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Current Conditions: The legal condition of blacks in America has vastly improved since World War II. The size of the black middle class has increased substantially, and research reveals steady improvement in white attitudes. Yet negative racial stereotypes continue to underlie subtle discrimination, influencing how people view and treat each other. Meanwhile, almost two-thirds of the U.S. population growth over the next 50 years will come from immigrant families. The majority is Latino or Asian American, many racially different from white America. Race and color will add significantly to the difficulties they face. Poverty: For a significant segment of low-income blacks living in conditions of concentrated poverty, and for impoverished members of other minority groups, barriers to full inclusion in American society remain high. In isolated communities of concentrated poverty, these individuals lack access to education and job training opportunities and to networks of social mobility and support necessary to advance. Employment: Instances of systematic hiring discrimination and problems in the area of job promotion continue. African Americans remain inadequately connected to essential networks that white Americans take for granted. The Latino and Asian American communities also confront discrimination, in part based on accent, language or stereotypical preconceptions about capabilities and work styles. So long as discrimination persists, affirmative action programs, properly structured, will remain necessary. The organized Jewish community, in the main, has continued to support policies that consider race as one among many relevant factors, seeing affirmative action as an imperfect but still necessary tool. Within the Jewish community, the range of opinion regarding what are reasonable and proper uses of affirmative action reflects the challenge inherent in efforts to open the doors of equal opportunity to those who are disadvantaged while not undermining or infringing upon the rights of others. Further, the organized Jewish community maintains a strong conviction that equality of opportunity requires attention to other comprehensive measures as well, especially the need to improve public schools. Education: Quality education, accessible to all students, is vital to providing every American with the skills needed to work effectively. Moreover, public schools play a central role in teaching common civic values, fostering tolerance, respect, and appreciation for diversity. The nation must move forcefully to address serious inadequacies in public schools, especially urban schools. Money, properly targeted, can have a significant impact. Yet disparities continue in annual per pupil expenditure between the poorest (generally minority) and the wealthiest (generally white) school districts. Criminal Justice: Minority group members are enmeshed in the criminal justice system in numbers heavily disproportionate to their percentage in the general population. It is not always clear whether this reflects differential offending or selective law enforcement. While minority groups are disproportionately crime victims, they feel strongly that discrimination is rife throughout the criminal justice system. Intergroup Relations: Sound relationships are crucial to overcoming negative stereotypes. Increasingly, communities are creating new coalitional models founded on concepts of equality and mutual respect, overcoming separateness by engaging on issues of local concern, working in the spirit not of charity but of justice.
Action Recommendations • Continue to advocate at all levels of government the urgent need for programs that move families out of poverty toward self-sufficiency. Support initiatives that provide realistic work opportunities and adequate financial and social service supports, as well as measures that address inadequate housing, transportation, childcare, healthcare, education, and persistent, functional illiteracy. Work also to ensure enforcement of fair labor laws that prevent illegal and exploitive sweatshop working conditions. • Participate in coalitions involved in neighborhood transformation projects, especially partnerships involving those directly affected by racism and poverty. Advocate continued federal support for empowerment zones to stimulate community development. Join with urban houses of worship, schools, youth centers, and community health centers to strengthen neighborhood infrastructure. Engage in joint advocacy for affordable and non-discriminatory housing; develop "technical assistance banks" to aid economic development; promote community health initiatives and similar projects. • Support properly structured affirmative action policies, i.e., policies that consider race as one among many relevant factors, accept or reward only individuals judged to be qualified, and do not include quotas. Promote such outreach remedies as compensatory education, training and job counseling, and intensive recruitment. Advocate the redesign of programs that have not been well designed, have evolved into quotas, or where unqualified individuals receive preferences. (While a range of opinion exists within the Jewish community, our long-term study indicates a majority support affirmative action in some form.) • Monitor and review proposals to replace race-based affirmative action policies with programs based on socioeconomic disadvantage. Ensure that current programs continue and are not abandoned unless and until valid alternatives are firmly in place, including initiatives to address underlying issues of poverty, investment in public schools, health and housing needs, and job training. • Advocate the urgent need to address serious inadequacies in public schools, particularly schools in low income and minority communities. Promote action to address unfair funding and resource disparities while ensuring that resources are used in ways that are educationally sound and effectively targeted. Participate in federal, state and local coalitions to ensure that resources reach the schools that need them, to promote high teaching standards, reduce class size and recruit and retain qualified teachers. Support effective bilingual education and availability of advance placement courses in all high schools. Emphasize the central role of public schools in teaching common civic values and fostering respect for diversity. • Support expansion of preschool and after-school programs, through public schools, public agencies, and not-for-profit organizations. Advocate effective strategies to increase parent involvement. • Promote volunteer mentoring and tutoring programs, including programs that address childhood and adult literacy, that assist immigrants with English language skills, that offer training in parenting skills, and that encourage, recognize and reward academic achievement. • Continue to oppose "English-Only" initiatives, which can deny foreign-born citizens equal access to the rights of all citizens, including the right to receive an appropriate education and the right to vote. Work to increase availability of "English-as-a-second-language" (ESL) and other training programs that help immigrants and refugees move more easily into mainstream American life. • Advocate an end to gratuitous racial profiling. Support properly tailored legislation requiring data on police stops and their racial breakdown. Cooperate with police, minority communities, and public officials to create better understanding of the problems police face and to advocate policy change, including better police training in dealing with community residents, improved disciplinary procedures for addressing issues of misconduct, and increased minority group representation in police forces. • Promote diversity workshops, prejudice reduction and other educational programs that are effective in fostering intergroup sensitivity.
INTRODUCTION
While we recognize that significant progress has been made over the past 40 years in overcoming segregation and the most egregious forms of discrimination, an enormous gap still exists in this nation between the promise and the present reality. Clearly, much remains to be done. Whether we reach the pinnacle of a just society will depend in part on how we address and resolve remaining issues of race. Although the primary issue and most troubling aspect of race relations has been the experience of African Americans, demographic changes caused largely by immigration have added new dimensions. Asian Americans, Latinos and others, who do not share a history of slavery, nevertheless face race-tinged stereotyping and discrimination. As a result, the nation must address the dual imperatives of resolving deep-rooted historic issues of racial injustice that have long plagued our nation and continuing the fight as well against present day discrimination affecting all minorities. The JCPA has welcomed the opportunity to assess current thinking on this subject and to reaffirm its importance to the Jewish community. This report marks the culmination of a two-year study. The first year was devoted to relations with African-Americans. In the second year, the committee moved to an examination of conditions for other minorities, principally Latino and Asian Americans.1 This document reflects deliberations by the Committee on Race, Ethnicity and Public Policy during ten meetings, several of them daylong sessions, the input of distinguished scholars; public officials; journalists; and community activists, representing a range of ideological and political viewpoints, and the findings and recommendations of participating national and local member agencies that devoted significant time and effort to their own parallel studies.2 The committee entered these deliberations with no preconceived notions regarding the outcome and has been guided solely by the commentary of our speakers and the input of all participating agencies. Participants in this work have expressed strong satisfaction with the quality of the speakers and deliberations and the inclusiveness of the process. Among the most powerful messages to have emerged have been the following: The Jewish community, in the main, continues to support affirmative action policies which consider race as one among many relevant factors, seeing it as an imperfect but still necessary tool.3 However, other comprehensive measures are also needed to increase equality of opportunity. These include strong anti-poverty programs, attention to issues of criminal justice, and especially, concerted focus on the urgent need to improve the quality of public education in low income and minority communities. All of these measures call for dedicated action by the executive and legislative branches of federal, state and local governments. Through national and local coalitions, we must renew our emphasis on interpreting to the American people and to government officials the urgent need for such action. Finally, we have heard the call from communities to "put our faith into action," not just through a proactive public policy agenda, but also by turning our attention to the neighborhoods of our own cities and towns and connecting in new ways with counterparts in minority communities. We have heard as well the imperative to look within, to re-evaluate our own attitudes and assumptions, to move from rhetoric to action, by forming partnerships to work on concrete projects. Increasingly, local groups are investing in intergroup social action coalitions that combine the strengths of all participants as equal partners. They are working to improve conditions and build relationships, through projects focused on childhood and adult literacy, youth mentoring, low and moderate-income housing development, and other economic development projects. Their emphasis is on a shared agenda and mutual respect, working in the spirit not of charity, but of justice.
