out·post, \ˈaut-ˌpōst\, noun: an outlying or frontier settlement
ob·serv·er, \əb-ˈzər-vər\, noun: a representative sent to observe but not participate in an activity
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
By John A. Ostenburg
The presence of racial inequity in America is dramatically illustrated by statistics relating to the COVID-19 health crisis. Areas with high concentrations of African-American residents have seen far more cases and deaths resulting from the presence of the pandemic in the U.S. The Chicago Tribune reported on April 7, for example, that 68 percent of the Windy City's deaths from coronavirus were African Americans, while that group represents only 30 percent of the overall city population. Disproportionally higher levels of illness and death among Blacks also is occurring in the Chicago suburbs and also in other major metropolitan regions.
The reasons behind these statistics are many. The bottom line, however, is that a more prevalent presence of poverty within African-American communities results in fewer benefits such as adequate health care; because the primary source of jobs open to many Black workers is in the service industry, many are required to work as store clerks, fast-food restaurant staff, etc., while the majority of Whites who enjoy different jobs have the opportunity to work from home at such times.
Certainly those circumstances are not the case for everyone in either of the two racial categories, but as the number show a very definite difference does exist. And the presence of that difference is a very clear illustration that Whites in our society enjoy benefits that are not available to many Blacks. America must wake up to this reality, and elected officials must begin to take steps to correct the imbalance. We cannot allow these differences, based solely on race, to continue.
In order for municipal leaders to implement programs of racial equity, they first must be committed to the concept that racial inequity indeed exists. Many elected officials – almost exclusively White ones – do not see it, and many who do see it nonetheless refuse to acknowledge it. Yet, it is everywhere, albeit the way in which it is manifested may be quite different from place to place.
For the last four of my 20 years as mayor of Park Forest, I was engaged in the Race, Equity And Leadership (REAL) program of the National League of Cities. When the REAL Council was established 2015, I was one of the original approximately 40 members, each of whom represented a specific constituency within the organization. The NLC services 19,000 municipalities in the U.S. and I was appointed to the Council as a mayor of a suburban community in order to provide the perspective of municipalities similar to mine. In fall of 2017, the Council became a permanent part of the NLC and I had the honor of being appointed the group’s first co-chair, along with Councilwoman Lovanna Mayfield of Charlotte. My experience with REAL, and more than 50 years of active involvement in efforts for racial justice, have brought me to a clear perspective on the issue of racial inequity: it does indeed exist, and it makes a mockery of the American ideal that all persons are created equal.
The one universal mark of racial inequity is the presence of high poverty rates in places where it is most prevalent. If one wishes to see racial inequity up close, one need only examine poverty rates to learn where to look. The extent to which poverty is present in a community seems to correspond directly with the amount of blight that the neighborhood experiences. However, as many African Americans and other minority citizens can attest, racial inequity is present elsewhere also; in fact it is woven into the very fabric of our nation.
In communities that are predominantly minority, the inequity infects the entire region. Towns and neighborhoods that are predominantly African American in population suffer as it relates to economic development, property taxes, housing opportunities, jobs. The list goes on and on. If the communities are suffering, then likewise are the residents. Neighborhoods that are most blighted are overwhelmingly non-White. Good examples are found on Chicago’s south and west sides and in Chicagoland’s south suburbs.
By contrast, the vast majority of predominantly White neighborhoods suffer less from violence, less from blight, less from inferior educational opportunities, less from disproportionately high property tax rates, etc. The concentration of minority residents is much less in those neighborhoods than it is in areas where the opposite conditions are present. When non-White residents are found in those neighborhoods, the opportunities afforded them are quite different as regards housing, jobs, educational opportunities, etc., from those available to their relatives and friends who remain in totally segregated regions. For those African Americans, the experience of racial inequity comes most often in a general attitude toward them as “newcomers.” The “newcomer” status carries with it a clear connotation of superiority for those who are the more traditional residents. Changing one’s ZIP code, therefore, can bring with it some benefits but it does not automatically result in removing all the tenets of inequity.
Why is poverty so heavily concentrated in minority neighborhoods? While it is true that White poverty also exists, it most often is found in rural areas where jobs are fewer or in regions that have experienced sudden loss of factories, coal mines, etc. It is not as universal a condition as is found in virtually all communities where minorities are the majority population. According to the Henry K. Kaiser Family Foundation, for example, in 2017 only 8 percent of the White population in America was at the poverty level, while 20 percent of African Americans and 16 percent of Hispanics were in that category. Given such statistics, how can anyone deny that White privilege exists in the United States? And if White privilege exists, then so does its twin-sister: racial inequity. To eradicate racial inequity, therefore, we must eradicate White privilege. That, my friends, is a much harder task to complete than one might imagine! And why is it so difficult? Because it’s the work of Whites. And, frankly, many of us don’t want to give up our privilege.
