Disintegration - The Splintering Of Black America Part 6

In Was.h.i.+ngton, Mayor Adrian Fenty staked his political future on an all-out attempt to repair and reform the broken public school system. His abrasive schools chancellor, Mich.e.l.le Rhee, steamrolled the powerful teachers' union and won permission, basically, to reshape the schools however she wanted. But the teaching profession is a Mainstream sacred cow; there was a time, not long ago, when education was one of the few career options available to African Americans who today would likely become investment bankers, lobbyists, or architects. Some of the political damage that Fenty suffered was self-inflicted, but the upshot is that he achieved a modest gain for the Abandoned while losing much of his Mainstream support.

Maybe that's the way it has to be, however. Maybe some politicians are going to have to fall on their swords. The one unacceptable course of action is to do nothing, to try nothing new, to tolerate the intolerable status quo-and doom the Abandoned to fall even further behind.

10

WE KNOW WHO WE ARE. BUT WHO.

WILL WE BE?.

Now that disintegration has cleaved one black America into four, will we still nod to each other when we pa.s.s on the street?

It has been the custom for as long as I can remember: When a black person is walking down the sidewalk, particularly in a mostly white environment-the business district of a city like Denver, say, or a trendy shopping strip in Santa Monica-and meets another black person walking in the opposite direction, it is natural for these strangers to acknowledge each other with a small gesture or a mumbled greeting as they pa.s.s. We don't go out of our way for these encounters, and there's certainly nothing obligatory about them. Often they barely even register, although I'd guess I may have as many as a dozen in the course of a day. Usually, at least for me, all that's involved is the making of eye contact followed by a quick nod of the head. The whole thing isn't much more than a reflex, but it feels satisfying. If I had to explain, I'd say it was an affirmation of something shared, something remembered, something understood, something cherished. It is an acknowledgment that even as total strangers, what we have in common is our racial ident.i.ty.

But I have to wonder if that is still true. I have to ask whether black Americans, divided as they are by the process of disintegration, still have enough shared experiences, values, hopes, fears, and dreams that they define and claim a single racial ident.i.ty-and feel a racial solidarity powerful enough to connect, if only for an instant, strangers who may never see each other again.

I give the little nod without even thinking about it. Is it my imagination, or are fewer people nodding back?

We now know that in terms of biology, race means nothing. This has long been intuitively obvious, at least to non-racists, but now we have proof. The deciphering of the genetic code shows that external features such as skin color and hair texture indicate nothing about a person's nature, intelligence, or capabilities, and that it would make just as much sense to group people by any other arbitrarily chosen markers-blood type, say, or ability to whistle.

Human beings are one species, and what we call race is really just a crude marker for proximity. People who live near one another tend to share genetic material, and this tendency was much more p.r.o.nounced throughout the eons of human evolution when groups were settled and the only means of transportation was walking. Thus it follows that people whose ancestors lived closer together are more likely to share genetic traits-skin color, for example-than people whose ancestors lived far apart. Notions of there being precisely three major "races" of people whom we cla.s.sify as white, black, and yellow-or perhaps five with the addition of red people and brown people-are eighteenth-century rationalizations for the brutal use of European technology in the colonial subjugation of populations that lacked firearms, sailing s.h.i.+ps, and horses. People who lived a thousand years ago would have thought this cla.s.sification system absurd; people who live a thousand years from now will surely think it barbaric.

But we also know that whatever characteristics we use to define and a.s.sign "race" tell us even less about black people than about other "races." Because Africa is the landma.s.s where h.o.m.o sapiens h.o.m.o sapiens evolved, and where humans remained for most of our existence, Africans (and the diaspora, including African Americans) display an extraordinarily wide range of genetic diversity. Of all the DNA mutations that found their way into the human genome over the eons that our distant ancestors spent confined to the mother continent, only some were carried to other parts of the globe by the small groups of wanderers who left Africa and eventually populated Asia, Europe, Australia, and the Americas. As a result, two individuals who are both considered black might easily be more dissimilar to each other, at the genetic level, than either is to a person who belongs to another "race." Imagine an African American couple on their first date, dining at a restaurant called Luigi's. Either or both of them might have more in common with the Italian American waiter who brings them their pasta, as measured by common DNA sequences, than they do with each other. evolved, and where humans remained for most of our existence, Africans (and the diaspora, including African Americans) display an extraordinarily wide range of genetic diversity. Of all the DNA mutations that found their way into the human genome over the eons that our distant ancestors spent confined to the mother continent, only some were carried to other parts of the globe by the small groups of wanderers who left Africa and eventually populated Asia, Europe, Australia, and the Americas. As a result, two individuals who are both considered black might easily be more dissimilar to each other, at the genetic level, than either is to a person who belongs to another "race." Imagine an African American couple on their first date, dining at a restaurant called Luigi's. Either or both of them might have more in common with the Italian American waiter who brings them their pasta, as measured by common DNA sequences, than they do with each other.1 Race is a human invention, a social construct, and its parameters s.h.i.+ft over time. Racial ident.i.ty has always been fluid, based not on objective reality but on perception and self-image. Europeans once held the notion that the Irish were a separate "race" with distinctive characteristics, as were the Germans, the Slavs, and of course the oft-persecuted Jews; now we think of all these peoples as "white." The San people of South Africa have a different genetic and cultural history from that of the Bantu people of the Congo, but both are now considered "black." There is no valid way to divide people into racial categories-which means that the important thing, where race is concerned, is how people are seen and how they see themselves.

