Recession Hitting Minorities Harder Than Whites

By: Michael H. Cottman

The current economic recession, which has taken a devastating toll on African-Americans and people of color, has disproportionately impacted blacks more than whites, according to a study by the Center for American Progress. 

The report, released last week and entitled “Leveling the Playing Field,” examines annual, quarterly and monthly data on the different economic experiences of whites, African-Americans and Hispanics during this recession and prior recessions.

 

Recession Hitting Minorities Harder Than Whites.... 

Black Coaches and Administrators: Not enough minorities hired in football

By STEVE HERMAN

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Minorities are getting more interviews but are still not getting enough jobs in college football, according to the Black Coaches and Administrators.

The study released Wednesday by the group said almost a third of the candidates interviewed last year were minorities, but only four were hired among the 31 openings in the NCAA's two levels of Division I football.

The recent firings of Ty Willingham at Washington and Ron Prince at Kansas State — both effective at the end of the season — left the Bowl Subdivision, the NCAA's top division, with only four blacks, one Latino and one Pacific Islander as head coaches.

"In the world of college football, the facts and statistics reflect an unmistakable bias and a systemic problem that has yet to be fixed. My deep concern is, `Why are the college football hiring practices out of synch?'" said BCA executive director Floyd Keith, who did not have an answer to that question.

"The message in this report is the process is being followed, but the poor hiring results continue," he said.

Among the 31 schools in the FBS and Championship Subdivision, formerly I-A and I-AA, that hired head coaches in the past year, 16 received overall grades of A, which is up from 11 that received the highest grade in the 2007 report, 12 in 2006 and just four in 2005.

BCA: Not enough minorities hired in football....

Commentary: Sorry, White Supremacist Idiots – The Revolution You're Seeking Simply Isn’t Going to Happen

By: Deborah Mathis

The U.S. population will be so diverse by 2050 that no race will be able to claim a majority, and the result may be more conflict than conciliation as the scramble for the American Dream intensifies.

I wrote that 10 years ago as part of a Gannett News Service team reporting on demographic projections for the then-approaching 21st Century. Like a time-release capsule, the demographers and sociologists my colleagues and I consulted and quoted in 1998 are, year by year now, proving their stuff.

Fresh Census Bureau analyses show that non-whites -- so-called “minorities” -- make up 40 percent or more of the population in one in six American counties, with the black populace swelling in the South, Latinos in the South and West, and Asians along the Pacific coast. Meanwhile, the white growth rate is too slow to keep up with that of other ethnic groups.

If you find the statistics boring, suffice it to say this: The prophecy is being revealed.

COMMENTARY....

Has the Government Been a Friend or Foe for Minority Groups?

The Cato Institute's Casey Lartigue discusses whether the government has been overall a friend or an adversary for American minority groups.



"Race and the State," featuring Bruce Bartlett and Casey Lartigue.

Is government more likely to be the friend or adversary of minority groups? Has it been liberals, conservatives, or libertarians like William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass who have been the most consistent defenders of everyone's rights? What does history suggest would be the best public policy for racial minorities in the 21st century?

Bruce Bartlett, a former Reagan administration economist with a provocative new book, and Casey Lartigue, coeditor of Educational Freedom in Urban America and a controversial former XM 169 talk show host, will discuss these questions - Cato Institute

Casey Lartigue is a former policy analyst with Cato's Center for Educational Freedom. His research expertise includes school choice, teacher quality and minority education. His writings have been published in USA Today, Ed. magazine published at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Education Week, the New York Post, the Washington Times, Asian Week and the Washington Post.

Before joining the Center, he worked as a staff writer at Cato. He has spoken at the National Press Club, Harvard Law School, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, been a guest on the Rush Limbaugh Show, and testified before Congress on school choice in the nation's capital.

Prior to joining Cato, Lartigue taught English and worked as a language examiner in Taiwan and South Korea. Lartigue received a bachelor's degree from the Harvard University Extension School and a master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

MINORITIES HIT HARDEST BY HOUSING CRISIS

By Dana Ford

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In May, Alvin Clavon received a foreclosure notice on the simple, Spanish-style house in South Los Angeles that he shares with his wife and three boys.

Clavon bought the place in 2003 with a fixed-rate loan. They painted the walls, fixed the yard and made friends with the neighbors, who let the Clavon boys pick their basil.

In 2005, he worked with a mortgage broker to refinance his home with another fixed-rate loan. But on the night before signing, the family was offered an interest-only, adjustable-rate mortgage.

Clavon, a 35-year-old executive assistant at a bank, said he felt stuck. The ball was rolling, he trusted his broker and so the next day, he signed the loan.

