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Saturday, July 30, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks and Hispanics
The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available government data from 2009.
These lopsided wealth ratios are the largest since the government began publishing such data a quarter century ago and roughly twice the size of the ratios that had prevailed between these three groups for the two decades prior to the Great Recession that ended in 2009.
The Pew Research Center analysis finds that, in percentage terms, the bursting of the housing market bubble in 2006 and the recession that followed from late 2007 to mid-2009 took a far greater toll on the wealth of minorities than whites. From 2005 to 2009, inflation-adjusted median wealth fell by 66% among Hispanic households and 53% among black households, compared with just 16% among white households.
Read more here
These lopsided wealth ratios are the largest since the government began publishing such data a quarter century ago and roughly twice the size of the ratios that had prevailed between these three groups for the two decades prior to the Great Recession that ended in 2009.
The Pew Research Center analysis finds that, in percentage terms, the bursting of the housing market bubble in 2006 and the recession that followed from late 2007 to mid-2009 took a far greater toll on the wealth of minorities than whites. From 2005 to 2009, inflation-adjusted median wealth fell by 66% among Hispanic households and 53% among black households, compared with just 16% among white households.
Read more here
What Diversity Teaches Us The Importance of America’s Endangered Diversity Education Programs
Given the consistent population projections that say our country will no longer have an ethnic majority by the year 2050, one would think that diversity education would become even more crucial in order to deepen our understanding of multicultural studies and the various communities of color that are growing in significant percentages. Instead, there is a disturbing trend emerging across the country where the current economic climate is used to justify budget cuts and these diversity-based departments are the first to go.
In the past few years, we’ve seen a troubling trend where academic programs in both public schools and universities centered on tenets of diversity such as African American studies, ethnic studies, women’s studies, and others get the axe. Despite the fact that many of these programs were the result of hard-fought battles won by the civil rights and women’s movements, we’ve seen proposals to either eliminate whole departments or considerably cut their funding in California, Texas, and Nevada, among other states.
Read more here
In the past few years, we’ve seen a troubling trend where academic programs in both public schools and universities centered on tenets of diversity such as African American studies, ethnic studies, women’s studies, and others get the axe. Despite the fact that many of these programs were the result of hard-fought battles won by the civil rights and women’s movements, we’ve seen proposals to either eliminate whole departments or considerably cut their funding in California, Texas, and Nevada, among other states.
Read more here
Monday, July 25, 2011
Black and Depressed: Two African-American Women Break the Silence
According to Raymond DePaulo, Jr. M.D., Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, African American populations do not have higher rates of depression in the US. However, the statistics may be skewed because African Americans are much less likely to report their symptoms of depression.
The stigma and prejudice toward mental health issues in Black communities is especially thick, making it very difficult for persons suffering from depression or anxiety (or any mood disorder) to acknowledge it, let alone seek treatment. When I participated in a six-week outpatient program at Laurel Hospital, half the group was African American. The stories horrified me. Most of the African Americans could not reveal to any member in their family what they were doing (the outpatient program) because the stigma was so deep and tall and wide.
Read more here
The stigma and prejudice toward mental health issues in Black communities is especially thick, making it very difficult for persons suffering from depression or anxiety (or any mood disorder) to acknowledge it, let alone seek treatment. When I participated in a six-week outpatient program at Laurel Hospital, half the group was African American. The stories horrified me. Most of the African Americans could not reveal to any member in their family what they were doing (the outpatient program) because the stigma was so deep and tall and wide.
Read more here
Is Black History Better Taught At Harvard?
One of my favorite African-American Studies professors, who held a doctorate in Africana Studies, used to ask the same question: Why do so many of the Ph.D.’s in the field take their degrees and teach at white institutions instead of helping to strengthen the African American studies programs at historically black colleges and universities? For example, The National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for College Teachers is currently being held at Harvard University’s W.E.B. DuBois Institute. The aim of the program is to bring two dozen college professors from around the country to Cambridge for intensive three-week training on ways for them to integrate more black history into their classrooms and research projects, The Wall Street Journal reports. That’s lovely, but wouldn’t it be great if the conference were held at Spelman or Tuskegee? Context can be important when examining history.
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Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
What Can I Do With A Black Studies Major?
The interdisciplinary field of Blacks Studies—alternatively called African American Studies, Afro-American Studies, Africana Studies, Pan African Studies, or Afro-Ethnic Studies, depending on the school where it is offered---is a relative newcomer on the academic scene and its proponents have had to defend its theoretical underpinnings and practicality, something which the traditional liberal arts fields are also challenged to do but not to the same extent. Since the establishment of the nation’s first Black Studies department in 1968 at San Francisco State University, and despite the wide acceptance and institutionalization of Black Studies in academia, there still remains the nagging question about its ability to produce outstanding citizens equal in quality to individuals who as undergraduates majored in, say, history or English or art. Black Studies has now been around long enough to notice its handiwork: men and women constructively contributing to society, employed in a wide spectrum of professions.
It is a difficult task to compile a list of noteworthy people who majored in Black Studies because there are so many who could easily qualify. This list merely scratches the surface. Black Studies attracts a broad span of interested scholars. Not only persons of African descent, but also persons of European, Asian, Latino, Middle Eastern, and Native American descent are represented in the list. Some of those mentioned are virtually household names or have received considerable local or regional attention. Their professions range from A (Astronaut) to Z (Zoo administrator). In short, the answer to those asking what can a person do with a Black Studies major is simple: . . . . Anything!
Most of the entries contain a brief sketch of the person’s career, the type of degree obtained in Black Studies, and additional (usually graduate) degrees in other disciplines which the person was granted.
Read more here
It is a difficult task to compile a list of noteworthy people who majored in Black Studies because there are so many who could easily qualify. This list merely scratches the surface. Black Studies attracts a broad span of interested scholars. Not only persons of African descent, but also persons of European, Asian, Latino, Middle Eastern, and Native American descent are represented in the list. Some of those mentioned are virtually household names or have received considerable local or regional attention. Their professions range from A (Astronaut) to Z (Zoo administrator). In short, the answer to those asking what can a person do with a Black Studies major is simple: . . . . Anything!
Most of the entries contain a brief sketch of the person’s career, the type of degree obtained in Black Studies, and additional (usually graduate) degrees in other disciplines which the person was granted.
Read more here
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
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