Spring/Summer 2000

Educational integration is key to a successful multicultural society

It's extremely unfortunate that several national articles, including some appearing in the New York Times, have signaled a death knell to educational integration during a time when our U.S. society is becoming increasingly diverse. A segregated education in the 1950s was a disservice to us all, but one today is especially problematic for students who are growing up in an increasingly multicultural society and world.

A recent IRP national study, titled "Student Voices Across the Spectrum: The Educational Integration Initiatives Project," revealed strong differences between integrated, segregated and desegregated school settings and their effects on students. Sadly, we were not able to find a school that reflected true integration. This would require being: inclusive and supportive of various student learning styles, preparing students of all races for higher education, and providing students with the background and skills to interact in a multicultural society.

Student demographics used to be relied upon to determine whether a school or district was segregated. Due to changes in federal law, today a school district can be segregated in fact, but not in law. The federal courts have turned their backs on the promise of Brown v. Board of Education through a series of opinions that are hostile to integration. The Supreme Court has ruled that a federal court can only act on segregation when plaintiffs prove that segregation was caused by intentional government acts.

Other segregation not tied to proven intent, such as that caused by housing patterns, is permissible under federal education law. Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court has continued to erect higher and higher barriers for proving "illegal" segregation or to obtain a meaningful remedy. For example, in a Detroit desegregation case, the plaintiff met the high standard of showing that the school had been intentionally segregated by the state. Despite this, the Supreme Court held that the suburban school could not be required to participate in a remedy, unless the plaintiff proved that each suburb had also intentionally segregated. The court ignored the intentional reality of the racially segregated housing market in the Detroit area.

Of course, state courts do not have to adopt the federal court's approach to segregation. Indeed, some have been explicit that injuries are born by all learners who go to a segregated school, regardless if the plaintiff can prove it is intentional or not, and therefore all segregation is actionable. And while states increasingly are not required to desegregate under federal law, nor are they required to segregate. Unfortunately, many states, including Minnesota, have used federal flexibility to re-segregate their schools.

These changes in the national legal landscape have put wings on the heels of whites, who've fled to suburbs throughout the United States to get as they politely put it "a higher quality of education" for their children. Meanwhile, the national study we released this spring reinforces other research that shows that student achievement among children of color is higher in desegregated educational settings, and that these settings improve the capacity of all students to succeed in an increasingly multicultural society.

Our study was qualitative in nature and focused primarily on interviews with students, school administrators and teachers. We found that successful desegregated schools start integration initiatives when children are young - preferably in elementary school. They employ teachers who are trained and motivated to work with diverse types of students. These schools also offer extensive exploration of African-American, Asian, Native-American and Hispanic cultures. And they go out of their way to involve parents in their children's learning.

Research has shown that family involvement is an integral component of high student achievement. Unfortunately, it is difficult for students and parents to overcome the negative effects of being educated in racially segregated, high concentrated poverty schools. In addition to greater needs, many of these schools have fewer resources. Many of the highly segregated schools in our study did not offer college prepatory courses. This is consistent with a national trend.

In desegregated schools where college prep and honors course were offered, we found that blacks and Latino children were still likely to be discouraged by teachers and the schools from taking such classes. The few minority students who might be otherwise inclined to take more challenging classes were discouraged, due to racial and cultural isolation.

Although much of the blame for our disturbing neo-segregation posture can be squarely put at the foot of the federal courts, the larger society and the media and have been too quick to accept re-segregation and have failed to call for true integration at a most inopportune time. While we frequently acknowledge the growing diversity in our society and the spread of globalization, we often ignore the implications of these changes. Our future workers will not only require greater technical competencies; they will also demand cultural fluency beyond one's own culture.

The challenge for today's educators is not simply to prepare future workers, but also, and maybe more importantly, to prepare future citizens.

By Lynn Ingrid Nelson

IRP Executive Director john a. powell introduced nationally known researcher and scholar Dr. Edmund Gordon at a May 15 public forum sponsored by IRP at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Gordon is the John M. Musser Professor of Psychology (Emeritus) at Yale University. He began his career as an ordained Presbyterian minister, working with gang members in Harlem during 1945. He has become a national expert on diverse human characteristics and pedagogy (the way people learn). Gordon is a senior advisor to the president of the College Board and the author of the recently published book, Education and Social Justice: A View from the Back of the Bus. Below are excerpts from his discussion on education and personal development in a multi-racial society.