"Turned out to be the worst thing I could have done," said Clavon, who like so many others in danger of losing their home to the U.S. housing crisis, is African American.

The Clavons live in a zip code, 90047, with one of the largest black populations in the city, and also one of the highest rates of foreclosure -- a common combination.

Researchers agree minorities are more likely than whites to get high-cost mortgages, but analysts can't agree why.

Does the 90047 zip code have a high foreclosure rate because African Americans were forced into high-cost loans? Or is the area's foreclosure rate the result of economics?

Either way, say some minority and housing activists, the fact that minorities are disproportionately hurt by lending practices in the United States is real -- and so are its consequences.

RACE OR RISK?

Study after study show that minorities are more likely than whites to get subprime mortgages, which are high-cost loans made to people with poor credit. In its heyday earlier this decade, the subprime market was cheered as an avenue through which historically shut-out borrowers could get loans. That frequently meant minorities.

So long as home prices rose, the subprime market seemed a positive example of how to increase home ownership, but as the housing market weakened this year, many began to question whether the loans were fairly priced.

In September, the Federal Reserve released a study that found 52.8 percent of African-Americans got a high-cost home loan when they refinanced in 2006, compared to 37.7 percent of Latinos and just 25.7 percent of whites in the same year.

A similar study by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known by its acronym ACORN, in September found the same pattern even when income was equal.

According to ACORN, upper-income blacks were 3.3 times, and Latinos 3 times, more likely than upper-income whites to have a high-cost loan when purchasing a home in 2006.

"I keep hoping one day I'll do a study where race doesn't play a part," said Liz Wolff, author of the ACORN study.

"But clearly, there is a racial bias," she added.

Jay Brinkmann, vice president of research and economics at the Mortgage Bankers Association, disagrees.

He believes that if researchers could account for all the factors that go into pricing a mortgage, they would find race doesn't matter.

"The pricing is based on risk, not race," said Brinkmann.

THE AMERICAN DREAM

The answer may be decided in court.

In July, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, filed a discrimination suit against 11 of the country's largest lenders, saying minorities are steered toward high-cost loans more often than whites, even after all risk factors are considered.

The ACORN study found that high foreclosure rates cause higher rates of crime, lower tax revenue and property values. In other words, whole minority communities, not just individuals, are hurt when houses go under, said Hilary Shelton, director of the Washington D.C. Bureau of the NAACP.

"The individual stories are heart-wrenching," said Shelton. "Part of the American dream, is being able to have a safe secure home where you can raise your family."

"But if we go beyond that and see how it affects entire groups ... we know there is a racial factor," said Shelton.

Despite the foreclosure notice on his house, Clavon still owns it. He'd like to sell, but can't find a buyer.

"The facts are there. So-called minorities are disproportionately represented in these loans," Clavon said about subprime lending.

"You can make out of that what you will."

(Editing by Peter Henderson, Mary Milliken and Eddie Evans)

NO HALLOWS EVE FOR MINORITIES

Recent Polls Say Parents Believe Halloween Not Safe Enough For Their Little Ghouls And Goblins.

Sounds like Halloween is getting a lot scarier than it use to be. Two-thirds of parents say their kiddies will be out trick-or-treating, but a recent poll posted in the Associated Press says fewer low-income and minorities will be taking part in the festivities.

The survey says 73 percent of whites versus 56 percent of minorities said their children will be out trick-or-treating this Wed.


According to the poll, by The Associated Press and Ipsos, the numbers are based on how people view the safety of their neighborhoods. Lower Income and Minority families are more likely to be a bit sketchy about letting their children knock on stranger’s doors.

Thomas Link, 50, and his family are newbie’s to their trailer park in Palatka, Fla. In an Associated Press article he said, that he wasn’t sure if he would be letting his three kids trick-or-treat.

“I’m very particular about who I let my kids deal with,” he said.

Neighborhood newbie’s aren’t the only ones having trick-or-treat reservations, some people who have lived in their neighborhoods all their life, say it’s just not as safe as it use to be.

Another reason kids might not be able to participate in fright night is some parents say it’s against their religion.

“It’s demonic,” said Donna Stitt, 37, a nursing aid form Barto, Pa., with four children. “People are celebrating the dead. I’m not into that.”

The AP article also says that 86 percent of the people in the survey said they are worried about the infamous “trick,” that comes along if there isn’t a treat.

The percentages of those who are worried isn’t really that surprising, women under the age of 45 were about twice more likely than men to be a bit on edge with the idea of vandalism or pranks.

The poll involved phone interviews with 1,013 adults conducted from Oct. 16-18, said AP. There was also a minus 3.1 percentage point margin for sampling error.

Go to http://childcare.about.com/od/childsafet1/a/trickortreat.htm for safety tips on trick-or-treating.