Throughout the history of the United States, the question of race relations as it involves African Americans has been the most difficult and troubling race-related problem in American life. It still cuts to the core of our national experience as we enter the 21st century. Clearly, the legal condition of black people in America has vastly improved since World War II. The size of the black middle class has increased substantially and black participation in the economic, political, and cultural life of the nation has expanded. Research reveals steady improvement in white attitudes toward blacks over the past four decades. Tangible examples of progress exist, from integration of the military to increased numbers of minority elected officials, compared with 30 years ago. Nevertheless, negative racial stereotypes contribute to subtle discrimination and continue to influence how people view and treat each other. Television and other media have a strong impact as well, especially on youth, and there is debate about how to combat negative images and decrease their impact on society. African Americans are concerned, as are we, with such matters as racial profiling4 by police, related behavior by department store salespeople and others, and by negative images of young African American men. We believe the fight against persistent subtle prejudice and negative stereotypes requires continuing efforts to build bridges by working together in coalitions and engaging in prejudice reduction programs. There remains substantial unawareness by whites today of the extent of discrimination. Most white people take for granted not being followed by department store security guards, the right to receive prompt service, or simply to be accorded respect by police and other figures of authority. Thus, white and black communities seem "worlds apart" in the way they view the state of race relations. With the virtual elimination of officially sanctioned segregation and discrimination, many whites believe that racial justice, regarding equality of opportunity, has been all but achieved. Conversely, many blacks, citing the subtle racism that continues to exist, believe an inclusive and open society enabling full equality of opportunity has not been achieved. The observation that "we live in different worlds," was made by committee members, by several speakers, and by members of community relations councils (CRCs) involved in local studies.
The civil rights movement, initially a battle against a legacy of slavery and segregation, transformed conditions for all minorities, affecting not only issues of race but national immigration policy as well. Reflecting a new understanding of diversity, immigration laws opened the nation to a broad influx of newcomers. Census projections indicate that almost two-thirds of the U.S. population growth over the next 50 years will come from immigrants, their children and grandchildren. The overwhelming majority is Latino or Asian American. Many are racially different from white America in terms of color and features. While any group that enters a new country will face barriers of language, religion, or culture, race and color have added significantly to the difficulties faced by these groups. Latinos, now 11 percent of the population, are a diverse community, with significant regional, class, ethnic, and racial differences, united by bonds of culture and language. At the current rate of growth, they will become the nation’s largest minority by the year 2020. While nearly half their increase comes from immigration, 60 percent are native born Americans, including families who have lived for generations on land once part of Mexico.5 For all Latinos, marginalization and discrimination have been common experiences, caused by a combination of factors including anti-immigrant bias, the mistaken perception that all Latinos are immigrants, and distinctions of appearance, color and race. Immigration policies that require immigrants to show proof they are in this country legally—when seeking employment for example, or during border sweeps launched to control the flow of illegal immigrants—have created problems for native-born Latinos, who are indistinguishable in appearance from the immigrants, and thus also required at times to prove they belong here. As a result, they cannot go about the business of daily life secure in their birthright as citizens. Color, we were told, exacerbates the problem; the darker the individual, the greater the likelihood of discrimination. We learned also that the practice of redlining, which sustains housing segregation, is in part to blame for the fact that a population with $300 billion in purchasing power has difficulty obtaining housing loans and financing businesses. Latinos are affected as well by racial profiling in much the same ways as are African Americans. Despite barriers caused by bias, the Latino community as a whole is a generally healthy community with traditional values regarding work, education, and family structure. There is a growing middle class and a number of ethnic sub-groups, notably Cuban Americans, have achieved a high level of economic success. Spurred by passage in 1996 of immigration and welfare laws that had a negative impact on all legal immigrants—denying access to public benefits6 and undermining civil liberties and due process protections—and in California by passage in 1994 of Proposition 1877, more Latino immigrants than ever have applied for citizenship, creating a community with growing political power. Working in coalitions, members of the organized Jewish community are joining forces with Latinos, locally and at the national level, to address immigration policy, especially as it affects civil liberties and access to public benefits, and also to combat bias and hate crimes. Asian Americans are the fastest growing minority community. This population—some 43 percent concentrated in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco—encompasses 17 distinct groups. Like Latinos, the Asian community contains a variety of religions, cultures, and economic classes, but is even more complex, involving three dozen countries and a variety of languages, dialects, and educational levels. Some 60 percent of Asian Americans are foreign born. While many arrive with professions and solid educational backgrounds, others are uneducated, unskilled, and unable to speak English. The "model minority" myth, a stereotype that ignores the "glass ceiling" problem faced by better-educated Asian Americans, also obscures the problems of those who are low income or poor. Initially viewed as a source of cheap foreign labor, Asians have been victims of discrimination in this country since the mid-19th century. Their history includes lynchings and is marked by a series of restrictive laws, including denial of citizenship and of the right to own property. Citizenship denial created a legacy of institutional discrimination that for years impeded full political and civic participation in American life. Finally, the internment of over 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II must be acknowledged as one of the most egregious civil liberties violations in our nation’s history. Today, while the nation has moved far to redress many grievances and amidst changing attitudes nationally, Asian Americans say they are still viewed as outsiders – perpetual foreigners. They have been targets, as well, of anti-Asian violence and racial harassment. In 1996, allegations of improper campaign fundraising activities produced an increase in hate rhetoric, offensive political cartoons and anti-Asian comments. In addition, Asian Americans believe that racial bias may have had an undue influence in fueling allegations of Chinese espionage at the Los Alamos laboratory. Asian American scientists there and elsewhere have since complained that their loyalty has been questioned and that they have been targets of racial profiling. While the racism and stereotyping which Asian Americans confront is not as severe as that experienced by blacks, a racial component infuses their experience. As a result, many tend to be strong supporters of affirmative action, believing it necessary for the achievement of racial justice, even in the area of higher education where they themselves don’t always benefit. Both Asians and Latinos view with concern state and federal efforts to enact laws establishing English as the official language of the government. To date, 18 states have enacted such laws. The JCPA has long opposed these initiatives as potential vehicles for discrimination against foreign-born citizens, denying them equal access to the rights of all citizens, including the right to receive an appropriate education and the right to vote. We believe that all Americans should learn to speak, read and write English and that immigrants should be helped to increase their English proficiency. However, long waiting lists for currently available English language classes are a clear indication of the desire of newcomers to master English. Perhaps demographic changes brought about by immigration have already moved our nation to a point where such categories as Latino or Asian American are too broad to reflect the varied cultures and experiences of growing numbers of sub-groups who comprise the incredible diversity of our ethnic landscape. At the same time, despite discrimination experienced by these groups, most Latino and Asian American speakers who addressed the committee acknowledged that the history of oppression against African Americans was qualitatively different, involving earlier and more deeply entrenched stereotypes, "the every day every minute harassment that wears away hope."8 While the interests and strivings of various minority groups and sub-groups at times may conflict, creating a level of intergroup tension, several speakers affirmed that for each minority to achieve its particular goals, all must first address issues of institutional racism. The goal is together to create an open multi-racial, multi-ethnic democracy. The organized Jewish community values that goal as well and continues to believe that work in intergroup coalitions is the most effective way to ensure the interests of all.