"I'm getting old and a little discouraged. Forty-two years ago, I was worried about the under- education of black people. I'm
still worrying, but the problems
haven't gotten better; they're deeper and more complex. We need to change the downward educational trajectory for minority and white students, and we must do
it for ourselves as well as for the
next generations.

"Despite unprecedented economic growth, the New York Times reports that poverty among blacks is growing, even among educated black people. And I'm concerned about the fact that the gap in student achievement is wider among affluent people of color and white people than it is between lower-income minorities and lower-income white people.

"If you are interested in learning more about this issue, I suggest you take a look at the report a task force I was on did for the College Board, which is called 'Reaching the Top.' It discusses some of the problems we identified and possible approaches; it is available by visiting their web site at www.collegeboard.com. [The College Board is a non-profit organization dedicated to
preparing and connecting students to higher education opportunities.]

"During this century, we will reach a point where there will be no majority groups in U.S. society. It will be the most important task of our nation to build a society out of diverse people. This is especially critical during a time when the entire world is becoming increasingly globalized.

"I was privileged to be a student and friend of W.E.B. DuBois, who in 1896 was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University. I was impressed with his commitment to education and his belief that the top tenth of all intellectuals must receive a firm grounding in the humanities, liberal arts and sciences.

"Toward the end of his life, DuBois recognized that he was probably mistaken in focusing only on the top tenth, and he stated that by the
early 21st Century the world would become so complex that this kind of education would have to be made available to everyone.

"This is consistent with what the College Board is currently struggling with: a definition of the kinds of knowledge required to compete in today's and tomorrow's highly multicultural, global and highly technical society. We recognize that to do so, one
must have multiple perspectives, be multi-lingual, and have multiple
competencies.

"We recognize that in order to facilitate this kind of learning, we have to move away from a talking-at-you approach to a small-group-problem-solving approach. To summarize what we believe will be necessary for the education of minority and all students in the 21st century:

· We need to develop competencies in teachers and school staff to be successful with an increasingly diverse population of students.

· We know that public schools will have to become four times as productive and effective to meet today's educational demands. This means we must provide the financial resources required to accomplish this formidable task.

· Homes and communities are critical educational resources. We must recognize and promote the responsibilities of both to make sure that schools' efforts are supported and reinforced.

· Lastly, we must ensure that schools are broadly inclusive. In today's modern world, education cannot be an isolating experience. Education that leads to the intellectual competence required for success today and in the future has to be experienced in a broadly inclusive learning environment.

"In conclusion, to offer education in isolated settings at a time when society desperately needs integrated settings is a dangerous proposition. It follows the pattern of a despicable Nazi Germany. We must reject eradication. We've embraced incarceration, but we can't keep pouring our resources into prisons and correctional institutions.

"The only alternative for a civil society
is education."

By Lisa Jabaily

IRP convened teachers, administrators and legislators on the morning of May 16 to debate policy and philosophy in Minnesota education. Questions about the state's role in accountability, political will and the merits of
self-interest topped the list of issues on the table.

The debate focused extensively on reconstitution, a tactic used when an authority outside a school determines that it does not meet educational standards. When schools are reconstituted, some or all of the faculty and administrators of the school are replaced, and curricula are significantly revamped. Most participants, including Department of Children, Families & Learning Commissioner Christine Jax, IRP Executive Director john powell, and Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Carol Johnson, felt that school reconstitution is a possible strategy, but should be used cautiously, strategically, and as a last resort.

Johnson added additional insight: "Very often, we use indirect methods to get to what we want, for instance, student achievement. Usually it seems we come up with a 'magic label'-accountability, reconstitution, charter schools-and this will make it happen. But the straight line is teacher quality, in addition to adequate materials and tools to do their jobs well, plus state monitoring to ensure that all students are learning. I think we should use not just one, but multiple indicators for achieving a total learning environment."

"The state has a responsibility for specifying standards, as well as ensuring access to resources and equity," Dr. Edmund Gordon remarked. "The state's responsibility is in monitoring, in a sophisticated way, rather than a general way. The responsibility for implementation is best allocated to local areas, to identify the best means of achieving the standards, given the resources at their disposal. I think we should use the umbrella term of 'enable' rather
than 'punish.'"