Some of the most interesting recent data about African Americans' self-image comes from that stunning 2007 survey by the Pew Research Center, in which 37 percent of black Americans said that black people in this country could no longer "be thought of as a single race." There was no follow-up question to explore just what those people-an incredible four out of ten-had in mind when they made that judgment. But there are powerful suggestions that the separation perceived by so many African Americans is both economic and cultural.

The Pew survey asked African American respondents which of two statements was closer to their own views: "Racial discrimination is the main reason why many black people can't get ahead these days," or "Blacks who can't get ahead in this country are mostly responsible for their own condition." When the question was asked in 1994, a majority-56 percent-blamed discrimination; only 34 percent held the black poor responsible for their failure to "get ahead." But in the 2007 survey, those att.i.tudes were reversed: A full 53 percent of African American respondents blamed poor black people for their plight, while just 30 percent said that racial discrimination was making it impossible for poor African Americans to better themselves. This says nothing about racial ident.i.ty, but perhaps it does tell us something about racial solidarity.

Another set of questions inquired about values. Asked whether "the values held by middle-cla.s.s black people and the values held by poor black people" had become more similar or more different in the past decade, 61 percent said values had diverged; 31 percent said the values of poor and middle-cla.s.s African Americans now have "only a little" or "almost nothing" in common.2 To put it in the terms of this book, it seems that most African Americans now blame the Abandoned for their own poverty and dysfunction. Most black Americans see a widening gap between the values held by the Mainstream and the Abandoned. And almost a third of African Americans describe the chasm as so wide that it is hard to imagine how it could be bridged.

Solidarity has been one of black Americans' most powerful weapons in the struggle for freedom, justice, and opportunity. There was often sharp disagreement about how to get from where we were to where we needed to go-the argument between Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton and W. E. B. DuBois, for example, or the many differences in approach among such t.i.tans of the civil rights movement as Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, Whitney Young of the National Urban League, and Martin Luther King. I once interviewed Julian Bond about his time with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and I asked which was the most pa.s.sionate argument he could recall from those heady days. He thought for a moment, then a moment longer. "Wow, there were so many," he said.

Finally he settled on a two-day, yelling-and-screaming row over whether the SNCC would partic.i.p.ate in the first Selma-to-Montgomery march on March 7, 1965. Most SNCC leaders believed the march would be a distraction from the group's primary mission: gra.s.sroots organizing. Some even thought it was a made-for-television stunt, with clear potential for violence that could get out of hand. Others believed that at a moment so fraught with both peril and potential, an organization like the SNCC simply could not remain on the sidelines. The executive committee eventually voted not to join the march officially, but to tell members they could partic.i.p.ate as individuals if they chose. The marchers were met by state-sponsored mob violence at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, a b.l.o.o.d.y confrontation that is remembered as one of the most galvanizing moments of the whole civil rights era. Ironically, an SNCC leader, Congressman John Lewis, was one of the day's great heroes.

Yet despite clashes over methods back then, there was no real dispute about what the agenda for black Americans should include: the right to vote, the right to a better education, the right to use public accommodations, the right to live beyond the confines of a.s.signed ghettos, the right to live without fear of oppression by police, the right to live without fear of violent attack by hooded, cross-burning terrorists. Those were the short-term goals. Longer term, there was political empowerment, economic development, and full incorporation of African Americans into the worlds of business, academia, the media, and so forth. It was clear where black Americans needed to go, and there was not really much of an argument about the kinds of policies we should advocate and support.

Crudely put, what was good for poor people was good for black people, since so many black people were poor. Conversely, what was good for rich people was bad for black people, since so few black people were rich. The economic theories of John Maynard Keynes were good for black people because expensive government programs were necessary for the project of uplift; if deficit spending led to inflation, that was no great disaster because black people had so little capital to protect. The economic theories of Milton Friedman, which saw inflation as a scourge and advocated tight control over the money supply, were bad for black people. In the larger sense, it was generally true that what was good for the established order was bad for black people, who didn't belong to the Establishment; and what was upsetting to the established order was good for black people because it created new opportunities for outsiders like us.

That was then.