Race, Ethnicity and Poverty For a significant segment of black Americans, particularly low-income blacks, many living in conditions of concentrated urban poverty,9 barriers to full inclusion in American society remain high. Close to 30 percent of African American families still live below the poverty line, and the depth of poverty among the poorest blacks is severe. Moreover, the degree of geographic isolation for low-income blacks is extreme. Despite the legal banning of discrimination and the improvement of white racial attitudes, blacks and whites within most metropolitan areas are still unlikely to share a neighborhood. In isolated communities of concentrated poverty, low-income African Americans lack access to needed educational and job training opportunities and to the mainstream networks of social mobility and support necessary to advance. While civil rights advocacy effectively improved the legal and political status of many blacks, for those locked in impoverished racial ghettos, additional initiatives will be necessary to confront the deeper consequences of an inherited legacy of disadvantage. These consequences, which are also barriers to upward mobility, include self-limiting behaviors, such as poor school performance, drug addiction, and family breakdown, which often increase the likelihood of involvement with the criminal justice system (see section on Criminal Justice). Several speakers, though not all, suggested to the committee that if the nation has not yet achieved the original civil rights goal of "One America," it is largely because we have failed to undertake the serious initiatives needed to deal with these most intractable problems of unrelenting socio-economic inequality.10 At the community level, African Americans have said that they themselves must play the primary role in addressing these issues. At the same time, a commitment of resources and support is also required from the broader society, including support for local grassroots community rebuilding efforts. The JCPA believes that federal legislation creating empowerment zones to stimulate community development represents one effective effort, among others, to offer local residents the power to rebuild areas of persistent poverty. These programs do not dictate solutions but rather legitimize the neighborhood as a locus of change and mandate simultaneous investment in economic and human development, community building, and service reform. New neighborhood transformation projects are launched by neighborhood residents, supported by public and philanthropic money, and grounded in the community’s own institutions and social networks. The JCPA supports these initiatives and the efforts of CRCs to assist them. While circumstances for Latino and Asian Americans who are poor may be less severe than for African Americans, they share the same social isolation and confront many similar barriers to upward mobility. Thus, although Latino men, as a group, have the highest rate of employment in the nation, they also have the highest rate of poverty and—living in ghetto communities with poor schools—the highest high school dropout rate. Limited education and limited opportunity to develop English proficiency combine to produce a concentration of Latino men in low wage work, leaving those who are poor unable to earn enough to lift their families out of poverty. Asian Americans, particularly refugees but also others who come with limited English language skills often remain similarly trapped. Hmong immigrants, for example, members of a rural Laotian hill tribe, have a 50 percent poverty rate. Some 25 percent of Vietnamese immigrants live in poverty, and even members of the Chinese community in this country, with a large wealthy well-educated sub-group, has an overall poverty rate 50 percent higher than the national average. Locked inside ghetto communities, with few opportunities to learn English and advance beyond the low-wage work available locally, they are often captive employees. Possessing little leverage with which to demand higher wages or better working conditions, they may be exploited by unscrupulous employers and have been victimized by the re-emergence of sweatshops. The organized Jewish community must continue its work in coalitions involving those directly affected by racism and poverty, working with urban houses of worship, schools, youth centers, and community health centers to strengthen neighborhood infrastructure. In conversations with counterparts in minority communities, local CRC participants in this study learned that issues of concern in low-income communities of color include the following: limited access to capital, lack of managerial experience, lack of affordable housing, housing discrimination, limited training and employment opportunities, inadequate social service and healthcare support, lack of affordable, quality childcare, poor educational facilities, inadequate access to English-as-a-second-language (ESL) classes, crime and police-community relations. Jewish communities are supporting local neighborhood initiatives to address these concerns where needed and in ways that provide concrete measurable benefit. Examples include literacy and mentoring programs and programs that assist immigrants with English language skills; joint advocacy for affordable and non-discriminatory housing; "technical assistance banks" to assist with economic development; partnerships with minority counterparts to develop and rehabilitate severely distressed urban neighborhoods; community-based health initiatives; and other projects supporting empowerment of local neighborhood people to address their own issues through advocacy and community organizing. In terms of public policy, the organized Jewish community continues, along with intergroup coalition partners, to recognize as a moral imperative the crucial need to press for programs that move individuals and families out of poverty toward self-sufficiency. We support initiatives that provide families with realistic work opportunities and adequate financial and social service supports, as well as programs that attack problems of inadequate housing, transportation, childcare, healthcare, education, and persistent, functional illiteracy. These include: improved job training, expanded tax credits for earned income; wage initiatives and economic development. We also recommend that increased resources be devoted to expanding the availability of ESL and other training programs that help immigrants and refugees move more easily into mainstream American life. Moreover, the JCPA welcomes recent initiatives by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to combat housing discrimination and to increase the supply of affordable housing. Finally, we urge the enforcement of fair labor laws that prevent illegal and exploitive sweatshop operations.
Access to Employment and the Role of Affirmative Action The use of employment "testers" continues to uncover systematic hiring discrimination. Problems have been identified as well in the area of job promotion. According to the U.S. Department of Labor Glass Ceiling Commission, even well qualified minority individuals are sometimes blocked in advancement, often through informal practices and procedures. Others are steered in the direction of jobs associated with particular racial categories, organizationally stereotyped and valued accordingly. According to the Commission, white men continue to hold an advantaged position in the labor market, and a substantial gap remains between their wages and those of white women and black men and women. Within this context, as a group, African Americans remain inadequately connected to the essential network resources that white Americans take for granted. The Latino community confronts a ‘glass ceiling’ as well in large part due to prejudice based on accent, language or other distinctive Latino characteristics. Asians are similarly blocked in their efforts to advance professionally by stereotypical preconceptions about their capabilities and work styles. This workplace disadvantage hampers working-class laborers seeking well-paying jobs on construction work crews just as it does upwardly mobile college graduates. More time and properly structured affirmative action policies are needed to overcome that disadvantage. It has been suggested that affirmative action is best viewed as an interim strategy, compensating for the liability of isolation, in the case of African Americans, imposed first by slavery, then by legal segregation and subsequently by more subtle forms of racism; in the case of other minorities, the result of present day bias and discrimination. It compensates for the cultural and capital deficiencies arising from that isolation and provides access to entry-level openings and critical social networks. It is an imperfect tool and by itself is not a comprehensive solution to the problems of inequality. It cannot substitute for the education needed to be ready to compete. But it can provide the boost into the network, and thereby supplement and expedite the longer-term solutions. It has, in fact, functioned to increase the size of the black middle class, and has brought minority individuals into the academic and business mainstream, providing access to the elite public universities and the career opportunities and higher pay that follow from it. However, problems of workplace discrimination remain. "So long as we continue to prefer hiring people like ourselves," the committee heard from White House Deputy Chief of Staff Maria Echaveste, "until the Rolodex is integrated, we cannot end affirmative action. When people from diverse backgrounds have worked together and built a level of trust, it becomes easier to develop new behaviors." As a nation, we must continue on the road to a broader level of social integration, strengthening new behaviors, attitudes and connections along the way. The organized Jewish community has long supported affirmative action as a legitimate approach to overcoming discrimination based on race, religion, ethnic origin, or sex. However, within the community, a range of opinion exists over the meaning and proper uses of affirmative action. This reflects the concrete dilemmas inherent in efforts to open the doors of equal opportunity to those who are disadvantaged while also not undermining or infringing upon the rights of others. The resulting tension has given rise to some ambivalence and a variety of views regarding appropriate policies, with a small minority even questioning the value of affirmative action in any form. Nevertheless, although several communities were not inclined to comment, those that chose to review their policies in conjunction with this study have reported continued support for properly structured affirmative action policies, meaning policies or programs that consider race as one among many relevant factors,11 that accept or reward only individuals judged to be qualified, and that do not include quotas.12 The JCPA’s longstanding position supports such outreach remedies as: compensatory education, training and job counseling; intensive recruitment of qualified people; and ongoing review of job and admissions requirements to assure that they are performance-related and free of bias. Rather than ending affirmative action, the JCPA favors the redesign of programs that have not been well designed, have evolved over time into quotas, or where unqualified individuals receive preferences. Finally, recognizing that these programs do not help the most impoverished inner city residents, some Jewish groups have considered support for programs that also take into account conditions of socio-economic disadvantage.13 While this alternative merits greater study, even Richard Kahlenberg, a strong proponent of replacing race-based policies with programs based on socio-economic disadvantage, cautioned the committee that current programs should continue and should not be abandoned unless and until valid alternatives are firmly in place. He acknowledged as well that there are cases where race-specific policies remain necessary, for example in recruitment for police and fire departments, where good job performance requires sensitivity to concerns of community residents and the ability to win their trust.
