Chapter V
Ending Black Poverty (cont.)
At this point we can look at the effects of the mass incarceration of African-American men from another angle. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 47 million White, non-Hispanic, men and 35 million White, non-Hispanic women employed full time in the third quarter of 2012. In other words, 57% of the White, non-Hispanic, workforce was male. Similar gender ratios held for Hispanic and Asian workers. But there were 5.4 million male Black workers and 6.2 million Black female workers: just 47% of the Black workforce was male. In all groups, despite the law and generations of effort, men were paid more than women. The median Black weekly wages were $633 for men and $590 for women. (As a matter of interest, median wages for White women were $712, for White men, $854.) If we assume that the gender wage differential remains the same, the total weekly wage deficit for the Black community would be $500 million if equal percentages of Black men and women were employed and $895 million if the number of Black men employed were 110 percent of the number of Black women in full-time employment. Bearing in mind that there are nearly 900,000 African-American men in prison, the number of additional Black male workers at parity would be 793,000; at 110% it would be 1.4 million. If we assume a 48-week working year (two weeks of vacation and ten days of customary holidays), the annual income differential for the Black community as a whole would be between $24 and $43 billion.
It was noted earlier that Black men are incarcerated for violent crimes more often than for drug offenses. The potential for reducing the number of incarcerated Black men is, therefore, even greater than for those incarcerated for drug offenses if the size of this group can be reduced. While the disproportionate incarceration of Black men for drug offenses can be traced to the operations of law enforcement, that for violent crimes appears to be an artifact (as well as a cause) of poverty. There is a large scholarly literature exploring the link between poverty and violent crime and it is well-established that as poverty goes up (or down) rates of violent crime move nearly in parallel, at least to a “saturation point” of poverty, beyond which crime rates appear to level off. It is not that there is a link between specifically Black poverty and violent crime (or between African-Americans per se and violent crime, as was held by segregationists), it is that reductions in neighborhood poverty appear to produce similar reductions in violent crime in both White and Black neighborhoods.
We can approximate the national violent crime rate for Black men with reference to the New York State data discussed earlier. New York State’s Black violent crime incarceration rate is ten times that of the White violent crime incarceration rate (0.06% of the White population is incarcerated for violent offenses vs. 0.6% of the Black population). Approximately two-thirds of Black prisoners were incarcerated for violent felonies. If we assume an association of 80% between changes in poverty rates and changes in violent offensive rates, then a decline of 4% in the poverty rate would bring a decline of 3.2% in the number of incarcerations of Black men for violent offenses in New York, or just under 19,000. Over five years that would be approximately 93,000 fewer incarcerated Black men in New York State. With over 800,000 incarcerated Black men, nationally, a similar effect would reduce that number by 33,600 annually, increasing the income of the Black community by over $650 million each year: 168,000 fewer prisoners over five years, $3.25 billion in increased income for each 4% decline in the poverty rate.
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Again: What is to be done? And who is to do it?
The most straightforward beginning point for reducing Black poverty is the elimination of disparities in arrests and incarcerations for drug offences and other issues giving rise to inequities of a similar kind, such as trespass. This can be accomplished by relatively uncomplicated administrative measures: agreements among the key decision makers in the local, state and federal criminal justice systems to end the policies and practices that cause those disparities. An example of such good practice is the decision by the district attorney in the Bronx, New York City, to stop prosecuting young men arrested for trespass while standing in front of their own apartment doors. Police, with the cooperation of citizen’s groups, could devise equitable formulas for the allocation of effort and to test whether activities and arrests were racially disproportionate. District attorneys and prosecutors could devise similar procedures. Judges could be more sensitive to racial disparities in the cases brought before them and the sentences asked for by prosecutors as well as during jury selection processes. All decision-makers in the criminal justice system should move immediately to halt the criminalization of school discipline matters.
Improving educational attainment for male Black students can be accomplished. It has been accomplished in the Washington, D.C., suburbs and other suburban school systems across the country and by the Abbott efforts in New Jersey, by investments in early childhood education, extended school time, equitable school discipline policies and the professional development of educators. In the long run, this would be facilitated most efficiently by changing the basis of school funding from neighborhood property tax to some wider basis, such as a state’s general revenue. However, it is not necessary to wait for the outcome of what would no doubt be a complicated political process to accomplish this. Some states have already approximated a similar result by varying state aid in inverse proportion to local revenue. In this way a state might, for example, determine the average per student expenditure of the wealthiest quintile of districts and distribute school aid so that all districts in the state are “averaged up” to that level. Intra-district funding disparities can be remedied administratively at the district level, as can intra-district programming disparities, such as the distribution of gifted and talented programs, course offerings and the like. Racial disparities in out-of-school suspensions are another issue that can be addressed at the school and district level.
It is important to level the playing field and shocking that in much of the country it is routine that educational resources are directed away from those most in need of them. But as the research behind New Jersey’s Abbott school funding case showed, children whose families are not well-educated must have additional resources if they are to finish their schooling career and college ready. The resources must be there so that they arrive at first grade ready to learn to read. Resources for challenging elementary and secondary curricula must be in place as well as for the extended education time enjoyed by the children of wealthier families: more learning time each day; more learning days in each week and more learning time during the summer. This must be combined with continually professional development for their teachers, both in subject area knowledge and teaching skills.
Implementing the E.E.O.C. guidance to employers in regard to the hiring of formerly incarcerated African-American men and educational and training programs at community colleges can increase the income of African-American neighborhoods where there is currently concentrated poverty. These can begin with GED classes, and continue through Associates degrees and employment skills training programs coordinated with local employers. (“Green training” is one example of a promising type of program offered by community colleges, such as LaGuardia Community College in New York City.)
Combining programs to improve educational attainment for Black male students and to eliminate of disparate rates of incarceration for matters such as drug offenses would cause the poverty rate for Black children to decline significantly and the income of the Black community to increase. As the Black community’s income increased, the rate of violent offenses and incarcerations for those would decrease, further increasing the community’s income and educational attainment. Disparate Black poverty would begin to come to an end.
Taken together these recommendations are a minimal agenda for the world’s dominant nation. Resources are not the issue. The issue is whether we have the will to challenge historic prejudices and a heritage of injustice.
Notes, references, tables and charts for this series can be found in the book from which it has been taken: The Black Poverty Cycle and How to End It, which is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other Internet distributors.