Today, black Americans' fundamental rights are secure. To be sure, these rights are not always and universally observed. A year into the administration of the first African American president, federal authorities accused a Mississippi school district of deliberately enforcing a policy of segregation by transferring students to designated schools according to race. Postmortems on the subprime mortgage crisis unearthed evidence that worrisome numbers of black home buyers were steered by agents and brokers into riskier loans, at higher interest rates, than whites with similar incomes and credit ratings. African Americans are tremendously overrepresented in the prison population nationwide, and much of the disparity would be eliminated if the law did not treat crack cocaine, which is mostly bought and sold in Abandoned black communities, so much more harshly than it treats the identical drug in powder form, which is the way whites tend to buy and sell it. When presented with obvious examples of unequal treatment such as these, it is easy for the four black Americas to agree: Here is an injustice, here is how to fix it.

There also is no real dispute about issues that involve symbolism. When a white entertainer utters a phrase like "nappy-headed ho's" or uses the word "n.i.g.g.e.r," all four black Americas concur in outrage. It would be wrong to trivialize these kinds of incidents; symbolic is not a synonym for insignificant. Dignity and respect matter. And given the arc of African American history, they matter a lot.

But far more important than symbols are the big, concrete, urgent concerns that some black Americans now face-issues on which consensus has been elusive and momentum has stalled.

Earlier in these pages, I proposed that our most urgent priority should be an all-out a.s.sault on the stubborn, self-perpetuating poverty and dysfunction of the Abandoned, channeling into this effort the affirmative action preferences and resources that currently go mostly to the Mainstream. I am confident that many in the Mainstream would support such an effort-philosophically, at least.

But African Americans who have only recently managed to attain middle-cla.s.s status would complain, understandably, that they need all the support they can get just to keep from falling back. And even some in what might be called the upper Mainstream-professionals with six-figure incomes-find themselves handcuffed by the ten-to-one wealth ratio between whites and blacks. An ill.u.s.tration: Acquaintances of mine, a couple about my age, wanted a better education for their two children than the District of Columbia public schools could offer. So they sent them to an excellent private school where tuition has climbed to nearly $30,000 a year. The couple makes a combined $230,000 a year, which is a lot. But like most successful African Americans (and many other Americans, of course, regardless of race), they built their whole lives essentially from scratch. There was no trust fund to help pay for the children's schooling, no fat and timely checks from grandma and grandpa. The couple ended up draining the equity in their house to pay those education costs and maintain a comfortable lifestyle. When their son got accepted by an expensive private college, they were already tapped out. For parents in that situation, it would be easy to believe, on an intellectual level, that affirmative action scholars.h.i.+ps should go to those with the most critical need, the Abandoned. Yet it would be hard not to accept one of those scholars.h.i.+ps if it were offered.

The economic interests of the Mainstream and those of the Abandoned coincide in the long run; ultimately, the goal is for the Abandoned to become Mainstream. But those interests diverge along the way. Two obvious goals for African Americans are consolidating decades of impressive gains into solid, multigenerational wealth; and doing whatever it takes to uplift the millions still trapped in desperate, multigenerational poverty. One project benefits the Mainstream; the other benefits the Abandoned. There is no obvious reason for universal agreement on which should have first claim on finite government resources and attention.

This is a moment when the Transcendent are in an unprecedented position to lead. I refer not just to political leaders like President Obama and House majority whip James Clyburn but also to the black men and women who have risen to great power in business, entertainment, communications, and other fields. They have more authority than earlier generations could have imagined, greater resources at their disposal than ever before, and powerful influence not just among African Americans but throughout the larger society. Polls show that traditional leaders.h.i.+p groups like the NAACP and the National Urban League have lost much, if not most, of their standing among black Americans; these venerable inst.i.tutions are still respected, but it is safe to say that no one hangs on every word uttered by Benjamin Jealous or Marc Morial, who are their current leaders. Both men are smart, creative, and dynamic, but neither they nor their successors will ever be able to speak to and for black America the way that Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young once did. Today's Transcendent black Americans have far more clout as individuals-when Oprah Winfrey says jump, legions ask how high-but there are no leaders who can claim to represent all four black Americas.

What the Transcendents can do, at a minimum, is make a difference in their own areas of power and influence. To take one example, I made clear earlier that I didn't care for the movie Precious Precious. But by giving it their backing, Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry provided a platform for a host of talented African Americans who otherwise might never have been noticed. Lee Daniels now joins the select group of Hollywood directors who can have their choice of projects. Geoffrey Fletcher, who won an Oscar for the screenplay, now will have his scripts read with interest rather than tossed into some pile. The stories that these artists go on to tell may provoke, uplift, inspire-or they may not. But at least they will be told.

In a similar manner, Transcendent CEOs can't rescue the Abandoned, but they can serve as localized engines of economic development for the Mainstream by making certain that their companies actually practice diversity rather than just preach it. If they ensure that qualified and capable African Americans are represented among their executive teams, suppliers, and outside bankers, lawyers, and accountants, they will leave behind a far greater legacy than whatever the final numbers say on the balance sheet.

There is Barack Obama, of course, who technically does represent all four black Americas-and belongs to two of them, as a Transcendent and a double Emergent. But Obama represents the whole color wheel of America-white, brown, yellow, indeterminate, whatever. It is inconceivable that the president of the United States could see himself, or have others see him, as a "black leader."

