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Friday digest-open thread 8/29/08

What a week this has been, with its historic anniversaries and future history unfurling all around us. A day ahead of Barack Obama's acceptance of the Democratic nomination for the presidency, the public radio program On Point spoke with African American writers Maya Angelou, Ishmael Reed, and Alice Walker about the nomination's historical impact. You can listen to the show here. Also, check out what some bloggers of color have written about Obama's nomination at Jack & Jill Politics (Jill Tubman) and Field Negro, as well as what a swing-voting African American has to say about the John McCain-Sarah Palin ticket at Booker Rising. And the first two black mayors of Hartford, Connecticut, tell Jesse A. Hamilton of the Courant about the long road from D.C. (August 28, 1963) to Denver (August 28, 2008).

Just as the Gulf Coast is marking the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall, Tropical Storm Gustav is gaining strength after killing at least 68 people in the Caribbean. Is Louisiana ready? Nearby St. Tammany Parish has already declared a state of emergency, key floodgates are being tested, and evacuation plans are in place. Yet the anniversary commemorations went on this morning, albeit in abbreviated form as a tense city waited and watched for news of the next storm threat.

One speaker after another at the Democratic National Convention this week spoke of clean energy and green jobs, and in his speech Thursday night, Obama pledged a $150 billion investment "over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy - wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and 5 million new jobs that pay well and can't ever be outsourced." Republican nominee-in-waiting McCain has also spoken of government investments in some alternative energy sources. September 27 - the day after the first presidential debate - will be a Green Jobs Now National Day of Action, with the message, as the event website says, that Americans are ready "to tackle the climate crisis by building a green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty." Learn more here.

Enjoy your holiday weekend, and we'll see you back here next Tuesday.

New Orleans, three years later

It's been three years this week since Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast and New Orleans' levees failed. The Metropolitan Policy Center at the Brookings Institution and the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center have published the latest version of The New Orleans Index, showing that while the city has gained much of its pre-storm population and jobs, other recovery trends "have slowed or stagnated in the past year as tens of thousands of blighted properties, lack of affordable housing for essential service and construction workers, and thin public services continue to plague the city and region."

For example, the report says the city has tens of thousands of blighted properties. More than 71,000 residential addresses were unoccupied in March 2008. City figures show only 10,541 properties have been demolished. Planning District 9 - which includes the Lower 9th Ward and Holy Cross neighborhoods - still has more than 14,000 unoccupied dwellings, about half the homes in that neighborhood.

The report adds: "Rising rents, now 46 percent higher than before the storm, threaten the ability of many essential service workers to afford housing, as wages are not keeping pace. The labor market remains tight as the service and construction industries seek workers. The public service infrastructure in the city remains thin, especially public transit, which saw ridership grow by 45 percent in the past year. And, the latest maps from the Army Corps of Engineers suggest that a number of neighborhoods in the city remain at risk of six to eight feet of flooding from a '1 percent' storm, signaling the need to commit to a coastal restoration plan that goes well beyond levees.

"With a strong economic base and a highly engaged group of citizens and leaders, the region is poised to tackle some of the tougher challenges ahead. As we move into year four of post-Katrina recovery, the nation, with a new president and Congress, must continue to build on the region’s progress to ensure that New Orleans attains its promise as a great American city and region."

Click here to access the full report or its executive summary. And for some neighborhood-level views of what's happening in New Orleans these days, check out the Broadmoor Improvement Association, the Phoenix of New Orleans (Lower Mid City), the Lakeview Civic Improvement Association, and Help Holy Cross, as well as the city's official website.

Friday digest-open thread 8/15/08

Classes will be back in session soon in most of the nation's schools. Earlier this month, The Oprah Winfrey Show focused on the unequal state of education in the United States, and how schools in both inner cities and rural areas often fail to provide the same sort of experiences enjoyed by students in wealthier districts. Explore the episode's website to get insight from author Jonathan Kozol, who says "We are now operating a school system in America that's more segregated than at any time since the death of Martin Luther King," and from Bill and Melinda Gates, who - together with former basketball star and education advocate Kevin Johnson - have launched a new campaign (Strong American Schools/ED IN '08, formerly StandUp) to address the crisis. Also, explore the tools available from Everyday Democracy to help launch action-oriented dialogues about education in your community - like the 500 folks in Dothan, Alabama, who recently did just that.

