High Minority Dropouts Cited on Integration Anniversary

Fifty-seven years after a Supreme Court decision to desegregate public schools, an education nonprofit says school systems still must do more to equalize the graduation rates of all races.

The Alliance for Excellent Education says that while the Brown v. Board of Education ruling of 1954 was a great achievement in public education, the disparity in dropout rates between whites and minorities must be fixed.

Alliance President Bob Wise says if the nation could cut the annual number of minority dropouts in half, the resulting 375,000 “new graduates” would create 30,000 new jobs and increase gross domestic product by $5.4 billion over their careers. Wise says comparable figures would result from every subsequent graduating class.

Wise says halving the dropout rate of African-Americans in Pittsburgh would yield similar benefits for the city.

“It would result in $13 million more [in] annual income for these students when they’re fully into the workforce,” says Wise. “It would mean that they would have jobs, and their additional spending would generate 100 new jobs for the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, and they’d be able to buy $28 million more in homes, almost $1 million more in autos in a year.”

Wise says states must target their lowest-achieving schools, where minorities often make up a large part of the population.

Summit Against Racism To be Held

The 13th Annual Summit Against Racism will be held Saturday at the East Liberty Presbyterian Church.
The summit will be sponsored by The Black and White Reunion.

The Black and White reunion was formed in 1995 after the death of Jonny Gammage, a black driver who died at the hands of police during a traffic stop. Organizers say the event focuses on community building.

"Racism as a whole, in the city of Pittsburgh, in the United States is something that will always be present, just because of our history. But the Summit against Racism is a driving force that emphasizes racial unity and educating the community against racial divides," said organizer Brittany McBryde.

This year, the summit will include workshops on police accountability public transit and minority labor participation.

The summit costs $25. Between 300 to 500 people are expected to attend.

Miles' Suit Against Police Goes to Mediator

Attorneys for a Pittsburgh teen and 3 city police officers accused of beating him in January want a mediator to try to settle a civil rights lawsuit. All lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh must opt for mediation or some form of arbitration before they can proceed to trial. Attorneys for 19 year old Jordan Miles of Homewood and the officers selected arbitration. Miles, who was a senior at Pittsburgh's Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) High School at the time, claims the 3 white officers beat him because they assumed he was a troublemaker...a young black man walking at night in a high crime area. Miles says he was walking from his house to his grandmother's home.
The officers charged Miles with trespassing and claimed he had a gun, but they say it turned out to be a soda bottle. However, Miles denies he even had that. A judge threw out the trespassing charge against Miles when a property owner contradicted the police account and said Miles was a friend of her son. The officers remain on paid administrative leave.

Study Finds Greater Risk of Infection among Blacks

A study out of the University of Pittsburgh published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association looks into the high incidence of severe sepsis in blacks compared to whites. Sepsis is a condition where an overwhelming infection leads to organ infection, sending patients to the intensive care units of hospitals. The study's co-author, Doctor Sachin Yende, says they wanted to try and determine two things: whether blacks have a higher risk of developing an infection and once they do develop infection and are in the hospital, whether they have a higher risk of organ failure/dysfunction. They found that blacks have a 67% higher rate of severe sepsis and 80% higher mortality than whites. They also have a 29% higher risk than whites of having organ dysfunction. Yende says there are a handful of potential reasons blacks have a greater risk of infection than whites. Blacks tended to develop infections at a younger age, but vaccines guidelines have them administered later in life -- too late for many since the disparities in risk of infection were apparent in individuals as young as 25, who did not have any underlying chronic conditions. He also cited socio-economic factors and a difference in genetics, where blacks have a harder time fighting off infection than whites. Once the infection has taken hold, Yende says that researchers should look into hospital level interventions. He says studies have shown that blacks often receive treatment at hospitals that provide lower quality care. One step would be to measure infection rates at hospitals that largely serve African-American populations and using that data, help those institutions follow protocols for treating infections. Yende says prevention through vaccination guideline modification coupled with hospital level interventions would be a good start.

