boat my ancestors were in, and I work with people who have imigrated from around the world. All of these people are first-generation and all of these people face ongoing discrimination, based both on their physical appearance and on their verbal skills, yet are working hard to integrate into American society. In contrast, most African Americans in St. Louis, and certainly the most vocal ones when it comes to demanding “rights” were born here, as were their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents. When does true discrimination start to become just a convenient excuse?
Is there ongoing discrimination? Absolutely. Is life fair? Absolutely not. Do we each control our own destinies? To some extent, yes, and to some extent, no. I don’t consider myself to be as “successful” as my father, but I don’t “blame” anyone except myself. At some point, we each need to accept that what happened to our ancestors is just that, history. Our own individual choices define who we are, for better or for worse . . . .
It is eliptical. And I would grant you that parents home-schooling or paying tuition have a vested interest in their childrens’ education. I think that is part of MLK was trying to define and break…the endless cycle.
And I also would agree that no one should have that expectation that you will be given a job, etc. but the flip side of that is that one shouldn’t have to worry about being fired for being gay, black, or blue. But people do it all the time, so we still have a long way to go.
You had me until point two. When poor schools have less funding and can’t hire the qualified teachers, the children do not have an equal opportunity to learn as the white ‘kings’ kids do. Dropping out of high school may not be a career move, but when mom is working two or three minimum wage jobs to keep food on the table and can’t be there to raise their child, who suffers? So no, they do not have equal opportunities.
Add to that that when one mentions food stamps or welfare assistance or single mothers, what is the first thing that comes to mind?  Dumb, black inner city. Yet it is proven that there are more food stamps, welfare assistance, and single mothers getting help that are white and live in typical white cities (jefferson county, arnold, and yes, even Kirkwood). THAT my friend, is discrimination.  And that has nothing to do with blaming ancestors.
Granted, no two schools are equal, not even within the same district. Funding levels, however, are a false indicator of success or failure - compare home schools and parochial schools (that receive much less funding than) to public schools - they typically produce superior results in the same parts of town. I’d argue that the parochial school’s advantage isn’t that their teachers are more motivated, it’s that they have a greater ability to maintain control in the classroom. I’d also argue that parents paying tuition are almost always more motivated to be an active part of their child’s education.
Â
Bigger picture, I’m going to make what probably will sound like an eliptical argument – If you let any one trait define who you are, it will define how other people perceive you. In reality, we are all complex, not one-dimensional, people. Steve may be a disabled gay caucasian okie, but I like (and support and challenge) him because of his positions on many urban issues that are important to me, even though I’m not disabled, gay or from anywhere near Oklahoma. I’m also impressed by his incredible work ethic and his ability to research and present a broad range of local topics. In contrast, if one continues to insist on being hired or “respected” simply because one is African American, one will most likely continue to be viewed simply as a token black.
Â
Successful people, of all races, succeed because they add value to society. We also all have an ethnicity and a history behind each one of us. None of us should abandon our heritage, but none of us should expect it to be an entitlement, either. Dr. King focused on this in his “I have a Dream” speech, the one where he states that there will come a day where “We are all God’s children”. Too many current leaders of the African American community have forgotten that, focusing, instead, on the one-dimensional issue of race.
My grandparents came to this country not speaking the language and having few resources. We have a whole community of Bosnians in St. Louis that have been here less than 20 years that are in the same boat my ancestors were in, and I work with people who have imigrated from around the world. All of these people are first-generation and all of these people face ongoing discrimination, based both on their physical appearance and on their verbal skills, yet are working hard to integrate into American society. In contrast, most African Americans in St. Louis, and certainly the most vocal ones when it comes to demanding “rights” were born here, as were their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents. When does true discrimination start to become just a convenient excuse?
Is there ongoing discrimination? Absolutely. Is life fair? Absolutely not. Do we each control our own destinies? To some extent, yes, and to some extent, no. I don’t consider myself to be as “successful” as my father, but I don’t “blame” anyone except myself. At some point, we each need to accept that what happened to our ancestors is just that, history. Our own individual choices define who we are, for better or for worse . . . .
To quote Dr. Martin Luther King:
“Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
“I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’
“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
“I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.”
To quote Dr. Martin Luther King:
“Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
“I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’
“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
“I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
“I have a dream today.”
It is eliptical. And I would grant you that parents home-schooling or paying tuition have a vested interest in their childrens’ education. I think that is part of MLK was trying to define and break…the endless cycle.
And I also would agree that no one should have that expectation that you will be given a job, etc. but the flip side of that is that one shouldn’t have to worry about being fired for being gay, black, or blue. But people do it all the time, so we still have a long way to go.