It's time, in any event, to retire the term "black leader" for good. At this point in our progress, it sounds patronizing. Given the achievements of African Americans over the past four decades, we are hardly a bunch of followers who need to be told what to think and do. More important, leaders.h.i.+p implies coordinated movement in a specified direction. It implies an agenda, and African Americans don't have one. We have many. At times they overlap, and at times they conflict.

Politically it is likely that all four black Americas will remain loyal to the Democratic Party for the foreseeable future-not only because of Obama, whom African Americans are unlikely to desert, but because the modern Republican Party has made so little effort to attract black voters, or even to stop doing their best to drive them away. (Naming Michael Steele as the first African American chairman of the party doesn't count, its tokenism was so apparent.) In 2009, the Transcendent businesswoman Sheila Johnson, a Democrat, made headlines when she publicly supported Republican Bob McDonnell for governor of Virginia-but she was embarra.s.sed when he promptly declared Confederate History Month with a proclamation that neglected to mention the tiny little detail known as slavery. This strikes me as typical. I have always believed that it would be good if Republicans made a genuine attempt to win African American votes-which would make Democrats have to work harder to keep them-but the reality is that this doesn't seem likely anytime soon.

So the Democrats are the only game in town, and not since the presidential campaigns of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have the party's Transcendent bigwigs or its Mainstream rank and file challenged the party's leaders.h.i.+p from an explicitly black perspective. Rather, African Americans have won genuine power in the party by working within the system. For instance, Congressman Clyburn, the second-most-powerful African American in Was.h.i.+ngton after Obama, was instrumental in finally getting the president's health-care-reform legislation pa.s.sed. As the third-ranking member of the House of Representatives, he also has managed to keep a stream of much-needed funds flowing to cash-strapped historically black colleges and universities. Clyburn is a graduate of South Carolina State University, which is just down the street from the house where I grew up. African Americans should continue to use their power and influence within the Democratic Party, and maybe someday the Republicans will come calling with a bouquet of flowers.

Meanwhile, it's all but inevitable that at times the four black Americas will rub up against one another, and the points of contact may chafe. There is already friction between the immigrant Emergent and the Abandoned, who complain of being exploited by immigrant-black-owned businesses just as they once complained about neighborhood stores whose proprietors were white, Jewish, or Korean. The Mainstream have long whispered their disapproval of how Emergent immigrants were taking-or, to be honest, winning-college admissions slots that some believe should go to the native-born. Now, increasingly, those objections are being spoken out loud.

The biracial Emergent have the advantage of straddling two worlds-but also the disadvantage of being able to reject neither. Those who embrace African American ident.i.ty with no reservation, as President Obama did, are in turn embraced warmly by the other black Americas. Those who have more difficulty composing a coherent racial self are viewed with a certain cool ambiguity.

One example of this involves Was.h.i.+ngton mayor Adrian Fenty, who is biracial and was elected in a landslide, winning every precinct in the city. Once in office, he put fewer African Americans in key, high-profile posts than his predecessor black mayors had done; his cool, technocratic style had none of the glad-handing, back-slapping empathy that voters were used to from the likes of Marion Barry, who emerged as one of Fenty's harshest critics. An impression was somehow created that the mayor was acting with favoritism toward white residents-or, I think more accurately, that he was acting without favoritism toward black residents. As he prepared to stand for reelection in 2010, he had a campaign war chest that looked big enough to overwhelm any challenger. But his poll numbers among African Americans-in both Mainstream and Abandoned neighborhoods-were plummeting, and I believe it is fair to say that the reason had to do less with any of his specific words or deeds than with unease about his sense of ident.i.ty.

The Abandoned increasingly stand apart and alone. They resent immigrant Emergents who use their communities as stepping-stones, Mainstream do-gooders who come to lecture them by day but make sure to leave before nightfall, and Transcendents who talk black but in every sense act white. The rest of us moved away and left them to their own devices, without the tools or the knowledge to better themselves. They noticed.

W. E. B. DuBois famously wrote that "the problem of the Twentieth Century is the color-line." I believe the problem of the twenty-first century is the problem of the Abandoned. The longer we wait to solve it, the harder it will be to even know where to begin.

And the longer we wait, the longer we forestall the possibility of a day when race ceases to be the defining attribute of African Americans. Throughout our history, other groups of outsiders, such as the Irish, the Italians, and the Jews, have been looked down upon, stigmatized, and discriminated against, but eventually through hard work and sacrifice have won their rightful place in American society. African Americans have overcome far greater obstacles to accomplish the same feat-and yet race still separates us, preoccupies us, and defines us.