The Census Bureau reported this week that, by 2042, white people will no longer comprise a majority in the United States. Projections now estimate that the United States will have 439 million people in 2050 (up from about 305 million now). By mid-century, whites will make up 46 percent of the population, Hispanics will make up about 30 percent (double the current numbers), blacks will make up 15 percent (about the same as now), and people of Asian heritage - now 5 percent of the population - will be at about 9 percent. White non-Hispanic people today make up about two-thirds of the U.S. population, but only 55 percent among children younger than 5. "The white population is older and very much centered around the aging baby boomers who are well past their high fertility years," William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, told the Associated Press. "The future of America is epitomized by the young people today. They are basically the melting pot we are going to see in the future." Again, Everyday Democracy offers resources - such as our discussion guides Facing Racism in a Diverse Nation and  Changing Faces, Changing Communities - to help us all navigate these shifting demographics.

The DemocracySpace water coolers are taking an August break, but we'd like to know what topics you want to see featured in our mostly monthly live blog sessions later this year. If you have ideas, put 'em in the comments below or email blog manager Julie Fanselow. Thanks for reading!

Here's to good works

Last week, I wrote about one especially resonant exchange at the Harwood Institute's Public Innovators Summit, held August 1-3 in Stevenson, Washington. Now, as promised, I'd simply like to share links to a few organizations with which I wasn't too familiar before attending the summit. It was great to learn about the good works being done by these organizations, as well as to re-connect with others whose work I already knew. I only wish we could mention every one of them here ...

Ashoka is a global association of social entrepreneurs. Its website says that, since 1981, Ashoka has supported more than 2,000 social entrepreneurs in more than 60 countries as Ashoka Fellows. Ashoka "envisions a world where Everyone is a Changemaker: a world that responds quickly and effectively to social challenges, and where each individual has the freedom, confidence and societal support to address any social problem and drive change."

We all hear a lot about giving peace a chance, but the Center for Global Nonviolence is advocating a much more in-your-face ideal: nonkilling. Based on the work of Glenn D. Paige (whose 2002 book is available as a free download at the center's website), nonkilling political science suggests that, contrary to popular assumptions and centuries of history, killing fellow humans is not a normal part of the human condition. This movement, according to Paige, "seeks to direct attention beyond 'peace' and even 'nonviolence' to focus sharply upon the taking of human life."

The Five Freedoms Project is dedicated to the freedoms outlined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Its website says the Five Freedoms Project "provides local school leaders with the leadership development, coaching and support they need to address two of America’s greatest challenges — improving the performance of our public schools, and strengthening the quality of our civic discourse."

Everyone knows about Goodwill, but the work of Goodwill Industries of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin Counties goes far beyond its network of 17 neighborhood retail stores with its commitment to creating solutions to poverty and training people for living-wage jobs.

The Heat and Warmth Fund of Michigan (THAW) helps people pay their utility bills but also encourages folks to change how they use energy and advocates for long-term solutions to energy issues. THAW partners with Detroit radio station WWJ in an annual Winter Survival Radiothon to raise money for Detroit residents' essential heat and lighting costs.

The Omidyar Network - founded by Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay, and his wife, Pam - makes grants and investments based on a belief that every person has the potential to make a difference. Although I didn't know the name of Omidyar, I know the work of some of its grantees, including Witness (musician Peter Gabriel's project to help human rights defenders use videography to record abuses and pursue justice) and Digg, which allows people to categorize and prioritize the vast quantities of content on the Internet.

Revenue Watch Institute promotes the transparent, accountable and effective management of oil, gas, and mineral resources for the public good. RWI and its partners work in about 30 nations worldwide to help countries avoid "the resource curse" of corruption that sometimes accompanies great resource wealth. From its website: "With effective revenue management, citizen engagement and real government accountability, natural resource wealth can drive development and national growth. RWI provides the expertise, funding and technical assistance to help countries realize these benefits."

Rural Development Initiatives "is a catalyst for community vitality in rural areas. We work with rural leaders and volunteers to expand the knowledge, skills and networks for building communities that foster opportunity, thrive and endure."

Survivor Corps started as an organization to help land-mine survivors, and it's now a global network of people helping each other to overcome the effects of war and violence. Its credo: "Working together, we rise above our injuries and give back to our communities." Founder Jerry White was on ABC's "Good Morning America" last week to discuss the organization and his new book. (Video here.) Jean Feraca, another summit attendee, will welcome Jerry as a guest on her radio show Here On Earth this Tuesday, August 12.

