June 19, 2020
Are we watching the collapse of the blue city?
As cities burn and statues come down, many want you to believe that U.S. is doomed or that the leftist mobs will tear down every sign of traditional values.
Yes, some monuments will be vandalized and buildings burned down.
But eventually, the storyline will change.
What we are really watching is the collapse of "blue districts" and cities.
For years, we've heard that "racism" or poverty excuses. Yet, the story is a lot different. The issue is not really racism but dysfunctional societies run by Democrats, as Angela Kelley wrote:
Poverty is not, as the Left would have us believe, owing to a lack of social safety-net funding. “According to the U.S Department of Energy’s Residential Energy Consumption Survey... Over 99 percent [of those classified below the poverty level] have a refrigerator, television, and stove or oven. Eighty-one percent have a microwave; 75 percent have air conditioning; 67 percent have a second TV; 64 percent have a clothes washer; 38 percent have a personal computer.” In the United States, most poor people (over 80 percent) have cell phones. People are not living in abject poverty as they do in third world countries, where people are starved for the basic necessities of food, clothing, clean water, and housing.And let’s not ignore the problem of absentee fathers. Psychology Today notes that children without fathers in their home are susceptible to “diminished self-concept and compromised physical and emotional security, behavioral problems, truancy and poor academic performance, delinquency and youth crime, including violent crime, promiscuity, and teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse, homelessness, exploitation and abuse, physical health problems, mental health disorders, life chances, future relationships, [and] mortality.”In Illinois, 23 percent of one-parent households are headed by Caucasians. By comparison, 39 percent of Hispanic/Latino households and a whopping 73 percent of African American households are single-parent homes. The numbers are fairly consistent in states with the largest cities. In New York, 64 percent of African-Americans come from single-parent households; in Minnesota, it’s 50 percent; in Pennsylvania, it’s 71 percent; in California, it’s 62 percent, and in Washington, D.C., it is a disturbing 78 percent.The largest cities in these states have been run by Democrats for years.
Yes, they have.
The bad news is that there will be more accusations of racism and riots. The good news is that we are watching the end of these cities and that's good for African Americans hoping for a better life.
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
The True Plight of Black Americans
Walter E. Williams
While it might not be popular to say in the wake of the
recent social disorder, the true plight of black people has little or nothing
to do with the police or what has been called "systemic racism."
Instead, we need to look at the responsibilities of those running our big
cities.
Some of the most dangerous big cities are: St. Louis,
Detroit, Baltimore, Oakland, Chicago, Memphis, Atlanta, Birmingham, Newark,
Buffalo and Philadelphia. The most common characteristic of these cities is
that for decades, all of them have been run by liberal Democrats. Some cities
-- such as Detroit, Buffalo, Newark and Philadelphia -- haven't elected a
Republican mayor for more than a half-century. On top of this, in many of these
cities, blacks are mayors, often they dominate city councils, and they are
chiefs of police and superintendents of schools.
In 1965, there were no blacks in the U.S. Senate, nor were
there any black governors. And only six members of the House of Representatives
were black. As of 2019, there is far greater representation in some areas -- 52
House members are black. Nine black Americans have served in the Senate,
including Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts, Carol Moseley Braun and Barack
Obama of Illinois, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Cory Booker of New Jersey, and
Kamala Harris of California. In recent times, there have been three black state
governors. The bottom line is that today's black Americans have significant
political power at all levels of government. Yet, what has that meant for a
large segment of the black population?
Democratic-controlled cities have the
poorest-quality public education despite their large, and growing, school
budgets.
Consider Baltimore,
Maryland. In 2016, in 13 of Baltimore's 39 high schools, not a single student
scored proficient on the state's math exam. In six other high schools, only 1%
tested proficient in math. Only 15% of Baltimore students passed the state's
English test. That same year in Philadelphia only 19% of eighth-graders scored
proficient in math, and 16% were proficient in reading. In Detroit, only 4% of
its eighth-graders scored proficient in math, and 7% were proficient in
reading. It's the same story of academic disaster in other cities run by
Democrats.
Violent crime and poor education is not the only problem for
Democratic-controlled cities. Because of high crime, poor schools and a less
pleasant environment, cities are losing their economic base and their most
productive people in droves. When World War II ended, the population of
Washington, D.C., was about 800,000; today, it's about 700,000. In 1950,
Baltimore's population was almost 950,000; today, it's around 590,000.
Detroit's 1950 population was close to 1.85 million; today, it's down to
673,000. The population of Camden, New Jersey, in 1950 was nearly 125,000;
today it has fallen to 74,000. St. Louis' 1950 population was more than
856,000; today, it's less than 294,000. A similar story of population decline can
be found in most of our formerly large and prosperous cities. In some cities,
the population decline since 1950 is well over 50%, and that includes Detroit,
St. Louis, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
Academic liberals, civil rights advocates and others blamed the
exodus on racism -- "white flight" to the suburbs to avoid blacks.
But blacks have been fleeing some cities at higher rates than whites. The five
cities whose suburbs have the fastest-growing black populations are Miami,
Dallas, Washington, Houston and Atlanta. It turns out that blacks, like whites,
want better and safer schools for their kids and don't like to be mugged or
have their property vandalized. And like white people, if they have the means,
black people cannot wait to leave troubled cities.
White liberals and black politicians focus most of their
attention on what the police do, but how relevant is that to the overall
tragedy? According to Statista, this year, 172 whites and 88 blacks have died
at the hands of police. To put police shootings in a bit of perspective, in
Chicago alone in 2020 there have been 1,260 shootings and 256 homicides with
blacks being the primary victims. That comes to one shooting victim every three
hours and one homicide victim every 15 hours. Three people in Chicago have been
killed by police. If one is truly concerned about black deaths, shootings by
police should figure way down on one's list -- which is not to excuse bad
behavior by some police officers.
Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George
Mason University. To find out more about Walter E. Williams and read features
by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators
Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
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