the race research action document · poverty & race research action council november/december...

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Poverty& ce POVERTY & RACE RESEA RCH ACTION COUN CIL No/D 1c3 Y� 2: N 6 T הPR RAC Network Rter! Y, we're going to do it, guid by the extremely sit i fback gotten f m you. We1 1 make it ale print d disket te fon n, o a v of uuJ wa sut by P&R re ers. What we n now is your input. Just g nam/ affiliatio/ d/ phone num is ul, to swc. But to make it a su פr-valuab rou r, it ns sho biketc, drib ing your inte ts and work. On p. I 5 you find a rm to provide that informatio n, in conci, ind leap fo ( n to im a word lim it, o with the dument imps ibly lon. Ple t it to , by ml or fax in mind our new f num), by the t. WARNING for y you not w to ted l הRter, you t kt w kw- t p. write or use t הfo for tt puo. n t ה om we w y no ob to g c Our Jead "article " this issue is a symposium, on t ה of rasm this and how we l t and live in res n to it. S my intruon low r a more d dipon. Finally, rpon to our requt r volunt . . suptions" (i.e., contbuons) to cor our costs of publishing rty & ce h n g but not eat have n so v lme lar contbu tio (iluding one r $1,) , and we thank al l of you who r. Ple ve it some addional thought (p. 10 x r of ). H E or IS RACISM PERMANENT? A Symsium We ked a p of PRRA C d , SolS Ao d grte to submit srt eys, lo po to t הpos for by k /L l, Won Jo o ot, fo, butdby s Ma N nton rt A •-tt is a פ, n-eab ft of e: to so פol sight to wt eps t g t tr wor en re, obab tg, state of re t t ה Sta. to it e, are p〄hgonJy a of tהs st· a cd t wi t הJ.-Feb. P&R d vite or r to submit t own tas on te two al tt. ꜽs by t הfowg פop th : John tt , l Levitas, l g d hn we. Paul Ong I think t הterm "rman ent rism" is unaptable, not I with the on that inequality is a פrstent feature of U.S. sie, but ae the cho of words mak rial injusti apפ immutable and the goal of ul prose sial chan apפ unachievable. My g of U.S. history, and an understing of my family p. tell me that th impli m un. We a ha me a long way from the days wh one of my eat anduncl and my dfathers re prohibit om their c in t country au of their ra, thus rcing them to commute or the Pafic an to see their families on every few yes. My matcmal andfather h the ur to attempt to bring h is w ife and n to Boston. but fl of- fils promptly de him for h o. th ajo to t הUni S th@ had in Mexico and with an iel �ing of the Rio nde Rir with tה הlp of an Afn A- in, who name uortunately h n ( t to e 2) y & Actn Ccil• J 711 Conctt Aw. NW• Sꭐte47 Wton, DC丩 1)387-Ϝ7 FAX1)&77

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Poverty& ce POVERTY & RACE RESEARCH ACTION COUNCIL

November/December 1993 Y� 2: Number 6

The PR RAC Network Roster! Yes, we're going to do it, guided by the extremely positive feedback weve gotten from you. We11 make it available in print and diskette fonn, organized in a variety of usefuJ ways suggested by P&.R readers.

What we need now is your input. Just listing names/ affiliations/ addresses/ phone numbers is useful, to be swc. But to make it a super-valuable resource, it needs short biosketches, describing your interests and current work. On p. I 5 you 'U find a form to provide that information, in concise, indeed telegraphic form (we need to impose a strict word limit, otherwise. with 5000+ entries, the document will be impossibly long). Please get it to us, by mail or fax (bearing in mind our new fax number), by the deadline indicated. WARNING.-ff for any reason you do not wish to be luted in lhe Roster, you mwt kt w know-use tlw phone. write or use the form

for that purpose. If we don t hear from you,· we wiD assume you have no objection to being included.

Our Jead "article" this issue is a symposium, on the '"permanence of racism .. thesis and how we all act and live in response to it. See my introduction below for a more detailed description.

Finally, response to our request for voluntary .. subscriptions" (i.e., contributions) to cover our costs of publishing Poverty & Race has been good but not great There have been some very welcome large contributions (including one for $1,000), and we thank all of you who responded. Please give it some additional thought (seep. 10 box for repeat of details).

Chester Hartman

Executive Director

IS RACISM PERMANENT? A Symposium We asked a sample of PRRAC Board members, Sodal Science Advisory Board members and grantees to submit short essays,

lo respond to the position-put forth by Derrick Be/L Richard Delgado, Charles Washington. John Ca/more and others, in wuiow forms, and buttressed by Douglas Ma.uey and,Nancy Denton� recent research on .. American apartheid•-that racism is apermanenJ, non-eradicable feature of American life: and to i,rovide some personal insight into what keeps them going in their anti-racism work, given the depressing, and probably deteriorating, state of race relations in the United States.

Due to limited space, we are pubjishingonJy a portion of the essays we requested,· a second set will appear in the Jan.-Feb. P&R. and we invite other readers to submit their own takes on these two critical related questions. &says by the following people appear in this issue: John Brittain. Bernardine Dohrn, Daniel Levitas, Paul Ong and john powe/1.

Paul Ong

I think the term "'permanent racism" is unacceptable, not because I disagree with the assertion that racial inequality is a persistent feature of U.S. society, but because the choice of words makes racial injustice appear immutable and the goal of meaningful progressive social change appear unachievable.My reading of U.S.

history, and an understanding of my family's past. tell me that this implied pessimism is unwarranted.

We as a society have come a long way from the days when one of my great granduncles and my grandfathers were prohibited from raising their children in this country because of their race, thus forcing them to commute over the Pacific Ocean to see their families once every

few years. My matcmal grandfather had the courage to attempt to bring his wife and children to Boston. but federal of­ficials promptly deported him for his effort. thus ending a journey to the United States that had started in Mexico and with an illegal �ing of the Rio Grande River with the help of an African Amer­ican, whose name unfortunately has been

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Poverty & .Rm:e Research Action Council• J 711 Connecticut Aw. NW• Suite 207 • Washington, DC 20009 • (]01)387-9887 • FAX (201)387-076'

(PA UL ONG: Continuldftom � I)

lost to our family. My parenu immi­grated using false documents, and we the children told outsiders that a family friend who had provided the papers wu our father. I still recall the nights my mother cried during the early (%Os when the U.S. government went after the '"il­legals .. in Chinatown(s). Their problems were not limited to the fear of being expelled. My father was deeply disap­pointed when he could not buy a simple home in a moderate-income neighbor­hood because he was not white. Urban decay and later urban renewal were destroying our Chinatown and the sur­rounding minority neighobrhood in Sac­ramento. One of the few areas where my parents could relocate was "tipping ..

john powell

There is a growing sense within the: minority c:omrnunity that the condition of African Americans has not improved and, worse still, that it will not get any better. An increasing number of minority thinkers voice this sentiment. Indeed one scholar, whom I greatly respect, has not only stated that racism is a permanent fixture on the American landscape. but that equality itself docs not produce real change, and instead causes de5pair. While these sentiments are understandable, especially given the declining living con­ditions of African Americans. they are wrong and dangerous.

Regardless of the difficulty in defining that racial baseline and c:omparing the African-American circumstance during two different periods of time, one would have to ignore history to assert that the conditions and status of blacks in Amer­ica have not improved since slavery. This should not be our central focus, though. The more important point we must consider is to what extent we can reason­ably expect to affect the future living conditions of blacks and what role equal­ity will play in realizing that change.

Racial subordination and racial hos­tility still pervade American society. Yet many people, includ�ng powerful mem­bers of the courts and the political struo-

from wh.ite to black-that neighborhood became our home for most of my child• hood.

This family history, which is also U.S. History, tells me that progreM is pcmible, thus enabling me to ftnd purpose in my anti-racism work. Despite the persistence of racial discrimination, each sw:ccssive generation encountered a less f onnidable form of racism. and this progress wu made pouiblc by refonns won by earlier activists. I see my work not in terms of changing the world today or tomorrow, but as part of a multigenerational strug­gle. My expectations are tempered by this sense of history and by the under­standing that one must fight mightily for small gains. I am not, however, so naive to believe that change is simply linear and that racism can be eliminated. 'There

ture, suggest that racial equality has already been achieved. How is it that society can look at the condition of blacks, some seeing racial equality, otbm seeing racial inequality? One reason is that many people are not aware of the racial disparity. If they see disparity at an, they see economic disparity that just ha.pa pens to disproportionately affect blacks.

Another reason hinges on the way we think about equality. Many people be­lieve that inequality is determined by formal laws and intentional individual practices. The removal of explicit racial barriers during the Civil Rights era. such as laws prohibiting blacks from living in tertain neighborhoods or going to certain schools, engendered a belief that the vast majority of racial inequality had been corrected because of the advance in the level of formal equality. However, while some blacks clearly benefited from this change, a substantial number did noL Indeed, most blacks continued to go to segregated schools and live in segregated neighborhoods. This was not by choice.

This phenomenon calls into question the role of equality and equality rhetoric in changing or maintaining the racial status quo. Conditions in many of the de facto apartheid schools and segregated neighborhoods are as bad, if not worse, than the conditions before the Civil Rights movement. But it is not equality

2 • Poveny & Race • Vol 2, No. 6 • November/ December 1993

arc tremendous institutional forces and economic: interests that maintain and reproduc:e racial inequality. l accept that we will suffer minor and major setbacks.