Meeting moderator john powell then turned the discussion to a more pragmatic concern. Although many of the leaders agreed on such fundamentals as smaller class sizes and good teachers, they also agreed that such fundamentals are difficult to transform into law. "There appears to be a body of material, and tremendous consensus on what helps kids, but we can't do anything about it without political will. So how do we shift political will?"

State Representative Mindy Greiling said that political will is currently focused on self-interest, or as she put it -greed. "One of the biggest motivators is greed, unfortunately. All of us are greedy for our own districts. Legislators don't want to give out a bleeding heart liberal image anymore - it isn't good 'for business,' given the current fiscally conscious mentality in the country," she said.

powell suggested a way to synthesize the political will and the concept of self-interest with the goals of the participants. He advocated creating partnerships with non-traditional groups, such as business communities. "In a number of communities, such as Chicago, the business community has stepped in, saying that the present school trends cannot continue, because they are lacking an adequately educated workforce. It is a moral issue, but it is also a business issue."

"The idea of 'enlightened self-interest' has not been sufficiently explored," suggested Professor William Trent of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, "There is a myth that by not intervening [in failing schools], it costs us nothing. So we need to share these costs out to the public."

Jackie Nguyen of the Hmong National Organization cautioned that aligning with business should not be pursued without caution. "It is refreshing to discuss self-interest, as distinguished from selfishness, which the former is all too often equated with. However, I was at a recent business meeting held by Coca Cola, which has a large 'self-interest' in the University of Minnesota, and it was frightening to hear company executives referring to students as simply consumers. The lesson, I think, is that as we draw business into academia, we should not be blinded by the money they promise to give."

Gordon recast the concept of self-interest in a historical light. "With reference to [African-American intellectual W.E.B.] DuBois, he was at one time enamored with the German model of higher education, but eventually he moved away from that. German universities and German society become very specialized and highly efficient at the turn of the century, but this was also the background for the emergence of Nazism. It is possible their neglect of the arts and humanities contributed to this. That is, 'self-interest' led to the societal collapse.

"It is not insignificant that the U.S. has followed in that direction. We are elevating natural science over the arts; we seek to control and predict reality, rather than trying to understand why and what it means - the latter is more the job of the humanities. And while a shifting back toward the arts and humanities may not help the current situation, it may greatly influence our children.

"Schools may be willing to give more attention if the parents insist. So what does it mean to build a collective society long-term, vis-à-vis self-interest? As we try to make our pedagogy [methods of learning] more efficient, we must also remember to be more inclusive."

Susie Hartigan was hired as a research fellow for IRP in June. She worked for the past six months as a temporary research assistant and prior to that as a staff attorney for the Alaska Court of Appeals, specializing in criminal law appeals. The research projects on which she has worked at the Institute include the Educational Integration Initiatives Project and the Survey of Strategies to Eliminate Racial Bias and Reduce Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System. Susie has a J.D. degree from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Lisa Jabaily joined IRP as assistant to the directors of public education and development in April. She acts as a liaison for media relations, assists with grant proposals and reports, coordinates special events, and edits and writes for IRP's quarterly newsletter. Lisa recently received her bachelor's degree at Macalester College in St. Paul.

Vina Kay began work in March as a senior researcher at IRP. She served as a legal fellow at IRP from 1995-1996 and returned to Minneapolis and IRP after a few years living in San Francisco. She oversees several research projects, including the Racial Justice and Regional Equity Project. Vina has a B.A. degree from Carleton College and a J.D.degree from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Marguerite L. Spencer is a senior researcher at IRP. She has worked at the Institute for several years. Marguerite assumed her current role in March 1999. She earned her J.D. degree from the University of Minnesota Law School and also holds a master's degree in religious studies. Marguerite teaches theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, specializing in the intersection of law and religion. Her publications include "Tearing Down Walls and Building Lives: A Systemic Approach to Welfare Reform," which appeared in the Journal of Law and Inequality in 1999, and, with john a. powell, "Remaking the Urban University for the Urban Student: Talking about Race," which appeared in the Connecticut Law Review in 1998.

Colleen Walbran is a research fellow, currently working on the Racial Justice and Regional Equity project. Colleen has a law degree from the University of Minnesota School of Law. She's worked as a research assistant at IRP since1998, contributing research to projects, including the Educational Integration Initiatives Project. Colleen formerly worked as a law clerk at the Housing Discrimination Law Project and the landlord tenant division of the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis.