Public Education Regardless of individual views on affirmative action, there is a strong consensus within the Jewish community that equality of opportunity requires attention to additional, comprehensive measures, especially the need to improve public schools. From every sector, the committee heard that improving public education for minority populations would do more to promote racial equality than any other strategy now under discussion. "Close the gap in cognitive skills," Abigail Thernstrom told the committee, "and everything else falls into place."14 Representatives of every minority group have also said that education is the critical tool to success in this country, and most rely on public schools to provide that education. The nation must move forcefully to address serious inadequacies and inequalities in public schools, especially in urban schools, where the problems tend to be greater and where over 40 percent of low income and minority children are enrolled. Plagued by limited resources, high concentrations of poverty and low expectations, these schools are not able to educate properly large numbers of minority students. Studies suggest that the environment substantially influences racial differences in test performance. While the term "environment" means not just formal educational opportunity but family and personal experience as well, the most promising school-related strategies for reducing the gap in cognitive skills involve reducing class size, setting minimum standards of academic competency for teachers, and raising teachers’ expectations for low-performing students. Money, properly spent in these areas, can have a significant impact. Yet disparities continue in annual per pupil expenditure between the poorest (generally minority) and the wealthiest (generally white) school districts. The JCPA has long been committed to public education as the primary route to full participation in the economic and political life of our nation. We believe the need to correct unfair funding and resource disparities is urgent and critical. At the same time, increased resources must be used in ways that are educationally sound and effectively targeted. Quality education, accessible to all students, is vital to providing all with the skills needed to compete and to work effectively. This includes effective bilingual education through programs that aim to teach English and transition students out of bilingual classes as rapidly as possible,15 and advance placement courses in all high schools, so that students applying for college admission have the same opportunity regardless of where they attend school. The JCPA supports legislation to ensure that the necessary resources reach the schools that need them and that highly qualified teachers are recruited, retained, and prepared for students in all schools. Federal policy makers can develop incentives to guarantee well-prepared teachers in shortage fields and high need locations. States can equalize education spending, enforce higher teaching standards, and reduce teacher shortages. School districts can reallocate resources to support better-educated teachers who offer a challenging curriculum in smaller schools and classes. To ensure children’s readiness for public school, early intervention and preschool programs should be made available through public schools, public agencies, and not-for-profit organizations. Effective strategies are also needed for increasing parent involvement, which studies have shown is critical to children’s school success. Moreover, colleges should be encouraged to offer outreach remedial and enrichment programs in urban communities to widen the pipeline and increase minority access to selective institutions of higher education. At the same time, policies that divert resources from public schools should not be condoned. The JCPA reaffirms its opposition to voucher programs that provide public dollars to non-public schools, whether secular or sectarian, believing this diversion of precious resources away from public education will undermine the public school system.16 While strengthened public policy initiatives are important, hands-on community support is equally vital. Volunteer involvement in public schools is essential, in mentoring and tutoring programs, including assistance with English language proficiency, training in parenting skills and in encouraging, recognizing and rewarding academic achievement. Nationwide, Jewish communities have already begun to respond, working with colleagues in minority communities to implement programs that deliver these services.
Criminal Justice Minority group members are enmeshed in the criminal justice system (through street encounters, prosecution, supervision, or incarceration) in numbers heavily disproportionate to their percentage in the general population. In many places, minorities comprise upward of half the prison population. Further, sentencing discrepancies, resulting from such practices as the unfair imposition of heavier sentences for crack (more often used by minorities) than for powdered cocaine (used more by affluent whites) often account for disparate incarceration rates. To the extent that these discrepancies are not legally justifiable, they should be eliminated. Further, while it is true that minority group members also suffer disproportionately as victims of crime, the feeling is strong in minority communities that discrimination is rife throughout the criminal justice system, which engenders profound resentment. Moreover, although African Americans are arrested at a disproportionately high rate, there are instances when it is not always clear whether this reflects differential offending rather than selective enforcement of the law. Recent instances involving "targeting" of minority group members for police scrutiny (through questioning, stop and frisk, arrest or other tactics) represent the "tip of the iceberg" in minority group-police encounters in a great many communities. Law-abiding members of minority populations, particularly males, are often subjected to police mistreatment ranging from hostility, to brutality, to tragic instances of deadly force. Police need better sensitivity training in dealing with community residents and improved disciplinary procedures for dealing with issues of misconduct. Better recruiting to increase minority group representation in police forces is also important, as is the employment of improved community relations practices. Also, properly tailored legislation is needed requiring data on police stops and their racial breakdown. At the same time, it is important to recognize that police in this country have an overall good record in protecting people, have a difficult and dangerous job to do, and have a right to defend themselves against potential violence from criminals they confront. Public groups must increase efforts to understand the problems faced daily by police. The Jewish community can play a constructive role in this regard by expanding contacts with constituency groups in the criminal justice area—police, minority communities, public officials—to assist in creating better understanding and to advocate needed policy change, including an end to gratuitous racial profiling.
Attitudes and Relationships The JCPA recognizes that addressing interracial attitudes and relationships will not alone resolve issues of racial injustice. However, sound relationships are crucial if we are to overcome negative stereotypes and move forward as one nation to solve the problems that remain. We must strengthen the bonds between us to create a richer sense of community, so that we matter to one another. "Too often," as Harvard University Professor Christopher Edley, Jr. told the committee, "the obstacle is not caring enough about people we see as different to be willing to bridge the divide. We need not simply new policies but the moral and political bonds connecting communities. We need transformative experiences, to think in a self-conscious way about designing strategies and experiences that make us feel connected." Increasingly, communities are moving in that direction creating new coalitional models, founded on concepts of equality and mutual respect, and seeking to overcome separateness by engaging together on issues of shared local concern. These initiatives should be concrete in nature with specific, measurable outcomes. We cannot, for example, take on whole the problem of urban blight. But we can develop tutoring programs and work together to find financing for new business loans. Achievable projects bring success and deepen relationships. Moreover, opportunities for one-on-one interactions can transform those participating, enlarging their understanding of one another, leading to deeper commitment and longer-term engagement. The JCPA supports and will promote those programmatic and advocacy efforts that seek to improve race relations while also advancing the social justice agenda. In addition, we believe entertainment executives, including those in TV broadcasting and advertising should be encouraged to present more diverse images of Americans to the general public. Such efforts can help establish a more tolerant, racially and ethnically cohesive society. Finally, we must acknowledge the need to look within, to educate ourselves and to encourage others to do the same. Concerted efforts to overcome insularity should proceed alongside all other initiatives. In this regard, diversity workshops, prejudice reduction and other educational programs foster valued intergroup sensitivity.17 Undertaken in conjunction with action-oriented projects, such programs provide a powerful challenge for all participants to problems of latent racism or bigotry.