One final note. As I implied above, I belicvc that the nature of racial injustice changes from one historical period to another. Our generation faa:s a racism that is incredibly complex in a racially pluralistic: urban setting such as Los Angeles. The confounding effects of eth� nicity and disparate clus standing have made it exceedingly difTtcult to formulate effective strategies. One major challenge is to develop a more precise under­standing of what we are fighting.

Paul Ong, a member of PRRAC's Social Science Advisory Board, teaches at UCLA :S Grad. School of Architecture and Urban Planning. ■

per se we need to move beyond; rather, it is the pursuit of fomial equality we should put aside. We must still focus on real equality by concentrating on the underlying conditions and causes of racial disparity. The goal of the Civil Rights movement was not simply to repeal racist laws but to end actual racial subordination. Clearly. removing racist laws was not part of the effort. It is the struggle for actual equality, substantive equality. th.at remains.

Certainly, the African-American con­dition has improved since slavery. This is little cause to celebrate, though. The struggle for the majority of African Americans remains to be fought. The problem is not simply equality, and cer­tainly not substantive equality, but the more subtle, structural barriers that con­tinue to maintain racial disparity. It is the condition of African Americans and rac­ism that causes despair. It is that removal that must be our goal. Equality is not just an empty ideal; it is a social and human imperative. ltmust be part of us and part of our future. W"dl this struggle be won? Who knows?This future is not something to be discovered; it is to be made.

johnpowell. a PRRAC Boardmem­ber,justjoinedtlvfacuhyofthe Univ. of Minn. Law School: until recenl/y, he war National ugal Director for the ACLU in NYC. ■

Bernardine Dohm

Watching children chained to each other in Chicago's Juvenile Court causes me to think of Derrick Bell.

The racialized image of bondage.slav­ery and chain gangs evoked by the passage of these youths is unavoidable. Yet hundreds of committed employees carry on each day, undismayed by this silent assault on the dignity of children. I hear Professor Bell whisper to me when I rage at this treatment of young men. whisper that l\te focused on symbol rather than substance. Surely, Bell would point out, even unchained these young people would be arrested, detained. and adjudicated. in heartbreaking dispropor­tion; 80% of the youth in detention are African-American and 10% are Hispanic, in a country where 64% of the juveniles are white. Entry into the juvenile justice system is in 1arge part racially defined, and foretells an impoverished future. This year, nearly half of all African­American children are born into poverty, and Blacks are three times as likely u whites to be poor. -

The causes of this overreprescntation of children of color in juvenile court are multiple and intertwined, but the machin­ery and message of racism permeates the apparatus. These youths are disposable, dangerow and doomed. Another, pri­vate, system operates for white youth. The public pretends that the solutions an: mysterious or expensive, but our own children have access to the schools, health care, security and dreams that all youth deserve. These children are denied.

By placing the permanence of racism squarely in the frame, Bell calls not for acceptance but for resistance as an exi­stential act, consciously determined, based neither on sentiment nor victory, but taken nonetheless as ethical "makeis­of-meaning." This notion involves creat­ing a public space by acting, by imagining racial equality, by forging an engaged citizenry based on •committed living." Poet/ author bell hooks tells her students, •If you can\ imagine something. it can't come into being." Derrick Bell insists that we acknowledge the impossibility yet act through conviction-what the South African revolutionaries call '"tun­nelling from both ends."

Come! West notes that '"the notion that we are all part of one garment of destiny is discredited •... There is no escape from our intenacial interdepen­dence, yet enforced racial hierarchy dooms us as a nation to collective paranoia and hysteria-the unmaking of any democratic order." For white people, resistance includes disrupting the "'takcn­for-granted" and the .. care-less-ness" of privilege. It requires humility, acceptance of inadequacy and doses of good humor.

At the end of the 1990s, described best by W.E.B. DuBois as a century defined by '"the issue of the color line," my world view based on certain understandings of racism, sexism and imperialism seems inadequate. How to understand the mus cultures of religious fundamentalism, endemic violence or the collapse of highly unsatisfactory socialism? Increas­ingly, I choose based on a stubborn sense of allying with the oppressed, identifying with the .. other": what Toni Morrison calls .. entering what one is estranged from." I fight for strategy and vision, but no longer insist that there is a rational fil

I work with and for children because they require "futuring" -thinking beyond the bottom line and next year•s election. They mirror back to us our failures and

Daniel Levitas

If anyone needs convincing about the permanent nature of racism, I recom­mend a visit to Blakely, Georp.. Located a 3 I/ 2-hour drive south of Atlanta, this small, rural community distinguished itself by allowing its fire department to be run by the Ku Klux Klan. The fire chief told coworkers that fires in the black community'"beautifythe neighborhood."

Until recently, Blakcly's African Amer­ican community-which comprises fully half the town's population-had been completely disenfranchised by decades of segregation and at-large voting. It took a federal voting rights lawsuit to force the city council to create single­member districts. Further courageous organizing by a handful of black activists helped ensure an end to more than 100 years of all-white government.

Blakely"s school board is still chosen

limitations, and our small, ragged mor­tality. The honest observations of my three sons spur me to chart the unsettling course of who I am. They spotlight the muJtiple hypocrisies. They tea.,e me for obsessing about the paradigm of race in sports, music and film and for choosing sides correspondingly. They watch.

Happily, I write these reflections from South Africa, from a conference con� sidering juvenile jwtice for the new government that will emerge from next April's elections. Here children rage in the townships, are incarcerated in adult prisons and live on the streets. They also attend school. rallies and work to support their families. Here fear and hope mingle in abundance and long-held dreams are being struck into · realistic tools. The contrast with our diminishing hope in U.S. is agonizing.

James Baldwin wrote (in The Fire Next 7ime): wro be sensual . .• is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, or life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the breaking of bread." Yes.

Bernardine Dohm. a PRRA C grantee, directs the Center for Juvenile Law of Northwestern Univ. Law School ■

in secret by an anonymous grand jury, a practice that continues in 19 Georgia counties. The result is that although the school system is majority-black, only one person on the five-member board is Afri­can American.

Cross burnings were frequent in the town and surrounding county. The tar­gets were usually white amilies who socialized with blacks. The local police chief refused to in�.

In 1990 and 1991, I made that 3 1/2-hour trip mqre times than I care to remember. On one of those visits, I interviewed Charles Weatherford, the zegional Klan organi7.er. Dis.1atisfied with th� administration of the local Klavem, he was eager to spill the beans on the fire chief. Weatheford's disclosures-and those of other Klansmen who were similarly coaxed and cajoled into talk­ing-laid the groundwork for yet another

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November/ December 1993 • Poverty & Race• Vol 2, No. 6 • J,

(DANIEL LEVITAS: Contimwdfrompagd)

federal civil rights lawsuit. After the town spent nearly $50,000 in

legal fees to defend itself and its racist fire chief. the suit was settled and all thnle Klan firefighters were dismissed. The lawsuit sparked an FBI investigation, indictments followed, and Weatherford and several of his compatriots earned felony convictions.

I had the luxury of leaving Blakely before sundown, but for millions of people of color who must endure racism's debilitating and oftentimes deadly effects, there is no escape. And, unlike Blakely, their struggles usually do not reach the federal courts. the pages of the New York Trma, or network television.

While white social scientists, conserva­tives, politicians and media pundits de­bate to what extent-and sometimes even whether-racism exists, more than

John C. Brittain

In his i992 book Faces at the Bottom of the Well, Derrick Bell posited a pro­vocative thesis:

Black people will never gain full equality in this country. Even those herculean efforts we hail as suoccsd'ul will produce no more than temporary 'peaks of progress,' short-livt:d vic­tories that slide into im:levance as racial patterns adapt in ways that maintain white dominance. This is a hard-to-accept fact that all Justory verifies. We must acknowledge it, not as a sign of submission. but as an act of ultimate defiance.

Other civil rights advocates have ex­pressed similar views. Robert Carter, a veteran civil rights lawyer and later fed­eral district court judge, once said that the pioneer civil rights leaders thought that racial segregation was the disease. Once the civil rights movement eliminated the segregation, the society would achieve racial equality for the African American people. Instead, the leaders discovered that the segregation was only the symp­tom, and White racism was the disease. Still funher, Kenneth B. Oark., a brilliant

half their fellow citizens remain con­vinced that blacks breed crime. prefer welfare to hard work and are as patriotic than whites, according to the National Opinion Research Center. NumeroQS other objective indicators of racism exist. measuring everything from discrimina­tion in housing and employment to car purchases and bank loans.

Racism must be fought because it­like anti-Semitism, homophobia and sexism-is inherently unjust and destroys both human potential and lives. These evils must also be challenged to preserve what humanity remains in all of us. The soul of a nation-and those of its citi­zens-is as much defined by the perma­nence of racism as by the struggle against it.

Daniel Levitas, a P RRA C grantee, war until recently Executive Director of the Center for Democralic Renewal in .Atlanta. ■

psychologist who conducted the studies concemins the adverse impact of segre­gated education on the learning abilities of Black children, recently lamented (see his contribution in Race In America: 1he Struggle for E,qua/ity, Herbert Hill and James E. Jones, Jr., eds., 1993):

Reluctantly, I am forced to face the likely posmbility that the United States will never rid itself of racism and reach

• true integration. I look back and shud­der at how naive we all were in our belief in the steady progress racial minorities would make through pro­grams of litigation and education, and while I very much hope for the emer­gence of a revived civil rights move­ment with innovative programs and educated leaders, I am forced to re­cognize that my life has, in fact, been a series of glorious defeats.

