Professional Documents
Culture Documents
personify statistics by finding a typical person, or, as in this case, using the statistics to
describe a mythical character.
Copyright 1997 Omaha World-Herald
Reprinted with permission
June 15, 1997, Sunday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1A
HEADLINE: From Birth to Death, Racial Gap Persists
By STEPHEN BUTTRY
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Starting before birth, a black child faces longer odds against survival and
success than a white child.
Black women are more likely than white women to become pregnant without
marrying, to have abortions, to delay or forgo prenatal care. At birth, the
child faces a life expectancy that is seven years shorter than a white baby's.
The bleak outlook continues through life - in Omaha, throughout the
Midlands, across the United States. Especially if the child is a boy, he is more
likely than a white child to die as a baby, as an adolescent and as a young
adult. He is more likely to drop out of school, be arrested, go to prison,
contract AIDS, be murdered.
The black child, even if she is a girl, is less likely to finish high
school, college or graduate school, less apt to use computers, less likely to
have health insurance or to visit the doctor unless it's an emergency.
Even if the child joins the growing black middle class, success is
moderated. A black with a doctoral degree earns 15 percent less than a white
with the same credential.
Whatever progress has been made in fighting racial discrimination and in
increasing opportunities for blacks, life generally remains vastly different for
blacks than for whites.
People of differing ideologies disagree about the causes of the gap, which
are complex and varied. Much of the debate centers on how much racism is a cause
and how much it has become an excuse. This story does not address that debate,
but concentrates on showing how deep and wide and genuine the gap is, whatever
the reasons.
The gaps between black and white aren't just national trends, weighed down
by dismal figures from faraway cities. The differences are as clear in the
Midlands, with its low overall unemployment, poverty and crime rates, as they
are nationally. In virtually every case where national, state and local figures
are available, Nebraska, Iowa and Omaha reflect the national trends, varying
only in degree.
In some cases, the differences are sharper here. For instance, Nebraska's
rate of black births out of wedlock is higher than the national average. Three
out of four black babies born in Nebraska have unwed mothers, compared with one
in five white babies.
Fifty years after Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color line, 134 years
after the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves, 34 years after Martin
Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech and 78 years after an innocent black man
was lynched in Omaha, statistics show beyond question that blacks, as a group,
continue to lead more difficult lives than whites.
To be sure, the gap has narrowed in some respects as conditions for blacks
have improved since the civil rights battles of the 1950s and 1960s. For
instance, in 1970, more than half of the nation's black workers had not
graduated from high school, compared with one-third of whites. For both groups,
it is now less than one in five workers, with the percentage for whites only a
few points higher.
In other ways, blacks have made progress but the gap has widened as whites
made even greater progress. The median income after adjusting for inflation has
grown for black families since 1970 by a greater percentage than white income
has grown. But the income for white households has grown by more dollars,
pushing it further ahead of blacks.
In some ways, the disparities are growing as conditions decline. From 1970
to 1994, the percentage of children living with both parents fell much faster
for blacks than for whites.
It is important to note that in most comparisons, the differences are
proportional. For example, whites actually outnumber blacks in Nebraska's
prisons by nearly 900 inmates. But blacks account for 30 percent of the state's
prison population and only 4 percent of the state's total population.
The disparities exist in nearly every aspect of life - health, crime,
education, employment, income, family life, housing, leisure.
Families
If the family is the foundation of a society, black America's foundation has
been crumbling for decades.
Nebraska's most recent Vital Statistics Report, for 1995, shows the gap
repeatedly. The overall rate for out-of-wedlock births is 31/2 times higher
among blacks than whites. And it's not just the result of teen-age pregnancies.
In every age group except 25-29, more than half of black babies are born to
unwed mothers.
Among couples who do marry, black families show added stress. The same
report showed that divorces were a higher percentage of marriages among black or
mixed couples.
Black children, by huge margins, are less likely to live with two parents
and more likely to live with a mother who has never married.
