I’m resting up after a provocative conference of SOS in Washington D.C. I come away more determined, but full of questions. It was a gathering of good friends and allies and we all left with new ideas for next steps. While there I picked up a bi-monthly publication I had not read before. I just read it (14 pages in all).
Advice: read Poverty and Race, published by Poverty and Race Research Action Council, (info@prrc.org) It’s advisory board includes some friends/colleagues such as Pedro Noguerro, Gary Orfield, Bill Kornblum, and more. I’m reading volume 22, number 3 (May-June) which consists of three great little essays. One is on building a movement “in a Limited Age” by Deepak Bhargave of the Center for Community Change in Washington D.C. It’s a must read as a follow-up for our three days together at SOS. After exploring the data regarding how people in the bottom 99% are responding to the economy he comes to interesting conclusions. This issue also includes a summary of what we know about the value of economic and racial integration in schools and some strategies for re-starting that movement, written by Derek Black of Howard University. And a short essay by Douglas Massey of Princeton University on the impact of housing integration in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.
It’s not often I come upon a new ally–but this is surely one we should all now about.
Filed under: 2012 Posts |
Deborah Meier on Education 
I think there are many of us out there who are allies, but we need to find a way to gather and speak in a more coherent manner.
Deb, tried for quite awhile, but couldn’t locate the referenced articles.
Problem is, the whole “99% /1%” mantra makes no policy sense whatsoever. There is nothing one can do–including taxing 100% of the 1%–which can be usefully based on this division.
If you want to break it down into, say, 60%/40%, then the aggregate numbers start to make sense. We can look at how tax policy there *might* make a difference in the budget. We can look at how the minimum wage serves as an anchor to those in the low skills.
But nothing useful can come from discussion of the 1%. Nothing.
Hope you’re having a great summer!
ed
Deb Meier– thanks so much for the wonderful words about our bimonthly.
The email address you have to contact us, however, is wrong: should be info@prrac.org
Any way you can let your readers know this?
Chester Hartman (Editor, Poverty & Race)