I agree with the thoughts of these civil rights activists about the '"permanence of racism'" in America. The conditions of White racism remain the same, but some of the underlying assumptions may have changed.

The traditional civil rights ideology was founded on the unstated assumption that human being, are equal in the eyes

4 • Poverty & Race • Vol 2, No. 6 • November/ December 1991

: ' . . . .

of God-the same; and that human nature unites us all in a common essence.

Together we will, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King. reach the"promi<led land" of racial equality. The permanence of racism thesis attacks that "sameness" theory. Black feminists have stood up to say, "I am not the same as you and do not speak for me." 'Ibis movement, dubbed anti�tialism, suggests that no essence unites us as human beings. Rather, we are all individuals leading the attack with unique experiences that can neither be classified nor categorized. (For example, the Black lesbian faces a dilemma about which civil rights organi­zations to join. Should she join NOW, led by White women, or the NAACP led by Black men, or ACT-UP lead by gay and lesbian White people?) Anti-essen­tialists argue that unity must be built more by realistic connections, instead of relying on abstract and unreal notions of a common essence.

Similarly, the permanence of racism thesis criticizes the idea that most White people in America will grant Black people equal rights. In fact, according to Bell, African Americans advanced socially, politically and economically when the

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PRRAC Researchers Report

The Crisis of South-Central Los Angeles by Allen J. Scott

The civil disturbances that broke out in South-Central Los Angeles on April 29, 1992, were a short but expE'CSSive symptom of a deep and long-standing crisis of the inner city. The disturbances .were a prcdk:table outcome of a series of f esterina conditions in Los Angeles, where economic deprivation, social marginalization, and powerlessness exist cheek-by-:jowl with extraordinary wealth. privilege, and opportunity. South-Cen­tral Los Aqeles is a particularly con­centrated f OCWJ of this crisis. but the conditions that underlie the crisis recur in

many other parts of the Greater Los Angeles region, and indeed in virtually every major U.S. city at the present time.

Tmmr.diarely following the disturb­ances, a team of researchcn was set up at UCLA's Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies to inquire into the social and economic situation in South-Central, and to develop suggestions that might help policy-maken begin to formulate effective approaches to solving the prob­lems of the area and other places like it. The just-released report of this research team addresses five main issues (the names of chapter authors are shown in parentheses):

• Poverty and employment in Los Angeles' inner core (Paul Ong. with oontnoutiomfrom Evelyn Blumenberg and Jianling Li).

• Housing and community development (Jacqueline Leavitt and Allan Heskin).

• Health care and delivery (coordinated by E. Richard Brown, Carol Anes-­hensel, and SU7.3DDe Pollock).

• F.ducation and schools (coordinated by Jayne T. Darby).

• Political tensions and divisions in post­rebellion Los Angeles (Leobardo &­trada and Sylvia Sensipcr). If anything, the problems of South•

Central Los Angeles have been intensify-

ing over the last couple of decades, and in

significant ways things are more des­perate than they were even at the time of the Watts riots of 1965 as recorded in the McCone Commission report of the same year.

To bqpn with, the racial and ethnic: mosaic of Los Angeles has become con­siderably more variegated in m:ent years. In 1970, racial and ethnic minorities accountr.d for 29% of the city's popula­tion, whemls in 19'10 they accounted for 59o/o. Over the same period. the Latino

population grew from 15% to 36o/o. and the Asian and Pacific Islander popula­tion grew from 3% to 11 %. The African.. American population has remained stable in proportional terms at around 11% in both 1970 and 1990. In Los Ansetes'high-povcrty census tracts� inciding to a large degree with South.­C-entral�the population of 1.6 million is composed almost entirely of racial and ethnic: minorities: 62% Latino, 22% Afri­can-American, and 8% Asian and Pacific Islander. The competition among these

'different groups for jobs, housing. entre­preneurial opportunities, and political Iepresentation has exacerbated the area's already explosive socioeconomic condi­tions.

Poverty on the Rise

The Lewis Center report indicates that in 1970 the poverty rate in Los Angeles was 10.9%, but by 1990 it had grown to 15.1%. In 1990, African-American males earned 73% of median white male earn­ings, and Latino men earn just 47%. Unemployment rates in the core area are currently more than twice as high as they are in the rest of Los Angeles County, and rates of joblessness (which includes discouraged workets) reach levels of 30% and more, especially in African-American

neighborhoods. South-Central, however, is not just a locus of jobless poor people (as represented above all by female­headed households), but also of the working poor, that is, employed people whose wages are so low that they remain below the poverty line. Ominously, wage levels in real terms have actually been

falling over the last decade or so. Paul Ong estimates in his chapter that we would need to add 42.000 new jobs in South-Central in order to bring local un­employment rates down to the county average; and we would need to add 120,000 new jobs if the aim is to reduce joblessness to the county avenge.

These catastrophic economic condi­tions are intertwined with complex pat­terns of social breakdown and marginal. ization. As Leavitt and Heskin show, the housing situation in Los Angeles is one of the most problem-ridden in the nation. Indeed, Los Angeles ranks above any other metropolitan area in the United States on such measures as overcrowd­ing, deteriorated physical conditions, and financial inaccessibility. Affordable housing is in persist.ently short supply, despite cfforU of public ag-encies and a number of non-profit community devel­opment corporations. There are thirteen such corporations in South..central Los Angeles, and these have now become, in effect, the main force behind the area's housing programs. They have also be­come the main hub of a widening circle of community activism under the coor­dinating umbrella of the Coalition of Neighborhood Developers.

In the matter of public health, too, Los Angeles has the dubious distinction of being one of the country's leading problem areas. It is characterized by exceptionally poor access to health care centers, low-quality health services, high

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November/ December 1993 • Poverty & Race • Vol 2. No. 6 • 5

(SOUTH�CENTRAL· Coruinwdfrom�J)

incidences of chronic illnesses, teen preg­nancies, substance abuse, and violence. More than 2. 7 million people in Los Angeles have no medical insurance whatever, with a dominant proportion of these residents of South-Central. At the same time, the maldistribution of physi­cians and hospitals over the geographic area of Los Angeles makes it difl"tcult for those individuals in South-Central who do have medical insurance to secure adequate service. Perhaps the most telling index of the crisis of health care in South-Central is the high incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases. as repre­sented most dramatically by the measles epidemic currently sweeping through the area's population of African-American and Latino children.

South-Central Los Angeles' school system js similarly �ed by intense problems and predicaments. Inner-city schools have inferior resources and em­ploy less-qualified teachers than sub­urban schools, and they tend to haw curricula that downplay academic achievement in favor of vocational training, such as typing. cosmetology, and woodworking. These problems have been accentuated by the white flight that has characterized the Los Angeles Unified School District since the 1960s, so that the District has gone from serving a predominantly white population to one that is now mainly African-American and Latino. In South-Central Los Angeles, more than half of all high school students eventually fail to grad­uate, and in some parts of the· area the rate is considerably higher. Violence is also endemic in the area's schools. lbe net result of all of this is that the schools of South-Central consistently underper­form in building the kinds ofliteracy and human capital that could enhance the employability and earning power oflocal residents.

Needed: Employment Programs

In large degree, the chronic persis­tence of all these inner-city ills can be ascribed to a fundamental failure to

create adequate employment opportun­ities for the area's residents. and-for a hard core of the unemployed-to con­struct a system of rising (as opposed to faUing) expectations. Much of the rival.Iy and conflict between the various racial and ethnic groups that make up the area's population is likewise related to competition with one another for scarce reso\lf0CS. Estrada and Sensiper report that "while much of the tension of disenfranchisement � based in a lana· uage of ethnicity, it i.1 more precisely an issue of economics and income." It was this view of the problem that encouraged the Rebuild LA Committee to focus on job-creation in and around South­Central u one of its primary goals. 1bc Committee was set up on the :recom­mendation of former Mayor Tom Bradley in the immediate aftermath of the disturbances, though in the period since its inception it has, at best, achieved

Purely local ettorta at

solution ot the problem are not likely to have much more than cosmetic ellects.

only a modest record of sU<:OeSS in movine toward its goals. In part, of course, the gcnml public has dmtaoded too much too soon from the Committee, 'and any expectation of asignif:u:ant � around in the economic fortunes of South-Central after just a little more than a years work is inevitably doomed to disappointment. The question may be raised, however, as to whether the Com­mittee has the ncceswy vision, capacities, and executive power ever to transform South-Central into a model of inner-city economic growth and development.

