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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2012)
Local News Report Parent Night “I think the one thing that this means is that we have a lot of work to do: in educa- tion, in the economic field and even in the social justice field,” Lee Po Cha says. “There is a lot of work to be done.” “Our community needs to not be afraid to speak out as Americans and our leaders need not to be shy about being our champi- ons.” “I’m hoping that with this data we can shape policy and design strategies to address this. So in the future we all can become contributing members of society.” At first researchers wondered if things looked worse here because of the composi- tion of local API communities – more recent arrivals with fewer native born Americans, for example. But the data showed the oppo- site. About 47 percent of Multnomah County’s API population was born here, compared to 40 percent nationally. And just 15 percent are new arrivals compared to 18 percent nationally. It also looked closely at the Vietnamese community, which makes up about 30 per- cent of the local API population. On many measures, it was clear that Vietnamese peo- ple here are disadvantaged compared to their national and King county (Seattle) counterparts. Ann Curry Stevens, an associate professor at Portland State University and the lead researcher for the report, said the data blows away notions that Portland is a post-racial progressive haven. “Our best understanding is that these are PHOTO BY HELEN SILVIS continued from page 1 fare worse than their national counterparts on a wide range of statistics. “In each community (NativeAmerican, Latino, African American, African Immi- grant and Refugee, and Slavic), disparities are worse here than national averages, and worse here than in King County (Seattle), and in many cases worsening in recent years,” the report says. “Given this pattern, we believe that the same dynamic is true within the API community. Furthermore, the lived experience of those in the commu- nity illustrates that racial discrimination and racial bias are rampant in the region.” Nationally, for example, 14 percent of Asians don’t finish high school. In Mult- nomah County that’s 20 percent. And at the other end of the education spectrum, nation- ally 19.5 percent of Asians earn graduate or professional degrees compared to 12.5 per- cent locally. Or take poverty measures. Nationally in 2009, 10.7 percent of Asians were living in poverty compared to 9.5 percent of Whites. In Multnomah County, in 2009, 14.2 per- cent of Asians were living in poverty compared to 12.3 percent of Whites. Both groups were worse off in Multnomah Coun- ty, but the penalty was worse for Asians. What’s more, looking at progress over time, several troubling disparities are increasing. Poverty rates for Asian children under 5 grew from 11.3 to 15.6 percent between 2000 and 2009. For Whites it decreased slightly from 12.5 percent to 12.4 percent. For elders that disparity over time was even larger. Lee Po Cha, director of family services for the nonprofit Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, said in general the communities profiled in the report expected the results, although the extent of some disparities did surprise him. “What is really surprising is that we never thought our Asian Indian or our Thai com- munities would be doing that badly,” he said. “In some of our communities the achievement gap is huge, especially in read- ing and writing. Our Karen community is just not making it. Our Burmese communi- ty is just not making it. When you look at education we have a large number of our communities that are distressed.” What are the statistics behind his con- cern? Here’s one: Of the 118 children from Portland’s Karen community, not a single child is reaching benchmark scores in lan- guage skills. Parents of students of color met with teachers at Grant High School March 2, to talk about the achievement gap and other issues facing students at the school. Principal Vivien Orlen this year changed the school’s priorities to offer more academic support classes. Students from the Black Students Union talked about their visit to Ashland where they viewed an all-Black cast from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival perform “The African Company Presents Richard III.” At the end of this year two of Grant’s three African American teachers will depart the school. blasts away the idea of Asians as a model minority who prove that hard work is all you need to succeed in America. “It exposes the model minority idea as a damaging and false stereotype that needs to be set aside,” he says. “Within every com- ‘Our progressive identity gets in the way of having a productive conversation about institutional racism’ local signifiers of institutional racism,” she says. “Our progressive identity gets in the way of having a productive conversation about institutional racism.” This was not a surprise to the Asian and Pacific Islander community, Stevens said. “The fact that we live in such different real- ities that this information is a surprise to the White community and doesn’t surprise communities of color is part of the