There is no longer one black America, no longer a complete sense of racial solidarity based on clearly defined common interests. But there remains one black racial ident.i.ty that the majority of African Americans-Mainstream, Abandoned, Transcendent, and Emergent-still share. As long as the Abandoned remain buried in both society's and their own dysfunction, with diminis.h.i.+ng hope of ever being able to escape, the rest of us cannot feel that we have truly escaped, either. We cannot begin to un-hyphenate ourselves. Certainly, DuBois's "color-line" has been s.h.i.+fted to entrap fewer black Americans, but at the same time it has become more impregnable. The challenge for every American now is to erase it once and for all.

NOTES.

1: "Black America" Doesn't Live Here Anymore 1. Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Cheryl Hill Lee, Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Cheryl Hill Lee, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005 Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005 (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau, 2006), 34. (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau, 2006), 34.2. Ibid. Ibid.3. Ibid., 31. Ibid., 31.4. Mary Mederios Kent, "Immigration and America's Black Population," Mary Mederios Kent, "Immigration and America's Black Population," Population Bulletin Population Bulletin 62, 4 (2007): 4. 62, 4 (2007): 4.5. Sara Rimer and Karen W. Arenson, "Top Colleges Take More Blacks, But Which Ones?," Sara Rimer and Karen W. Arenson, "Top Colleges Take More Blacks, But Which Ones?," The New York Times The New York Times, June 24, 2004.6. David R. Harris and Hiromi Ono, "Cohabitation, Marriage, and Markets: A New Look at Intimate Interracial Relations.h.i.+ps," in David R. Harris and Hiromi Ono, "Cohabitation, Marriage, and Markets: A New Look at Intimate Interracial Relations.h.i.+ps," in Discussion Paper Discussion Paper (Ann Arbor, MI: Inst.i.tute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 2003). (Ann Arbor, MI: Inst.i.tute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 2003).7. "Optimism About Black Progress Declines: Blacks See Growing Values Gap Between Poor and Middle Cla.s.s," Pew Research Center, November 13, 2007. "Optimism About Black Progress Declines: Blacks See Growing Values Gap Between Poor and Middle Cla.s.s," Pew Research Center, November 13, 2007.8. D.C. Public Schools website, available at D.C. Public Schools website, available at http://dcatlas.dcgis.dc.gov/schoolprofile/.9. Eugene Robinson, "Which Black America?," Eugene Robinson, "Which Black America?," The Was.h.i.+ngton Post The Was.h.i.+ngton Post, October 9, 2007.

10. Charles Johnson, "The End of the Black American Narrative," Charles Johnson, "The End of the Black American Narrative," The American Scholar The American Scholar (Summer 2008): 6; also available at (Summer 2008): 6; also available at www.theamericanscholar.org/the-end-of-the-black-american-narrative/.

2: When We Were One 1. Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton, "Atlanta Compromise Speech," September 18, 1985, Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton Collection, African American Odyssey, American Memory (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: Library of Congress). Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton, "Atlanta Compromise Speech," September 18, 1985, Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton Collection, African American Odyssey, American Memory (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: Library of Congress).2. W. E. B. DuBois, "Of Mr. Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton and Others," in W. E. B. DuBois, "Of Mr. Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton and Others," in The Souls of Black Folk The Souls of Black Folk (Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Company, 1903), 33. (Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Company, 1903), 33.3. Ray Stannard Baker, Ray Stannard Baker, Following the Color Line: An Account of Negro Citizens.h.i.+p in the American Democracy Following the Color Line: An Account of Negro Citizens.h.i.+p in the American Democracy (New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1908), 910. (New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1908), 910.4. Ibid., 9. Ibid., 9.5. W. E. B. DuBois, "A Litany of Atlanta," in W. E. B. DuBois, "A Litany of Atlanta," in The Book of American Negro Poetry The Book of American Negro Poetry (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922), 4954. (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922), 4954.6. Baker, 14. Baker, 14.7. Ibid., 1617. Ibid., 1617.8. Stewart E. Tolnay, "The African American 'Great Migration' and Beyond," Stewart E. Tolnay, "The African American 'Great Migration' and Beyond," Annual Review of Sociology Annual Review of Sociology 29 (2003): 20932. 29 (2003): 20932.9. "Optimism About Black Progress Declines: Blacks See Growing Values Gap Between Poor and Middle Cla.s.s," Pew Research Center, November 13, 2007. "Optimism About Black Progress Declines: Blacks See Growing Values Gap Between Poor and Middle Cla.s.s," Pew Research Center, November 13, 2007.