Given the pervasiveness of inner-city decline throughout the United States, and its stubborn embcddedness in wider structures of political and economic dis­enfranchisement. it can be argued that purely local (i.e .• case by case) efforts at solution of the problem are not likely to have much more than cosmetic effects. Nothing short of an all�ut federally

6 • Poverty & Race• Vol. 2, No. 6 • No�mber/Deamber 1993

directed attack on the problem of Amer­ica's inner cities is in the end going to produce tangible and durable solutions. That said, local agencies and organiza­tions most certainly have a critical role to play both in helping to fine-tune the application of broadly def med policies to local conditions, and in dealing with the many idiosyncrasies of each particular case. One especially encouraging devel­opment in South-Central Los Angeles and other inner-city areas throughout America is the proliferation in recent years of an enormous number of self­help associations, cooperative organiza­tions, and community coalitions focused on an extraordinary variety of social and economic development projects. Among the most conspicuous of these groups in South-C.entral Los AngeJes today arc Congresswoman Maxine Waters' Com­munity Build and the Coalition of Neigh­borhood Developers (with the technical assistance provided by the Local Initia­tives Support Corporation), though there are many, many othm, and their nwnber continues to grow.

The Ointon administration, it �, is now preparing to confront many of the issues raised above. It may be that renewal of the federal commitment to deal with America's urban crisis, com­bined with the energizing and mediating capacities of the innumerable exper­iments in grassroots organizing that are now so widespread. may be able to tum the tide of neglect and decline that characterize places like South-Central Los Angeles. Failure to do so will lead quite certainly to further social polar­ization of American cities and further riots and rebellion on the part of the cmpossessed.

Allen J. Scott is Director of the Lewis Cemer for Regional Policy Studies at the Univ. of California-Los Angele,. Scott and E. Richard Brown an editors of South-Central Los Angeles: Anatomy of an Urban Crisis,pub/ished by the Lewis Center, Grad. School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Univ. of Calif., Los Angeles, CA 90024-1467, 310/2()6..4417 (Working Paper No. 5, $15). ■

PRRAC Researchers Report

Lessons From Poultry Plant Fire Ignored by Elaine Dodge and Terri Shuck

"We hm1 afu-e drill after the bigflre in Hamlet. IJefore the drill, all the palm to the exits wne ckared. but now they are blocki!d by boxes or machinery like they were before.• - Golden Poultry employee

September 3rd marked the second tained by workers are severed fingers. anniversary of the Imperial Foods fire in chronic back and leg ailments. and carpal Hamlet, North Carolina that killed 2S tunnel syndrome, a crippling hand and workers and injuml 56 others. In its arm disease resulting from rapid and eleven yean of operation. the poultry repetitive band motions. plant had never bccninspectt:d for health The plant floors are covered with and safety violations. The workers at grease, water. and ice from the chillers Imperial knew that the doors were locked that are intended to keep the chicken and that there were frequent fires in the from spoiling. The drains are clean:d fryer an:a. However, workers were afraid only on the occasion of inspector visits. to report these abuses. Tuey fean:d, with good reason, that they would be fued for reptering a complaint with the Occupa­tional Safety & Health Administration (OSHA). This silence born of fear­deliberately instilled by management and exacerbated by government inaction-­was another cause of the needless loss of life at Imperial

Protection of whistleblowers is the Government Accountability Project's (GAP) mission. With support from PRRAC, GAP bas gathered a current chronicle of the working conditions in the North Carolina poultry indusuy through confidential interviews with line workers in six processing plants. Unfor­tunately, we found that the pl!)blems that led to the Imperial tragedy are still pervasive. Our research included an ex­amination of the Department of Labor's response in defending employees who lost their jobs for reporting health and safety violations. The government's re­cord is abysmal.

Poultry Plant Work Is Hazardous to Your Heafth

Deregulation measures in recent yean have led to an increase in line speeds up to 91 birds a minute. Accident and illness rates have exceeded 18 per 100 � ployees. The most common injuries sus-

This rotten meat Is

mixed with fresh meat and sold for baby food.

Workers report that clogged toilets often overflow onto the floor. Protective boots are not routinely issued. Neither are ear plugs. so employees working with the loud machinery often experience severe

, bearing loss. Eye problems and breathing disabilities from the chlorine bleach used to clean the machines are comm.on. Workers who become injured on the job are forced to return to work before they are healed. According to those inter­viewed by GAP, most workers are afraid to report injuries for fear of losing their jobs: • '"Management was aggressive in mak­

ing sure that the injured workers re-­turned to the job as soon as possible. The employee was encouraged to re­turn to the job. and if nea:ssary the company would send transportation to the person's home to bring them back to work."

• "All of the workers are afraid to be in­jured because they know they will be fired.,,

• "Workers come to work injured or sick, or don't report an injury for fear that they will be fired ...

The loss of human dignity is also a per­vasive occupational hazard. Manage­ment makes no provision for workeB' most bask needs: • .. No matter how many hours we

worked on a workday, we had only two seven-minute bffllks ••.• The bath­rooms were always occupied. Breaks were the only time we were allowed to use the bathroom. Workers sometimes bad no other choice but to go to the bathroom on themselves ...

• "If workm were feeling si� they were not allowed to leave the line. They would get sick on the line and vomit on the floor."

• "A pRgnant Hispanic worker slipped on ice and fell to the floor. She began to hemorrhage but the company re­fused to have her taken to the hospital orto the company doctor. She returned to work the next day and was still hemorrhaging. She was told to punch out. accused of working under a false name. She was fired and management made her sign a statement that released the company from responsibility for her injuries. She lost her baby." For their labor under these horrendous

conditions, line workers cam a poverty wage-an average of $5 to $6 an hour, or $12-SIS,OOO a year. They work six days a week, eight to nine hours a day. Efforts to unionize the poultry workers in North Carolina are undermined by overt intimi­dation: • "Workers were afraid to support union­

ization because the company posted a notice on a bulletin board outside the office that was on company stationery.

(Please tum to page 8)

November/ December 1993 • Poverty & Race • Vol 2, No. 6 • 7

(POULTRY PLANT: Cot1tinwdfrompore7)

The notice said that if you signed the petition for the union, you would be fired. The union initiative failed."

• "Management had a non-union meet­ing in August of last year. We were told that the union was bad, they would take the workers money and maJce the workers lose their jobs. Jack Campbell, who was in plant m� ment. said the company would go to legal and illegal means to keep the union out of the plant.• A government commitment is essential

to protecting the lives of workers, parti­cularly in poultey plants where condi­tions are hazardous and worm do not have the benefit of union rq,resentalion. As we have Jeamod from Hamlet and other poultiy plants, workers cannot rely on the goodwill of their employers.

OSHA: A Wasteland

for Whistleblowers

Over the last decade, OSHA has become an auditing a,;ency, rather than an enforcement arm of government to protect workers from abusive employers. With a severely limited capacity for on­site inspections, federal and state OSHA officials are most dependent on the shop floor reports from employees themselves to identify dangers in the work place. However, workers who lose their jobs or suffer other employment reprisals for reporting health and safety violations have negligible rights under OSHA� current statutory and enforcement struc-ture. •

For example, mM workmareunaware that they must file a Wbistleblower discrimination complaint within thirty

days of their employer's retaliatory action. Often employees do not even discover the causal link between repon,­ing a safety violation and their tennina­tion until after the month has lapsed. Essentially, the 30-day statute of limitations operates to prevent workers from obtaining justice.

If they me in time, workers must rely solely on the Department of Labor (DOL} to investigate and detenninc if discrimination has occurred. With no time restraints on how long DOL bu to evaluate the complaint, whistleblower cases languish for years in a bureaucratic black hole. Research of OSHA 's fflCOrd from 1m to 1988-thc most ra:ent available data-reveals how unlikely it is that OSHA will defend a whistlcblower against an employer. The chart below summarizes the record during the Caner. Reagan, and Bush admini.ma­tions.

Whlstleblower cases languish lor years In a bureaucratic black hole.

C.ongress is now preparing to intrcr duce an OSHA reform bill GAP has assisted in dnfting an amendment to strengthen whi.stleblower protection under OSHA by increasing the statute of limitation six-fold (to 180 days) and allowing workers a '"private right of act.ion• to pursue their discrimination cases against employers rather than depending solely on DOL to prosecute offenders.

Whistleblowcr protection becomes a paramount concern if p olicymakers

Number of cate1 Number of cues found to have DOL litigated

NIDDberol eridmce of oabebalf of

complaims dilmminatioD wbllltleblowen

Carter 12,182 No record 11

Reagan 22,204 2,836 6

Bush 13,632 2,181 2

,'I • Poveny &: Race • VoL 2, No. 6 • November/ December 1993

adopt Vice-President Gore's recommen­dation from the National Performance Review. He would essentially '"privatil.c• OSHA enforcement through self-in­spection by industry, effective: removing OSHA inspectors from the workplace. Gore's proposal for .. reinventing gmiem­ment• is conspicuou.,ly silent on reinforo­ing whistleblower protection.

Bued on our shop floor iaearch of poultry slaughter and processing in North Carolina-immediately following the most lethal workplace catastrophe of the decade-there appears to be no justi­fication for Gore's proposal to allow self­po Jicing in dangerous, low-wage in­dustries.

The Hidden Death Toll

Poultry plants today rival those of 19th Century. But the workers arc not the only ones at risk-so are consumers. The Cen1ers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 2.000 people die and 4 million become sick from salmonella poisoning each year. Salmonella, a chicken fecal bacterium, infects the human intestines, causing violent vomiting. diarrhea, and dehydra­tion. Those in greatest danger are small children, pregnant women, the elderly, and persons with immune system deficiencies. And since CDC relics only on voluntary hospital reports and docs not systematically track incidence of salmonella poisoning. the true measUR of those afflicted and killed by dirty chicken is unknown.