By Lisa Jabaily

"It is in the direct self-interest of the dominant community to learn how to value, respect, and work with peoples of different cultures and outlooks," says Frederick W. Smith, community program development coordinator for the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs.

CURA serves as an important link between University of Minnesota faculty and students and organizations and public institutions. Its goal is to address the problems faced by people and communities of Minnesota. The organization supports applied research projects requested by these communities.

Every year, CURA undertakes more than 100 projects. Examples of recent projects include: coordinating a study to evaluate the impact of a community internet network; awarding a grant to examine links between child homelessness and success in school; and serving as a home base for an affirmative-action study examining the disparity between available female and minority contractors and the number of contracts awarded to them.

"The central part of my job is to ensure that CURA's resources reach all those for whom they are intended," says Smith. "We believe a special effort needs to be made to encourage and work with communities of color and other constituencies that have been discouraged, discriminated against and oppressed by the dominant culture."

In a sense, CURA is a redistribution effort, channeling the energy and resources of the University toward a network of nonprofits, ethnic and racial minority groups, businesses, rural towns, inner-city neighborhoods, suburban communities, local governments and state agencies.

The philosophy of redistribution echoes beyond CURA's mission statement. "The biggest issue for people adversely affected by race and poverty is hands down, redistribution of resources. Health care, day care, education, housing - is there any policy issue that wouldn't be more tractable with greater equity of income? I have no wisdom about how, but somehow the issue must be raised," said Smith.

IRP's values mesh with Smith's work at CURA in an important way. From Smith's perspective, these connections could be expanded. "In the Twin Cities there are emerging immigrant communities that have many resources," he says. "I would hope future projects of the Institute will include how central city communities - particularly these new immigrant communities- can be supported and encouraged to thrive."

More information about CURA can be found on their Web site at www.umn.edu/cura.

IRP recently released a report entitled "Student Voices across the Spectrum: The Educational Integration Initiatives Project." This report represents the culmination of the Institute's three-year study of the effects of racial segregation in America's public schools.

Through a series of interviews with students, teachers, and administrators, as well as evaluations of school policies, curricula, and ethnic clubs, IRP evaluated the degree of integration, desegregation, and segregation in 10 high schools. The report included schools in a variety of cities: Washington, D.C., Chicago, St. Paul, Louisville, Cleveland, San Jose and Berkeley.

No school that participated in the study was truly integrated, based on IRP's definition. None of the desegregated schools examined was effective in: providing its students with a truly multicultural education in a learning environment that was inclusive and supportive of various student learning styles, adequately preparing students of all races to pursue higher education, and providing students with background and skills to interact successfully in a multicultural society. Ultimately, the study found that students attending desegregated schools enjoyed educational advantages that were unavailable to students in racially isolated schools.

Four recommendations surfaced from these findings.

• First, link education and housing and implement region-wide solutions. Local, state and national initiatives that combat residential segregation through fair-share housing laws, limits on urban sprawl and other regional strategies are the first key steps.
  
• Second, address the connection between race and poverty. Minority students often live in neighborhoods segregated not only by race, but also by poverty. In such concentrated poverty areas, students suffer the lack of opportunity structures along with their families and communities.
  
• Third, improve teacher diversity and training. Teacher education programs must place a priority on teaching both the value of integration and the means to create integrated schools.
  
• Finally, implement structural, curricular, and programmatic changes. Advanced placement programs based solely on test scores must be eliminated; curricula must incorporate materials that represent the voices and experiences of a breadth of people; and programmatic factors such as teaching methods and class size must more equitably address the needs of all students.

The full 125-page report is available for $5. For more information about the report or a free copy of the 28-page Executive Summary, call (612) 625-8071.

"IRP believes that the current public discourse on race and poverty works out of a limited and erroneous framework," says Marguerite L. Spencer, IRP senior researcher. "Generally, it is based on a 'white perspective,' and it often suggests that racism and prejudice no longer exist. This discourse ignores the structural, institutional, systemic and accumulated aspects of racism that lead to persistent racial and economic disparities."

The Institute is planning a national conference on transforming public discourse on race and poverty for the fall of 2001. The purpose of the national conference will be to explore the strategies and networks necessary to launch this transformative effort. Invitees will include media representatives, policy makers, researchers, advocates, business leaders, grant makers and other opinion leaders.

