2nd National ASU HBCU Conference. March 5-7, 2012

Perceptions of discrimination: A black and white story

By Stephanie Siek, CNN

(CNN) – A study that examines three years of opinion survey data says that black and white Americans are still miles apart regarding their perceptions of equality or inequality among blacks and whites. It identifies racial bias among whites as a potential reason for that difference in perception.

"Post-Racial? Americans and Race in the Age of Obama," released Monday by the nonprofit Greenlining Institute, found a link between white survey respondents' perception of blacks and whether they believed discriminition to be a major problem in today's society.

When asked how much discimination currently exists in America, 56.4% of black respondents said there was "a lot." Among Latinos, 26.9% gave that answer. About the same amount – 26% – of respondents who reported their race as "other" said that. But only 16% of white respondents said they thought "a lot" of discrimination existed in today’s America. The majority of white respondents said there was either "some" (44.4%) or "a little" (39.5%) discrimination.

White people who said there was "some" or "a little" discrimination were more likely to agree with statements such as "Irish, Italians, Jewish and many other minorities overcame prejudice and worked their way up.

Blacks should do the same without any special favors," and, "It’s really just a matter of some people not trying hard enough; if blacks would only try harder they could be just as well off as whites."

The Greenlining Institute study analyzed data from the American National Election Panel Survey (ANES) conducted by the University of Michigan and Stanford University, as well as census data. The ANES researchers spoke with a representative sample of about 1,800 Americans on 12 occasions between January 2008 and July 2010. Greenlining is a nonprofit policy and leadership institute whose stated goal is to work for economic and racial equality.

"Americans are diversifying and if we want to keep ahead and keep America going forward, we have to acknowledge these disparities. If we don’t, it makes it hard to tackle them," said Dr. Daniel Byrd, the Greenlining Institute's research director and the study’s primary author.

Tim Wise is anti-racist essayist and activist whose work often deals with white responses to racism.  He says that white disbelief in black claims of discrimination is nothing new – and that white people need to take a closer look at why so many people of color believe they are subject to prejudice.

"I think they need to reflect on why there’s such a division," said Wise, who is white. "There’s only two ways you can interpret it: You can either interpret that [black people] are insane and borderline neurotic, that they don't know their own life; or you could look at it and say maybe black people do know their own life, and maybe it's worth listening to them about it."

Among the study's other findings:

• Although 62% of white people questioned in the survey believed that blacks'  level of health was about the same as their own, only 43.8% of blacks agreed. But according to statistical data from the National Center for Health Statistics and the Office of Minority Health, there are definite disparities in health and health care.  As of 2007, white life expectancy at birth was 4.8 years higher than for blacks.  The infant mortality rate among black women was almost two and a half times higher than for white women. The asthma rate among black children is double that of white children.
• More than two-thirds of black people surveyed (67%) believed that black people in general make less money than whites. But the majority of whites (59%) believed that they made about the same. According to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, blacks' median weekly earnings were as much as $500 less than the median earnings of whites between 2009 and 2011.
• Another question asked who the U.S. government treated better: blacks or whites. Twenty-eight percent of whites believed that blacks were treated better, and 63% thought the races were treated about equally. But only 1 percent of blacks thought they were treated better, and most blacks believed that whites either received better treatment  (56.4%) or were treated about the same by the federal government (42.5%).

Why is there such a gap between how much discrimination is reported by blacks versus how much is believed to exist by whites? Wise says that the reason why whites don’t know or don't acknowledge the racism or discrimination experienced by blacks and other people of color is because they don't have to know or acknowledge it.

"No matter what I want to do with my life, to demonstrate that I know the reality of people of color is not going to be on the test," Wise said.

            "But for people of color to get a job, any job, they’re going to have to
              know the things that white folks in those fields think are valuable pieces
              of information...............................................

              People of color have to know white knowledge, white wisdom,
              and what their experience is, but white people don’t have to know
              the experiences of people of color."


Posted by Stephanie Siek -- CNN
Filed under: Black in America • Community • Ethnicity • How we live • Race • What we think

International Sector: Diaspora Philanthropy: Private Giving and Public Policy

Diaspora Philanthropy: Private Giving and Public Policy

Thursday December 15th 8:30am - 10:00am

Location: QED Group, LlC 1250 Eye St NW Suite 1100 Washington D.C. 20005

Click here to sign up

Presenter(s):     

Kathleen Newland                                    Yulya Spantchak
Migration Policy Institute                         Hudson Institute

Danial Noorani                               Josh Kram
The Citizens Foundation                The American Jewish joint Distribution Committee

Philanthropy is regarded as one of the most common ways that diasporas support development efforts in their countries of origin. Although diaspora philanthropy is by no means a new phenomenon, its relation to global trends in giving and the increasing role it plays in development are rarely explored. Philanthropic resources—both monetary and in-kind—flow from diaspora communities through multiple channels, representing a shift from traditional philanthropy practiced primarily by wealthy individuals and corporations. Partnerships have emerged to leverage collective donations that are being sent to finance community development projects.