The eye-witness accounts from front­line workers indicate that plant i:nanagers routinely compromise food safety to maximize volume output • "My second job at Townsend was in

the department wbetc chicken bones were ground-up and processed into chicken franks and bologna. . . Almost continuously, the bones had an awful and foul odor. Sometimes they came from other pl�ts and had been sitting for days. Often there were maggots on them. These bones were never cleaned off and so the maggou were ground up with everything else and remained in the final product.•

• .. I personally have seen rotten meat,

you can teU by the odor. This rotten meat is mixed with fresh meat and sold for baby food. I try to get the attention or my boss, telling him that the meat is not good. He does not listen. You can see the worms inside the meat. I donl eat chicken because of the horrible thlngs I have seen." "Chickens always fell off the line be­cause the line would be moving very fast ... We used to wash the chicken before putting it back on the line but company management stopped that practice because it took too much time. The USDA inspector would tag bad chicken if it was unfit to process. That chicken was supposed to be thrown away. The company, however, had us pull the tag off once the inspector left and run the chicken down the line for processing.,.

"I only spoke to the USDA inspector on one occasion. I pulled him aside one day and told him that maggots were in the clothes hamper where our smocks were kept. I told him because there were hundreds of maggots in the hamper and I thought it was disgusting.

'OHN C. BRllTAJN: Coruuruedfrom�4)

articular principle appealed to White .mericans'self-interest.. This means that eople of color cannot rely on the 1ajority of White people for a shared )mmonality of all human beings for :i,ual treatment The permanence of racism thesis

tposes the idealist aspects that racial 1tegration will lead to equality. TodJlY, 1any commentators cite the failure of te civil rights movement in the past >rty years to fully reach the promises nd hopes of Brown v. Board of ilucation for racial integration and quality. While the goal that racial 11:egration will lead to greater equality :mains paramount, the reality of not

I was told by other workers that if management saw me talking to the USDA inspector they would have fired me, so I never made any other complaints." Food safety is often only ensured by

employees who blow the whistle on corporate abuses that endanger the public. However, if private sector workm expose violations of law by their employers, there is no legal protection agaimt retaliatory firings or other re­prisals. GAP is now working with Con­gressional leaders to extend the law of protected speech to corporate employees who report violations of law or threats to public health.

Elaine Dodge is Director of the Food Safety Program and Terri Shuck is Director of Development for the Go'r emment Accountability Project (GAP). For more information on the Corporate Whistleblower Act or copies of the re­search summarized here, contact GAP at 810 First Street NE. Wa.shington. DC 20()()2, 202/40MJ034. ■

achieving significant progress anytime soon more accurately reflects the nature of the struggle. To match racism 's resolve of perpetuation, the anti-racist forces must unite with equal strength of resistance. In her recent book Possessing t� Secret of Joy, Alice Walker says that for African American people. '"Resis­tance is the secret of joy." The battle against the permanence of racism will never end. Therefore society must continue to study racism and devise new strategies to combat it.

I recall a personal experience when I was a civil rights lawyer in Mississippi involving an old Black woman in Sunflower County with a fighting spirit like Fannie Lou Hamer. We came out of the federal court house one day after the judge praised the Black people for chal­lenging some obvious vestige of racial segregation, but he denied their request for relief on some seemingly unpersuasive legal tectuticality. I sought to comfort her with condolences about the case that the people had lost. She taught me a lesson based on the knowledge that she acquired

. �-

Govemment Promlaa to' . ·ii

Poultry Workers Un kept:�:

The u.s: Department of Agri-i c:ulture (USDA) baa not honored its� �?"year old commitz:nent to �.J 1ts mspecton to m:ogmze"!"O�-<:: hazards and refer such ·hu.arda the Occupational Safety and H . •• Administration. At Imperial Fooci;. USDA food inspectms had been in· the facility every day prior to the_�� In contrast. OSHA bad neyer -�,,J spcctcd the plant durina: its entim� 11-)'1:81' history. OSHA bas �"r� a draft •Memorandum of U� stanctius•(MOU) that wduld ·· • · · lisb a prog,am. to train'robct • ·� �--. tontoiccopw:andfffer .

..

but USDA bas refused to iigo:_ .i .

PleMttontvt SeamrJ ol. � ture MJb. F.at>J .... him co·_··,: plemllit the OSHA MOU fnnri,tl.;· atdy-USDA, 16 and � dence SW, Washfneton, QC 202/�1. _. . .,. , . , ' "

in life rather than by formal schooling. I never forgot. When she insisted that they bad won, I tried to correct her on the legality of the decision, but she inter­rupted. She said they won because the Black people had the White people in town very scared about the potential im­pact of a favorable decision for them. True, everyone knew the White people were extn:mely concerned about a major change in the political relations with Black people. I thought to myself, how could this Black lady think that they had won? Then she said, .. Lawyer Brittain, I just lives to upset these White folks and today we upset them."

Hence. the permanence of racism theory means that this work will never end, only the battle fronts and tactics change.

John Brittain, a PRRA C grantee, is a Professor of Law at the Univ. of Conn. School of law and is immediate past President of the National Lawyers Guild. Marykate O'Neil, a third-year law student. contn"buted to lhe research and writing of lhi.r article. ■

November/ December 1993 • Poverty & Race • Vol. 2, No. 6 • 9

PRRAC Update

PHILADELPHIA MEETING/ CALIFORNIA GRANT DE­

CISIONS: Both these items are occurring too late to make this issue. The Jan./Feb. issue of P&.R will contain reports on our latest (Philadelphia) local meeting of race-and-poverty activists and researchers, and on the grants made for California work under the Irvine Foun­dation-funded Calif. Community Re­search Initiative program being jointly administered by PRRAC and the Ap­plied Research Or. of Oakland. ■

Resources

SASE= Self Addres.red Historical Evolution of Stamped Envelope Chicano Ethnic Goals ...

PRRAC Social Scimce

Race/Racism Advisory Board member Frank Bonilla serves on their

• The Latino IJLdute (228 s. Editorial Boud. The editor,

Wabash, 6th fir., Chicago, IL Louis ICusbriick, �lcoma

60604, 312/663-3603)bas ideas for such essays (Dept. of

available a publicati.om list; American Studies, Univ. of

contact Sylvia Puente. Dir. of Manchester, Manchcstec Ml3

Rcsc:arch. 9PL, England).

• So,e Race Rdatiom • •Puerto Ricans ID Ille US

Abstracts is available Mainland: A Special Report

($57 / year) from Sage Publica- Bued on tbe 1990 cm11111• is

tiom, 6 BonhiU SL, London available (free) from Noelle

EC2A 4PU England. About Gautier at the National Puerto

1000 abstraclS arc publisblld Rican Coalition, 1700 K St.

each year, and most issues NW, #500, Wash., DC 20006,

contain a long bibliographic 202/�3915.

essay (recent examples: '"The 'Overrepresentation' of Asian • -Black Migration, Americans: Red H� and � and the Spada(

· Y cllow Perils," "Racial Theoty Concmtntion of Poverty," by

in the Post-War US," .. Racc Douglas Massey & Andrew

and US foreign Policy,• Gross, is Working Paper 93-3

.. Black People and the (37 pp., March 1993), available

Criminal Justice System, �'"The (likely fn=e) from Noel

Salinger, Irving Harris Grad. School of Public Policy Studies, Univ. Chi., 115S E. 60 St., Chicago, IL 60637, 312/ 702-325S.

• "ln'rillble and In Need: Philantbropic: Gmna: to Asian Amerbm and Pacilic Islanders" (29 pp., Dec. 1992) is available (likely frr.c) from Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, PO Box 591389, SF, CA 94159-1389, 415/m-4388.

• "'Unitfns Asian Ameriault" wa briefSummet1993rcport (free) from The Boston Foundation, One Boston Place, 24th flr., Boston. MA 02108, 617/7�7415.

• '"Race& PovertJ,·thc special wue of 1he Clearing-house Review noted in our September/October P&R: We forgot to include an addrea.

JO • Poverty & Race • Vol. 2, No. 6 • November/ December 1993

It's S6 from the Natl Clearing-house for Legal Services. 205 W. Monroe St., 2nd fir .• Chicago, IL 60606, 312/26J.. 3830.

• Diversity Gnats: The Human Services Personnel Col-laborative (consisting of the following foundatiom: Boston, Boston Globe, Clipper Ship, Hyams, Lotus Development, Old Colony Charitable, Reebok, Riley, and the United Way of Mass. Bay) just awarded, for the third oonsecu.-tivc year, Diversity Initiative grants, this year totalling $118,700, to 13 human scrvwe and cultural organization.,, in oi:der to increase the number of people of color employed by and serving OD the boards of local non-profits. Recipients range from Cambridge/Somer-Yi1lc Legal Services, to The aJildcare Project. to City Life/Vida Urbana. to the

�ton Symphony Orchestra. Specific activities the grants will foster include organiza­tional assessmenta to identify policies or practiocs that create barriers to recruitment and retention o( staff and board membcn of color, revising agency mission statements; bylaws and personocl policia to promote inclusion; trainina for board and staff in muln. culturalism and or,anizational change; and creating offu:c environments reflecting diversity. For further infor­mation on fut� grants-and idcu for replicating this useful program in other locale&­contact Tyra Sidberry, HSPC Coordinator, at 617/720-2238.