A conference planning meeting will be held this October.

Buy American: The Untold Story of Economic Nationalism.
Dana Frank, Boston: Beacon Press, 1999
(ISBN: 0-8070-4710-4, 316 pp., $26)
By S. P. Udayakumar

Ironic as it may sound, the United States, a major actor in ongoing globalization, has been plagued by an "import panic attack" for the past 30 years. In fact, the "Buy American" movement, which is based on the idea that Americans can use their purchasing dollars to chart their economic future, has been part of the American legacy ever since the American Revolution.

Examining the history and politics of this movement, author Dana Frank lays bare the cunning rhetoric and workings of economic nationalism, the false economic prophets, and their virulent anti-Asian racism.

The mainstream understanding of foreign trade policy in the United States identifies only two completely oppositional approaches. On one hand, there are the "free traders" who argue that if barriers to trade and investment are removed and goods and capital are allowed to move freely from nation to nation, prosperity is bound to come.

On the other hand, there are the "protectionists" who favor high barriers to trade and investment in order to protect jobs, and to prevent the entry of goods and foreigners.

While "free trade" has meant the corporate liberty to decide international economic affairs in its best interests, protectionism is often presented as the only alternative. The protectionists are steeped in economic nationalism, nativism, and overt racism.

Inevitably, they define the economy racially and engage in racialized excision of products and people that are "alien." Consequently, they advocate restrictive immigration policies, identify the same enemy within and without, sense economic treason from this enemy, and embark on racist bigotry to counter that treason.

The economic racism of protectionists figures prominently in trade and investment arenas. For example, the Jim Crow segregation that barred African Americans from buying certain goods and services and working in white establishments; vicious racist attacks on "Japs," Chinese and others; the fear of "yellow peril;" and the passionate pleas to "buy American" are all part of America's historical legacy.

Continuing that legacy, Japan is still singled out - though the Japanese generally look up to whites as being advanced and civilized. There has been a longstanding accusation that "Japanese investors are buying America wholesale," despite the fact that Britain invests more money in the United States than Japan, and Canada controls 26 percent of all foreign owned real estate (as opposed to Japan's 15 percent). Japan is often used as a scapegoat for scare-mongering.

The worst damage done by economic nationalism and "Buy American" campaigns is to set up U.S. workers as part of a nationalist team with U.S. corporations, which prevents them from joining hands with workers of the world in class solidarity. While playing the nationalist card at home, corporate capital is also eager to flee overseas with its investment dollars.

What could be an alternative to this economic nationalism then? For Frank, it is definitely not going back to the "Golden Age" of the 1950s. If going forward is the only option, how do we do that? She suggests a new approach to foreign economic relations that elicits a new understanding of the economic nation and a new conceptualization of the line between "us" and "them". This new approach demands constructing concrete international labor solidarity alliances, embedding international labor standards in trade agreements, developing trade policies with barriers based on production conditions, understanding race relations as part of trade relations and immigration policy, and most importantly, understanding economic democracy on the basis of: What kind of nation do we want and for whom?

To protect or not to protect? That is not the question for Frank. How can we have an internationalist trade policy that serves the interests of working Americans rather than U.S. corporations, while striving to bring economic justice for the workers of the world? This book answers this question quite effectively.

Editor's note: IRP is exploring the effects of globalism on minorities in the United States and throughout the world. Research fellow S.P. Udayakumar compiled the following list of books, which offer varied perspectives on this increasingly powerful influence.

Dana Frank, Buy American: The Untold Story of Economic Nationalism. Boston: Beacon Press, 1999.

Thomas Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999.

John Gray, False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism. New York: The New Press, 1998.

William Greider, One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism. New York: Touchstone, 1997.

Edward Luttwak, Turbo-Capitalism: Winners and Losers in the Global Economy. New York: HarperCollins, 1999.

Saskia Sassen, Globalization and Its Discontents: Essays on the New Mobility of People and Money. New York: The New Press, 1998.

Kavaljit Singh, The Globalization of Finance: A Citizen's Guide. London & New York: Zed Books, 1999.

George Soros, The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered. New York: Public Affairs, 1998.

William Wolman and Anne Colamosca, The Judas Economy: The Triumph of Capital and the Betrayal of Work. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1997.

Charles Zerber, Corporation Nation. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.