Black Male Leadership Development Institute at Robert Morris

Robert Morris University is hosting the annual Black Male Leadership Development Institute at its Moon Township campus—an 8-day residency program to promote higher education and community leadership that began yesterday for 65 African American high school students from a variety of schools in the region: public, charter and private.

Dr. Rex Crawley, Communications professor and co-director of the Institute, says each day centers around a theme such as academics, ethics, community involvement. Thursday’s topic is accountability and will feature a panel discussion with city police and detectives about interactions with law enforcement and how to avoid the prison system.

Crawley says the program hosted 50 students last year but had over 120 applicants this year. The 65 were chosen for leadership potential, not necessarily high achievement. The conference is an effort to counteract recent studies that show a diminishing presence of African American males in college--a phenomenon that Crawley says will leave this generation far behind if not remedied.

Recognizing the importance of role models, twenty-five community volunteers will share diverse professional experiences with students who might otherwise know nothing about particular career opportunities.

Crawley says some of the participants go to suburban schools with few other African American students, so this is the first time they've had a learning experience with a large number of other black guys, while some go to predominantly African American schools but have not felt celebrated for their unique opportunities to contribute to society in positive ways.

The institute will keep in touch with the students throughout the year.

Rally for Jordan Miles Set

Saturday marks five months since three Pittsburgh Police officers beat 19-year-old Jordan Miles during an arrest. The Alliance for Police Accountability has organized a march and rally starting at noon. The march will begin at Freedom Corner in the Hill District and head down to the steps of the City County building where organizer Brandi Fisher says they will call on elected officials and the FBI to allow Jordan Miles to, “get on with his life.” Plain-clothes police officers believed Miles was hiding a weapon January 12th as he walked down the street. Miles did not recognize them as officers when they approached and he fled fearing they meant him harm. The suspected weapon turned out to be a pop bottle. Miles was hospitalized after the exchange. Charges against him were eventually dropped and the city is still investigating the incident. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has said the city will not conclude that investigation until an FBI investigation is complete. Fisher says five months should be enough time to finish an investigation and she wants “the officers to be held accountable.” She says the three men should be prosecuted for their actions. Fisher believes that will send a clear message to the police and the community that police brutality will not be tolerated. Fisher says, “racial profiling and police brutality” must end. Many in the community believe that if the officers are held accountable it will help the process of building better trust and cooperation between police and the community. The marchers hope to also get a message to Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala. The DA’s office has two years to refile charges against Miles. Fisher says they will be asking for assurance that he will not be charged in the future.

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.

Pitt Prof. Addresses Race in U.S. Justice System

A University of Pittsburgh professor says differences in attitudes may lead African-Americans to be more suspicious of police and judges.
Jon Hurwitz specializes in the study of public opinion and has focused his research the last 12 years on race and crime.
Hurwitz says although African-Americans and whites view the same criminal justice statistics and the same media reports, the two races perceive justice through a different lens.
The professor says bad personal experiences with police lead many blacks to be cynical about the justice system, while most whites don’t have that stigma.

Hurwitz, the author of "Justice in America: The Separate Realities of Blacks and Whites," says he conducted a survey in which he asked groups of whites if they supported the death penalty. He says he told some of them beforehand that the death penalty is racially discriminatory.

"Remind many whites that the death penalty is racially discriminatory, and they like the death penalty much more," says Hurwitz.

Hurwitz says although attitudes about racial discrimination in the justice system change glacially, policies are changing right now. For example, Hurwitz pointed to movement to repeal the ‘hundred to one’ policy. Under this law, one gram of crack cocaine (used predominantly in black neighborhoods), lands one the same sentence as 100 grams of powder cocaine, used mostly in white communities.

Pitt Screens Documentary About The Pittsburgh Courier

The University of Pittsburgh is kicking off Black History Month this evening with an invitation-only world premiere of a documentary, "Newspaper of Record", about The Pittsburgh Courier.

Filmmaker Kenneth Love says the weekly newspaper, published from 1907 to 1965, was extremely influential in the black community, with a national circulation of 400,000 and a readership of two million: "a giant in the struggle for racial justice."