Of course, many single parents rear children who are successful by any
standard. But studies show that children of single parents, on the average, face
a tougher struggle.
And the single black mother tends to have more children making demands on
her time, energy and budget. Though fewer black families are headed by married
couples, the average family is larger.
Employment
By virtually every measurement, whites fare better than blacks in the
workplace.
Unemployment for blacks in Omaha is more than triple the rate for whites.
The list of professions in which black representation is less than half the
percentage of blacks in the work force is a list of the nation's most
prestigious jobs: physicians, lawyers, architects, dentists, pilots, engineers.
Blacks are similarly scarce among the ranks of editors and reporters.
Black representation about equals the black share of the work force for
teachers, clergy, police and athletes.
The occupations where blacks are represented considerably beyond their
presence in the work force at large: social workers, correctional officers,
maids, janitors, servants, laborers, factory workers and hospital orderlies.
If computers are the future of the workplace, the future doesn't look bright
for blacks. Whites are one-third more likely to use computers on the job, at
home and at school.
Income
Though blacks are only 10 percent of the population in Douglas and Sarpy
Counties, 43 percent of the food stamp recipients in the two counties are black.
Much of this nation's income is paid in the form of pensions, and blacks,
with their shorter life span, receive only a tiny slice of that pie.
Crime
In the case of murder, the black-white gap is so huge that the raw numbers
for blacks actually surpass those for whites. Among victims and suspects, blacks
outnumbered whites in the United States in 1995, though whites outnumber blacks
almost 7 to 1 in the general population.
At every age and gender group except women over age 85, the homicide rate is
higher than for whites. Blacks also are victimized at higher rates than whites
for other major crimes: rape, robbery, assault, theft, burglary, car theft.
Blacks are also more likely than whites to get arrested. Though blacks
account for less than 4 percent of Nebraska's population, they accounted for
more than 10 percent of the state's arrests for every major offense in 1994
except drunk driving.
Nationally, blacks outnumber whites in the nation's prisons and on parole.
The numbers in jails are about even. On probation, though, whites outnumber
blacks about 2 to 1.
So with all this violence committed by and against blacks, are they more
heavily armed than whites? No, according to a 1993 survey by the U.S. Bureau of
Justice Statistics. Nearly half of all white homes have a gun, while a quarter
of all black homes do.
Health
Nebraska Health Department figures show that the disparity starts in the
womb: Expectant white mothers have prenatal checkups more often than black
mothers and pregnant black women are more likely than white women to use alcohol
during pregnancy. (White women, though, are slightly more likely to smoke while
pregnant).
Black babies are more than twice as likely to be underweight at birth and to
die before their first birthday.
From age 15 to 24, 25 to 34 and 35 to 44, black males die at twice the rate
of white males.
The attrition is stark in old age. Nebraska whites outnumber blacks 20 to 1
in the teen-age years and 30 to 1 in the 40s, but 80 to 1 beyond age 85. The
difference in life expectancy between blacks and whites is as big as the
difference between men and women.
Blacks are more likely to have no health insurance than whites and more
likely to have only the Medicaid health insurance program for the poor. They are
less likely to visit a dentist or a doctor's office, more likely to visit an
emergency room, less likely to get a flu shot. Blacks are less likely to eat
breakfast, more apt to be overweight, more subject to lead poisoning, less
likely to get childhood immunizations on time.
Smoking rates differ little by race.
Despite the huge population disparity, the total numbers of AIDS cases
reported in 1995 were about the same for blacks and whites.
Education
Education has been the front line of the struggle for equality, from the
1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared school segregation
unconstitutional through the battles to integrate Southern schools through
court-ordered busing in Omaha and other northern school districts as well.
Schools and universities are no longer entirely separate, but educational
achievement is nowhere near equal. Black students in the Omaha School District
scored lower on the California Achievement Tests than white students in all
three academic areas tested at all five grade levels taking the test from 1994
to 1996.