The impacts of globalization on racial and ethnic minorities

From a commentary published in the June issue of
the Poverty & Race Research Action Council Newsletter.

By john a. powell and S. P. Udayakumar
The world economy is in a state of unprecedented growth, but with this growth has come dangerous and destructive economic disparity. On the one hand, we see the "impressive" economy in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in the United States. On the other hand, many people of color, particularly those in the Southern Hemisphere, do not have enough food to eat, resulting in malnutrition and disease.

But how are all of these disparate conditions related to globalism, and why are people of color under the most severe threat from this process? To answer the above question, it is first necessary to better understand what globalism is.

Globalism refers to the process in which goods and services, including capital, move more freely within and among nations. As globalism advances, national boundaries become more and more porous, and to some extent, less and less relevant.

This response is not an attack on globalism but on the excessive and undemocratic nature of the U.S.-style globalism popular now, which is particularly hostile to people of color and other marginal groups. This style of globalism disempowers average Americans in every way, except as consumers. There are powerful organizations supported by the U.S. government's leadership that protect and facilitate the flow of capital like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, etc.

Unfortunately, there are no organizations of equal stature to protect the interests of workers, racial minorities, the environment, or women and children. There are, of course, several treaties and international instruments dealing with some of these issues. However, they are nearly impotent, compared with the institutions with far-reaching and substantial goals for protecting capital.

Globalism must be re- envisioned to appropriately protect capital, but also to protect labor, women, children, people of color and the environment. These concerns must be seen as interrelated, not as separate. Furthermore, we must create the international structures with the transparency and accountability necessary to make this vision a reality and to develop suitable remedies for the plight of marginalized peoples. These steps should not be seen as hostile to business, but as an appropriate cost of doing business in a justice-oriented and sustainable global economy.

john a. powell is the executive director and S. P. Udayakumar is a research associate at the Institute on Race & Poverty at the University of Minnesota Law School. The authors can be contacted via e-mail at powel008@tc.umn.edu and spkumar@tc.umn.edu respectively.

Urban woes, ecological blight
Civil-rights activists,conservationists share same goals

These excerpts first appeared in an op-ed published by the Miami Herald on April 2, 2000. Articles in their entirety appear on the IRP Web site at www.umn.edu/irp.

By john a. powell

The environmentally driven smart growth measures being explored will not alone reverse the destructive environmental forces of sprawl. Addressing social justice must be taken on as a conservation measure as well. By improving life in our cities, we may also be able to save our ecosystems.

Suburban sprawl, along with its counterpart metropolitan fragmentation, is the greatest obstacle to achieving social justice in our nation today. As people and businesses with the economic means sprawl away from central cities, they settle into developing suburban jurisdictions divesting the cities of valuable resources, as well as needed tax bases.

They leave behind low-income minorities in high-need, resource-depleted central cities, creating fragmented metropolitan regions with enormous inequities between central cities and developing suburbs. The resulting borders become barriers, walling off greater social needs in the central cities, while enabling
the developing suburbs to amass valuable resources.

This relationship between suburban sprawl the decline of our central cities and has gone largely unnoticed by those currently engaged in the anti-sprawl movement, as well as by social justice advocates. But this must change if both groups are to be successful in advancing their interests.

Currently, anti-sprawl and civil rights agendas overlap in peripheral ways, resulting in half-hearted gains on each front. To remedy this, regional actors driving the current anti-sprawl agenda must expand the discussion of sprawl to address issues of social justice and urban decay. Civil rights leaders must also put suburban sprawl and fragmentation on their agenda - both to achieve their goals and to engage anti-sprawl activists in social justice. Neither camp can afford to ignore the other's concerns.

The Institute on Race & Poverty has initiated a Regional Equity Project to address civil rights issues by challenging sprawl and fragmentation trends on both national and local levels. One of our goals is to connect local civil rights activists with anti-sprawl activists to attend to their complementary concerns.

To paraphrase a statement made by Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, we cannot save our ecosystem unless we save our cities.

john a. powell. powell worked in Miami from 1981-1983 as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Miami Law School and as executive director of Legal Services of Greater Miami.

How sprawl makes us poor
full article

These excerpts are part of a larger article, which appeared in the Albuquerque Tribune on March 22, 2000.

By john a. powell

Sprawl and its resulting jurisdictional fragmentation are among the most destructive dynamics in our society today. These dynamics threaten both social justice and the environment. And left unabated, they threaten to sap both the economic and political vitality from our society.