Poverty/Welfare • "The Great Dep.-ioa" is the new 7--part 1V series from Hemy Hampton's Blacksidc Productiom. ff it's onc-tmth as good as his "Eyes on the Prize. .. it wiD be well worth the viewing. Part I premimd Oct. 25 on PBS (we hope you caught it); further inf. from Blackside, 486 Shawmut Ave., Boston, MA 02118, 617/ 536-6900.

• "MOWII from the Margins: Puerto Rkan Youna Mal and Family Poverty,•by Sonia Perez (40 pp., Aug. 1993), is available (no price listed) from the Natl. Council of La Ra7.a, 810 Fust St. #300, Wash .. DC 20002, 202/289-1380.

• "llibliopapbJ of POWl1J Law Mataiall'" is available. free, from Geny Singsen, Poumi 510, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA 02138.

• "Cridcal Race Theory: An Annotalcd Bibliopapby,' by Ricbaid Delpdo and Jean Stefancic, was publiabed in the Spring. 1993 Yuginia urw Revww (vol 79). Ar. synopsized in the Aug., 1993 issue of Consorting (the newsletter of the Intauniv. Consortium on Poverty law­reachable via Gerry Sinpen, per above item). '"the CRT

movement had its origin., in lhc 1970& discontent with the results or civil rights advocacy and classical liberalism and in an initially cl� association with the Critical Lcpl Studies movement and its explorations or cultural n:lativism and i.ndetenninacy.CRTssub­mquent development of multi­cultural conac:iouanas and narrative (aorytellin&) scholarship has made a dramatic impact within both the law schoola and the worlds of public policy and popular awareness."' A copy of the bibliography may be available from Prof. Delgado at Univ. of Colorado Law School, Campus Box 401, BouJder, CO 80.JOIJ, 303/492-7458.

•&yo,,dA.-...4,,., .... Pow,ty: COfflffUlitJ, E� Dewlap■l.f!ld Polleio Mil Strrwrcio is a just­rdcued 174,...pqe book, by a group of researchers (dirtct.cd by PRRAC Social Sc:iencc: Advisory Boanl member Paul Ong). from the ladership Education for Asian Pacifiai Public Policy Inst. $10 from LEAP, 3Zl E. 2nd St. #1.26, LA, CA 90012, 213/485-1422.

Community Organizing • DiredorJ of Commumty °'P••h+IMII ID Ten r, compiled by Verna Fausey, just updatec( is available ($10) from the Southern Neighbor­hoods Network, PO Box f21133, Nashville, 1N 37212.

• "'1be Pcnnr to be Hard" is the special 71-pqe Aug./Sept. issue of Cuy li,nju, on community organizing. Articles on specific groups such as ACORN, Aaion for Community Emi)O\WnDe!lt (Central Harlem), ACT UP, E. Brooklyn Congregatiom, NW Bronx Comm. & Clergy Coal, conflicts between the Hasidic and Latino communities in Williamsburg, etc. SS (]ower bulk order prices) from City Limits, 40 Prince St, NYC, NY 10012. 212/925-9820.

• TM Art is the new newsletter of the National Orgamen Alliance. The initial issue contains an article by PRRAC Board member Gary Delgado on "Power and Prejudice." Mcmbfflhip/ subscription infonnation from Kim Fellner, NOA. 130 1 Uh St. NE, Wash., DC 20002, 202/ 54J..«l03.

Criminal Justice • COIIIIIIIUty Polldn1, Polee Misconduct. Polke lldorm: Gary Ddgado of the Applied Research Center (440 Grand Ave. #401, Oakland, CA 94610, .SI0/834-7072) is seeking studies, information, insights on work done in tbae areas.

• "The Prison Populdon E,q,bdon: Calffomia'I Rope EletJh-,al, •by UC-Berkeley law professor emeritus Cab Foote, is available, in 3-paae Exec. Summary fonn (lib]y fice). from the Ctr. on Juvmile & Criminal Justice, 1622 Folsom St., 2nd fir., SF. CA 94103, 41S/621-S661. The.full rq,ort is available for $10.

Economic/ Community Development • • A: lli■dn& tlae Smlllm �H■H' A, '■C 1\llao­mterpile Developmmt • a Strat.ep for Boo!dna l'oor Commualtim,'" by J>csgy Clark and Tracy Huston (23 pp.,

Aug. 1993), documents the principal findings of interviews with 302 microentrepreneurs across the oountry. AvailabJc (no price listed) from The Aspen Inst. Self-Employment Leaming Project, 1333 New Hampshire Ave. NW #1070, Wash., DC 20036, '}J)2/7J6.. S800.

• "'Dk Pro.pa.111 forTuniac America to wort.• in the Inmr Clty,'"by E. DouglaM Wdliaml & Richard Sander, appcaml in the June, 1993 �own Lzw Joumal. At 69 pp., it's a bit long for us to distribute,

but you might be able to set a rcpMt from the authon (an Asst. Prof. or Economics at Carleton College and ActiJll Prof. of Law at UCLA, n:specti vcly ).

• "No Wort, No Welfare: Able-Bodied Men on dlt Stnets of Cblcqo. (50 pp .• Aug. 1993) is available (no price listed) from the Chlcago Inst. on Urbao Poverty, 3Zl S. La Salle St. #1500, Chic:ago, IL (,0(,04, 312/435-4500.

• The Tmn. Network ror

Comm. Econ. Dev. publishes a newsletter: PO Box 23353, Nashville, TN 37202, 615/ 395-4341.

• •Job-Dama&ed People: How to Surme md Qance the Womn' Co«npemadon s,._.• is available ($19.95) from EHN Books, PO Box 16267, f"hesapeak.c, VA 23328.

• T1w l'olllal EctlltlJfflY oJ Nonl,�F-,.T,_, eds. Ricardo Grinspun & Maxwell Cameron (368 pp., 1993), is available ($18.45) from St. Martin's Prem, 175 Fifth Ave., NYC. NY 10010; forewonl by Robert Kuttner.

Education • Sdtool C� .Ewww.:aiai11& the E� eds. Edith Rasell & Richard Rothstein, bas just been published by the Econ. Policy Inst. 364 pp., Sl7.9 S from Public lnte:n:st Pubs., 800/ 537-9359.

• Support t'or Equ+lir.ed School Aid: A recent poll conducted by the US Advisoiy Com.mn. on Intergovernmental Relations showed that 51% of Amcriams favor equalizing fioanc:ia1 support for public education by taking property tax money from upper-income school districts and givins it to lower-income districts; 33% opposed the idea. A detailed analysis of the poll has been published ("Changing Public Attitudes on Governments and Taxes1, Report S-22, SIS from ACIR. 800 K St. NW

November/ December /993 • Poverty & Race • Vol 2, No. 6 • I 1

#450 South Bldg .• Wash., DC 2057S,202/6S3-SS40(Joan Casey).

• Educadoa AdvOCKJ Orpnfadom: 11,e &/ucalimr Equity N�1lltter. published by MET A (Mwticultural &lucation., Trainin, & Advocacy), contains, in iU July 1993 issue. a listing and brief description of state aad national education advocacy groups. likely free, &om MET A. 524 Union SL, SF, CA 94133, 41S/J98.1977.

• Teadlfnc for Oaanp is a program of the Network: of &lucaton in America. ll 18 22nd St. NW, Wash., DC 20037, 202/429-0137. They have &YaiJablc a catalogue of anti-racist. multicultural curricula. sponsor anti..-acist and mu1ticu1tural worbbops. speakers. and a n:souroc center.

Environment

• The Woddnl Group on CommunitJ Ripl-To-Xnow has available a list of raoun:e packets (on c:bcmical ac:c:idems and communities, citizien suits. toxic emissiom, etc.). Tbcy� at 215 Peon. Ave. SE, Wash., DC 20003, '1112/S46JT/CT1.

•F�tlMSp,l,,r-11w n.q(Gf ....... "'* A..,._.� Mo...,.....,, by Robert Gottlieb (413 pp., 191J3), is available ($31.7S) from bland Press, Box 7, Dept. SAU, Covelo, CA 95428, 800/828-1302. The book "shifts the debate from one focussed exclu.,iveiy on the protection and management of the natural world to a wider discussion of American social movements, and cxplcma the question of whether the environmental movement aa capable of transcending its narrow definitions to chanF the very fabric of American �life.•

• "1be Badie'°' F.n� mental J'Ullce in Loi.W,rw ... Go,emmcat, ladullly am;t �

People,. is a I 39-page Sept. 1993 rq,ort by the Louiliana Advisory Comm. to the US Commn. OD Civil Rights. Available (likely free) from Melvin Jenkins. US Commn. on Civil Riahts. 911 Walnut #3100, IC.C, MO 64106, 816/ 426-5253.

Famllles/Chlldren/

Women

• 7'1e1'Wlfto/C,.,._ila free quarterly publication of the David & Lucile Paclwd Foundation (Cin:ulation Dept., Ctr. for the Future of Children. JOO Second St #102, Loi Altos, CA 94022). The Summer/Fall 1993 il&uc (214 pp.) WU OD •Health� Reform. - Recent put ISIUCS (also available free) were on •Adoption"(Spring !993). '"US Heakh Care for Qildren• (Winter 1992) and "School-Linked ServLces· (Spring 1992).

