The End of Racism?
Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * i...@accuracy.org
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Friday, November 21, 2008
The End of Racism?
BARBARA SMITH, Barbar...@aol.com
Author of "The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and
Freedom" and other books, Smith said today: "In the wake of Barack
Obama's historic election there is a lot of talk about racism suddenly
becoming a thing of the past. It is true that millions of white people
voted for an African American for president and in some cases overcame
long-held prejudices to do so. What needs to be considered, however, is
that systematic racial oppression and discrimination are built into the
way many of our institutions operate. For example, because of segregated
neighborhoods and court decisions that have eroded Brown v. Board of
Education, school segregation of black children is at its highest level
since 1968. Even a black president will not be able to change ongoing
realities such as entrenched housing segregation, huge health
disparities, and disproportionate poverty and unemployment overnight."
DEDRICK MUHAMMAD, ded...@ips-dc.org, http://www.ips-dc.org/staff/dedrick
Muhammad is author of a just-released study, "The Unrealized
American Dream," from the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at
the Institute for Policy Studies. He wrote the piece "Race and Extreme
Inequality," which states: "Since 1968, the year Martin Luther King Jr.
was assassinated, the income gap between blacks and whites has narrowed
by just three cents on the dollar. In 2005 the median per capita income
in the United States stood at $16,629 for blacks and $28,946 for whites.
At this slow rate of progress, we will not achieve income equality for
537 years. And if politicians continue to dismantle government checks on
income and wealth concentration, even these modest gains may be
reversed." http://www.ips-dc.org/articles/454
Muhammad is currently in the D.C. area. During this weekend, he will
be in New Orleans at the State of the Black World conference.
For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
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