The Silent Depression: Racial Inequality & Economic Disparity
Angela Shugarts, Staff Writer
Issue date: 2/9/09 Section: Perspectives
This Perspectives piece was published in the January 26 issue of the Highlander.
The election of Barack Obama brings about a new hope for the American public; a refreshing sense of confidence in our government and security for our nation. Obama's election has also given our fractured society a chance to come together in solidarity amidst the weakening economy.
Or has it?
"Blacks today are already experiencing a silent economic depression [that] equals or exceeds the Great Depression of 1929," according to a 2009 report, The Silent Depression: State of the Dream from United for a Fair Economy (UFE), a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to raising awareness of socio-political issues and their effects on economic infrastructures. UFE supports social movements "for greater equality," according to their website.
The report "explains the mechanisms that helped create the radicalized economic depression, explores how this crisis affects individuals and communities of color, and proposes comprehensive policy solutions to this crisis."
Based on analysis of wealth, mobility, and other indicators (such as housing), the report finds that our economy has taken a greater toll on the lower class and "communities of color" in the last five to seven years. Congress, President Bush, and mainstream news media, moreover, have failed to recognize and address these disparities
As we celebrate the 80th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., history was also made with the Inauguration of Barack Obama, as the first African American president. But, UFE reminds us that despite this defining moment, millions of Americans still remain jobless, desperate, and suffering at the hands of the economy. They are experiencing one of the worst financial crisis of our time, comparable to the Great Depression in the 1930's.
Low-income minorities still suffer a past and present of structural racism. This reality goes "unmentioned, unnoticed and most problematically, unaddressed," according to the 2009 report.
Decreased consumer spending, high costs of food, fuel, health care, and housing; and bankrupt businesses, are new economic experiences for many of us. However, minority communities are often ahead of the game. They have been living amidst this economic recession for years, now sinking into a depression that "severely affect[s]" many.
This trend suggests that our economic policies have failed and indicates that inequalities of class, gender, and race "are the highest they have ever been in our country's history," says to the report.
How can we begin to move forward in this storm? What can be done on behalf of government and what can be done among the public?
In the 1930's Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised the nation a "new deal," that would renew government investment in social and economic development. Despite his efforts to lift the burden of suffering among the American public through government intervention, people of color were still excluded from participating in these projects due what the 2009 report calls "overt racism."
That institutional racism was not challenged until the 1960's Civil Rights movement and work Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who sought to expand opportunities for all people regardless of skin color and to recognize "that inequality is rooted in social institutions."
Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for the same civil liberties that minorities today struggle to obtain. He believed in the "right to access fair housing, and most importantly, the right of economic opportunity for all people in this country," states the report.
Though progress has been made, poverty levels crime rates, school dropout rates and unemployment, are far higher for communities of color according to statistical research. Those some low-income communities also lack access to health care.
Currently, the unemployment rate for people of color is at nearly 11 percent and "is predicted to reach 15. percent by 2010, according to the report. Some minority populations have already surpassed the unemployment levels of previous records from the Great Depression.
So what does all this mean?
The report helps us to see the links between economic and racial disparities. It also challenges us to question whether we have lived up to our nation's promise of equality and opportunity for all.
But this is not a time to be feel overwhelmed by pity or despair. Rather, it is a moment of opportunity. We can hope that out of this struggle emerges a nation of people who are more strong, more determined, and more understanding.
The report reminds us that "as we usher in a new president, a new Congress and a new economic agenda, America must not look to solely redress the immediate problems of the down economy but also the longstanding problems of disenfranchised communities and growing inequality."
President Obama and the Congress have the opportunity to pass an economic stimulus package that truly benefits everyone. Obama ran on a record and platform that included strong anti-poverty and urban revitalization policies.
United for a Fair Economy, along with other organizations advocating social and economic justice, are essential voices in the current debate, reminding the Obama Administration to keep these goals central.
"If we institute systemic wealth-building programs that help everyone; if we repair and reinvigorate decimated watchdog policies governing all aspects of home ownership' if we target 2009 economic stimulus programs to investment, not investment in tax breaks for the rich, but in the building blocks of the American dream-we will make strides toward a more balanced economy," states the report.
Through public works projects and infrastructure improvements, FDR remembered the "forgotten man." Obama and Congress now have the opportunity to do the same. We have the power to make change. We can come together in solidarity during the recession. Yes we can.
"Let us be dissatisfied until the tragic wall that separates the outer city of wealth and comfort and the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice," Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1967, from "Where do we go from here?"
To read the full report visit: http://www.faireconomy.org/dream
For information on United for a Fair Economy and other issues of justice visit: www.faireconomy.or or www.economiajusta.org
Angela Shugarts is a sophomore Communication major. She attended the Marade this and last year and works for the Denver Justice & Peace Committee. She is currently studying 1930s socio-economic conditions, media and Catholicism in COM 485.
