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Mahlet Seyoum Thanks for your comment Aaron! I agree with much of what you said, but without getting into semantics, I'd say pretty definitively that any piece of legislation that disproportionately affects people of color is a racial issue. That doesn't mean it's not a human issue-- the two aren't mutual exclusive! I think people shy away from looking at things as "racial" issues because its then assumed that only people within that race have a word to say or role to play in overcoming the obstacles-- which is, of course, not true. Identifying something as a racial issue does not go without understanding the fact that it is a part of the larger set of human problems that allow racial issues to exist.
Mahlet Seyoum who have higher degrees, got good jobs, and are financially stable. THEN, as our author pointed out, I'll be able to put my kids in great schools and maybe even sign them up for a $1,000 SAT course, and I also have the advantage of having gone through the college admissions process myself, and can help my children prepare to apply for college. And the same continues for their generation. Perhaps then can we decide whether the policy has been a failure or not-- my point is just that its way too early to tell.
Mahlet Seyoum Do you think perhaps the high growth between 1940 and 1960 had something to do with the end of the Great Depression (and thus there was a similar trend across Americans of all races)? If we mark 1970 as the beginning of AA policies, I'd say 40 years is a really short amount of time to measure whether or not it's been effective is helping Black people "rise out of poverty." Because a few more African Americans were accepted into schools doesn't mean that the poverty rate amongst Black Americans will decrease substantially within practically the same generation. But if I was accepted, for instance, in part because of AA, and marry a man who did too, and we have children, those children will benefit from being born of two parents (cont'd)
Mahlet Seyoum Thanks for your comment Michael! I too appreciated the article but was puzzled by the writer's choice in using the word "ghetto." I just don't understand how it fits in this context and what purpose it was intended to convey.
Mahlet Seyoum I also don't think Justine was arguing in favor of housing projects; rent stabilized apartments can be found all over Manhattan and their inhabitants range from artists to writers (Carrie Bradshaw!) to community activists to immigrant families-- not necessarily individuals who are perpetuating crime and corruption and "the deterioration of historic structures." Some people simply can't afford upward of $2,000 in rent because they chose careers that do not yield high incomes, not because they're criminals!
Mahlet Seyoum Well said! And with Section 8 closed to new applicants in NYC (and much of the country, for that matter) and the competition for lotteries and even NYCHA apartments so high, the options for this city's working poor are becoming slimmer-- hence the recent AM New York article on the working homeless.
on PolicyMic
Mahlet Seyoum Thanks for your comment Aaron! I agree with much of what you said, but without getting into semantics, I'd say pretty definitively that any piece of legislation that disproportionately affects people of color is a racial issue. That doesn't mean it's not a human issue-- the two aren't mutual exclusive! I think people shy away from looking at things as "racial" issues because its then assumed that only people within that race have a word to say or role to play in overcoming the obstacles-- which is, of course, not true. Identifying something as a racial issue does not go without understanding the fact that it is a part of the larger set of human problems that allow racial issues to exist.
Mahlet Seyoum who have higher degrees, got good jobs, and are financially stable. THEN, as our author pointed out, I'll be able to put my kids in great schools and maybe even sign them up for a $1,000 SAT course, and I also have the advantage of having gone through the college admissions process myself, and can help my children prepare to apply for college. And the same continues for their generation. Perhaps then can we decide whether the policy has been a failure or not-- my point is just that its way too early to tell.
Mahlet Seyoum Do you think perhaps the high growth between 1940 and 1960 had something to do with the end of the Great Depression (and thus there was a similar trend across Americans of all races)? If we mark 1970 as the beginning of AA policies, I'd say 40 years is a really short amount of time to measure whether or not it's been effective is helping Black people "rise out of poverty." Because a few more African Americans were accepted into schools doesn't mean that the poverty rate amongst Black Americans will decrease substantially within practically the same generation. But if I was accepted, for instance, in part because of AA, and marry a man who did too, and we have children, those children will benefit from being born of two parents (cont'd)
Mahlet Seyoum Thanks for your comment Michael! I too appreciated the article but was puzzled by the writer's choice in using the word "ghetto." I just don't understand how it fits in this context and what purpose it was intended to convey.
Mahlet Seyoum I also don't think Justine was arguing in favor of housing projects; rent stabilized apartments can be found all over Manhattan and their inhabitants range from artists to writers (Carrie Bradshaw!) to community activists to immigrant families-- not necessarily individuals who are perpetuating crime and corruption and "the deterioration of historic structures." Some people simply can't afford upward of $2,000 in rent because they chose careers that do not yield high incomes, not because they're criminals!
Mahlet Seyoum Well said! And with Section 8 closed to new applicants in NYC (and much of the country, for that matter) and the competition for lotteries and even NYCHA apartments so high, the options for this city's working poor are becoming slimmer-- hence the recent AM New York article on the working homeless.