The overall gap between black and white at Omaha schools was at least 29
percentile ranks at every grade level, a wider chasm than is seen nationally.
The gap is exaggerated by the larger percentage of black children who come
from poor families. Regardless of race, children from poor families, as a group,
have lower scores. But income apparently doesn't account for all of the racial
gap. In the Omaha tests, black students whose families didn't qualify for
subsidized lunches didn't test as well as whites whose family incomes were low
enough to receive free or discount lunches.
Other educational figures show the same disparity. At every level of higher
education, blacks receive a disproportionately small share of the degrees.
American blacks who do complete college take, on average, a year longer than
whites. Less than 6 percent of college instructors and professors are black.
Only one in 34 University of Nebraska students is black.
Locally and nationally, blacks are more likely to drop out of high school.
One note of equality that does emerge from the educational statistics:
Blacks are enrolled in preschool at about the same rate as whites, even a little
higher.
Housing
By and large, blacks and whites live in communities or neighborhoods with
people of their own race.
Only eight Nebraska counties are home to more than 100 blacks and 62
counties have fewer than 10. Douglas and Sarpy Counties have one-third of the
state's population, but 88 percent of the black population.
Even within Omaha, the state's most integrated community, the races are
clustered. City Council District 2, in north Omaha, has 66 percent black
population, while the rest of the city's black population is 4 percent.
Elementary school attendance areas in the Omaha School District further
illustrate the divide. A quarter of the children are black. Yet in most of the
neighborhoods, more than 60 percent or less than 6 percent of the children are
black.
The difference is strong not just in where the races live but in their
circumstances. Though whites outnumber blacks 7 to 1 in Omaha, nearly
three-quarters of the residents of the city's subsidized housing are black.
Two out of three white families in Nebraska and Iowa own their homes, while
three out of five blacks rent. Whether renting or buying, Nebraska blacks have
older and smaller and less valuable homes, though on average a black household
has more people.
Lifestyle
Even in the activities that bring fun and flair to life, or the inventions
that provide convenience and communication, the advantage for whites is strong.
Omaha blacks are more than four times as likely not to have telephones and
three times as likely not to have a vehicle.
National surveys show that whites are more likely to watch movies, attend
sporting events, visit amusement parks, listen to live classical music, go to
the opera or the ballet, watch a play, stroll through an art museum or visit a
historic park. Blacks are more likely to attend a jazz performance or watch
television (though less likely to have cable TV).
Even before the campaign, in which several racial issues were raised, Dr.
Karnes said she heard expressions of concern from community and business leaders
that race relations in the community were deteriorating. Daub and Ms. Council
need to lead a continuing public discussion of the differing views in the
community, Dr. Karnes said.
"Her people and his people need to come together or the next four years are
going to be very contentious," Dr. Karnes said.
She said white people who condemn overt racism and casually know a few
minority people in their neighborhoods are too easily satisfied that they have
met their responsibility.
"You must make a conscious effort to reach beyond that," Dr. Karnes said.
"Whatever sphere of influence you're involved with, you have to reach out."
She praised mentoring programs that link successful adults with
disadvantaged youths as particularly important. "It's a small amount of time
with great dividends."
Families, Too
Theresa Barron-McKeagney
Mentoring programs are needed for families as well, said Theresa
Barron-McKeagney of Council Bluffs, assistant professor of social work at the
University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Dr. Barron-McKeagney is running a program sponsored by UNO, the YWCA and the
Chicano Awareness Center to provide mentors for families that need assistance in
such areas as parenting skills.
"You need to be there to provide role modeling for the family," she said.
"If we don't strengthen the families and try to get them the support they need,
they're going to fall through the cracks."
Speak Out
Mrs. Aherns
Difficult though it may be to speak out, Billi Aherns said, people who are
offended by racism must not tolerate it.