The election of Barack Obama brings about a new hope for the American public; a refreshing sense of confidence in our government and security for our nation. Obama's election has also given our fractured society a chance to come together in solidarity amidst the weakening economy.
Or has it?
"Blacks today are already experiencing a silent economic depression [that] equals or exceeds the Great Depression of 1929," according to a 2009 report, The Silent Depression: State of the Dream from United for a Fair Economy (UFE), a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to raising awareness of socio-political issues and their effects on economic infrastructures. UFE supports social movements "for greater equality," according to their website.
The report "explains the mechanisms that helped create the radicalized economic depression, explores how this crisis affects individuals and communities of color, and proposes comprehensive policy solutions to this crisis."
Based on analysis of wealth, mobility, and other indicators (such as housing), the report finds that our economy has taken a greater toll on the lower class and "communities of color" in the last five to seven years. Congress, President Bush, and mainstream news media, moreover, have failed to recognize and address these disparities
As we celebrate the 80th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., history was also made with the Inauguration of Barack Obama, as the first African American president. But, UFE reminds us that despite this defining moment, millions of Americans still remain jobless, desperate, and suffering at the hands of the economy. They are experiencing one of the worst financial crisis of our time, comparable to the Great Depression in the 1930's.
Low-income minorities still suffer a past and present of structural racism. This reality goes "unmentioned, unnoticed and most problematically, unaddressed," according to the 2009 report.
Decreased consumer spending, high costs of food, fuel, health care, and housing; and bankrupt businesses, are new economic experiences for many of us. However, minority communities are often ahead of the game. They have been living amidst this economic recession for years, now sinking into a depression that "severely affect[s]" many.
This trend suggests that our economic policies have failed and indicates that inequalities of class, gender, and race "are the highest they have ever been in our country's history," says to the report.
How can we begin to move forward in this storm? What can be done on behalf of government and what can be done among the public?
In the 1930's Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised the nation a "new deal," that would renew government investment in social and economic development. Despite his efforts to lift the burden of suffering among the American public through government intervention, people of color were still excluded from participating in these projects due what the 2009 report calls "overt racism."
That institutional racism was not challenged until the 1960's Civil Rights movement and work Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who sought to expand opportunities for all people regardless of skin color and to recognize "that inequality is rooted in social institutions."
Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for the same civil liberties that minorities today struggle to obtain. He believed in the "right to access fair housing, and most importantly, the right of economic opportunity for all people in this country," states the report.
Though progress has been made, poverty levels crime rates, school dropout rates and unemployment, are far higher for communities of color according to statistical research. Those some low-income communities also lack access to health care.
Currently, the unemployment rate for people of color is at nearly 11 percent and "is predicted to reach 15. percent by 2010, according to the report. Some minority populations have already surpassed the unemployment levels of previous records from the Great Depression.
So what does all this mean?
The report helps us to see the links between economic and racial disparities. It also challenges us to question whether we have lived up to our nation's promise of equality and opportunity for all.
But this is not a time to be feel overwhelmed by pity or despair. Rather, it is a moment of opportunity. We can hope that out of this struggle emerges a nation of people who are more strong, more determined, and more understanding.
The report reminds us that "as we usher in a new president, a new Congress and a new economic agenda, America must not look to solely redress the immediate problems of the down economy but also the longstanding problems of disenfranchised communities and growing inequality."
President Obama and the Congress have the opportunity to pass an economic stimulus package that truly benefits everyone. Obama ran on a record and platform that included strong anti-poverty and urban revitalization policies.
United for a Fair Economy, along with other organizations advocating social and economic justice, are essential voices in the current debate, reminding the Obama Administration to keep these goals central.
"If we institute systemic wealth-building programs that help everyone; if we repair and reinvigorate decimated watchdog policies governing all aspects of home ownership' if we target 2009 economic stimulus programs to investment, not investment in tax breaks for the rich, but in the building blocks of the American dream-we will make strides toward a more balanced economy," states the report.
Through public works projects and infrastructure improvements, FDR remembered the "forgotten man." Obama and Congress now have the opportunity to do the same. We have the power to make change. We can come together in solidarity during the recession. Yes we can.
"Let us be dissatisfied until the tragic wall that separates the outer city of wealth and comfort and the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice," Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1967, from "Where do we go from here?"
To read the full report visit: http://www.faireconomy.org/dream
For information on United for a Fair Economy and other issues of justice visit: www.faireconomy.or or www.economiajusta.org
Angela Shugarts is a sophomore Communication major. She attended the Marade this and last year and works for the Denver Justice & Peace Committee. She is currently studying 1930s socio-economic conditions, media and Catholicism in COM 485.
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