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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 9, 2020)
A7 THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2020 A chronic economic racial gap Despite gains, divides remain By PAUL WISEMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON — The United States has been here before, staring into the deep chasm that divides white and black Americans. It happened after cities burned in 1967, after Los Angeles erupted with the 1992 acquittal of police offi - cers who beat Rodney King, after the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Fergu- son, Missouri. After those upheavals came talk of change — of reforming policing, yes, but also of expanding economic opportunity to black Amer- icans who have been dis- proportionately left behind in one of the world’s rich- est countries. Yet despite big pledges and high hopes, eco- nomic progress has come slowly, if at all, for black America. African Americans still earn barely 60 cents for every $1 in white income. They have 10 cents in wealth for every $1 whites own. They remain more than twice as likely to live in poverty. And they’re about as likely to own a home as they were when Richard Nixon was president. Now, demonstrators are out in the streets again, this time to protest what hap- pened in Minneapolis to George Floyd, dead after a police offi cer pressed a knee into his neck for eight min- utes and 46 seconds. Once again, racial inequality underlies rage and despair, especially because the unrest coincides with an economic and health calam- ity, one that’s falling hard- est, yet again, on African Americans. “We’ve got a perfect storm,” said Cecelia Rouse, professor of economics and public affairs at Prince- ton University. “COVID is wreaking economic havoc” for African Americans. Black Americans are far more likely than whites to die of COVID-19. They work disproportionately in low-paying service jobs — the ones that were slashed when restaurants and movie theaters closed as a health precaution and customers stayed away from hotels and airports. “We’ve been blindsided by the pandemic,’’ said Imani Fox of the Washington com- munity group ONE DC. Black workers who remain employed are more likely to work as front-line workers in warehouses, gro- cery stores and takeout eat- eries — jobs that leave them exposed to the virus. “People are mad as hell,’’ said Monica Lewis-Pat- rick, president of the com- munity group We the People of Detroit. “We can’t be the wealthiest nation or declare ourselves the wealthiest nation in the world and still have these major inequities and disparities that are glar- ingly based on race.’’ Rouse said she has reread portions of the Kerner Com- mission report, issued in 1968 to call for reform in the wake of the urban unrest of the late ‘60s. “It was so depressing,’’ she said. “What has changed?’’ A month after the Kerner report, for example, Congress passed the Fair Housing Act, meant to eliminate housing discrimination. Assessing the act on its 50th anniver- sary two years ago, Margery Turner, of the Urban Institute, wrote that African Americans and other minorities contin- ued to face discrimination, though the “most blatant’’ forms of bias had declined. “We still live in starkly segregated neighborhoods,” she wrote, noting that the typical white American lives in a neighborhood that is 75% white and 8% African American; a typical black American lives in a neigh- borhood that is 35% white and 45% black. The coronavirus recession is especially disheartening because African Americans fi nally seemed to be mak- ing headway in the aftermath of the Great Recession. The unemployment rate for black Americans hit a record low last fall. And black wealth, decimated by the fi nancial crisis of the late 2000s, had in recent years outgrown white wealth. Then came COVID-19. “When something goes wrong for all American workers, it’s going to dispro- portionately affect African Americans, who are often the most fragile in the economy,’’ said Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, of New Jersey. Amid the anger and anguish is optimism that white rate has barely budged at around 10%. The offi cial poverty rate may understate African Americans’ progress because it excludes the effect of noncash government pro- grams such as food stamps and Medicaid. Jobs In this Aug. 17, 1965 photo, A.Z. Smith, a victim of the Los Angeles riots, checks the damage to his barber shop in the Watts area of Los Angeles. Business establishments owned by whites were the usual targets of looters and arsonists. Smith was one of the few blacks caught up in the turmoil. ‘WE’VE GOT A PERFECT STORM. COVID IS WREAKING ECONOMIC HAVOC.’ Cecelia Rouse | professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University policymakers will use this moment to fi nd ways to narrow the economic gap between black and white Americans. Among the hopes is that political leaders can deliver reforms to America’s economic system: Paid sick leave. A higher federal min- imum wage. Perhaps even direct payments to the needy — test-run, perhaps, by the $1,200 stimulus checks the government sent to many Americans as the economy shut down in the face of the pandemic. But the United States has had watershed moments before. And the big changes didn’t come. Here’s a look at America’s economic racial divide and how it has and hasn’t changed after decades of protests: Income From 1968 to 2018, median income for black households, adjusted for infl ation, rose 37% from $30,155 to $41,361. In per- centage terms, that outpaced the 31% growth in house- hold income for whites (from $51,138 to $66,943), accord- ing to the Census Bureau. But black households still earn just 62 cents for every $1 earned by white households. The income gap remains wide even though Afri- can Americans have vastly upgraded their educational attainment: The proportion of black Americans with a high school diploma has surged from 54% in 1968 to 92% in 2018. The share with a col- lege degree rose from 9% to 23% over that period, accord- ing to government fi gures compiled by the Economic Policy Institute. Yet black people are still more than twice as likely as whites to live in poverty. Their poverty rate has dropped from 55% in 1959 to 35% in 1968 to 21% in 2018. The The unemployment rate for African Americans has typically hovered around twice the rate for whites. But beginning last year, the record-breaking economic expansion that began in June 2009 had fi nally begun to pay off for African Americans. Their jobless rate dropped from 16.8% in March 2010 to an all-time low of 5.4% in August last year. That progress ended abruptly once the coronavirus recession wiped out tens of millions of jobs in March and April. Black workers, dispro- portionately laboring in low- wage service jobs, were less likely to be among the fortu- nate: The offi ce workers who could keep their jobs while working from the safety of home. African Americans were likelier to either lose their jobs or to work as essen- tial front-line employees who are more vulnerable to the virus. On Friday, the govern- ment issued a surprisingly upbeat jobs report for May: The national unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped from 14.7% to 13.3%. But the jobless rate for African Americans ticked up, from 16.7% to 16.8%, the level where it had been 10 years earlier. Wealth Black Americans face an even bigger long-term prob- lem than lagging incomes and higher unemployment. They have struggled to build wealth — home equity and investment portfolios — that could be tapped in times of need, used as collateral for loans to start a business or passed on to children. “Income helps you pay your bills,’’ said Olugbenga Ajilore, senior economist at the liberal Center for Ameri- can Progress. “Wealth moves you from poverty to the mid- dle class to the upper class.’’ APPLIANCE PACKAGE DEALS SPORTS Annual Poyer camp canceled The Astorian Gary Henley/The Astorian Jordan Poyer, in action at last year’s football camp. This summer’s annual Jordan Poyer Football Camp has been offi cially canceled, Astoria football coach and camp organizer Howard Rub announced. SEVENDAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA TODAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY APPLIANCE AND HOME FURNISHINGS “It is still undecided what camps we will be able to offer in August as we have done in the past for football and volleyball,” Rub said. Those decisions “will hope- fully be made by the middle of July.” FRIDAY SATURDAY 529 SE MARLIN, WARRENTON 503-861-0929 Over Mattresses, Furniture & More! 30 Y E A R S IN C L AT S O P COUNT Y SUNDAY MONDAY HOURS OPEN: MON-FRI 8-6 * SATURDAY * SUNDAY 10-4 We Service What We Sell REGIONAL FORECAST Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. Seattle 61 54 64 52 63 51 60 50 62 51 62 49 Rain; winds An a.m. shower; More clouds Cloudy, showers Cloudy, rain subsiding cloudy than sun around possible A shower possible Chance of a shower 61 49 Aberdeen Olympia 62/53 62/56 Wenatchee Tacoma Moses Lake ALMANAC UNDER THE SKY TODAY'S TIDES Astoria through Sunday Tonight’s Sky: Giovanni Cassini’s birthday (1625). Astoria / Port Docks Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020 Time High (ft.) Time Low (ft.) 3:48 a.m. 5:38 p.m. 8.3 11:04 a.m. -0.8 7.0 11:05 p.m. 3.1 Cape Disappointment 3:25 a.m. 5:17 p.m. Source: Jim Todd, OMSI Hammond SUN AND MOON Sunrise today .................. 