Greg Freeman: Focus St. Louis Report On Race Serves Largely To Show That Not Much Has Changed. PD 7/22/2001

Headline: FOCUS ST. LOUIS REPORT ON RACE SERVES LARGELY TO SHOW THAT NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED
Reporter: By Greg Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Sun. July 22, 2001
Section: METRO, Page: C3, Edition: FIVE STAR LIFT

I was disappointed last week as I read the FOCUS St. Louis report on race in the region.
My disappointment had nothing to do with the report itself. Members of the task force had clearly worked hard on the study, which took many months to put together. No, my disappointment had more to do with the snail's pace of progress. The FOCUS study is the first wide-ranging look at race here since the organization's predecessor, Confluence St. Louis, released a report on the topic 12 years ago. That report acknowledged that racism and racial polarization existed in this community, and that they penetrated its every aspect, from politics to education to economic opportunity to housing.

According to the new report, blacks still are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as white area residents and are rejected 1 & 1/2 times more often for home loans. At the same time, the region suffers from housing segregation. And educational experiences of blacks and Hispanics remain substandard.
"For the St. Louis metropolitan area to be a progressive community that attracts and retains bright, innovative, forward-looking people and businesses, we must work collaboratively to improve the state of racial equality in our region, " the report states.
The same words could have been written 12 years ago.

That's what was so disappointing for me. In 1990, as a follow-up to the release of the Confluence report, I was one of about 40 St. Louisans from all walks of life who participated in a leadership summit on racial polarization. Among the group that met at St. Louis University's Fordyce House were newspaper editors, utility company chairmen, politicians and university presidents. The participants pledged to work within their own spheres of influence to unite the community.

It's clear from the new report, however, that those pledges weren't nearly enough.
Yes, some changes have occurred since that time, especially in the political field. St. Louis County has elected a black councilman, one who has since served as chairman of the County Council. St. Louis has elected two black mayors, has had two black police chiefs and has a black fire chief.

But, as the report points out, in many other areas, change has been slow to come.
One area not really touched upon - and I'm sure it's a difficult one to tackle - is the issue of attitudes. Being in this position, I hear every day from people, both black and white, who believe they are victims of bias or discrimination by people of the other race. Some of what I hear is downright disgraceful. Black teen-agers yelling at a young white woman to "stay out of this neighborhood, " followed by an epithet. Young white men asking a group of young black men, "Why don't you go back to where you came from?"

Stories like these are anecdotal, and generally not newsy enough for placement in the newspaper or on television. But they go on every day, and they often have an effect on how we think about one another. Is it any wonder that a white person who tries to reach out to a black person and is rebuffed might be slow to reach out again? Is it surprising that a black person who is ignored in his efforts to reach out to a white person would be less likely to try to do so the next time?
The truth is, not all white people are racists, and not all black people scream "racism" every time something doesn't go their way. But sometimes the worst elements - even if they're not the largest - are the noisiest.

The report doesn't address this, and perhaps it couldn't. But I strongly suspect that attitudes have an effect on the many other areas addressed, including education, economics and housing. How we treat one another is intangible, but it makes such a difference in how we view one another. When you go to a restaurant, for instance, whether the person behind the counter smiles at you or scowls at you makes a huge difference in what you think about the place, regardless of how good the food is. The same is the case in how we feel about one another.

FOCUS has made a good number of recommendations. Although some of the suggestions may seem pie-in-the-sky - the report recommended the implementation of a living wage policy on the same day that a St. Louis circuit judge barred the enforcement of such an ordinance in the city - many are good.
They may be difficult to tackle, however. As an example, FOCUS recommends the enhancement of public transportation at a time when Bi-State is making cuts in service and laying off workers.
My hope is that the FOCUS task forces are successful in carrying out the report's recommendations. If not, we'll be back here 12 years from now, again lamenting that not much has changed.

Notes: column on previous report: Study On Race Found Lacking, 12/1/1989
Reader Suggests Diverse Neighborhoods Are Fertile Ground For Attitude Change, 7/31/2001

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