Post by Curtis Ogden on Mar 10, 2015 20:02:43 GMT
Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, has released a new book called Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis about the growing problem of inequality in this country. There is an interesting piece in The Washington Post about the book, and how it stands to take the conversation about poverty and inequality to the next level. There is also commentary about how Putnam does not fully account for or recognize the role of race in all of this.
It is reminiscent of the conversation in New England about race-class dynamics that seem to be strongly influenced by where one lives and if one is white or a person of color. While there are many more white people in our region overall and therefore more white people living in poverty, people of color are undeniably over-represented. As a colleague of Putnam's says, "You can say politically or strategically that we can set aside race and just look at class differences. But analytically, based on the data, the black-white gap is just too big and too persistent to set aside.
As the article reports, President Obama has tried to strike a kind of middle ground (Putnam has been one of his advisors) by saying things like poverty aren’t uniquely "black problems, but ones that hit the black community before the white working class" and that acknowledging this unites more people behind the problem.
Wondering what your reactions are to this and how you and your community/organization are navigating this conversation about the impact of race and class.
Here's the link to the Putnam article - www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/06/the-terrible-loneliness-of-growing-up-poor-in-robert-putnams-america/
It is reminiscent of the conversation in New England about race-class dynamics that seem to be strongly influenced by where one lives and if one is white or a person of color. While there are many more white people in our region overall and therefore more white people living in poverty, people of color are undeniably over-represented. As a colleague of Putnam's says, "You can say politically or strategically that we can set aside race and just look at class differences. But analytically, based on the data, the black-white gap is just too big and too persistent to set aside.
As the article reports, President Obama has tried to strike a kind of middle ground (Putnam has been one of his advisors) by saying things like poverty aren’t uniquely "black problems, but ones that hit the black community before the white working class" and that acknowledging this unites more people behind the problem.
Wondering what your reactions are to this and how you and your community/organization are navigating this conversation about the impact of race and class.
Here's the link to the Putnam article - www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/06/the-terrible-loneliness-of-growing-up-poor-in-robert-putnams-america/