So the statistics show that a larger segment of minority citizens live in poverty than do Whites, but does that mean all the other African Americans, Latinos, etc., don’t face racial inequity? If that question were asked to any representative of those or other minority groups, they would laugh in your face. No matter at what level of the economic ladder on which they may function, Blacks, Browns and other minorities in America simply do not enjoy the same opportunities as do the Whites within their economic grouping. That is an important point to make from the outset in any analysis of racial inequity and how it might be corrected, for too often those who defend themselves or their entities from the charge of being racially inequitable will point to persons who enjoy benefits that on the surface seem to be equal to the benefits enjoyed by Whites. Those are false examples. Until the same percentage of minorities within any economic stratum enjoy the same advantages at the same percentage level as do Whites within that stratum, racial inequity – and therefore White privilege – exists.
Among the things I have learned in my work for racial justice is the fundamental reality that I never can tell an African American or any other person of color anything at all about racial inequity. They know it more completely, more intimately, more experientially than I or any other White person can relate based on our academic learning on the subject. Therefore, my job as a White person who wants to advance racial equity in our society is not to talk to Blacks, Browns, and other people of color on the topic: my job is to speak directly and honestly to other Whites. If I have any role whatsoever, it is to make White leaders aware that they preside over an inequitable system and to persuade them that they should become a part of the effort to correct it.
I stated earlier that I believe it is the work of Whites to eliminate White privilege. Why is that? Well, it is because supremacy is dependent on power, and power in the America of today rests in the hands of Whites. While individual members of minority groups may have access to elements of power, the gestalt of power at present is exclusively White. The use of that power is a necessity for the elimination of White privilege. The only alternative course would be a revolutionary overthrow of White power through violent means. While that is a long-term probability as our minority populations in America grow, it is not a likelihood in the immediate future. In truth, the non-violent, voluntary relinquishing of White privilege is the only viable alternative to the eventual violent achievement of the same.
As an aside, I believe the rise in overt White supremacy in America today largely is connected to the realization by many Whites of the inevitable course we presently are embarked on as a nation. They are not willing to share present-day power with Blacks or Browns, and they fear that the day is approaching when such power will be in Black and Brown hands exclusively. Their extreme supremacist efforts are designed to prevent both from happening, albeit I believe their efforts in that regard are doomed to failure.
Therefore, if White leaders cannot be altruistic enough to eliminate White privilege because it is the correct thing to do, perhaps they can be self-serving enough to recognize that sharing power is a better course of action that losing it entirely. White privilege means that the playing field is tilted in favor of Whites as regards economics, social benefits, opportunity for education, health care, the judicial system, etc. Leveling the playing field through the elimination of White privilege does not mean that Whites will suffer – though the existence of White privilege does mean that African Americans, Latinos, and other minority residents do suffer – but rather that everyone will have an equal chance and no one will suffer.
What is obvious, then, is that legitimate efforts to address racial inequity must begin with a careful survey of the local landscape. If one accepts the premise that racial inequity exists in some form or another throughout the U.S., then we likewise must accept that it is present in some way or another at our local doorstep. For many municipal officials, however, it is very difficult to take the necessary steps toward recognition of the presence of racial inequity in their communities. They maintain, with total sincerity, that they do not discriminate, that everyone is given the opportunity to apply for jobs, that home purchase in all neighborhoods is open to anyone who is interested. For them to acknowledge the presence of racial inequity is to acknowledge that their home turf is less than perfect: that indeed is a very difficult, although necessary, acknowledgement to make.
John A. Ostenburg retired in 2019 after 20 years as mayor of Park Forest, Illinois. He previously served in the Illinois House of Representatives, and before becoming mayor, served seven years as a member of the Park Forest municipal council. While mayor, he was an active member of the National League of Cities and served during 2017-18 as co-chair of the NLC Race, Equity And Leadership (REAL) Council. He was chair of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, a group of more than 270 Chicago-region municipalities, for 2018-19 and was a member of the MMC Executive Board for several years. He also was chair of the MMC Environment Committee for five years. He retired in July 2010 as the chief of staff for the Chicago Teachers Union after holding various CTU posts over a 15-year period. A former newspaper reporter and editor, he also has been a teacher and/or administrator at elementary, secondary, community college, and university levels. Presently he is a Senior fellow at the Chicago-based Metropolitan Planning Council. E-mail him at JOstenburg@aol.com.