Race in America Conference

The University of Pittsburgh is hosting presentations by 46 of the nation’s top experts on racial disparities in the criminal justice system, economics, education, health and family matters. Evening events at seven are open to the public tonight at the Twentieth Century Club and tomorrow at Soldiers and Sailors Military Museum.

Race scholars and activists are presenting the facts about persistent adverse conditions faced by racial minorities, but Charles Gallagher of LaSalle University in Philadelphia says many whites think all racial obstacles have been overcome and mistakenly equate the ethnic experiences of their immigrant ancestors with the experiences of racial minorities. While there's no question ethnic groups suffered discrimination in the past, Gallagher says it was temporary and completely disappeared within a generation or two, while race still figures in all sorts of negative outcomes. According to Gallagher, such disconnects make it almost impossible to have a national dialogue about policies to establish a truly level playing field.

Marc Mauer, Executive Director of the Sentencing Project in Washington, D.C., says instead of preventing crime and expanding positive opportunities, the U.S. leads the world in its use of incarceration so that a black male born today has a one in three chance of doing time in prison if current trends continue. Mauer says with black children having a better chance of ending up in jail than going to college, policies have to change.

Following the conference, a report and action plan for each of the seven areas of focus will be produced.

Summit in PGH Looks At Race

The University of Pittsburgh’s School of Social Work and the Center on Race and Social Problems is hosting a summit this week that organizers say will find solutions to some of the region’s most pressing race related issues. The summit titled, “Race in America” begins Jun 3rd and runs through the 6th. The event will include 20 different panels focusing on seven key areas: economics, education, criminal justice, race relations, health, mental health, and families, youth, and the elderly. There will also be two keynote speeches.
Conference organizer and Dean of the school of Social Work at Pitt, Larry Davis, says this is a one-of-a-kind event that will bring in what he calls the best minds in the nation. Davis says the speakers and panel members were told to bring their varied experiences and expertise and expect to put them to use to find solutions to real-world issues. Members of the local community will moderate many of the panels. Davis says they looked for leaders in the areas being discussed including the head of the Pittsburgh Public School District for a panel on education and Pittsburgh’s Chief of Police for a session about crime prevention.
Longtime civil rights activist and former NAACP board chair Julian Bond will give a free public address titled “The Road to Freedom: From Alabama to Obama” at 7 p.m. June 3 at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall. Julianne Malveaux, economist and president of Bennett College for Women, will speak at 7:00 the next day at the Twentieth Century Club with an address titled “What is Economic Justice and How Do We Attain It.
Following the conference, a report and action plan for each of the seven areas of focus will be published. Davis says while the participants are from all over the Untied States it will be Pittsburgh that will benefit most from the open exchange of ideas and search for solutions. Davis says, “Times of challenge provide the opportunity to create change. As the nation continues its efforts to recover from an economic downturn, there has never been a better time to reexamine and correct racial inequalities in American society. It is our intent to make this the best conference ever on race in America. More importantly, it is our goal to make it the most useful one.” Updates will be posted on line during the event.

Effects of Discrimination on Health is Topic of Lecture

The effects of discrimination on one's health was the topic of a lecture at Pitt's Center on Race and Social Problems today by a professor from the University of Washington who conducted the first ever national study of discrimination as experienced by Asians and Latinos in this country, both native-born and immigrants.

Professor David Takeuchi says respondents answered questions about courtesy and respect, whether they received poor service, were treated as though they were dishonest, were insulted or called names, were threatened or harassed. 75% of Asians and 55% of Latinos born in the U.S. said they were treated with less courtesy. On all the questions, a lesser percentage of immigrants in both groups reported discrimination. Takeuchi says this may be because immigrants tend to live among large concentrations of their particular groups and have less contact with those in other groups.


The study shows perceptions of discrimination have profound effects on mental health outcomes, such as major depression. Takeuchi says discrimination is also linked to poor physical health in Asians and Latinos, whether they are born here or not.

Maybe Race Should be a Factor in Foster Child Placement

Poor outcomes in foster children (incarceration, ill health, underachievement, etc.) have been linked to a lack of parental investment. Pitt law professor David Herring says laboratory research in evolutionary biology is showing that adults are likely to invest more, both emotionally and materially, in a child that resembles them--a child that could be "kin". But the federal "Multiethnic Placement Act" of 1994 prohibits public child welfare agencies from considering race when placing a child in foster care.

In several laboratory studies, according to Prof. Herring, adult subjects are shown five photos of different children, one of which is a "self-morph" of the subject's own features. Asked a series of questions, the adults overwhelmingly favor the "self-morph" 70- to 90% of the time. For example, 90% would adopt the self-morph. Not one adult said he or she would punish the self-morph harshly for breaking something valuable.

Professor Herring is involved in an Allegheny County project that will conduct field studies of foster children to see if the federal law banning consideration of race may inadvertently harm children. Other studies of the evolutionary concepts like "kinship cues" and facial resemblance have shown that stepchildren are 7 times likelier to be abused and 100 times likelier to be killed than children genetically related to both parents in their home.

Professor Herring is presenting his hypothesis as part of a lecture series at Pitt's Center on Race and Social Problems.

Race and Prisoner Reintegration Topics at Pitt's Center on Race and Social Problems

Race and prison re-entry were the topics of today's Summer Institute at Pitt's Center on Race and Social Problems. Professor of Public Policy Steven Raphael from the University of California, Berkeley says incarceration rates have increased dramatically over the last 35 years, mostly because of longer sentences and more offenses leading to jail time, and those people impacted most are relatively uneducated African American males.


When released, many men face a crushing burden of arrears in child support that have mounted up while they were in prison. Raphael says re-entry planning in the areas of addiction, housing and employment can increase success for men facing many obstacles to "going straight". He recommends allowing ex-convicts to receive Pell grants and public housing.

Some public policies yield results years after resources are invested, e.g., early childhood education, like Head Start, decreases the likelihood a child will break the law as an adult.

Three more summer institutes will be presented at Pitt.