Conclusion While study findings reaffirm longstanding JCPA policy with regard to social and economic justice and racial equality, they indicate as well a call for new initiatives in terms of federal, state and local action and community engagement. Regarding policy, so long as discrimination persists, the JCPA believes that properly structured affirmative action programs remain necessary to correct injustice. In addition, the JCPA believes it is imperative for our nation to rededicate itself to addressing serious inequities in our system of public education and to assuring that quality education, vital to providing the skills needed to compete and to work effectively, is accessible to all students. Public schools should play a central role in teaching democracy and common civic values and in fostering tolerance, respect, and appreciation for the diversity within our nation. The public school system will continue to educate the great majority of our children; therefore, concern for its health is inherent in our concern for America’s future. Greater attention must be paid as well to the need for reforms in the area of criminal justice. Finally, our policies are only as good as the actions we take. At the local level, communities increasingly are finding opportunities to translate beliefs into concrete action, building coalitions with counterparts in minority communities based upon mutual interest, personal involvement and respect, to promote grassroots hands-on projects that improve relationships while also advancing the social justice agenda.18 Emphasizing community building, these initiatives focus generally on urban and public education concerns, acknowledging that the health of the city is important for both urban and suburban populations. Projects that engage people in concrete relationships generate people-to-people interest in the larger issues. Greater awareness follows, and engagement produces advocates. Thus literacy tutors, for example, are often transformed into advocates for public schools. As advocacy flows from familiarity with issues at the grassroots level, involvement in local projects leads to action on the broader policies that we espouse. NOTES: 1. In Detroit, for example, meetings were held with the Chaldean, Latino, Asian, Indian, and Arab communities. The Committee on Race, Ethnicity and Public Policy also heard from Joanne K. Chase, of the National Congress of American Indians. While time constraints prevented the committee from devoting more attention to this population within the current study, what was learned made it clear that Native Americans have a particular set of serious concerns that require greater attention and support by the Jewish community. Please see Appendix C. 2. See Attachments for description of study process, community involvement, and range of speakers and their views. 3. Variations among national and local member agencies regarding this policy are footnoted in the section on "Access to Employment and the Role of Affirmative Action." 4. Using a stereotype of criminality that includes race to identify potential offenders 5. At the end of the 1848 U.S. war against Mexico, the U.S. absorbed Texas, California, and the Southwest. 6. While some provisions have since been reversed, many serious problems remain, including expanded categories of crimes for which immigrants can be deported and automatic deportation for relatively minor past crimes. In addition, adult legal immigrants neither elderly nor disabled but most often working parents are still denied food stamps, and for those who arrived after passage of welfare reform, there is no access to health, disability or nutrition benefits. 7. Legislation that severely limited access to a broad range of social services, this measure reflected a strong wave of anti-immigrant sentiment that generated bias against legal as well as illegal immigrants. 8. Marta Jimenez, Managing Attorney, Public Advocates, San Francisco 9. Defined as a confluence of interlocking disadvantage, including ineffective schools where low expectations and low standards are the norm, substandard and crumbling school facilities and housing, inadequate public transportation, poorly financed social services, lack of available work opportunities at adequate wages. 10. That view was shared generally, for example, by Tamar Jacoby, Glenn Loury, and Ralph Smith. 11. The Anti-Defamation League opposes race-based classifications and preferences as contrary to the vision of a colorblind America. They support "nondiscriminatory" affirmative action, such as programs for compensatory and remedial education, vocational training, apprenticeship, job counseling and good faith recruitment. They oppose preferential treatment implemented through numerical goals, timetables or quotas based on race, ethnicity, religion or gender. They recognize two exceptions in the workplace: court-ordered preferential relief when there is a longstanding history of systematic and egregious discrimination; a workforce substantially segregated by race, gender or ethnicity, in circumstances where other remedies have failed and relief is of limited duration. 12. Some communities have included support for racial preferences designed to achieve diversity and inclusion. 13. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America supports assistance to those less fortunate "based upon individual need, rather than membership in a particular group and supports civil rights legislation that addresses problems of social, religious, and gender discrimination in order to secure equal employment opportunity while eschewing quotas." 14. Co-author, with Stephan Thernstrom, of America in Black and White: One Nation Indivisible. 15. According to several speakers—Roberto Suro, Cecilia Munoz, Marta Jimenez—and CRCs, bilingual programs are the most effective way to ensure access to education for young immigrants. 16. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America dissents from this position. See their statement in School Vouchers and the Jewish Community: A JCPA Reexamination (1998). 17. Among programs combating prejudice and promoting democratic ideals is the Anti-Defamation League’s A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE Institute¨. The Institute is international, with diversity education programs used by schools, universities, corporations and community and law enforcement agencies throughout the U.S. and abroad. 18. For a listing of representative community projects, see Appendix A.
Baltimore: Plans are underway for establishing Urban Dialogue, a project intended to provide a forum for discussions among diverse ethnic groups regarding issues of common concern and ways in which the communities can work together to solve problems. A second program, which is ongoing and which focuses on youth, brings together 75 African American and Jewish teenagers through music and theater. Bergen County and North Hudson, NJ: An Intercultural Youth Exchange involves student activities to reduce bias among middle school students. In addition, a multicultural summer camp now operates, as an outgrowth of a program begun in 1993 entitled "Beyond Stereotypes and Dialogue: Doing it Together," co-sponsored by the NAACP, B’nai B’rith, the JCRC and Fairleigh Dickinson University. A Jewish-Latino coalition, now in its third year, moved from work on Colombian earthquake relief to cooperation on a range of intercultural projects and development of a shared action agenda dealing with local community concerns. Boston: Tzedek: Partners for Social Justice creates partnerships between the Jewish community and minority urban communities to provide opportunities for engagement in meaningful social justice work, including mentoring and tutoring for children and adults and support for families living in public housing. Building together is a major goal. A program pamphlet, Building a Community of Tzedek, states "we seek meaningful interaction with people across the boundaries of community, race and culture. Through partnerships, we are given the opportunity to replace the separation of our daily lives with a sense of connection, shared responsibility and wholeness as a community." Partnerships focus on issues of mutual concern. Jewish volunteers study Jewish text on social justice imperatives as a basis for their actions. The JCRC provides technical assistance and skills training, including training in how to work with people of different backgrounds. Avoiding the charity model in programs that involve direct service, partnering organizations in the urban and Jewish community determine together what services will be provided. Organizations decide together what assets each side will bring to a joint project. In one long-term partnership, young adults provide literacy tutoring for high school students. Another involves work with neighborhood residents to expand community awareness of the earned income tax credit program. The Boston Jewish Coalition for Literacy currently involves 300 volunteers tutoring elementary school students. Tikkun Ha’Ir (Healing the City) coordinates Jewish volunteers helping families and communities dealing with poverty and other crises. • The American Jewish Committee’s Black-Jewish Economic Roundtable promotes social and business interaction between the African American and Jewish business communities to enhance mutual understanding and build personal and business relationships to the benefit of both communities. A second, but no less important goal is to promote business opportunities for both communities and to enhance their participation in the economic life of the Greater Boston Metropolitan area. Hands-on business support services are offered, with particular emphasis on assistance to those doing business in the inner city. Bridgeport: Greater Bridgeport Interfaith Action is an interfaith, interracial consortium of congregations that work on issues affecting the inner city, helping neighborhood residents to address their own concerns through advocacy and social action, and strengthening relationships between suburban and inner city congregations. Central New Jersey: Coalitional work with the Latino community has involved support for "Hurricane Mitch" victims in Nicaragua and local advocacy addressing immigration issues at the state and federal level. A highly successful Hunger Awareness coalition includes a variety of religious and ethnic groups in fundraising to support food pantries and to heighten community awareness regarding needs of the poor. Chicago: The Chicago JCRC is a member of the State Attorney’s Hate Crimes Council, which includes a variety of other organizations. Detroit: The Detroit Initiative Task Force was established to involve the Jewish community in the revitalization of the city by linking Jewish institutions and individuals with Detroit-based projects. The Initiative includes networking and partnering opportunities for Jewish and African American business leaders, a community based health initiative, and an interfaith collaborative to provide community development technical assistance. Detroit was also involved in a pilot project for an African American/Jewish youth exchange involving summer camps. The Jewish Community Council of Metro Detroit facilitates the Detroit Coalition for Responsible Immigration Policy, to promote cooperation among ethnic groups in addressing issues regarding legal immigrants, to counter false perceptions about immigrants, and to celebrate the rich cultural diversity that strengthens the nation. Seeing public education as a primary area of concern, Detroit also supports establishment of literacy initiatives, partnerships with schools to provide volunteer support and assistance, involvement on local school boards and in local school policy issues. Finally, working with representatives of different religious and ethnic groups, the Council established a program for public schools dealing with religious diversity, which often overlaps with ethnic diversity. Houston: The Mickey Leland Kibbutzim Fund, for the past 19 years, has sponsored travel to Israel for low-income inner city teens and teens in the Jewish community. The program was recently cited by the President as a top race initiative. The goal is to create greater racial tolerance and understanding. The Houston