Friday digest-open thread 8/8/08

The world's attention is turning to China as the 2008 Summer Olympics open today. As the Games unfold, people all over the world will be thinking not just about sports but about China's human rights record, its environmental problems, and its halting attempts at creating more political freedom. China is famously restrictive about what people can access on the Internet from within its borders, but a variety of blogs are offering news and insiders' views on the world's most populous country. Have a look at the China Media Project, Angry Chinese Blogger, and China Dialogue. And here's a fascinating article by Issac Mao, who became China's first blogger in 2002. He writes, "What I've witnessed in these six years is not only the explosion in big numbers of users and media space, but also these individual effects - including in my life. I'm now more like a global citizen than six years ago."

The Center for Community Change's Movement Vision Lab is introducing a new feature, "10 questions for  ..." in which MVL readers can pose questions to a civic leader. First up: Bill Vandenberg, the new director of the Democracy and Power Fund at the Open Society Institute. Questions can be posted here or emailed here until Wednesday, August 13.

The Northwest Area Foundation has awarded a $2.46 million grant to the Cheyenne River Sioux Nation to fund  the tribe's  10-year strategic plan to reduce a 46 percent poverty rate on the reservation. With an earlier NWAF grant, Cheyenne River Tribal Ventures has created eight Learning Centers that provide education and tribal services in remote and isolated regions of the 2.8 million acre reservation in central South Dakota; begun financial literacy training for youth, paid internships, and Individual Development Accounts that teach young people the value of saving and investing; created a Cheyenne River Chamber of Commerce; and developed a Lakota Daycare Immersion program in partnership with Presentation College that emphasizes preschool learning in the Lakota language. NWAF is also making small grants to many of its Horizons communities, such as this one reported on our website, which will fund distance learning scholarships in Ritzville, Washington.

Writing in the cover story for the August 11 issue of Newsweek magazine, Christopher Dickey uses the presidential race to describe his native South as a region undergoing an uneasy transition: "There is a sense that a world is ending, maybe not this year but inevitably. The election, and Obama's candidacy, have focused these anxieties like a lens. I found whites frustrated and indecisive about the campaign, families at odds, generations divided. Many who thought themselves beyond prejudice were surprised by their suspicions of the young black man from up north. Meanwhile, many slave-descended blacks, hugely supportive of the half-Kenyan, half-Kansan, Hawaii-reared Obama, seemed afraid to hope too much, inoculating themselves with pessimism about the chances that any man of color could win the presidency, even this man, even today, or that, if he does, he will survive." Read more - and access Dickey's video diary and a photo gallery - here.

Journalists seek more diversity

This past weekend, about 6,600 journalists attended the every-four-years conference in Chicago put on by UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc. UNITY brings together members of the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association, and the Native American Journalists Association. Its mission: "To advocate fair and accurate news coverage about people of color, and aggressively challenge the industry to staff its organizations at all levels to reflect the nation's diversity."

"A New Journalism for a Changing World" was the conference's theme. Of course, any conference about journalism in July 2008 is bound to breed discussion on the overall anemic state of the newspaper business, which has been shedding jobs by the thousands in recent years. Radio and TV stations face fierce competition from the Internet, too.

Given this backdrop, UNITY president Karen Lincoln Michel told NPR's Farai Chideya that the organization is pleased to hear of small gains, including a new survey from the Radio and Television News Directors showing some increases of women and people of color, and another report from the American Society of Newspaper Editors posting a slight rise in the number of minorities who are supervisors in newsrooms. (ASNE has a long-term goal of increasing both the share of minorities in newsrooms and the share of minority supervisors to minorities' percentage in the overall population - currently about 34 percent.)

UNITY leaders won't let news corporations back down from diversity goals simply because of a poor economy. At the convention, UNITY announced a new "10 by 2010" goal aimed at getting each of 10 media companies to appoint at least one person of color to an executive-level management job by two years from now. According to a report from Editor & Publisher, The New York Times and Gannett Co. Inc. have committed to the program, which is also supported by the Robert C. Maynard Institute, the Poynter Institute, and the Radio-Television News Directors Association.

Journalists made the point at UNITY that media companies must diversify to survive, since minority groups are together expected to comprise more than half the U.S. population by the middle of this century. "Unless you are really concentrated on diversity, any business model is doomed, because we're the audience you've got to reach," said Dori Maynard, president of the minority-focused Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, in a speech recounted by USA Today.

