Almost a year and a half ago we watched in horror as New Orleans was viciously assaulted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. These storms exposed not only the utter lack of disaster preparedness and institutional capacity, but also the ongoing social disaster taking place in the city.
Conditions of concentrated poverty, economic segregation, stark racial and class disparities combined with disinvestment from critical infrastructure show that even before the levees broke, many residents in New Orleans were already drowning on dry land.
These trends are in no way limited to just New Orleans or the Gulf Coast region. In fact, the poverty, disparity and disinvestment that shaped the dynamics of pre-Katrina New Orleans are prevalent in major cities and metropolitan areas throughout the country. We need not look any farther than our own backyard as we’ll find that these conditions exist in Cleveland.
In terms of poverty, disparity, disinvestment and lack of institutional capacity, Cleveland and pre-Katrina New Orleans are strikingly similar. To make matters worse, Cleveland was once again named the poorest big city in the country according to the US Census Bureau. It is the second time in three years Cleveland has earned this dubious distinction.
The Census Bureau’s data show that nearly a third of Cleveland’s residents were living below the federal poverty level in 2005. Since 2000, a third of all manufacturing jobs have been lost, more than 50 percent more people are unemployed and there has been a $6,000 drop in median income. Of course, the racial component of disparity needs to be stated as African-Americans are disproportionately concentrated in impoverished areas.
There are several misconceptions about what leads to these conditions. One is the notion that poverty develops naturally and has to do with individual faults or a desire of certain groups to self-segregate, rather than as a result of policies in place combined with the material conditions in various communities or regions. In actuality, specific government policies and funding priorities have had an enormous impact on the regional, state and local levels in producing this situation.
For example, the flight of predominately middle and upper class whites out of cities into suburban areas is facilitated by tax incentives and federal highway expansion. Decreases in population within an urban city reduce the area’s tax base and subsequently basic public infrastructure such as roads, water, other utility services and education suffer drastically. As investment in developing suburban infrastructure pours in, infrastructure in urban areas is allowed to decay.
Unfortunately, there is unwillingness on the part of the federal government to take a hard look at its role in perpetuating this continuing social tragedy, let alone think of ways to mitigate and alleviate the situation. Also, in spite of the lessons that could be learned from Hurricane Katrina, the country remains tragically unprepared to handle another physical disaster.
So how can we begin to address these problems? First, there needs to be a shift in the predominant discourse surrounding race and racial inequality in America. We must look honestly at the historical impact of racism and understand how it operates in the current context.
While individual racism continues to persist, it is more instructive to understand racism on a societal level and in terms of white dominance and privilege. The racially disparate outcomes produced across the spectrum of social institutions combined with prevalent norms result in a devastating cumulative impact on minorities. It must be recognized that we live in a racialized society and systematic racial advantage cannot simply be combated by espousing colorblindness.
The issues of disparity, concentrated poverty and economic segregation require intensive interventions by the government on all levels. A reconfiguration of institutions such as health care, education, housing, the criminal justice system, etc., on the basis of whether they fulfill the universal public good is necessary. An integral aspect of this is radically changing funding priorities, a move which demands political will but is essential to ensure equal access to opportunity.
Rajeev Ravisankar is a recent OSU graduate with a degree in international studies and political science. He can be reached at [email protected].