CRC is also in the process of creating another teen program that would bring together Black, Latino, Asian and Jewish teens to work on neighborhood improvement projects in underprivileged areas of Houston. The program will recruit 30 youngsters from these minority communities and the Jewish community. The goal of the project, once again, will be to create greater intergroup understanding, but with a focus on social action within the local community, particularly the poorer neighborhoods where many of the program’s participants live. Los Angeles: The JCRC was an initial founder of the African American Jewish Leadership Connection that has since become an independent organization. The JCRC remains an active participant in this organization, which brings Jews and African Americans together to address a shared agenda of community concerns. In addition, over the years, the JCRC has arranged a variety of legislative missions to Israel involving several African American state legislators. The JCRC was also an active member of the coalition organized to oppose passage of Proposition 209, which ended affirmative action programs in the state. Louisville: The Center for Micro-enterprise Development provides assistance and guidance for new immigrants and minorities wishing to start their own businesses or expand existing small businesses. By providing planning assistance and funds, the center has helped many local community members become economically self-sufficient. As members of the Louisville Metropolitan Housing Coalition, representatives of the Jewish community relations council participated in a study revealing continued high levels of housing segregation in Louisville and is involved in the follow-up work needed to change that pattern. MetroWest N.J. (Wayne County): After completing it’s own study in conjunction with the work of the JCPA, Metro-West endorsed a series of potential projects for grassroots action, including: (1) Work with the Education Law Center in Newark to improve public schools and with such programs as the DuBois Scholars, a statewide pre-college leadership training program for gifted and talented black and Latino students, and the READY (Rigorous Educational Assistance for Deserving Youth) Foundation, which offers K-12 academic and social support to help students gain college admission; (2) Work with Seton Hall Institute on Work to address work force development issues and establish programs for welfare recipients providing sheltered workshops and supported work opportunities; (3) Work with Rutgers University on criminal justice issues, including support for innovative programs, such as Judge Betty Lester’s Drug Court on Alternatives to Incarceration for first-time drug offenders. Minnesota and the Dakotas: Avodah B’Yachad ("Service Together")is a five-year project established by the Minnesota JCRC to organize 2000 Jewish volunteers to help inner city families and communities dealing with poverty and other crises. One component is the Jewish Literacy Project. The JCRC also works with the Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing, Habitat for Humanity, the Eastside Neighborhood Development Corporation, the Crisis Nursery, and The Minnesota Alliance for Youth on a variety of social action projects. Philadelphia: Recognizing that grassroots, neighborhood-based community organizing is intrinsic to positive race relations across the city, the JCRC and other Philadelphia groups have a long history of organizational activism dedicated to improving and strengthening relationships between communities. Philadelphia’s Commission on Human Relations was the first in the country and is unique among similar organizations in that it works proactively to build community in urban neighborhoods. In addition, the Fellowship Commission worked for many years to bring groups together for dialogue and coalitional efforts. Further, Operation Understanding has brought together African-American and Jewish high school students to learn about each other and to visit Africa and Israel or cultural and historic sites in the United States. Following these experiences, the students speak extensively to youth and other groups. In addition, the Black-Jewish Coalition of Greater Philadelphia provides a forum for black clergy and Jewish rabbis and secular leaders to discuss and respond to important issues and to develop programming which brings communities together. After completing its local study of race relations, the Philadelphia JCRC established two task forces, one dealing with matters of criminal justice and the other addressing economic development. It further resolved to continue to monitor and respond to media lapses with regard to race and to participate in existing coalitions to support and improve the public schools and neighborhoods of Philadelphia. Portland: A venture capital fund has been created locally, built on individual donations and loans, to "promote economic development and create wealth for inner city minority populations, especially [but not limited to] African-Americans, utilizing entrepreneurship as a vehicle for job creation in economically-distressed communities." An established non-profit community development financial institution will manage the fund and make "high-risk," low-interest loans to minority businesses. The Jewish Community Relations Committee is supporting the effort by establishing a "technical assistance bank," recruiting a cadre of volunteers from both the Jewish and general communities to provide borrowers with pro bono technical assistance in the areas of marketing (e.g., advertising and website development), accounting and bookkeeping, data processing, and legal matters. Volunteers must be available to offer continued, long-term assistance. Richmond: The Jewish community participates in the local branch of Hope in the Cities a national project promoting interracial dialogue and understanding. In addition, there are initiatives in conjunction with the Urban League, to bring Jewish and African American youth together on issues of civil rights and matters related to Holocaust education and commemoration. St. Louis: The Jewish community participates in a citywide partnership project called Mentor St. Louis, which pairs adults with at-risk students, usually in the inner city. In one example, volunteers from a synagogue and families from an elementary school work together to mentor children at the school, helping to eliminate barriers to success. Also in this partnership, families from the school and from the synagogue are building a new elementary school park and garden. Other projects and coalitional initiatives include participation in the work of Habitat for Humanity, literacy and other tutoring initiatives in inner city schools, and local synagogue social action Mitzvah Days. Coalitions focus as well on improving healthcare and addressing housing issues. Work has also begun on outreach to members of the Latino community, initially through assistance with immigrant resettlement. • The National Council of Jewish Women, St. Louis Section, working with the Regional Planning Agency, is helping to provide training with a focus on financial literacy for people working, many for the first time, through a federally-initiated pilot program to establish Individual Development Accounts (IDA’s). The IDA is a tool for encouraging low-income people to save and build assets for a more secure and stable future. The money can only be spent on certain things—to buy or improve a house, pay for higher education, or start a small business San Francisco: Among other coalitional initiatives, the JCRC participates in the Intergroup Clearinghouse, San Francisco’s official coalition on intergroup relations and hate violence, which includes representatives from the Jewish, Latino, African American, Asian American, Arab American, Gay/Lesbian and other communities traditionally the target of hate crimes Southern New Jersey: The CRC will co-sponsor a state-wide conference on black economic and social development, tentatively titled "Convocation for Social and Economic Justice". The focus is on involvement of faith-based organizations in this work (for example, the role of the black church in promoting and achieving goals of social and economic justice). The CRC is also establishing a literacy program, adopting one or more schools in Camden. In another initiative, a computer education company and the CRC will identify 15-20 inner city people ages 18-30 years of age who have not completed their educations but would like to. The program will give them comprehensive computer training to provide them with the tools needed to compete. Tidewater: An African American/Jewish Coalition of Hampton Roads, established as a dialogue group, moved from conversation to action, and undertook projects based on what they learned—through conversation—was needed. They established a Resource Mothers Program, which pairs high risk pregnant women with mentors from their own community who help them have a healthy pregnancy. This program became affiliated with medical schools and hospitals and was eventually funded. The group also formed a micro-lending organization affiliated with a bank and with other city agencies, and established a leadership development program for African American and Jewish teenagers. A second, similar coalition operates many of the same programs and also, in conjunction with the Jewish Family Service, operates a Personal Affairs Management Program, which has received state and foundation funding, to assist the elderly and disabled. Washington, D.C.: Faith to Faith Community Development Program, a project of Yachad, a nonprofit housing development organization, is a partnership with African American churches to redevelop severely distressed urban neighborhoods, through rehabilitation and development projects. Anti-Defamation League: A World of Difference Institute provides prejudice reduction workshops for elementary and secondary schools, universities, neighborhoods, private industry, and public agencies. The ADL also works in national coalitions to combat hatred and bigotry, including coalitions to pass and implement federal and state hate crimes laws. In addition, the ADL, in 1998, passed a resolution opposing race-based motorist profiling and supports working in coalitions to speak out against illegal, racist practices. National Council of Jewish Women: NJCW Sections around the country participate in HIPPY (Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters), a home-based school readiness program designed to support educationally disadvantaged parents as their children’s first and most influential teachers. Volunteers perform a variety of enrichment and advocacy activities to support local programs. NCJW has also begun a new project, Parents as School Partners, a volunteer research initiative focusing on parent involvement to promote children’s school success. One early outcome of this ongoing project has been a compilation of replicable school-based programs for enhancing parent involvement. IN ADDITION: • A number of communities cited work with the National Jewish Coalition for Literacy to bring adult Jewish tutors into inner city public schools. Included are Atlanta, Boston, Bridgeport, Central New Jersey, Chicago, Detroit, Hartford, Indianapolis, Louisville, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Portland, Philadelphia, Providence, San Antonio, San Francisco, Seattle, Springfield MA, Minnesota and the Dakotas. • New Leaders Projects engage young Jewish leaders in needs and concerns of the urban community in Detroit, Boston, Indianapolis, and elsewhere. • Numerous communities cited ongoing Black/Jewish and Latino/Jewish coalitions, including Central NJ, MetroWest, Bridgeport, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and San Francisco, as well as ongoing partnerships between area synagogues and African American churches. NOTE: The National Jewish Coalition for Literacy, is a non-profit organization created to organize a minimum of 100,000 American Jews to participate in volunteer literacy programs in their communities. The initiative works largely through Jewish community relations councils, which coordinate the local volunteer programs. Briefings at JCPA plenums have attracted overflow crowds.