"If you find racism offensive, then don't tolerate people around you being
offensive," she said. "That gets difficult to do when it's family and friends."
Mrs. Aherns, president of the Council Bluffs school board, sees schools as
critical to improved racial relations. "Through education, hopefully you can
teach people about other cultures so they are more accepting."
Respect Diversity
Dan Offenburger
Children who grow up in rural towns with little ethnic diversity need strong
direction from their parents, churches and schools to learn appreciation for the
diversity in the world at large, said Dan Offenburger, who returned in middle
age to his hometown of Shenandoah, Iowa.
Offenburger confesses that he was racially insensitive enough as a youth to
ride around Des Moines once with some Shenandoah friends, yelling racial slurs
out the window.
But his mother, Anna, taught enough fundamental human respect that his
brother, Tom, became press secretary to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and
later to Andrew Young, who came to Shenandoah to deliver the eulogy for Tom
Offenburger's funeral in 1986.
Dan Offenburger also taught his children racial sensitivity. His daughter,
Marti, married Kenny Walker, a black former Husker football star, and
Offenburger talks proudly of his biracial grandchildren.
Wherever people acquire their prejudices, Offenburger said, they must
confront them to overcome them. "Sometimes you've got to make people
uncomfortable," he said.
Fair Chance
Glenn Freeman
Glenn Freeman, assistant state chairman of the Nebraska Republican Party,
says the nation should give blacks nothing more or less than a fair chance.
"What you should say is we will have no discrimination, no quotas, no
preferential treatment. We will provide Glenn Freeman with an opportunity."
Freeman, who grew up attending segregated schools in Washington, D.C., said
programs such as school busing, welfare and affirmative action are based on the
premise that blacks are inferior and can't succeed without help.
When Jackie Robinson broke into the major leagues 50 years ago, Freeman
said, he didn't get any special breaks, like a fourth strike or an extra base
every time he hit a single.
"That's just how ludicrous it is today," Freeman said. "They brought Jackie
Robinson up to the major leagues because it was morally wrong to deny him that
opportunity. Once they brought him up, Jackie Robinson had to compete."
Acknowledge Race
Miss Washington
Harriette Washington, a federal probation officer in Omaha, cited Cornel
West's book "Race Matters," and said it is important not to pretend that race
isn't a factor in everyday decisions and events.
"As a starting point, we need to all admit race matters," Miss Washington
said. "We're in a stage of denial."
Community leaders, she said, set an important example and need to be active
and visible in all parts of the community. "If they are only seen in certain
parts of the community, people will continue to isolate themselves."
Improvement in racial relations "has to start from the heart," said Miss
Washington, a longtime volunteer at Flanagan High School, Special Olympics and
other youth activities. "An individual citizen has to say, 'I'm going to do this
and I'm not going to get anything back from it.' There's no glory in it."
Minority Business
Jose Ramirez
Minority communities help themselves economically and culturally by
nurturing businesses such as the Mexican- American enterprises that have opened
in south Omaha in recent years, said Jose Ramirez, a longtime leader in the
Hispanic community.
"Some of these stores are providing jobs not only for themselves but for
others," said Ramirez. "They also provide merchandise that was not available
before that is important in maintaining our culture."
Larger businesses can help, too. Ramirez, a deacon at Our Lady of Guadalupe
Catholic Church, said area churches are meeting with south Omaha meat packers to
urge better pay and benefits for the immigrants who work in the plants.
"They can make a profit and still pay decent wages," Ramirez said.
Sacred Heart School has been successful preparing inner-city children for
the workplace, he said, by teaching about the value of eye contact and a firm
handshake, which create an impression in the first few seconds a person meets a
prospective employer.
Cultural Events
Rudi Mitchell
Festivals that allow people to experience different cultures help battle
misconceptions, said Rudi Mitchell, a psychologist in Macy, Neb., and former
chairman of the Omaha Tribe.
