Frank Rich on Clarence Thomas and race

Nobody Knows the Lynchings He's Seen - New York Times

This op-ed by Frank Rich is a "must read!" Rich is writing in response to the media frenzy surrounding Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' new memoir and other recent events regarding race in the U.S. I'll let Rich speak for himself and won't attempt to summarize him here.

But recent events suggest that we really have made little progress addressing racial prejudice or the social and economic results of 300 years of discrimination and segregation. One only has to look around most corporate board rooms, high school classrooms, and suburban neighborhoods in America to know that while segregation and discrimination based on race are illegal in the U.S., segregation remains a fact of life in 2007. The headlines about nooses being hung in Jena and at Columbia University are harsh reminders that there are those who wish official segregation were still a reality and seek to terrorize those who seek equality and respect today.

According to the US Census Bureau, "[b]lack households had the lowest median income in 2004 ($30,134) among race groups. Asian households had the highest median income ($57,518). The median income for non-Hispanic white households was $48,977." (http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/005647.html)

In addition, the Census bureau reported that in 2006 the poverty rate for blacks was 24.3 but for non-Hispanic whites only 8.2% (http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/poverty06/pov06hi.html).

Just as troubling, the situation has become worse for blacks in the last decade. While poverty rates for blacks did not change much between Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination in 1968 (34.7% of blacks lived in poverty) throgh 1993 (33.1%), the economic expansion of the 1990s did pull some blacks out of poverty. By 2000, the black poverty rate was down to 22.7% - still far above the rate for whites (7.4%) but a considerable improvement. But now we see the rate for blacks inching back up to 24.2% in 2006. (http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/histpov/hstpov2.html)

This should be unacceptable to Americans. It is morally reprehensible that we have yet to redress the poisonous effects of segregation and discrimination in this country. And while the Roberts Court's support for a color-blind Constitution might be laudable, until the country - including our school systems - are truly color-blind and color neutral, we must pursue policies that will truly level the playing field.

It also is foolish for us to allow such a significant segment of the population to languish in poverty with little or no hope of escaping if we are to compete successfully with over one billion Indians and over 1.5 billion Chinese in the coming decades. We will need all Americans to have the opportunity and support to pursue their passions and explore their potential. We need to find and develop the potential innovators and CEOs who grow up in inner cities and poor rural areas as well as those living in comfortable and safe suburbs.

Barack Obama's candidacy has the potential to help shift our attitudes toward race in America. He might be judged by the voting public more by the content of his character instead of the color of his skin. If so, win or lose, Obama's candidacy will serve as evidence that we have made some progress since Dr. King's premature death. But only if Obama - or whoever does win the presidency next year - has the courage and vision to address the deeply rooted and tenacious causes of inequality and racism in our country will we truly be on the path to realizing Dr. King's dream.