Dr. Murray Friedman, Director of the Feinstein Center for American Jewish History at Temple University: While the Jewish community generally supports "soft" affirmative action programs, such as compensatory and remedial education, job training, and good faith recruitment, support breaks down over "hard" programs which use "fixed goals and timetables," and can, through long use, evolve into racial quotas. Intended as temporary, these programs initially may have helped women and middle class blacks, but are no longer needed. As fixed policies, they create division and intergroup resentment and turn qualified minority people into "affirmative action types." Moreover, they rarely reach the most impoverished inner city populations. We need new strategies to address the condition of blacks in racial ghettos. We can help most by not getting in the way of efforts by black leaders to build the infrastructure of black life. Leonard Fein, Director of the UAHC Commission on Social Action, challenged the notion that affirmative action undermines what otherwise would be a race-neutral merit system. College admissions are influenced by numerous non-merit factors. Those admitted to top universities become the nation’s next generation of leaders less as a result of merit than because attendance at these schools allows them to form the network of contacts necessary to succeed. Standardized admissions tests can be poor predictors of success and usually do not measure such difficult-to-gauge but important variables as interpersonal skills, empathy, and cooperation. Finally, there is the question of how the concept of merit is defined and the degree to which that definition should be shaped by the kind of society we seek to fashion. Given the variety of problems that currently burden affirmative action, and the increasing income disparity between rich and poor in this nation, we may be obligated to consider the possibility of moving from race-based to income-based affirmative action. We must not abandon current programs, however, until valid alternatives are firmly in place, including initiatives to address underlying poverty issues, investment in public schools, health and housing needs, and job training. David Shipler, author of A Country of Strangers: Blacks and Whites in America: Whites, having witnessed the passing of legal segregation and discrimination, believe that racial justice has been all but achieved, whereas blacks, witnessing subtle racism everywhere around them believe the opposite. That difference in perception influences interactions on many levels. While the nation has achieved "enormous positive change, prejudices, assumptions, distorted images, back and forth across the color line still exist, in most cases not as blatant bias but in subtle, camouflaged forms more difficult to recognize." Regardless of laws that require that we treat one another in certain ways, attitudes affect how we, in fact, treat one another. How do we address encrypted prejudicial behavior that affects how individuals advance in business and/or education? Affirmative action can help blacks overcome subtle obstacles; and diversity training can modify institutional attitudes. Tamar Jacoby, author of Someone Else’s House: America’s Unfinished Struggle for Integration: Despite great progress in the fight for equality, the nation has strayed from its original civil rights goal of "a single American community in which both blacks and whites would feel truly at home." Instead of confronting the complex task of curing the socioeconomic ills created by a segregated society, the nation eschewed the serious initiatives needed and sought shortcut solutions—"black leaders for black enclaves, racial preferences to create the appearance of equality, guilty deference masquerading as respect, symbolic gestures and cash grants." These solutions have not brought the nation together and have not adequately leveled the playing field. Instead, we have replaced overt animosity with disengagement, a wary truce between two mistrustful groups who believe they are fundamentally different and will always live separately. To move ahead, we must embrace those initiatives we earlier abandoned, improve public education, strengthen preschool programs, job training, and other remedial, preparatory, and motivational programs to re-establish social norms and networks eroded by centuries of deprivation. It will take the combined efforts of public and private sector initiatives to spur hard-earned personal change by individuals, more emphasis on similarities and less on differences. Christopher Edley, Jr., Professor of Law, Harvard University; Special Advisor to President Clinton for the White House Initiative on Race: Although there is a moral cost to public policy based on race, in some circumstances, we should be willing to pay it. The nation has struggled with the problem of race for 350 years and effective policies must be found to end exclusion. "We live in different worlds." People are slow to change their perceptions. While there is no shortage of promising ideas about policies and programs to close the race gap, there is a lack of moral consensus and political will to adopt and implement those ideas. Too often, the obstacle is color, not caring enough about people we see as different to be willing to bridge the divide. "We need not simply new policies but the moral and political bonds connecting communities." We need transformative experiences, to think in a self-conscious way about designing strategies and experiences that make us feel connected. Working together, not merely in soup kitchens but joining, for example, to demand public education reform, has that transformative potential. Maria Echaveste, White House Deputy Chief of Staff: In a nation so diverse, we will not have solved the problem of race until we can create an environment in which all individuals can reach their potential and define themselves by their individual identities. Most changes begin at the local level, where people learn to relate and to judge each other by individual worth, not by race or color. Too many employment programs have been implemented by people looking for short cut solutions, not believing they can find minority employees who truly possess the requisite skills. As a result, minority achievement is often viewed as resulting from affirmative action rather than based on legitimate credentials. However, as long as we continue to prefer hiring people like ourselves, "until the Rolodex is integrated based on trust" we can’t end affirmative action. Once people from diverse backgrounds have worked together and built a level of trust, it becomes easier to develop new behaviors. That’s the goal. Richard Kahlenberg, author of The Remedy: Class, Race, and Affirmative Action: Although affirmative action was originally designed to remedy historical race discrimination, the issue may no longer be the need to correct for past wrongs but rather to maximize equal opportunity. However, to use racial preferences puts the means in direct tension with the colorblind end. The alternative is race-neutral preferences based on socioeconomic disadvantage. Preferences should apply to university admissions and to entry-level employment, but when not for subsequent promotions (a distinction between equal opportunity and equal outcomes). Disadvantage would be measured by such factors as parent education and occupation, family income, family assets, quality of secondary education, neighborhood influences, and family structure. A sophisticated definition includes the level of concentrated poverty in which an applicant lives. Factoring in concentration of poverty helps clarify the disparity in disadvantage between poor whites and poor blacks, effectively addresses the legacy of discrimination, and is more fair. Race-based policies should remain a second alternative until effective class-based programs are in place. Moreover, there are cases where race-specific policies continue to make sense, in recruitment for police and fire departments, for example, and where there is a clear history of discrimination. Dr. Glenn Loury, Director of the Institute on Race and Social Division at Boston University: There are realistic limits to what can be accomplished by public policy. African Americans at the community level must assume personal responsibility for addressing serious internal problems, self-limiting patterns of behavior which are major barriers to upward mobility. Given the extent of persistent black disadvantage, however, and the deep connection between that circumstance and the history of race relations in this country, there remains a strong, continuing public policy responsibility. Two key objectives, overcoming racial inequality and providing equal opportunity for all people, are not morally equivalent. The historic exclusion of blacks, their subjugation, social isolation, relegation to second class status, were experiences of a morally different magnitude, not shared by other disadvantaged, primarily immigrant, groups. There is a primary need to address this black/white inequality as a public problem distinct from broader issues of inequality. The "goal of raising the competitive abilities of disadvantaged blacks can be appropriate even though formulated in racial terms, because effects of past racial oppression and, critically, of ongoing social segregation have been to leave many black families and communities relatively less well endowed with the cultural and financial resources on which young people depend to acquire their skills." Professor Katheryn Russell, Department of Criminology, University of Maryland: Contrary to general perceptions, the majority of crime is intra-racial and blacks are disproportionately arrested. Studies have not adequately measured discrimination in the criminal justice system. Most examine the formal stages—arrest, charges, bail, trial, conviction, sentencing, parole—and suggest there is little discrimination by race, that, in fact, the overrepresentation of blacks is the result of disproportionate offending. In recent years, however, there has been movement toward examining what happens during the informal stages, jury formation, comments made by judges, the effect of racial profiling, where racism may have a more pervasive impact. This new interest has produced a different assessment, but the information collected has so far been anecdotal. There is a need to quantify the data. The most prominent material comes from the "driving while black" phenomenon. For decades, "blacks have complained of being singled out in disproportionate numbers, stopped, and harassed by police while in their cars," because they fit a stereotype of criminality that includes race. The media, portraying minorities in newscasts, police dramas and rap