prob- lem.” Rev. Santos-Lyons said the report also munity there are exceptions that can be held up to show the prosperity of a community and Asian and Pacific Islanders have those success stories. At the same time it damages our community and gives policy makers an excuse to ignore the real and persistent inequity.” Identifying racism and White privilege is uncomfortable, the report admits, but it stresses that the aim is not to point fingers at White people, but to raise awareness of inequity so all people can work together to In part the letter advised, “Ultimately, payday loans erode the assets of bank cus- tomers and, rather than promote savings, make checking accounts unsafe for many payday lenders. As banks market the loan as a short-term cash advance for checking account customers, the predatory product typically leads to a long-term cycle of high- create a level playing field where everyone has opportunities to succeed and every com- munity’s contributions are valued. “Please know that the Asian and Pacific Islander community supports the creation of White allies in this work to advance racial justice.” The report singles out 14 communities as needing immediate help. “Our most distressed communities are Cambodian, Thai, Hmong, Korean, Tongan, Samoan, Asian Indian and Laotian,” it says. “And while we have only one data point for some communities, the rates of their dis- tress in this education score is so terrible, we have decided to place these communities in the priority list: Karen, Pohnpeian, Rohingyan, Nepali (of Bhutanese origin), Chuukese and Burmese.” And it makes 11 major policy recommen- dations that include: Better data keeping that doesn’t lump everyone together; reduc- ing poverty; education equity; social inclusion and language training; increasing the visibility of the Asian and Pacific Islander community; giving immediate help to the most distressed communities; and identifying and naming racism. Banks continued from page 1 “We are so pleased that there is finally a regulator, the CFPB, whose primary respon- sibility and commitment is to ensuring that reasonable rules of the road are in place to reform harmful and reckless financial prac- tices” said Borne. “Today’s typical bank overdraft practices remain in dire need of that reform.” Sarah Ludwig, executive director of the New-York based Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, drew a connection between costly overdraft fees and the emergence of bank payday loans. As lenders sat nearby, Ms. Ludwig presented a letter with signatures from more than 250 national, state and local organizations from across the country calling for immediate federal action to stop bank payday loans. The list of supporters included representa- tives of religious, civil rights, labor, higher education, fair housing, consumers and community activists. Together, these organ- izations warned against the looming prospect of overdraft fees worsening con- sumer financial circumstances once bank payday loans are made. The letter and its full list of signers is available at: http://rsp- nsb.li/vdfUSO Sarah Ludwig, executive director of the New-York based Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, drew a connection between costly overdraft fees and the emergence of bank payday loans customers. They lead to uncollected debt, bank account closures, and greater numbers of unbanked Americans. All of these out- comes are inconsistent with consumer protection and harm the safety and sound- ness of financial institutions.” The letter was also mailed to three other federal regulators: Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Currently, Wells Fargo Bank, US Bank, Fifth Third Bank and Regions Bank use a system previously developed by storefront cost debt – just like a storefront payday loan. Banks offering payday loans repay them- selves first. The entire loan and its accompanying fee are taken directly from the account as soon as a customer’s pay- check or benefits check is deposited. Typically, banks charge $10 per hundred borrowed; with an average loan of only 10 days, the annual percentage rate for bank payday loans is 365 percent. According to research the Center for Responsible Lend- ing, bank payday borrowers are in debt an average 175 days of the year. Social Securi- ty recipients are especially vulnerable, making up one quarter of bank payday bor- rowers. Once bank payday loans are repaid, the likelihood of accounts falling short of funds for regular purchases runs high for cus- tomers with little or no cushion in their checking accounts. With an average over- draft fee of $34, multiple fees can be charged to these customers without their knowledge – until after fees are assessed when a bank statement arrives. The connection between bank payday and overdraft fees is akin to that of the knee bone’s connection to the leg bone – finan- cially they affect the same consumer. No one needs or wants a product that devastates their finances and builds debt instead of wealth. Consumer lending shouldn’t make anyone financially crippled. Charlene Crowell is a communications manager with the Center for Responsible Lending. March 7, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 3