He mentioned the Lewis and Clark festival in Onawa, Iowa, and pow wows on
Indian reservations as events that "help promote better relationships by
educating people about other cultures."
Such personal contacts, he said, help break down "predetermined opinions
about minority groups."
Views Differ
Ty Schenzel
Whites and blacks view race relations differently, the Rev. Ty Schenzel
said, because their experiences have been so fundamentally different, dating
back to slavery.
"For whites, race is very rarely an issue at all unless it affects them,"
said Schenzel, an urban minister at Trinity Church Interdenominational. "For
blacks, it's an issue every day. It tucks them into bed at night and it wakes
them up in the morning."
Whites who consider themselves above racism should ask themselves, he said,
whether they would date someone of another race or how they would feel if one of
their children wanted to date or marry someone of another race.
"When you see someone who's black," Schenzel asked, "do you have fear? Do
you grab your purse? Do you lock your doors?"
Stop Hypocrisy
Mrs. Romero
If people practiced the religious faith they profess, said Marisela Romero,
children would grow up seeing examples of tolerant behavior and racism would
vanish.
"Until we stop the hypocrisy - being one thing on Sunday morning and
something else on Sunday afternoon - we're not going to be able to stop
bigotry," said Mrs. Romero, who runs Haven House, a temporary shelter for
workers who move to Lexington, Neb.
"It starts with you and it starts right now," she said, "or it's never going
to end."
Reject Racism
Felands Marion
Felands Marion of Papillion, an Omaha police homicide detective, takes a
no-nonsense approach to racial snubs.
"I do not accept racism, period," said Marion, a black whose mother was half
American Indian and whose wife is white. "It's not tolerated."
He has left places where he has been made to feel uncomfortable by offensive
jokes or remarks. Marion, who is a Scout leader and a basketball and football
coach, corrects other adults who make inappropriate racial remarks around young
people.
"I say, 'We have kids here. We need to set an example.' "
It's important, he said, to treat youths the same, regardless of race or
background. "In Scouting, we have Scouts. In football, we have football players.
In basketball we have basketball players," Marion said. "We're all one team."
Take Responsibility
Terry Herring
Each person must bear responsibility for his or her own success or failure,
without using racism as a crutch, said Terry Herring of Bellevue, a retired Air
Force personnel officer and now a leadership and management training consultant.
"We've got to get back to the concept of personal responsibility for
personal results," Herring said. "It's sad, but we have people who are making a
living on racism."
He called for greater emphasis on American culture, rather than on the
cultures from which people came to the country. "The diversity issue has swung
too far and now we're attacking our own national culture that isn't so bad,"
Herring said.
Perspectives
Frank Hayes
Blacks and whites must realize, Frank Hayes said, how differently they see
things that might happen every day.
For instance, he said, a black person who is treated rudely by a store clerk
may infer a racial motive behind the person's attitude. A white person facing
the same treatment, Hayes said, thinks the clerk is a jerk.
In truth, Hayes said, racism probably is not as prevalent as the black
person suspects but more common than the white person will admit.
Hayes, an Omaha accountant and founder and president of 100 Black Men of
Omaha, said actions of individual blacks affect others of their race more than
actions of individual whites.
"Whatever we do," Hayes said, "the person coming behind us is either going
to be helped by it or hurt by it."
Human Race
Roy Smith
Car dealer Roy Smith finds wisdom in the words of an old song: "Accentuate
the positive, eliminate the negative."
The work of eliminating negative attitudes and views, he said, must be
shared by all.
"The majority has to understand that we're really just one race - the human
race," Smith said. "To hold something against someone because of skin color is a
terrible wrong and it's detrimental to our society."
Those in the minority, he said, need to quit thinking of themselves as
minorities. "They have to think, 'I have the same opportunity of achieving my
goals as everyone else.' Don't let small barriers become permanent roadblocks.
Admitting defeat is the permanent roadblock."
Candid Talks
Dr. Peck