Ray's article

Economic Policy Institute - The year 1968 was a watershed in American history and black America’s ongoing fight for equality. In April of that year, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis and riots broke out in cities around the country. Rising against this tragedy, the Civil Rights Act of 1968 outlawing housing discrimination was signed into law. Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists in a black power salute as they received their medals at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Arthur Ashe became the first African American to win the U.S. Open singles title, and Shirley Chisholm became the first African American woman elected to the House of Representatives.

The same year, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, better known as the Kerner Commission, delivered a report to President Johnson examining the causes of civil unrest in African American communities. The report named “white racism”—leading to “pervasive discrimination in employment, education and housing”—as the culprit, and the report’s authors called for a commitment to “the realization of common opportunities for all within a single [racially undivided] society.”1 The Kerner Commission report pulled together a comprehensive array of data to assess the specific economic and social inequities confronting African Americans in 1968.

Where do we stand as a society today? In this brief report, we compare the state of black workers and their families in 1968 with the circumstances of their descendants today, 50 years after the Kerner report was released. We find both good news and bad news. While African Americans are in many ways better off in absolute terms than they were in 1968, they are still disadvantaged in important ways relative to whites. In several important respects, African Americans have actually lost ground relative to whites, and, in a few cases, even relative to African Americans in 1968.

Following are some of the key findings:

·        + African Americans today are much better educated than they were in 1968 but still lag behind whites in overall educational attainment. More than 90 percent of younger African Americans (ages 25 to 29) have graduated from high school, compared with just over half in 1968—which means they’ve nearly closed the gap with white high school graduation rates. They are also more than twice as likely to have a college degree as in 1968 but are still half as likely as young whites to have a college degree.

+ The substantial progress in educational attainment of African Americans has been accompanied by significant absolute improvements in wages, incomes, wealth, and health since 1968. But black workers still make only 82.5 cents on every dollar earned by white workers, African Americans are 2.5 times as likely to be in poverty as whites, and the median white family has almost 10 times as much wealth as the median black family.

+ With respect to homeownership, unemployment, and incarceration, America has failed to deliver any progress for African Americans over the last five decades. In these areas, their situation has either failed to improve relative to whites or has worsened. In 2017 the black unemployment rate was 7.5 percent, up from 6.7 percent in 1968, and is still roughly twice the white unemployment rate. In 2015, the black homeownership rate was just over 40 percent, virtually unchanged since 1968, and trailing a full 30 points behind the white homeownership rate, which saw modest gains over the same period. And the share of African Americans in prison or jail almost tripled between 1968 and 2016 and is currently more than six times the white incarceration rate.

Richmond, VA - For High school graduates, April means looking forward to what comes next, which for many, means college. In April of last year, a ceremony was held in Henrico County Virginia, to celebrate students who selected careers as skilled tradesmen, over college. The county held it's first-ever "Career and Technical Letter of Intent Signing Day,” to celebrate those students and their imminent employment in the trades.

Instead of signing a letter of intent that’s usually geared towards highly sought after student athletes, and high-academic performing students, some graduating seniors signed declarations to prospective contractors, and industrial employers, that resemble an offer letter.

"Henrico Schools’ Career and Technical Education program decided that athletes weren’t the only ones who deserved to have their hard work recognized as they look to the future," the county explained in a post on its public Facebook page."Students and representatives of their future employers both signed letters-of-intent outlining what students must do before and during employment, what the employer will provide in pay and training, and an estimate of the position’s value."

For their first signing day, Henrico County recognized 12 seniors as they signed letters of intent to work as machinists or apprentices with local and national companies such as Rolls-Royce in their aeronautical division, paving and construction firm Branscome Incorporated, Tolley Electric Corporation, and Howell's Heating & Air.

According to Mac Beaton, director of Henrico County Public Schools' Certified and Technical Education program, "We're always trying to figure out how to address the skills gap when the general mentality of parents is, I want my child to go to college; One way to do this is to help them see the value of career and technical education," he said.

Tyler Campbell, 18, a senior at the Highland Springs Advanced Career Education Center, signed a letter of intent to begin working for Branscome Inc., a contractor specializing in infrastructure, and commercial/residential development, following his graduation in June. "Seeing how many people showed up for the signing day, I could tell it was a big deal. I got really excited," said Campbell, whose mom and sister were both in attendance. "This is basically my dream job. To get it feels so good."

In the past, students from impoverished communities, or working class neighborhoods were often pushed to go to college to achieve better employment and upward social mobility. Over the last few decades, an increase in college tuition costs has made student loan debt a reality for many of those students from modest income homes. Now, millions of college graduates face severe debt and job wages that are not sustainable in a post-2008 recession economy.