• .,.,...�-by Mike Males, appearing in the Aug. 9, 1993 Jn '11te# 1imu. provides a different take: oo the �regnancy issue. �e argues, using some rasanaung data OD adult male involw-ment in this problem, that the recent focus on teen pregnancy bas a blaming-thc-'1ictim cast; and that •"teco' pJqDaDCy will decrease when poverty, abuse and unhealthy conditioos forced on the young improve, when men UC held responsibJe

• for tbcir roles in teenage childbearing, and when

liticians and intaat groups = longer indulge in expedient mytbJ. • We'll send a copy of the 3-page article with a SASE.

• N• _,, ;a the new quarterly publication of the Black Community Crusade for Children. Free (for 1993 at least) from DCCC, 2S E St. NW, Wash., DC 20001, 202/ 628-8787 or 'Im/ 27S-2222.

• WOMAN(Women Organiu:d to Make Abuse Non-Existent) i., reachable at

333 Valencia St. #251, SF, CA 94J0J,41S/864-4m.

Health

• "The Healdl Secwly Ad ol 1993: Peace ol Mind lot America\ F..-.• ii a Special Report (12 pp.) from Familiea USA. 1334 0 St. NW, Wash., DC 20005, 1111./ 628-3030; likely free.

• "Lo.inc Hallla 'lllllanDCe: Two Millon Amaicw l'.acb Mondi" is a special Sapl8C report, with state-by,«att: numben. S, from Families USA {see above item).

• "Body and Soul: llle Black Women's Hedb A .... JOOelt ia the Ju)y-Scpt. illuc of Yitai Sigm, the IIC'WSJDllpzinc

. of the Natl Black Women's Htakh Projcct._AvailabllC (no price lisuid) from the Project. 1237 Ralph David Abemalhy Blvd., Atlanta, GA 30310, 404/758-9590.

• WktM ad Wowapi ii the newsletter of the Health Education Project of the NatiYe American Community Board, PO Box .572, Lake Andos, SD 57356, (J)S/481· 7072.

•�Women: � in HeaJll•js the 170-paae Final keport of a confeteD0C of the same title held June 18-20, 1992, sponsomt by Region VllI of the US Public Health Service and other gcmmmcnt �- Available free from Nancy Thomann. USPHS Reg. VIII, 1961 Stout SL #M98, Denver, CO 80294, 303/844--6163.

Homelessness •M·N�Homdo.s in mr A,,.,.... City [LAI, by Jennifer Wolch & Michael Dear {37S pp., S37.95), bas just been published by Jossey-Bass (3SO Samomc St., SF, CA 94104, 415/433-1767) .

• •Homelell: The FOits Care Coonecdon" is a 7-paae Aug.

12 • Poverty & Ra« • YoL 2, No. 6 • Novmiber/ December 1993

...........

I 993 report from The Inst. for Children and P<WCrty, 36 Cooper Sq., NYC, NY 10003, 2 l2/S29-S2Sl; no price lilted.

• F.nroranMDt of Fedeal Anddlsafminadoa Laws: Carol Fennelly of the Community for Cn:atM: Non-Violelule and Maria Fosc:ari.Jw of the Natl Law Ctr. on Homelcunas & Poverty are assembling infonnalioo on disc:riminatory enforcement of state and local criminal and civil laws a,ainst horneJc:. persons, or about violation of federal antidiscrimination provisions as applied to homclc:ss individuals. The Civil Rights Div. of the US Dept of Justice bas identified an attorney to coordinate OOJ's enforcement of federal laws that prohibit ditcrimioation agaimt homeless people. lof'ormation should be sent to Maria at the NLCHP, 918 F St. NW #412, Wash., DC 20004, 202/633-2535.

• "No Way Out"is ajuat-relcascd 90-page report on the forced separation of bomeb., families (looking at Atlanta, Cbica,go, ClcYcland, Denver, Hartford. Indianapolis, Jackson, Louisville, Miami. Minneapolis/St. Paul, New Orleans, NYC, Omaha, Phila-delphia, Phoenix. Portland, Salt Lake City, SF and Wash., OC), available {S20, with a discounted price for nonprofits) from the Natl. Law Ctr. on Homelessness & Poverty (sec above item).

• HUD/ICH Community Forums: Plans for holding a series of 18 two-day community forums around the eounuy, spollSOred by HUD and the Intcrqency Council for the HomeleM, have been modified to oDMiay events and made tentative (and by the time you read this ICH may be history as part of budget cuts). The � list (omitting those which will have been held by• the time this newsletter arrives in your mailbox) includes: Memphis (Nov. 8), Mpls.-St.

, ...

Paul (mid-Nov.), NYC (Nov. lmmlgraUon 30), Boston (Dec. 8). Phoenix (Dec. 14), New Orleans (early • "The lmpad of die Jan.), Atlanta (Jan. 12). lmmApadon lhlonn a

Columbus (Jan. 20), Ft Worth Conlrol Ad oa Labor and (early Feb.), LA (mid-Feb.) ChO 1Upts• is a 12-paac For latest inf., phone Bruce paper presented by PRRAC Taylor al '1/J2/6lJ2 1530. Board member Bill Tamayo of

the Asian Law Caucus at tbc

Housing August convention of the Asian Pacific American Labor

• Sivik, Powny: Nftl I._ Alliance. Send $2 to co� on Ho,ai,w ,.,,_.,,., ia a postag.:: and copying to Bill ai new book by Univ. of Mass.- the ALC, 468 Bush St., SF, Boston professor Michael St.one. CA 94108. The book challenges comentional notions of housing • A BIi to [.oublW, an affordability, ita nature, cames flmnllrdonl.aw� and corwequenccs, and off'm Rmew Come I In (HR detailed propoaals for SOMDg the 21 19) wa heard Sept. 29 problem (which. a& Stone defines before the HOWie Sulx:omm. it. afflicls one-third of the OD lntemall. law, nation's houaeholds). 352 pp., Immigration & Refupl. The $22.45 from Temple U. Press, new body would create an Broad & Oxford Sts., Pbila., PA independent process for 19122, 800/447-1656. invatigating complaints of

misconduct by inumgration • � Sale of 0... Nation'- authorities (INS, Bonier Patrol IIOUlinlo • a May 20, 1993 or Customs). Further .in£ from bearing befoR: the House the AFSC Immiption Law Subcomm. on Hou:sin& & Enforcement Mooitoriq Comm. Dev., is DOW available Proj., YMCA, 3515 Allen (Serial No. 103--39) from the US Pkwy .• Houston. TX 77019, Oovt. Printing Office, Supt. of 713/ 5�5428. Doc:wnents, C:Ongresaional Sak.I Office. Wash., DC 20402; no • lmmipant Ripts price listed. (Often you can att Education: Jan Ad111m, Senior these bearing report:!/� Research Ass«iate at the free through your Coop:ssianal Applied Research Center, is Repmicntalive.) intcrestt.d in contacting

community, women's, or • "Baildinc the Futlft: A . .immigrant rights groups that llmprlnt for Chqe- 'By 0. have put together educational Romm You WDI Know u,•• is a materials increasing the report by the Natl Commn. on analytical capacity of their American Indian, A1a,kan members. (This wed to be Native and NalM: Hawaiian called political education.) Housing, demonstrating how Abo, anyone interested in fed.end housing policy has failed working on a study of effective Nati\<e Americans. Availabc (no models of political education price lilted) from the C:Ommn.. p� contact Jan c/o ARC, 1111 18th St., NW #825, Wash., 440 Grand Ave., #401, DC 20036. 'JIJ1./'ZTS-«,4S. Oakland, CA 94610, 510/834-

7072. • "Tbe Maul Hculnc RaidcntfialDinsand Rural �- Gulde, _by Diane Gordon. is available .(S20) • The Headwaun Center for from Gloria W"mford. Neigbb. 1>emcKncJ has recently been Rein\UtmCDt C.orp., 1325 0 established to increase the St. NW #800, Wash., DC power of rural people to DX>S. control the social and

economic forces in their communities within the four-

.,_ .

state area of MN. SD, ND and WI. They will be an information clearinghouse and training QCDter. Further inf. from Bob Beech & Michael Goldberg. c/o N. Minn. Citiz.cns I..eaguc, 10 NW Fifth St., Grand Rapids. MN 5574', 218/327-1153.

• "Rural Pollcylmlun 11111 Pradldonm: Slate Rm DndorJ o(Peaple ud Orpnizatiolll ID Rani Dewelopmenl" (2liO pp.) is available ($20 public agerm/ nonprofits, $35 others) from the Corp. for Enterprise Dev., m N. Capitol NE #801, Wash.. OC 20002, 'JIJ2/408-9188.

• "Revohin&; Loam for Rani America," by the C.cutcr for Comm. Change and Rapoza Assoc. (164 pp., 1993). is a history and assessmenl of the F� Home Administra-tion's Rural Development Loan Fuod and Intermediary ReJendiDg Program. Available (likely free) from the CCC. 1000 WJ.1COnsin Ave. NW, Wash., DC 20007, 202/342-0567.

• &FleJcls of Pain'" is a four-part sema. by Michael Wagucr and Marcos Breton, on migrant fannworken, publimed originally in the Dec. 8-ll, 1991 editions of 7he Saaomm.10 /Jtt. Write Breton at the Bet (Sacramento, CA 95814).