3: Parting of the Ways 1. Sam Smith, "A Short History of Black Was.h.i.+ngton," Sam Smith, "A Short History of Black Was.h.i.+ngton," The Progressive Review The Progressive Review (2003). (2003).2. Ben W. Gilbert et al., Ben W. Gilbert et al., Ten Blocks from the White House: Anatomy of the Was.h.i.+ngton Riots of 1968 Ten Blocks from the White House: Anatomy of the Was.h.i.+ngton Riots of 1968 (New York: F. A. Praeger, 1968), 2324. (New York: F. A. Praeger, 1968), 2324.3. Chicago Center for Working Cla.s.s Studies, Community Walk Project Chicago Center for Working Cla.s.s Studies, Community Walk Project www.workingcla.s.sstudies.org; www.labortrail.org; www.communitywalk.com.4. Thomas J. Sugrue, "Motor City: The Story of Detroit," Thomas J. Sugrue, "Motor City: The Story of Detroit," History Now History Now 11 (March 2007); also available at 11 (March 2007); also available at www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/03_2007/historian6.php.5. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development website, available at U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development website, available at www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/FHLaws/index.cfm.6. "Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders," available at "Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders," available at www.eisenhowerfoundation.org/docs/kerner.pdf, 1.7. Loving v. Virginia Loving v. Virginia, U.S. Supreme Court, available at www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/ USSC_CR_0388_0001_ZO.html, 2.8. Ibid. Ibid.9. Esteban J. Parra et al., "Estimating African American Admixture Proportions by Use of Population-Specific Alleles," Esteban J. Parra et al., "Estimating African American Admixture Proportions by Use of Population-Specific Alleles," The American Journal of Human Genetics The American Journal of Human Genetics 63, 6 (December 1998): 183951. 63, 6 (December 1998): 183951.

10. U.S. Census Bureau, "Population by Race and Hispanic or Latino Origin for the United States: 1990 and 2000 (PHC-T-1)," Table 2, available at U.S. Census Bureau, "Population by Race and Hispanic or Latino Origin for the United States: 1990 and 2000 (PHC-T-1)," Table 2, available at www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t1/index.html.

11. Mary Mederios Kent, "Immigration and America's Black Population," Mary Mederios Kent, "Immigration and America's Black Population," Population Bulletin Population Bulletin 62, 4 (2007): 13. 62, 4 (2007): 13.

12. Ibid., 6. Ibid., 6.

13. Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Cheryl Hill Lee, Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Cheryl Hill Lee, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005 Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005 (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau, 2006), 31. (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau, 2006), 31.

4: The Mainstream: A Double Life 1. All figures from U.S. Census Bureau, available at All figures from U.S. Census Bureau, available at http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/index.html.2. Ibid. Ibid.3. St. Clair Drake and Horace Cayton, St. Clair Drake and Horace Cayton, Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1945), 22627. (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1945), 22627.4. Ibid., 23942. Ibid., 23942.5. Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Cheryl Hill Lee, Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Cheryl Hill Lee, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005 Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005 (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau, 2006), 3234. (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau, 2006), 3234.6. Ibid., 34. Ibid., 34.7. U.S. Census Bureau, "Current Population Survey," Historical Tables, Table A-2, available at U.S. Census Bureau, "Current Population Survey," Historical Tables, Table A-2, available at www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/educ-attn.html.8. Jeffrey M. Humphreys, Jeffrey M. Humphreys, The Multicultural Economy 2008 The Multicultural Economy 2008 (Athens, GA: Selig Center for Economic Growth, University of Georgia, 2008), 14; see Table 1. (Athens, GA: Selig Center for Economic Growth, University of Georgia, 2008), 14; see Table 1.9. Media Matters for America, September 21, 2007, available at Media Matters for America, September 21, 2007, available at mediamatters.org/research/200709210007.

10. U.S. Census Bureau, "U.S. Population Projections, Released 2008 (Based on Census 2000)," Summary Table 2, available at U.S. Census Bureau, "U.S. Population Projections, Released 2008 (Based on Census 2000)," Summary Table 2, available at www.census.gov/population/www/projections/ summarytables.html.

11. Stephen Provasnik, Linda L. Shafer, and Thomas D. Snyder, Stephen Provasnik, Linda L. Shafer, and Thomas D. Snyder, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 1976 to 2001 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 1976 to 2001 (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education), 4. (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education), 4.

5: The Abandoned: No Way Out 1. Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, see Pre-Katrina Poverty Map, available at Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, see Pre-Katrina Poverty Map, available at www.gnocdc.org.2. Bruce Katz, "Concentrated Poverty in New Orleans and Other American Cities," Bruce Katz, "Concentrated Poverty in New Orleans and Other American Cities," The Chronicle of Higher Education The Chronicle of Higher Education (August 4, 2006); also available at (August 4, 2006); also available at www.brookings.edu/opinions/2006/0804cities_katz.aspx.3. Greater New Orleans Community Data Center. Greater New Orleans Community Data Center.4. The following summary is taken from The following summary is taken from A Failure of Initiative: Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina A Failure of Initiative: Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina, Congressional Reports: H. Rpt. 109377 (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: Government Publis.h.i.+ng Office, 2008), 79; available at www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/creports/katrina.html.5. Greater New Orleans Community Data Center. Greater New Orleans Community Data Center.6. William Julius Wilson, "When Work Disappears: New Implications for Race and Urban Poverty in the Global Economy," Centre for a.n.a.lysys of Social Exclusion, London School of Economics, November 1998, available at William Julius Wilson, "When Work Disappears: New Implications for Race and Urban Poverty in the Global Economy," Centre for a.n.a.lysys of Social Exclusion, London School of Economics, November 1998, available at sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cp/paper17.pdf.7. Greater New Orleans Community Data Center. Greater New Orleans Community Data Center.8. Ibid. Ibid.9. Douglas S. Ma.s.sey, "American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Undercla.s.s," Douglas S. Ma.s.sey, "American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Undercla.s.s," American Journal of Sociology American Journal of Sociology 96, 2 (September 1990): 32957. 96, 2 (September 1990): 32957.