Friday digest-open thread 7/25/08

Congress is on the cusp of passing a bill aimed at relieving the nation's home foreclosure crisis, just as a new report released today showed that foreclosure filings doubled in the second quarter of 2008 over the same time period last year. Last month, half a dozen writers for the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity's new Critical Issues Forum blog wrote how the foreclosure crisis has disproportionately affected communities of color:

The disproportionate impact of subprime mortgage foreclosures on racial minorities is clear: Foreclosure means a loss of the wealth invested in a home, the abandoned buildings cause declines in neighborhood property values, and the vital asset wealth that minority homeowners have long sought is lost.   The structural racism analysis does not assert that any individuals involved in mortgage finance were motivated by prejudice or bigotry. Rather it suggests that the cumulative effect of regulatory policy, institutional practices, and self-interest has been to harm minorities disproportionately – but to ultimately impact society more broadly.

Having located the causes of racial disparity in the subprime crisis, we can consider possible remedies.  For example: greater regulation of mortgage finance would prevent the proliferation of high cost loan products which precipitated the crisis in the first place; financial education in poor minority communities would minimize the capacity of predatory lenders to mislead their clients; municipal efforts to manage abandoned foreclosed properties would prevent neighborhood decline.  The contention of the structural racism analysis is that as we explore these and other viable policy solutions, we must specifically consider the problem of racial disparity, and how new policies and programs will reduce that disparity.

Read more of their analysis and call to action here.

The Pine Bluff (Arkansas) Commercial newspaper editorialized today about the energy generated by this week's town meeting of Pine Bluff 20/20 - a Vision of What Can Be. The process is going well, the newspaper said, but there's always room for even more involvement. "We’re grateful to those who are participating in the 20/20 process. If you would like to see the goals achieved, why not become involved? Nine-hundred people who helped set the goals and 250 who are actively involved can do a lot, but with your help, we can do a lot more." Pine Bluff has about 55,000 people.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland kicked off a Conversations on Education tour this week that will include stops in a dozen cities. Jim Provance of the Toledo Blade wrote: "The governor has said he would consider his administration a failure if it did not address a school-funding system dependent on property taxes - ruled unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court - that places students in poorer districts at a competitive disadvantage." Citizens at the Columbus kickoff advocated for more early childhood education, especially for special needs children of poor parents.

Welcome to the water cooler (7/08)

Update: Click here for an easier-to-read threaded version of this discussion, now archived at our wiki. You can read past discussions with Frances Moore Lappé and Matt Leighninger at our wiki, too.

Welcome to the summer installment of the Everyday Democracy Book Club. Our guest for today's live blog session (from 1 to 2 p.m. Eastern) is Dr. James W. Loewen, author of Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism. I am Julie Fanselow, online organizer for Everyday Democracy and manager of its DemocracySpace blog, and I'll be the moderator for today's online discussion. (We call these events "water coolers.")

Published in 2005, Sundown Towns was a groundbreaking book that helped document how thousands of U.S. communities, mostly in the North, had "whites-only" policies, often stated via signs at the city limits, forbidding people of color to stay after sunset. More critically, Professor Loewen shows in his book how the legacy of those policies lingers across our landscape today: in towns where black families are still rare, in feelings of prejudice and privilege among whites who grow up in homogeneous places, and in nearly every major issue we face as a nation today.

In an article written recently for the World magazine published by the Unitarian Universalist Association (read it here), historian Dan Carter summed up the challenge Loewen's book presents to us:

Everywhere we look, we see the long shadow of our racist past in the re-segregation of our public schools and the growing isolation of the poorest African Americans in impoverished inner cities, in the continuing wealth and income gap between black and white, and in the unconscionable explosion of a "prison-industrial complex" that incarcerates millions of black men, consigning them to a lifetime in the shadows of our society.

None of us should feel personal responsibility for what our parents or grandparents did or did not do. But there will be guilt enough for our own generation if we do not confront and address the bitter consequences of the story that James Loewen has revealed so powerfully in Sundown Towns.

Because Everyday Democracy works with communities to address issues of racial equity, that quote seems like an especially apropos way to frame today's discussion. What can those of us working for racial equity and justice do to overcome the lingering legacies of our history? What's already happening (and where), and what more needs to be done?