5:24 a.m. Sunset tonight ............... 9:06 p.m. Moonrise today ........... 12:11 a.m. Moonset today ............... 9:12 a.m. Last New First Full 3:38 a.m. 5:25 p.m. Warrenton 3:43 a.m. 5:33 p.m. Knappa 4:25 a.m. 6:15 p.m. Depoe Bay June 12 June 20 June 28 July 4 2:38 a.m. 4:32 p.m. 8.4 10:10 a.m. -1.0 6.9 10:13 p.m. 3.5 8.6 10:28 a.m. -1.2 7.2 10:35 p.m. 3.2 8.7 10:48 a.m. -0.7 7.4 10:49 p.m. 3.2 8.5 12:05 p.m. -0.7 7.3 none 8.3 9:42 a.m. -1.5 6.9 9:46 p.m. 3.3 City Atlanta Boston Chicago Dallas Denver Honolulu Houston Los Angeles Miami New York City Phoenix San Francisco Wash., DC Wed. Hi/Lo/W 86/71/t 80/62/s 88/70/t 98/65/s 68/43/pc 88/76/pc 98/74/s 93/68/s 90/79/c 86/69/s 96/72/s 77/56/s 94/74/s 85/66/t 80/67/pc 78/64/t 91/68/s 77/49/pc 88/75/pc 95/68/pc 92/64/s 87/77/t 83/68/pc 104/76/s 76/55/s 95/75/pc Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice. 54/47 Kennewick Walla Walla 64/52 Lewiston 71/53 62/51 Hermiston The Dalles 71/51 Enterprise Pendleton 59/42 68/52 69/52 La Grande 61/46 67/58 NATIONAL CITIES Today Hi/Lo/W Pullman 69/47 62/56 Salem 54/47 Yakima 67/50 Longview 61/54 Portland 65/59 Spokane 63/49 63/53 62/55 Astoria Temperatures High/low ................................ 60/45 Normal high/low .................. 63/49 Record high .................. 94 in 1903 Record low .................... 40 in 1933 Precipitation Sunday ..................................... Trace Month to date ........................ 0.15” Normal month to date ......... 0.72” Year to date .......................... 35.76” Normal year to date ........... 34.33” The median black fam- ily has wealth of just $17,200 — perhaps enough to buy a car — versus $171,000 for the median white family. The wealth gap persists even for African Americans in the top 10% of U.S. incomes: Their wealth comes to $343,160, less than one-fi fth of the $1.79 million for whites in the top 10%, according to govern- ment numbers compiled by the Brookings Institution. One ongoing culprit was the housing bust of the late 2000s. Commerce Depart- ment fi gures compiled by the Urban Institute show that black homeownership rose from 41.8% in 1970 to 47.3% in 2000 before being swept away by the fi nancial crisis and the ensuing recession. As of 2015, black homeown- ership was 41.2% — lower than it had been 45 years ear- lier and far below the 71.1% for whites. In February, researchers at the Brookings Institution reported other reasons for the wealth defi cit: African Amer- icans inherit far less money than whites. Even those who become top earners are like- lier than whites to fall out of the ranks of the rich. And they are more likely to have to provide fi nancial help to friends and family. As a Democratic presiden- tial candidate, Sen. Booker pushed a plan for “Baby Bonds’’ to provide $1,000 to every American child at birth. After that, they would receive up to $2,000 a year, depend- ing on their family income. The idea would be to create a nest egg that could eventually be used to fi nance a college education or buy a home. Bradley Hardy, a profes- sor in American University’s School of Public Affairs, said that researchers and activ- ists are working on plans like Booker’s to narrow the divide between black and white Americans, between rich and poor. The current protests could provide momentum for those efforts. “It’s absolutely an oppor- tunity,’’ Hardy said. “And, yes, it could be squandered.’’ Josh Boak and Christo- pher Rugaber contributed to this report. Corvallis 68/55 Albany 67/56 John Day Eugene Bend 69/54 65/43 68/47 Ontario 73/49 Caldwell Burns 72/41 71/47 Medford 80/54 Klamath Falls 74/40 City Baker City Brookings Ilwaco Newberg Newport Today Hi/Lo/W 63/42/sh 61/51/pc 59/54/r 65/56/r 58/51/r Wed. Hi/Lo/W 78/46/s 62/52/pc 61/53/c 73/55/c 60/51/c City North Bend Roseburg Seaside Springfi eld Vancouver Today Hi/Lo/W 65/55/c 75/56/c 60/53/r 70/56/sh 64/58/r Wed. Hi/Lo/W 63/52/c 77/55/c 64/52/c 75/54/c 74/56/c
