"Race Still Matters" (12/18/06) Boston Globe Editorial on McCormack Diversity Study Takes a Crucial Step Forward But Needs to Go Further
“Race Still Matters” (12/18/06), Boston Globe Editorial on McCormack Diversity Study Takes a Crucial Step Forward But Needs to Go Further
The newly released (Dec 18, 2006) McCormack Diversity Study (UMass Boston) contains significant data on Black, White, Latino, and Asian experience in Boston. This data highlights important issues surrounding race in Boston including the disturbing but not surprising evidence that Blacks are more skeptical about institutional fairness in Massachusetts than whites. Reflecting on this study, the Boston Globe editorial (December 18, 2006) declares that “Race Still Matters” and that “hardly a day goes by without further evidence that skepticism from minorities is justified – in housing, jobs, income, education, incarceration rates, and many other indicators. " Given that it is usually very difficult for whites to see institutional racism, this Globe editorial has taken a crucial step forward by acknowledging that people of color suffer from structural racism in ways that do not fit the prototype image of personal discrimination based on race.
The Diversity Study gives evidence that over all, whites have significantly more confidence in the institutions under consideration (State & Local Governments, Police, Public Schools, News Media, Court System) than blacks. While in general, both whites and blacks lost confidence in these institutions between 1998 abd 2006, blacks had less confidence to begin with and lost more confidence than whites. A disturbing exception is confidence in the police, where whites actually gained confidence since 1998 while black confidence, lower to begin with, fell by 9 percentage points. The Globe editorial ignores this comparison data.
By comparing confidence in institutions between whites and people of color, the Diversity Study may be interpreted as suggesting that our institutions need to be understood from the perspective of a collective; thus implying that the good of the whole society is undercut if part of the society benefits more from the institutions that, in a healthy society, should benefit all fairly and justly. By ignoring the comparison data, the Globe obscures the perspective of society as a collective; it suggests that although disparities in institutional benefits penalize people of color, the well being of whites and people of color are separate, discrete, and unrelated. Our mainstream media need to make it clear that until our police act in ways that inspire equal confidence from all our neighborhoods and all our residents, no one is safe. Until all our institutions inspire robust confidence from all our residents, regardless of race, no one is treated fairly, and our society, as a collective, loses.
To read the McCormack Diversity Study, go to: http://www.umb.edu/news/2006news/releases/december/report_121406.pdf
If you want to read the December 18, 2006 Boston Globe editorial “Race Still Matters.” visit the Boston Globe online (http://www.boston.com/news/globe) and register an account to view all their articles on the web.
The newly released (Dec 18, 2006) McCormack Diversity Study (UMass Boston) contains significant data on Black, White, Latino, and Asian experience in Boston. This data highlights important issues surrounding race in Boston including the disturbing but not surprising evidence that Blacks are more skeptical about institutional fairness in Massachusetts than whites. Reflecting on this study, the Boston Globe editorial (December 18, 2006) declares that “Race Still Matters” and that “hardly a day goes by without further evidence that skepticism from minorities is justified – in housing, jobs, income, education, incarceration rates, and many other indicators. " Given that it is usually very difficult for whites to see institutional racism, this Globe editorial has taken a crucial step forward by acknowledging that people of color suffer from structural racism in ways that do not fit the prototype image of personal discrimination based on race.
The Diversity Study gives evidence that over all, whites have significantly more confidence in the institutions under consideration (State & Local Governments, Police, Public Schools, News Media, Court System) than blacks. While in general, both whites and blacks lost confidence in these institutions between 1998 abd 2006, blacks had less confidence to begin with and lost more confidence than whites. A disturbing exception is confidence in the police, where whites actually gained confidence since 1998 while black confidence, lower to begin with, fell by 9 percentage points. The Globe editorial ignores this comparison data.
By comparing confidence in institutions between whites and people of color, the Diversity Study may be interpreted as suggesting that our institutions need to be understood from the perspective of a collective; thus implying that the good of the whole society is undercut if part of the society benefits more from the institutions that, in a healthy society, should benefit all fairly and justly. By ignoring the comparison data, the Globe obscures the perspective of society as a collective; it suggests that although disparities in institutional benefits penalize people of color, the well being of whites and people of color are separate, discrete, and unrelated. Our mainstream media need to make it clear that until our police act in ways that inspire equal confidence from all our neighborhoods and all our residents, no one is safe. Until all our institutions inspire robust confidence from all our residents, regardless of race, no one is treated fairly, and our society, as a collective, loses.
To read the McCormack Diversity Study, go to: http://www.umb.edu/news/2006news/releases/december/report_121406.pdf
If you want to read the December 18, 2006 Boston Globe editorial “Race Still Matters.” visit the Boston Globe online (http://www.boston.com/news/globe) and register an account to view all their articles on the web.
posted by Janet at
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
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