10. U.S. Census Bureau, "The 2010 Stastical Abstract: The National Data Book," Table 295: Crimes and Crime Rates by Type of Offense, available at U.S. Census Bureau, "The 2010 Stastical Abstract: The National Data Book," Table 295: Crimes and Crime Rates by Type of Offense, available at www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/law_enforcement_courts_prisons/ crimes_and_crime_rates.html.

11. U.S. Census Bureau, State and County QuickFacts, available at U.S. Census Bureau, State and County QuickFacts, available at http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/11000.html.

12. Rose M. Kreider, Rose M. Kreider, Living Arrangements of Children: 2004 Living Arrangements of Children: 2004 (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau, February 2008), 4; also available at (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau, February 2008), 4; also available at www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p70114.pdf.

13. William J. Sabol, Heather C. West, and Matthew Cooper, William J. Sabol, Heather C. West, and Matthew Cooper, Prisoners in 2008 Prisoners in 2008 (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2009), 2; also available at (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2009), 2; also available at http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=1763.

14. Reuters news story, available at Reuters news story, available at www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5AP1EV20091126.

6: The Transcendent: Where None Have Gone Before 1. Shailagh Murray, "Obama Camp Pushes Back on 'Rookie' Ad," Shailagh Murray, "Obama Camp Pushes Back on 'Rookie' Ad," The Was.h.i.+ngton Post The Was.h.i.+ngton Post, January 18, 2008.2. Katharine Q. Seelye, "BET Founder Slams Obama in South Carolina," Katharine Q. Seelye, "BET Founder Slams Obama in South Carolina," The New York Times The New York Times, January 13, 2008.3. Fox News, December 10, 2007, available at Fox News, December 10, 2007, available at www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316366,00.html.4. These statistics are available at These statistics are available at http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/childrens-health/articles/2010/03/01/risk-of-childhood-obesity-higher-among-minorities.html.5. Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Cheryl Hill Lee, Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Cheryl Hill Lee, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005 Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005 (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau, 2006), 24. (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau, 2006), 24.6. Fox and Friends Fox and Friends, transcript, February 22, 2008.7. Eugene Robinson, "Black America's New Reality," Eugene Robinson, "Black America's New Reality," The Was.h.i.+ngton Post The Was.h.i.+ngton Post, July 19, 2009.8. Harold Ford Jr. official website, available at Harold Ford Jr. official website, available at haroldfordjr.com.9. Michael Barbaro, "Senate Hopeful in New State Airs Evolving Views," Michael Barbaro, "Senate Hopeful in New State Airs Evolving Views," The New York Times The New York Times, January 12, 2010.

7: The Emergent (Part 1): Coming to America 1. Mary Mederios Kent, "Immigration and America's Black Population," Mary Mederios Kent, "Immigration and America's Black Population," Population Bulletin Population Bulletin 62, 4 (2007): 1214. 62, 4 (2007): 1214.2. District of Columbia registry of business names and owners, available at District of Columbia registry of business names and owners, available at http://app.dctaxi.dc.gov/taxilist.asp.3. Pamela R. Bennett and Amy Lutz, "How African American Is the Net Black Advantage? Differences in College Attendance Among Immigrant Blacks, Native Blacks, and Whites," Pamela R. Bennett and Amy Lutz, "How African American Is the Net Black Advantage? Differences in College Attendance Among Immigrant Blacks, Native Blacks, and Whites," Sociology of Education Sociology of Education 82 (January 2009): 70100. 82 (January 2009): 70100.4. Kay Deaux et al., "Becoming American: Stereotype Threat Effects in Afro-Caribbean Immigrant Groups," Kay Deaux et al., "Becoming American: Stereotype Threat Effects in Afro-Caribbean Immigrant Groups," Social Psychology Quarterly Social Psychology Quarterly 70, 4 (2007): 384404. 70, 4 (2007): 384404.5. Estimate per the Ethiopian Community Center, Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.; author interview with a representative from the center. Estimate per the Ethiopian Community Center, Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.; author interview with a representative from the center.6. Historical narrative from research by the author for Historical narrative from research by the author for Coal to Cream Coal to Cream (New York: The Free Press, 1999) and (New York: The Free Press, 1999) and Last Dance in Havana Last Dance in Havana (New York: The Free Press, 2004). (New York: The Free Press, 2004).

8: The Emergent (Part 2): How Black Is Black?