It is commonplace today to think of sprawl as a natural part of the American dream. But behind the myth of individual choice and the force of the marketplace, we see very deliberate government policies, supported by the public purse to the tune of well over $1 trillion.

As we have encouraged and provided subsidies for people to leave the central cities, there has been powerful incentive to both sprawl further and further out and to create as many separate communities as possible. It is not unusual to find metro areas with hundreds of small towns - all trying to support their own schools, fire departments, water systems, housing and so on.

This effort is wasteful and is largely based on a myth. People's lives are more organized around regions than around separate towns or communities. We cross several jurisdictions a day: on the way to work, to drop off our children at school, to go to a play, or to shop for food or clothes.

And indeed, the health of our own individual town or neighborhood is closely tied to the health of our region. Yet to avoid taxes and pay for all of our regional responsibilities, including our poorer and minority neighbors, there is a powerful inclination not to just move from the city, but to close the door as we leave.

Fragmented regions are not just wasteful in terms of straining our fragile ecosystem - they are also the regions with the greatest racial and socioeconomic disparity and segregation. Chicago is consistently cited as one of the most - if not the most - racially segregated regions in the country. It is also the most fragmented, with more than 1,300 governmental jurisdictions.

During the next decade, state and local leaders must focus on ways to address the environmental damage, such as air quality, created by urban sprawl while balancing the need to take advantage of more of the native human resources. Minorities deserve to share in business growth. In order to do so, they must receive job-training support and opportunities to obtain higher education. Minorities must also be included in critical regional decision-making.

john a. powell, executive director, Institute on Race & Poverty (IRP) and Marvin J. Sonosky Professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis, Minn. Powell spoke on March 18, 2000 at an event sponsored by the 1,000 Friends of New Mexico. Part of his commentary was excerpted by a report produced by IRP in May 1999. The title of the report, which features Albuquerque and four other U.S. metro areas is "Concentrated Poverty and Racial Segregation: Evaluating Programs and Policies." It can be accessed via IRP's Web site at www.umn.edu/irp.

Latest foe of sprawl: minorities in city core

Excerpts from June 16, 2000 article by Craig Savoye, which appeared in the Christian Science Monitor.

Some academics argue that government policies of funding road construction at the expense of mass transit and giving tax breaks to suburban developers literally paved the way for white flight - the departure of whites from cities to suburbs. This, in turn, shrank the tax base of most cities and led to many of the ills commonly associated with struggling inner cities.

"The effects of sprawl and fragmentation are huge," says john powell, executive director of the Institute on Race and Poverty and a law professor at the University of Minnesota. "Many of the gains of the civil rights movement have been undermined by the racialization of space in metropolitan areas. Sprawl is central to that and so many other issues. I think it will be the civil rights issue of this century."

IRP is currently working on a civil rights project aimed at reducing racial disparities and racial bias in the criminal justice system by documenting and evaluating current strategies and by improving their coordination and implementation, both locally and nationally. Such strategies include monitoring race-based stops and collection of racial data by court systems, as well as creating coalitions, filing legal challenges to law enforcement practices and drafting legislation addressing racial disparities and bias.

For more information on this project or to view the latest draft of our Racial Profiling Data Collection Status Report, visit our Web site at www1.umn.edu/irp. Our Web site also includes information on other current research, news and articles, an on-line library of a variety of our published reports as well as links to other "like-minded" organizations.

IRP executive director john powell has been invited to participate in a National Public Radio program, "Talk of the Nation," from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. CDT on Thursday, Aug. 31.

The focus of the program will be issues affecting the New South, including urban sprawl and the return of many blacks to the region. It will be produced in Charlotte, N.C., which will be featured as a representative modern Southern city. Other program guests will include the mayor of Charlotte, a representative of a national building developers trade association, and the owner of the Carolina Panthers.

Please tune in to 91.1 FM on your radio dial. Programs are also accessible via NPR's Web site at www.npr.org.

IRP recently received a grant of $225,000 from the Otto Bremer Foundation for three years' general operations support, and the McKnight Foundation provided $75,000 to support general operations and a Twin Cities Metropolitan Opportunity Mapping Project. In addition to foundation grants, IRP received several individual donations in honor of Dr. Terri Karis, a friend of the Institute, in recognition of the completion of her doctorate degree.