Tyrone N. Butts
APE Reporter
Los Angeles blacks still fare poorly, study shows
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Blacks in America's second-largest city fare the worst among all major races in education, health, economics, housing and criminal justice, according to a study released on Wednesday.
"The State of Black Los Angeles," prepared by the United Way and the Urban League of Los Angeles, said the promise of the American Dream was still out of reach for many blacks in the city.
"At the heart of this shortfall is a fundamental issue of equality -- not simply equality as a right but equality as a reality and practice," it said.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was joined by religious and community leaders, including Police Chief William Brat
ton, at a downtown panel to voice concern at the sobering picture presented in the study.
n
The study found that nearly half of black L.A. high school students don't graduate within four years, that the median household income for blacks is more than $20,000 below that of white families and that the 14 percent black unemployment rate is more than double that for whites and Asians.
"I see it as a call to action. I see it as a challenge," said Villaraigosa, the city's first Latino mayor in more than 100 years. "Because a great city cannot be that great shining city with so many people left behind."
Blacks, who make up 10 percent of the population of Los Angeles County, scored the lowest on an "equality index," which measures discrepancies in conditions for individual races.
The county's population is about 9.8 million, of whom 3.8 million live in the City of Los Angeles, 2003 census figures show.
Measured against a benchma
rk of 1.00 for whites, blacks scored .69, as compared to .71 for Latinos and .98 for Asians. The only area in which blacks scor
ed higher than all other races was in civic engagement, which includes voter participation, military service and English fluency.
Some panelists spoke of a sense of "deja vu" at the report's findings which come 40 years after the city's deadly 1965 Watts riots.
The report's statistics -- for example, that more than 75 percent of black fourth-graders cannot read proficiently, a number that increases to 83 percent by 11th grade -- "put a chill in your spine," Villaraigosa said.
"If we can't read or write, if we don't have the access to computers and textbooks, we won't be able to compete," he said.
Bratton, whose department has struggled to fend off criticism that it unfairly targets minorities, called improved public safet
y the catalyst that would spur change in other areas.
"You cannot educate your child if they live in fear in their schools and their streets," Bratton said. "You cannot have economic investment in neighborhoods where crime is out
of control."
Half of all murder victims in the county are black, Bratton said, and 32 percent of all black males born in 2001 would end up in prison, a statistic he called "horrifying."
Other findings in the report include:
- Blacks have the highest rate of homelessness, representing more than 30 percent of the total homeless population.
- The average jail sentence for blacks for violent offenses is 46 months, compared to 13 months for whites.
- Blacks have the highest overall death rate, with deaths from homicide and HIV and AIDS more than three times higher than other groups.
***************
Well, what do you know. L.A. just woke up.
T.N
.B.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Blacks in America's second-largest city fare the worst among all major races in education, health, economics, housing and criminal justice, according to a study released on Wednesday.
"The State of Black Los Angeles," prepared by the United Way and the Urban League of Los Angeles, said the promise of the American Dream was still out of reach for many blacks in the city.
"At the heart of this shortfall is a fundamental issue of equality -- not simply equality as a right but equality as a reality and practice," it said.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was joined by religious and community leaders, including Police Chief William Brat
ton, at a downtown panel to voice concern at the sobering picture presented in the study.
n
The study found that nearly half of black L.A. high school students don't graduate within four years, that the median household income for blacks is more than $20,000 below that of white families and that the 14 percent black unemployment rate is more than double that for whites and Asians.
"I see it as a call to action. I see it as a challenge," said Villaraigosa, the city's first Latino mayor in more than 100 years. "Because a great city cannot be that great shining city with so many people left behind."
Blacks, who make up 10 percent of the population of Los Angeles County, scored the lowest on an "equality index," which measures discrepancies in conditions for individual races.
The county's population is about 9.8 million, of whom 3.8 million live in the City of Los Angeles, 2003 census figures show.
Measured against a benchma
rk of 1.00 for whites, blacks scored .69, as compared to .71 for Latinos and .98 for Asians. The only area in which blacks scor
ed higher than all other races was in civic engagement, which includes voter participation, military service and English fluency.
Some panelists spoke of a sense of "deja vu" at the report's findings which come 40 years after the city's deadly 1965 Watts riots.
The report's statistics -- for example, that more than 75 percent of black fourth-graders cannot read proficiently, a number that increases to 83 percent by 11th grade -- "put a chill in your spine," Villaraigosa said.
"If we can't read or write, if we don't have the access to computers and textbooks, we won't be able to compete," he said.
Bratton, whose department has struggled to fend off criticism that it unfairly targets minorities, called improved public safet
y the catalyst that would spur change in other areas.
"You cannot educate your child if they live in fear in their schools and their streets," Bratton said. "You cannot have economic investment in neighborhoods where crime is out
of control."
Half of all murder victims in the county are black, Bratton said, and 32 percent of all black males born in 2001 would end up in prison, a statistic he called "horrifying."
Other findings in the report include:
- Blacks have the highest rate of homelessness, representing more than 30 percent of the total homeless population.
- The average jail sentence for blacks for violent offenses is 46 months, compared to 13 months for whites.
- Blacks have the highest overall death rate, with deaths from homicide and HIV and AIDS more than three times higher than other groups.
***************
Well, what do you know. L.A. just woke up.
T.N
.B.