music videos, perpetuates the stereotypes. The resulting racial attitudes and related abuses, "do not create a community that trusts the police." Ralph Smith, Annie E. Casey Foundation: The extent of black middle class rage has been grossly underestimated, a rage fueled by the sense that no matter how hard they work to attain status, they will continue to find their success compromised by the persistence of racism. They find themselves "constantly offended, in big ways and small, through acts of insensitivity, prejudice and bigotry." Moreover, African Americans who enter colleges through affirmative action programs often feel estranged, diminished by the attitudes they confront. The black middle class is enraged as well by liberals who see affirmative action as the most significant policy issue when, in fact, it only helped "a miniscule number" of African-Americans. In addition to affirmative action, what matters are policies to: make work pay; make schools work; make families work; reduce the number of babies born into predictably high risk circumstances; reform the juvenile justice system and use it to turn these kids around; turn public housing—too often the incubator for crime—into locations for intensive intervention. We should not eliminate but should fix affirmative action, and consider also the possibility of a "sunset clause," tying affirmative action accomplishments to specific outcomes. Michael Miller, Executive Director, New York Jewish Community Relations Council: There have been drastic demographic shifts in neighborhoods within Manhattan and the surrounding Boroughs of New York from 1970 until today. Jewish populations have decreased in many areas where well-established communities had been built. There is a need to come to grips with this reality and to develop new strategies to engage new ethnic communities. Coalitions of common interest are most effectively built around quality of life issues, such as health care, education, housing, safety and security. Given the likelihood that shifting neighborhood demographics will provide new groups with added opportunity for political leadership, strong intergroup coalitions will be especially important in maintaining understanding of Jewish concerns and securing the welfare of the Jewish community. Meanwhile, other ethnic groups are beginning to organize their own communities and looking to the Jewish community for guidance, as they identify with the need to protect their own community, without necessarily neglecting the needs of others. Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom, authors of America in Black and White: One Nation Indivisible: Passage of 1960’s legislation represented the fulfillment of the basic demands of the civil rights movement, which then took a wrong turn, making demands inconsistent with the original color-blind principles. While Presidents Kennedy and Johnson supported special efforts to broaden the pool, the approach was radically different from the race-conscious hiring and promotion to achieve statistical proportionality that affirmative action ultimately became. Originally even among those who favored preferences, it was understood these policies would be "temporary and transitional." By now, the original rationale, to make up for past discrimination, has evolved into a diversity rationale, a recipe for permanent preferences. Implicit is the notion that proportional representation should be the goal of public policy. This is particularly dangerous for overachieving minorities, such as Asians and Jews, who might, through their industry, earn advancement in excess of their proportional representation. There is a massive amount of information attesting to "colossal [black] progress"—"an immense socio-economic revolution," over the past 30 years. In 1940, 87% lived in poverty. Today, only 27% do. While this is still much too high, the reasons today are different from the reasons for poverty in 1940. While then the primary cause was racism, today the central poverty issue is family structure. Single-parent households account for 80% of poverty, "and that is a scene tough to attack." But the issue of whether or not to have preferences is the wrong issue. The "right issue" is providing equal opportunities based on tangible skills, through a return to a solid school curriculum, where pragmatic and analytical skills are the primary tools of education. "Close the gap in cognitive skills and everything else falls into place. Preferences disappear as an issue." The employment issue is more nuanced and troubling. There may be valid diversity issues that can affect the use of preferences, for example, to avoid all white police and fire departments, as well as issues of stereotyping and bias that might be more difficult to prove but that may require scrutiny. For example, it is not acceptable to engage in what has been called rational discrimination, to favor hiring from one minority group over another based upon characteristics such as honesty, reliability, etc. Yet this happens, is hard to gauge, and complicates the employment issue. The Honorable Kurt M. Schmoke, Mayor of Baltimore, Maryland: Race continues to matter a great deal today, "in ways that are different than in the 1950’s and 1960’s but that cannot be ignored." To move forward, we must avoid the platitudes of the past, engage in "honest dialogue," be willing to wrestle with tough issues, and "make commitments to achieving concrete goals." Baltimore is one of the poorest jurisdictions in Maryland, yet it educates 50 percent of the children in the state and houses 87 percent of its low-income youth. It represents "the best in urban America" and "some of the worst." Given the many problems that continue to challenge cities like Baltimore, it is critical that all people "come together and rebuild our cities." Efforts to revive schools, enhance literacy, and promote economic development are essential to the restoration process. Positive intergroup relationships, a powerful antidote to racism, can build effective alliances, fostering both interracial and inter-generational dialogue. Rabbi Balfour Brickner, Senior Rabbi Emeritus, Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, New York: In the public sphere, the proper use of religious values is to provide the moral underpinnings, to advocate a finer public morality. As a Jewish community, "our task, demanded by our historic faith, is not to keep people on their knees but to get them on their feet and working. This brings us face to face with race and ethnic discrimination." We must come together in the nation’s cities to address these problems and to reestablish our connections to one another. "It is the city that binds people." We work in the city. Some 85 percent of American Jews live in and around 12 major cities. The city binds us with racial and ethnic groups different from ourselves. Rabbi David Rosenn, Executive Director of AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps: What is the Jewish community’s responsibility with regard to racial justice? Searching Jewish texts for a rationale can be problematic. A close reading of Jewish texts can sometimes produce contradictory interpretations. While we may find what we need in certain interpretations of certain texts, we have to be careful to understand and respect what they say and what they do not say. The basis for Jewish commitment to racial justice and social action is the acknowledgment that "we are all G-d’s children," that denying the links between human beings denies the unity of G-d and the creation of human beings by G-d. A guiding principle motivating American Jewry should be "the ethical use of social power." "As a community of considerable influence," we are required to actualize the preachings of Isaiah to feed the poor and house the homeless. We are not free to debate whether the Jewish community has a stake or responsibility. To do justice is what G-d demands of every person. Rabbi Barry Freundel, Congregation Kesher Israel, Washington, D.C.: Within the Jewish community, the idea of justice for all and care of the downtrodden is "motherhood and apple pie." But how can racial justice actually be achieved? There may not even be a valid concept of race in Jewish thought. The teaching that we are all descendents of Adam, the Mishna explains is "so that one might not say to another, my father was greater than |
Executive
Summary and Action Priorities
istorically,
the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, together with its member
agencies and in broad intergroup coalitions, has fought to secure
the civil rights of all Americans. We have done this understanding
that the nation’s strong commitment to equal rights, justice and
opportunity is essential also to the security and well-being of
the Jewish community. Moreover, our own history as victims of
oppression mandates us to be concerned about the plight of others
similarly affected today. In our work, we have been inspired
by the Jewish commitment to tikkun olam (repair of the
world) and the imperative to pursue social justice. A strong American
democracy is the best guarantor of the justice we seek. Our vision
is of a nation that is inclusive, pluralistic and open, ensuring
equal rights, opportunity and justice.
he
challenge of race relations remains one of the most enduring and
difficult issues confronting our nation. It is central, as well,
to the intergroup relations work of the organized Jewish community.
Historically, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, together
with its local and national member agencies, as well as in broad
intergroup coalitions, has fought to secure the civil rights of
all people and to ensure that none are denied full access to the
promise of America. As beneficiaries of that promise, we have
understood that the nation’s strong commitment to equal rights,
justice, and opportunity is essential also to the security and
well-being of the Jewish community. Moreover, our own history
as victims of oppression mandates us to be concerned about the
plight of others similarly affected today. In our work,
we have been inspired by the teachings of our faith, the Jewish
commitment to tikkun olam (repair of the world), and the
imperative to be active in pursuing social justice. We believe
that a strong American democracy is the best guarantor of the
justice we seek and have long been committed to those principles
that sustain a pluralistic democratic nation. The title of our
study, Building One Nation, speaks to our vision of an
America that is inclusive and open, that ensures the right of
every person to full participation in the life of the nation,
to equal rights, opportunity, and justice. What we have learned
from prophetic Judaism and Jewish history impels us to work to
build a just society.