American blacks on a treadmill of failure

Press, 30 June 1983, Page 17

American blacks on a treadmill of failure

From

ROBERT CHESSHYRE

in Washington

The plight of many black Americans, poorly educated, disgracefully housed, and under or unemployed, is attracting growing attention as the 1984 presidential election nears with the likelihood of a comparatively high black voter turnout and even the possibility of a black candidate.

The White House is sufficiently concerned to have called in a group of 15 prominent black Republican leaders, all of whom supported Ronald Reagan in 1980. The group warned Administration strategists that if Reagan runs again he may be hit by a "vengeance vote.” These blacks, representing a small minority within a minority, in that only 10 per cent of blacks voted for Reagan, suggested that even this figure may be severely eroded next time.

They catalogued grievances ranging from lack of administration zeal in pursuing civil rights cases and the burden borne by blacks because of welfare cuts, to foreign policy matters like Reagan’s friendly relations with South Africa. They warned that only a clear change in both policy and people can improve Reagan’s standing among blacks. The delegation was not impressed by the standard White House line that Reagan himself is not a racist. “That doesn’t matter, if his institutional policies are indecent,” said one participant. While White House strategists were mulling over that visit, the Administration was hit by another ambush, this time from a nonpartisan Washington-based “think tank.” It has published a severe critique of the'* inequalities

suffered by black Americans, and the threat to the fabric of society posed by such a large group of almost wholly “excluded” citizens.

The critique is the work of 30 black academics, who mulled over why the civil rights movement has come to a shuddering halt and examined ways of tackling the next stage in improving black conditions.

“Contemporary racial problems cannot be dramatised by television pictures of cattle prods being used against those seeking relief from blatant forms of injustice. The chief barriers today are subtle,” the report says. The document, “A Policy Framework for Social Justice,” emC* ses that many of the causes of suffering, such as structural unemployment in the heavy industry cities of the North-East, have nothing to do with racism in themselves, though the victims are inevitably disproportionately black. Looking ahead, they see American society divided between those equipped to work in high-tech industries and those who can at best aspire to serve fast food — and they know which side of the line most black Americans will be on. In their report, which is designed as a stimulant to thought rather than a blueprint for action, they highlight three areas which they see as crucially important for the rest of the 1980 s. 4 • First is obviously the econ-

omy, which shook poor blacks out of farming jobs in the rural South, and is now shaking them out of manufacturing jobs in the North. Since new jobs require far higher training standards than the old ones did, those who have already fallen off the bottom of the ladder face a bleak future.

The authors’ message is that there must be strategy for getting such people back on board. Retraining, for example, is a better bet than inadequate and demoralising welfare.

® Next they identify the family, or rather lack of it, as a major cause of black disadvantage. Almost half black children are now raised by unmarried mothers, who are usually young and poorly paid, unable either to create a stimulating, positive environment for their children or even to care for them properly. Thirty years ago 75 per cent of black American families included a married couple. @ Finally, they select education as an area of special need. Reagan’s policy has been to disengage the Federal Government as much as possible — he may abolish the Department of Education itself — throwing the responsibility downwards on local communities and parents. This may be fine in affluent middle class areas, but is clearly a recipe for disaster in inner city ghettos. Almost half black 17-year-olds are functionally illiterate. These three areas, the authors J point out, are intimately linked,

and clearly relate to virtually every other disadvantage suffered by many black Americans, particularly poor housing and health. A visitor to the United States does not have to be very perceptive to observe the consequences of these multiple deprivations in rundown inner city districts. While all these points are reasonably obvious, what is interesting about “A Policy Framework” is that it presents its gloomy picture in understated academic terms. At a press conference, the authors, despite valiant attempts by reporters to goad them into harsh anti-Reagan rhetoric, insisted on taking the longer view, tracing historical reasons for black miseries, rather than trying to heap all the blame on the current Adminstration.

In this they departed from the more familiar ringing denunciations of men like Jesse Jackson, the Chicago civil rights leader who may seek to run for the presidency. However, there was no mistaking their pessimistic conclusions, nor that privately they place considerable blame on Reagan for exacerbating an already bad scene. “Is America willing to support equitable social policies?” they ask. “The present answer to that question must be a resounding no.” In these hard times, it would be difficult for any Administration to ameliorate life in the black ghettos and the rural South, but Reagan, with his strong personal identification with white middle America, is failing even those few blacks who started on his side. He may well live to regret it at next year’s polls. Copyright — London Observer Service.