On December 15, join Josh Kram (Washington Director of The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee), Danial Noorani (CEO of The Citizens Foundation USA), and Yulya Spantchak (a Research Fellow at the Hudson Institute) as they discuss new trends in philanthropic giving and how diaspora communities are mobilizing to support development efforts in their countries of origin. The speakers will also provide their perspectives on how public policy can shape diaspora philanthropy. The seminar will be facilitated by Kathleen Newland, Director and Co-founder of the Migration Policy Institute and one of the co-authors of the the book Diasporas, New Partners in Global Development Policy.

Half of States Received Failing Grade in Protection Against Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Report Cards

The Protected Innocence Initiative is a comprehensive strategy to promote zero tolerance for child sex trafficking. As part of the initiative Shared Hope International released 51 separate report cards, one for each state and the District of Colombia. The report cards set a national standard of protection against domestic minor sex trafficking. The hope is that policy makers at the state level will use the information to make changes that will create a safer environment for children. Shared Hope International granted 26 states the grade of "F" when it comes to meeting the standards set by the Protected Innocence Initiative.

"The Protected Innocence Legislative Framework outlines six areas of law critical to protecting children and responding to domestic minor sex trafficking. Each state’s existing laws will be measured against standards that create a safe environment for children. A formula which measures the level of protection afforded by state laws regarding sex trafficking of children will be applied to grade the state legislative framework; it does not evaluate enforcement or implementation.

The Protected Innocence Legislative Framework categories include:

1. Criminalization of domestic minor sex trafficking
2. Criminal provisions for demand (buyers)
3. Criminal provisions for traffickers (pimps)
4. Criminal provisions for facilitators (hotels, transports, websites etc.)
5. Protective provisions for the child victims
6. Criminal justice tools for investigation and prosecutions"

The report Protected Innocence Challenge: State Report Cards on the Legal Framework of Protection for the Nation's Children provides detailed charts, graphs and information of domestic minor sex trafficking, as well as a report card for each state.

EMAIL TRACKING....Avoid at all costs.

Advice from snopes.com

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1.    Any time you see an email that says "forward this on to '10' (or however many) of your friends", "sign this petition", or "you'll get bad luck" or "you'll get good luck" or "you'll see something funny on your screen after you send it" or whatever --- it almost always has an email tracker program attached that tracks the cookies and emails of those folks you forward to.

The host sender is getting a copy each time it gets forwarded and then is able to get lists of 'active' email addresses to use in SPAM emails or sell to other Spammers. Even when you get emails that demand you send the email on if you're not ashamed of God/Jesus --- that is email tracking, and they are playing on our conscience.

These people don't care how they get your email addresses - just as long as they get them. Also, emails that talk about a missing child or a child with an incurable disease "how would you feel if that was your child" --- email tracking. Ignore them and don't participate!

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2.    Almost all emails that ask you to add your name and forward on to others are similar to that mass letter years ago that asked people to send business cards to the little kid in Florida who wanted to break the Guinness Book of Records for the most cards. All it was, and all any of this type of email is, is a way to get names and 'cookie' tracking information for telemarketers andSpammers -- to validate active email accounts for their own profitable purposes.

You can do your Friends and Family members a GREAT favor by sending this information to them. You will be providing a service to your friends. And you will be rewarded by not getting thousands of spam emails in the future!

Do yourself a favor and STOP adding your name(s) to those types of listing regardless how inviting they might sound!

Or make you feel guilty if you don't!

It's all about getting email addresses and nothing more.

You may think you are supporting a GREAT cause, but you are NOT!

Instead, you will be getting tons of junk mail later and very possibly a virus attached! Plus, we are helping the Spammers get rich!

Let's not make it easy for them!

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3.    Email petitions are NOT acceptable to government or any other organization - I.e. Social security, etc. To be acceptable, petitions must have a "signed signature" and full address of the person signing the petition, so this is a waste of time and you are just helping the email trackers.

And another important point is to delete all previous names from your emails before forwarding!!! Send emails to your entire address list BCC then everyone after you doesn't get your friend's email address.