Here's how the water cooler will work: I'll ask Jim the first question at 1 p.m. Eastern, and he will answer in the comments as well. To follow this Q&A discussion, click on the word "comments" below this post. If you'd like to pose a question or add a comment, look for the phrase "POST A COMMENT" at the end of the existing comments. Below it, insert your name (real names, please); email address (it will not be visible online); and, if you like, the URL of your organization or program’s website. Write your question or comment in the box, then click “post.”

Please note: You will need to refresh your browser periodically to see the latest questions and comments that have been posted and answered. If traffic gets heavy, you may be asked to verify your comment with a "captcha check," or typing in a string of letters.

Also, if you see that several questions have already been asked, please be kind and give Jim a chance to catch up before posting your question. We'll post a rethreaded, easier-to-read version of this live blog at our wiki within 24 hours. (You can read past water cooler discussions there, too.)

Thank you for joining us for today's meeting of the Everyday Democracy Book Club! And now, let the discussion begin ...

After Nov. 4, then what?

This election season has generated unprecedented enthusiasm and high turnouts. But what will newly engaged citizens do after Election Day? This was the topic of a conference call held Monday by Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement and the Funders' Committee for Civic Participation. During the one-hour discussion titled "Online Strategies for Sustaining Civic Energy Beyond Elections," participants heard Maya Enista of Mobilize.org and Jessy Tolkan of the Energy Action Coalition describe how they are working to keep people - especially young and new voters - interested and engaged through and beyond November 4, 2008.

Jessy talked about how the Energy Action Coalition - a nonpartisan organization of nearly 50 youth-oriented groups seeking green jobs, just energy, and other bold actions on climate change - has used online tools including its website and a blog to create a network of more than 1,000 high school and college campuses where students are taking action. The coalition's leaders are excited by this online organizing, she noted, but they also realized that it must be paired with action by "real live people on the ground" to advance the coalition's goals. So, for example, EAC is seeking not just a million people to sign up online for its PowerVote network, but also to perform traditional organizing activities such as taking part in an August "mega-training" at Concordia College in Minnesota and monitoring members of Congress once the elections are done.

Describing Mobilize.org as an "all-partisan organization" to engage America's youth, Maya pointed to projects with the Case Foundation - including the Make It Your Own awards and the new Social Citizens program - as examples of ways people are starting to organize both on- and offline. She also spoke eloquently about ways that technology is able to involve people who might not otherwise take action, citing anonymous instant messaging as an example of non-intrusive technology that can help remind users to vote and take other important actions. Mobilize.org is collaborating on a "civic currency" project that will "incentivize"  civic action by letting users track their efforts as citizens, not just through voting, but by sending messages to Congress, writing letters to the editor, working at a polling place, etc. The idea is to help people create measurable results and earn points that can be traded for prizes.

Both women said that their organizations are working hard to get a variety of political voices engaged, often by going offline to seek out such groups as Young Republicans and evangelical Christians who may be underrepresented among online activists. "It takes a deliberate effort to get that diversity of opinion," Jessy noted.

To learn more about these organizations, check out Mobilize.org and Energy Action Coalition. Also, here are two interesting recent comments on youth civic engagement from Ellen Miller of the Sunlight Foundation and Sally Kohn from the Center for Community Change, who wrote last week in the Christian Science Monitor that "the Internet tools that help Millennials appreciate our interconnectedness may actually erode the community values they seek" and that young adults must add off-line activism to their online presence.

Watch, discuss 'Traces of the Trade'

Just a reminder: the PBS series P.O.V. will air the national premier of Traces of the Trade: A Tale from the Deep North tonight (Tuesday, June 24). The documentary explores filmmaker Katrina Browne's discovery that her ancestors were the largest slave-holding family in the early United States, and her contemporary journey with nine relatives to understand both their history and slavery's ongoing role in contemporary race relations.

Traces of the Trade will air from 10 to 11:30 on most stations, but check your local listings. Everyday Democracy's executive director Martha McCoy served as an early advisor on the film, and from that work, she says, "I can vouch that it will be a powerful portrayal of history, the meaning of whiteness, and a great way to a deeper understanding of ongoing effects of racism."

Watch the film, then record your thoughts about it in the comments section below.

Update, Wednesday morning: I've posted some thoughts in the comments below, and I hope other readers will, too. There's also a discussion of the film ongoing at the P.O.V. blog.