February 16, 2006
Race Reality Show
FX's new series, "Black.White." brings two self-defined "progressive" families together to trade ethnicity - wigs, paint, and contacts re-cast a black family as white and a white family as black. The two families then interact with each other and the cameras in a reality t.v. setting... From the NY Times article it sounds as though the white family still doesn't recognize the impact their whiteness has on their privilege and culture. I'm curious to see the show itself, and whether it trivializes, justifies, or condemns the subtle (or not so subtle) racism that dominates American culture.
Confronting America's Racial Divide, in Blackface and White
Link Roundup
Before I forget where these articles went:
- NY Times: Housing for Teachers in Santa Clara
- NY Times: As Test Scores Jump, Raleigh Credits Integration by Income
- The Planning Report - The Planning Center Instructs Schools on How & Where to Build
- Teachers as Placemakers: Investigating Teacher's Use of Physical Learning Environment
class, education, school facilities
January 31, 2006
Criminalizing Homelessness
The National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty published a report in January, 2006, on trends in policies regarding homelessness.
Report: A Dream Denied: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities
class, economic development, urban design
August 11, 2005
Testimony by Harry Holzer on African American class mobility
Despite some progress during the 1990s, the share of African Americans joining the middle class has stagnated over the past 20-30 years. In testimony to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, Urban Institute visiting fellow Harry Holzer suggests public policy should focus on improving educational attainment and skill development among blacks at all levels of schooling; improving labor force attachment and access to better jobs, especially among young black men; and raising the number of black families with two adult earners, or at least where fathers contribute to family incomes.
Expanding the African-American Middle Class: Improving Labor Market Outcomes
June 20, 2005
Article: Low-Income Illegal Immigrants Can't Afford College (No Aid!)
Children of illegal immigrants do not have access to federal financial aid, regardless of how long they've resided in the U.S. (and the numbers grow day by day). . .
One solution is embodied in the In-State Tuition Act, first introduced in the New Jersey Legislature in 2003, which would allow illegal immigrants like Mr. Navarro to attend public colleges at in-state tuition rates. Without legal status, these students, who currently number about 28,000, are charged out-of-state rates that are prohibitively expensive for most of their struggling families.
For Illegal Immigrants, a Harsh Lesson
June 03, 2005
Article: The Five-Bedroom, Six Figure Rootless Life
The NYTimes continues its series on class, this time with a look at "relos" -- upper middle class families that relocate every few years for work. The piece includes an audio slide show and graphics depicting the growth and income distribution of Atlanta's suburbs.
The Five-Bedroom, Six Figure Rootless Life
May 21, 2005
Article: College Waiting Lists Can Favor the Well-off
Money driven colleges and universities -- bastions of knowledge upholding income segregation.
Selective private colleges acknowledge that they sometimes take affluent teens over those from poor or middle-class families needing financial aid when deciding which students to admit from their waiting lists.
College Waiting Lists Can Favor the Well-off
NY Times on Class in America
The Times is running a series on class, with a collection of graphics on income mobility, as well.
. . . class is still a powerful force in American life. Over the past three decades, it has come to play a greater, not lesser, role in important ways. At a time when education matters more than ever, success in school remains linked tightly to class. At a time when the country is increasingly integrated racially, the rich are isolating themselves more and more. At a time of extraordinary advances in medicine, class differences in health and lifespan are wide and appear to be widening.