1. Michael J. Rosenfeld and Byung-Soo Kim, "The Independence of Young Adults and the Rise of Interracial and Same-s.e.x Unions," Michael J. Rosenfeld and Byung-Soo Kim, "The Independence of Young Adults and the Rise of Interracial and Same-s.e.x Unions," American Sociological Review American Sociological Review 70 (2005): 1. 70 (2005): 1.2. Jeffrey S. Pa.s.sel, Wendy w.a.n.g, and Paul Taylor, "Marrying Out," Pew Research Center, available at Jeffrey S. Pa.s.sel, Wendy w.a.n.g, and Paul Taylor, "Marrying Out," Pew Research Center, available at http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1616/american-marriage-interracial-interethnic?src=prc-latest&proj=peoplepress.3. Entire text of speech available at Entire text of speech available at my.barackobama.com/page/content/hisownwords.

9: Urgency, Focus, and Sacrifice 1. National Urban League, National Urban League, The State of Black America 2010: Jobs: Responding to the Crisis The State of Black America 2010: Jobs: Responding to the Crisis (New York: National Urban League, 2010), 1. (New York: National Urban League, 2010), 1.2. U.S. Census Bureau, "U.S. Population Projections, Released 2008 (Based on Census 2000)," Summary Table 2, available at U.S. Census Bureau, "U.S. Population Projections, Released 2008 (Based on Census 2000)," Summary Table 2, available at www.census.gov/population/www/projections/ summarytables.html.3. Shamara Riley, "Three Ways to Fix the 'State of Black America,'" Shamara Riley, "Three Ways to Fix the 'State of Black America,'" thegrio.com, March 26, 2010, available at www.thegrio.com/specials/state-of-black-america/where-the-state-of-black-america-report-goes-wrong.php.4. Magazine Publishers of America, "African-American/Black Market Profile," New York, 2008, available at Magazine Publishers of America, "African-American/Black Market Profile," New York, 2008, available at www.magazine.org/a.s.sETS/2457647D5D0A45F7B1735B8ABCFA3C26/ market_profile_black.pdf.5. The account of this incident is drawn from The account of this incident is drawn from Was.h.i.+ngton Post Was.h.i.+ngton Post reports over the course of several weeks, and reflects the best available description of the events and their motivation; see Eugene Robinson, "The Invisible Underlca.s.s," reports over the course of several weeks, and reflects the best available description of the events and their motivation; see Eugene Robinson, "The Invisible Underlca.s.s," The Was.h.i.+ngton Post The Was.h.i.+ngton Post, April 6, 2010.6. Elijah Anderson, "The Social Ecology of Youth Violence," Elijah Anderson, "The Social Ecology of Youth Violence," Crime and Justice Crime and Justice 24 (1998). 24 (1998).7. Ibid. Ibid.8. Ibid. Ibid.9. Elijah Anderson, Elijah Anderson, Code of the Street Code of the Street (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1999), 2627. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1999), 2627.

10. Anderson, "The Social Ecology of Youth Violence." Anderson, "The Social Ecology of Youth Violence."

11. Sam Sanders, "Black Teenage Males Crushed by Unemployment," National Public Radio, January 10, 2010, available at Sam Sanders, "Black Teenage Males Crushed by Unemployment," National Public Radio, January 10, 2010, available at www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122367407.

12. Smiley's comments available at Smiley's comments available at http://voices.was.h.i.+ngtonpost.com/44/2010/03/from-tavis-smiley-love-and-cri.html.

13. Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Cheryl Hill Lee, Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Cheryl Hill Lee, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005 Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005 (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau, 2006), 34. (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau, 2006), 34.

10: We Know Who We Are. But Who Will We Be?

1. Esteban J. Parra et al., "Estimating African American Admixture Proportions by Use of Population-Specific Alleles," Esteban J. Parra et al., "Estimating African American Admixture Proportions by Use of Population-Specific Alleles," The American Journal of Human Genetics The American Journal of Human Genetics 63, 6 (December 1998): 183951. 63, 6 (December 1998): 183951.2. "Optimism About Black Progress Declines: Blacks See Growing Values Gap Between Poor and Middle Cla.s.s," Pew Research Center, November 13, 2007. "Optimism About Black Progress Declines: Blacks See Growing Values Gap Between Poor and Middle Cla.s.s," Pew Research Center, November 13, 2007.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

EUGENE ROBINSON joined joined The Was.h.i.+ngton Post The Was.h.i.+ngton Post in 1980 and has served as London bureau chief, foreign editor, and, currently, a.s.sociate editor and columnist. Robinson, who has been a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary in 2009. He appears frequently on MSNBC as a political a.n.a.lyst. in 1980 and has served as London bureau chief, foreign editor, and, currently, a.s.sociate editor and columnist. Robinson, who has been a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary in 2009. He appears frequently on MSNBC as a political a.n.a.lyst. Disintegration Disintegration is his third book. is his third book.

Also by Eugene Robinson

Coal to Cream

Last Dance in Havana