The Unhappy Politics of Race Article from The Financial Times

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Copyright (c) 1991 The Financial Times Linited;
Financial Tirnes

June 10, l-991-, MondaY

SECTION: SECTION I; Pg. 30

LENGTH: 903 words

HEADLINE: The unhappy politics of race

BYLINE: MICHAEL PROWSE

HIGHLIGHT:
Michael Prowse on Ameri-ca

BODY:
A white pair of hands crumples a rejection slip. 'You needed that )ob,' says

the narrator, ,and you were the best qualified. But they had to give it to a
minori_ty because of a racial quota. Is that really fair?'

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(c) L991 Financial Times, June 10, 1991-

This TV commercial was decisive in helping Mr Jesse Helrns, the conservati-ve
Republican senator from North Carolina, fight off a strong challenge from Mr
Hirvey Gantt, a black Democrat, in tast November's congressional elections.

It played ruthlessly on the fears of blue collar whites, many of whom regard
affirmitive action programmes for minorities as a personal threat it ? tight
labour market. It also symbolised growing national tension over policies to
alleviate racial inequalities.

Last week the Dernocrat controlled House of Representatives passed civit
rights legislation intended to reverse the thrust of recent Supreme Court
de6isions that have made discrimination by employers easier. The biII, however,
failed to win sufficient votes to override a certaj.n presidential veto. Mr
George Bush killed sirnilar legislation last ye?r and claims that the bill would
forc6 employers to impose hiring quotas - despite a clause expressly forbidlitg
them. ,you can't put i sign on a pig and say it's a horse,' he told West Point
cadets recentlY.

The quota debate shows American politics at its worst. Mr Bush knows that
few, if any, congressional Democrats favour rigid hiring quotas. Like Mr Helrns,
he is playing on people,s fears:if Democrats can be branded the party of 'unfair
quotas;, Lhe-nepubfiLans might pick up many extra seats in the 1,992 elections,
especiatly in the south.
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(c) Lggl. Financia1 Times, June 10, 1991

But the sloganeerinqr masks important issues. How far is the US from achieving
genuine equality of opportunity? How much government interventj-on is justified
io cornpensate for past discrinination?

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No resident of Washington DC can belj-eve the US is close to achieving equal
opportunity - unless, that is, they subscribe to odious genetic theories about
riiiaf variations in intelligence and motivation. A line running north-south
literally separates blacks from affluent whites. Colour also accurately predicts
job and ifass:professional jobs are predominantly held by whites; janitors,
iteaners, messengers and taxi drivers are mainly minorities.

Washington may not be typical but blacks trail whites on almost all
socio-econonic measures. The life expectancy of black males is seven years less
than that of whites; 30 per cent of blacks live below the poverty line cornpared
with 1-0 per cent of whitLs; 13 per cent of blacks are jobless compared with 6

per cent for whites; only 1l- per cent of black heads of household have a college
degree cornpared with 24 per cent of whites-

Financial disparities remain huge. In l-989, average black per capita incorne
was less than 60 per cent that of whites. Black net worth averaged Dollars
24,L68 compared witn more than DoIIars lOO,OOO for whites. Closing the wealth
gap would iequire a transfer to blacks of some Dollars 695.8bn, more than the-piess ALT-H for Research Software Help,'Press ESC for the Utilities Uenu

(c) L99L Financial Times, June 10, 1991

GNP of most countries.

The troubling thing is that, after rapid progress in previous decades
particularly the l-960s - many of the disparities no longer seem to be declining.
ine ratio oi black and white incomes, for example, has not changed much since
!g7O; nor have relative raci-al poverty rates. Nor has there been any improvement
in relative unemPloYment rates.

But does this reflect discrimination? Very few academi-c studies have directly
investigated employers' attitudes to race. One that did (see article by
Xirschenman and Neikerman in The Urban Underclass, published this year by the
Brookings Institution) came to disturbing conclusions. It found that Chicago
employeis viewed black inner-city nales as 'unstable, unco-operative, dishonest
ana uneaucatedr. Employers repeatedly told the researchers that blacks 'don't
want to work, i nearly 40 per cent were prepared to rank blacks as having the
worst work ethic of any race.

po11s, understandably, show that blacks are more concerned about
discrinination than whites. In an NBC pol1 last month, 59 per cent of blacks
said 1aws to protect minorities needed to be toughened; only L4 per cent of
whites agreed. An earlier Newsweek po1l showed that 61- per cent of blacks
favoured quotas in education and. jobs i 59 per cent of whites opposed them.
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(c) L99L Fj-nancial Times, June 10, L99L

The US thus looks to be heading for a period of renewed racial tension.
Nearly 30 years after the landnark civil riqfhts reforms of the early 1-960s, a
socioleconlmic chasm still separates blacks and whites. Yet whites are clearly
Iosing patience with policies that try to compensate for black disadvantages.
erappfing with such issues, former president Lyndon Johnson once used the
metiinor-ot a race in which black runners wore shackles. The view of justice
favoured by conservative Republicans says that removing the shackles - 1eqa1Iy
banninqr diScrinination - is sufficient. Johnson's argument was that this left
blacks too far behind to catch up; the only way to compensate for past
d.iscrinination was to tilt today's playinq field.

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