Conferences

• "C"-0mo11mfty Etalomic .Dewlopmad: Educ:doa for 1be New F.eoaom:r" is the 18th annual c:onfercncc of the Assn. for Community Based Education, NOY. 11•14 in A1cxaodria, VA Inf. from the Assn., 1805 Florida Ave. NW, Wash., 0C 2000'J, 'JJJ2/462-6333.

• "The Slate ol CED: 1be Role� Community &::oaoak °"elopnnt ID DebuOclna Oar Nadon's F.coaomJ"will be held NOY.10-13 in NYC,

' -

unfortunately coinciding with the above confemioc. This one d sponsored by the Develo� mcnt Leadership Network and the Aasn. for Community Empowmncnt. Inf. from CED Conf., 379 DeKalb Ave., Bklyn., NY 11205, 718/636-3486.

• 1'be Nefpbolbood lleln-•ili111Wlt'l'ralnln& .... sponso� by The Nei&hbor-hood Reinvestmmt Corp., will be held NoY, 13-17 in SF. Inf. from the Neishb. Rein-vestment Tmg. Dept., 1325 G St. NW #800, Wash., DC 2000S, 800/◄�SS47.

• "11ae Place of Race in • Global Soddy· is the 3rd Annual Natl � Conf. OD African American S£Udks. NOY. 18-21 at the Univ. of Olclahoma. Jof. from Dr. Doncine Spigner-1...itdes. Human Reis. Dept., Univ. OK., 601 Elm, 7th Or., Norman, OIC 73019, 800/ 522,-0722. ext. SOI.

• "lnno ....... iD State and Local GoYel'lllllme" is the 4th Women's Policy llesearch Conf., to be held Jane 3-4, 1"4 at American Univ., Wuhington, DC. They have issued a Call for Participation (papas, panels. rouodtables) on such topic:s as: When, � women u workers and clients in state and local govermDCDl? Women's management styles and fcmioist ideas of bun::au-cracy; What � the needs of women? Welfare rdorm. They request a 2-page summary of your proposed praentation by Nov. 15. Contact Lucia Fort at the Inst. for Women\ Policy Resean:h, 1400 nb St. NW #104, Wash., DC 20036. 'Jl11./ 785-0393.

Jobs/Fellowshlps • The Housing Alaistance Council, which supports devdopmeut of rural low-moome housing nationwide. is offering paid 8-12 week lnternlblp.. Applicati.0111 for the Spring position.I are due by

Dec. 10. Contact Mary Stover at HAC. U>2S Vennont Ave. NW #606, Wash., DC 2000S, 202/842-8600.

• The Midw- cer. for Labor Relealdl is looking for a Raeen:11 Dinetor. Resume/ !tr. of interest to Jacqui Johnson, MCLR, 3411 W. Diverscy #10, Chicago, IL 60647, 312/278-5418.

• Poldcal Rt9eU'Ch .4-sodatet, A, small independent research and activist center that moniton the right wing and anti­democratic orpnizations and trends, is looking for a Dbutor. R.e8ume + cover ltr. to PRA, 678 Mass. Ave. #702, Cambridge, MA 02139, 617/ (,61-9313.

• CaJmnct Project for lndUltriaJ Jobi, a job mcntioo/ sustainable develop mcnt/local economic �P­mcnt organization, is looking for a Director. $25-32,000. Reswne/ltr. of interest to Juanita Williams, Pres., CPU, 4012 E1m St., E. Chicago, IN 46312, 219/ 398-6393.

• '"Community Foundadons and the Dllenfnnchiaed" is a 21-page, Sept. 1993 Summary Report or four new assess­ments of community founda-1ions (Atlanta. Boston, Dallas, San Diego), by the Natl. Comm. for Responsive Philanthropy (200 I S St. NW #620, Wash., DC 20009, 1D2/ 387-9177). The full reports are $20 each; the summary may be available free .

• Urbalt Affllrial: Policy Cltoict:sfor LM An,-s and � Nalion, eds. James Steinberg, David Lyon & Maiy Vaiana (368 pp., 1992), has been published by RAND (1700 Main St., PO Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407, 310/393-0411, ext 6686; oo price listed). The 13 chapters, mostly by RAND staff', cover homelessness. .immigration, heakh care, welfare, drugs, high-risk y outh, education, incomes, etc.

• "The Polltics of Raped, .. by PRRAC Board member S.M. Miller, appeared in the Spring, 1993 issue of Social Policy. We11 send a copy of the 8-page article with a SASE.

• Peace"ork• the New England Peace & Social Justice Ncwslcucr, will 5end a free copy of their Oct. 1993 issue (with a 29c stamp); it contains a short article, "The Oriots of Roxbury," by George Capaccio, on a project developed by ther Oral History Or. using storytelling to connect people with their cultural legacy, and '"The High Price of Racial and Moral Compromise," an abridged. VCBion of a talk by Denick Bell at a June 9 symposium organiz.ed by Community Change. Write to American Friends Service Comm., 2161 Ma.,sachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02140.

• Saw! AIIID"b is the newsletter of the Commn. on Natl & Community Service. Free, from Kim Buety, CNCS, 529 14th St. NW #452, Wash., DC 1.000, 202/724-«,00.

• "The Balanced..._ Comdtudonal .An--odmaa, • by Robert Grcemtein & Paul 1..eonan1 en pp., Sept. 1993), is available from the Ctr. on Budget & Policy Priorities, m N. Capitol NE #705, Wash., DC 20002, '11J2/408-1080. This amendment is quite dangerous-to health reform

prospcct.s • well as other important concerns of oun­and according to the Cenier, "the only chance of stopping its approval is by mobilizing strong grassroots opposition inuncdiatcly."Thc Center also has available a C).pagie. Sept. 1993 analysis of the Administration� National Perfonnanoc Review plan for improvm, government performance and e:lficiency. Contact them for prb./ subscription infonnation.. ■

Bulk Orders

of Pove,ty &Race

SeYtra1 OIJlllimiom have � els with PRRAC to recdw bulk Olden m Powtrty & Rilce, which they tbm _ .. · · distribute to their . ' affitiata or members;· ,._ contact Cathaiae Dom .. at our office to dilQm such an arrangem:nt.

. PRRAC's SOCIAL ·sclENCE ADVISORY BOARD

.. ,_:: Ridwa'tl &rk • , = .�· ... ��·::·· :i··

\•·.· r VCLA.� of SocioJou • ,

...... : .. .

...... --'F,,ank 1lonlllo , ·' Hunter c� Cimer forPDerto Rican Studles­

cynd,iaDunean Univ. New Rt� _Department of Socioloa·

· ' . Roleto F.,,.,,,_ .. Northwestem Univ. Center for Urban A8'airs :_

' . - .

. ··BMHwtnw Inst. for Womm\ Polley Raean:11 (Wub., DC)

· Willimi Xombltan CUNY Cmtcr for Sodal Research

: HIIJ'IVtU Mc.4doo Mfcbipn State School of Human Ecology

F..,....M..,_. Sfanford UniY. C.. for Chicano Reseudl

ROllllld Mi,,q Urban lllldtDte (W•., DC)

PfllJIOng UCLA Grad. School Ardlitecture & :Urban Pl1Doing

. . . Gol7.0rfte/t! ' . Harvard Univ. GrM. School of Education

Ga,ysi.d,/,,, Univ. Wlsconsln. 1ml fcr PoYerty Raeudl

M,,,.,aiwWdr Brookinp lmdmlioa (Wash., Dq

r4 • Pove,1y & Race • Vol. 2, No. 6 • November/ December 1993

BIOSKETCH FOR PRRAC NETWORK DIRECTORY

As mentioned on p. 1, we are In the process of creating a full directory of the PRRAC Network. The directory will be organized by state (and within states, by zip code) and will provfde lndlcea listing individuals by primary areas of interest and last name. We plan on making the directory availabJe In both hard copy and computer disk formats.

We would also like to Include a brief biosketch (absolute maximum: 50 words, typed please) describing your Interests and work. For those individuals for whom we do not receive a biosketch, we wm simply 11st our databa8e infonnation.

If you do not want to be included in the directory please so indicate by checking the box below. We wtll only omit lndlvlduala from the dhctory If apecfflcally requested to do 10.

Please return this form to PRRAC, 1711 Connecticut AV& NW, Suite 207, Washington, DC, 20009, or fax to (202) 3111-0784 by December 11. 1-.

D Please omit my name from the PRRAC Network Directory Reason (to satisfy our curiosity, and of course optional):

Name ____________________________ _

Organization (If any)

Address ___________________________ _

City, State ___________________ Zip code ____ _

Phone( ) ---------- Fax ( >----------

e,;mail 10# ______ HandsNet ID#______ lnterNet ID# ______ _

Circle one or both: Advocate/ Activist Researcher

Primary area(s) of interest: _____________________ _

(Please type a brief �escription of your work and interests, in 50 words or_ less.)

November/December 1993 • Poverty&: Race • Vol 2. No. 6 • 15

NEW ADDRESS! II(

Poverty & Race Research Action Council 1711 Connecticut Ave. NW • Suite '1.07

Washington, DC 20009 (202) 387-9887 FAX (20�) 387-0764

Address Correction Requested

NONPROFIT

ORGANIZATION

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

WASHINGTON, DC

PERMIT NO. 4834