During World War II, The Courier launched its highly visible “Double V” campaign, calling for an end to discrimination at home as well as defeat of enemies overseas.

Professor Patrick Washburn says in a filmed interview that The Courier prepared the black community to carry out their successful struggle for civil rights.

Love says smart politicians read the Courier, especially if running for office in districts with a large black presence.

Love expects the movie to appear on PBS in the future.

African-American Basketball Pioneer Honored

Duquesne University will host the Chuck Cooper Classic tomorrow, a basketball tournament in honor of the first African-American to be drafted to the National Basketball Association.

Cooper was a Duquesne alum who distinguished himself by leading the Dukes to a No. 6 national ranking and earning All-American honors as team captain in 1949-1950.

But his son, Chuck Cooper III, says it wasn’t easy – the University of Tennessee refused to even play the Dukes unless they benched Cooper.

“Duquesne University took a stand at that time, and said, ‘Absolutely no way will we play a basketball game without our full team, so if Chuck Cooper can’t play, then we won’t play,’ ” says Cooper. “From that point on, I think it just really forged a special relationship between my father and Duquesne University.”

After playing six years in the NBA, Cooper earned his master’s degree in social work and returned to Pittsburgh to work in anti-poverty organizations. Later, he became the first African-American to head a city department when he became the Director of Parks and Recreation. Chuck Cooper died in 1984 at sixty-one years old.

West Virginia State and Davis & Elkins will start the tourney at 1:00. Duquesne will play Savannah State at 3:30.

There will also be a free honorary concert at the August Wilson Center tonight at 7:30.

Hill District Education Council Meets Tomorrow

The Pittsburgh Public Schools presented a long-range plan on Monday which calls for additional school closings. The Hill District Education Council, which formed several years ago, will address the plan at its regular monthly meeting tomorrow from 9 to noon at Pittsburgh Milliones School on Centre Avenue.

Council Co-Chairman the Rev. Johnnie Monroe says parents, students and the community should be part of the process to formulate a long-range plan that assures the best education possible for students. The intention is that tomorrow’s meeting will use citizen input to generate a blueprint for discussion with district educators and administrators.

There’s concern that African American students in the city are lagging behind. Monroe says the racial achievement gap may create a perception that African American children can't learn--a myth which must be eradicated.

The Rev. Monroe says the Council strives to assure the community will be planned with, not planned for.

Race May Play Part in Life After Foster Care

Experts discussed the education and income gaps between people of color and whites exiting the foster care system at the University of Pittsburgh today. Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of Washington Marian Harris says a higher percentage of minorities live below the poverty line and fewer own their own homes. Harris says these income and housing differences are caused by an educational gap while the youths are still in foster care. Harris says almost ten percent fewer blacks get their diploma rather than a GED after completing high school, and this needs to be fixed. “What we need to do to address the problem is to start working with youth who are in the foster care system prior to them reaching the age of eighteen, in order to help them to overcome what educational skills gaps they have,” says Harris.

She says other states have taken steps to balance the scales in foster care. “The legislature mandated that the state of Washington put in place a racial disproportionality advisory committee. I co-chair this committee. Basically what our charge is as a committee is to come up with a remediation plan,” says Harris. She urges more mental health and educational services for foster kids. Harris says she has seen change in Washington already, but trends won’t change overnight.

Achievement Gap in Higher Grades

Excellent principals, teachers and curricula are the ingredients for higher student achievement in general. Pittsburgh's accelerated learning academies extend the day and the year in neighborhoods that need an achievement boost. Some portion of the achievement gap is due to a disparity in opportunities available to students outside of school, with some students adding to their advantages in their free time and others losing ground. Pittsburgh Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt says school districts' responsibilities must expand to address this fact with after school and summer programs. When coordinated with the schools, community groups can also play a large and positive role in closing the achievement gap. Listen to a longer version of this story.

Educational Achievement Gap Appears Early

As in most urban school districts, there is a significant racial achievement gap in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Head Start and other preschool programs under the aegis of the school district work to get children ready to learn when they start school; universities, foundations and community groups can play a role also. Research shows supports must be kept up throughout the school years. Listen to a longer version of this story here.