——————————–REMEMBER JUNETEENTH——————————-

These soldiers were a unit of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) of the Union Army during the Civil War. They were just a few of the nearly 200,000 African-American volunteers–freedmen and escaped slaves—who, along with volunteers from Canada, the Caribbean, and Africa, served as the USCT, which made up 10% of the Union Army. They helped save the Union and fought bravely to end slavery. Forty thousand gave their lives, suffering the highest casualty rate of any group in the war. Frederick Douglass, the great abolitionist and writer, himself an escaped slave, said, “He who would be free must himself strike the blow.” The USCT was truly the heroic embodiment of that philosophy.

JUNETEENTH  – June 19, 1865

The Day African-Americans Achieved Freedom from Slavery

The Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln declared on January 1, 1863 that all slaves were freed in states that were in rebellion. However, the promise of the Proclamation was not fulfilled until the Union Armies defeated the Confederate forces throughout the South in the spring of 1865, and, finally, until Major General Gordon Granger landed in Galveston, Texas on June 19th with nearly 2,000 Union soldiers and the last stronghold of slavery fell and the last 250,000 slaves held in Texas were freed. The Civil War won emancipation for 4 million African-Americans. Celebrate Juneteenth.

HAPPY JUNETEENTH!

Posted by Jordan Melograna on April 16, 2014

^{_{THE DREAMS OF HARRIET TUBMAN/ Rejected Sketch for City of Baltimore/ by Mike Alewitz/ 2000}}

The Dreams of Harriet Tubman

AgitProp News:  6.17.00

Special Issue: Harriet Tubman: Armed and Dangerous

In This Issue:

1.  Harriet Tubman: Armed and Dangerous

2.  I Will Not Disarm Harriet Tubman

3.  A Rare and Authentic Dialogue

4.  What are “The Dreams of Harriet Tubman”

5.  Abolitionist’s Rifle Engulfs N.J. Artist in Fray

6.  Nothing Will Stop this Historic Endeavor

7.  Statement by Baltimore Clayworks

8.  Statement by Mike Alewitz

______________________________________

1. Harriet Tubman: Armed and Dangerous

USA Today

Wednesday, June 7

Baltimore – A 25-foot-high ceramic mural of a musket-toting Harriet

Tubman leading slaves to liberation on the Underground Railroad has

upset the group that had planned to display it. Associated Black Charities Inc.

says the piece could be construed as racist and violent. The group asked artist

Mike Alewitz to replace the musket with a staff, but he refused. Tubman, a

Maryland native, is the subject of five Alewitz murals to be installed

throughout the state this summer.

_________________________________________

2. I Will Not Disarm Harriet Tubman

Mural of armed Tubman stirs protest

Artist won’t change piece for black charity

By Jamie Stiehm

Sun Staff

Dispute: Officials of Associated Black Charities Inc., the organization

for which the mural is intended, have asked the artist to replace Harriet

Tubman’s musket with a staff.

– – –

An artist refused yesterday to alter his government-funded mural as he

prepared to meet with members of Associated Black Charities Inc., who

balked at putting it on their building because they believe it paints a

racially loaded portrait of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.

Strong emotions were apparent last night over the 25-foot-high ceramic

Mural planned for display this month at Associated’s headquarters at

Cathedral and Chase streets. The work portrays Tubman with a musket, leading

slaves to freedom through a symbolic, parting Red Sea. The images of

whites in the work – they are being tossed into the sea from either a

slave ship or a factory – and Tubman handling a musket set people off,

even before a gathering to discuss the mural last night at the McKim

Center, a former Quaker meeting house on Aisquith Street.

The mural creates a powerful image, but one that could be construed as

racist and condoning violence, say charity directors. It is not

something to display on an outside wall at a time when guns are too

often linked with violence in the black community, charity officials say.

Associated leaders have urged artist Mike Alewitz – chosen in a national

competition sponsored jointly by the White House Millennium Council and

the National Endowment for the Arts – to substitute a peaceful staff for

the musket.

Alewitz likens this to censorship: “I will not disarm Harriet Tubman. I

won’t take [the musket] out of her hands,” he said in a telephone

interview before the meeting.

The 25-by-123-foot mural is designed to be in public view. It has raised

questions about historical truth vs. contemporary perceptions, issues

that separate whites and blacks. Some tried to bridge that gulf at last

night’s meeting.

The community coordinator of the statewide Harriet Tubman mural project

defended the artist’s choice. “[Tubman] did not lead a revolution with a

feather,” said Blaise DePaolo.

A Maryland native who led slaves to freedom, Tubman is the subject of

Five murals to be installed throughout the state this summer, one in her

birthplace, Cambridge.

Through a national Millennial Treasures campaign launched by Hillary

Rodham Clinton, Baltimore Clayworks won a $25,000 grant to develop the

Harriet Tubman motif. The Mount Washington ceramics center chose Alewitz,

who lives in New Jersey, from a national pool of hundreds of artists. He

designed All five murals.

The others are set for display at Magnolia Middle School in Harford

County, a park in Hyattsville in Prince George’s County and the

University of Maryland, Eastern Shore.

If the Associated refuses to take the mural as Alewitz conceived it,

Baltimore Clayworks will find another site for it in the city, said

Deborah Bedwell, the executive director.

Originally published on Jun 6 2000

________________________________________

3. A Rare and Authentic Dialogue

(The first sentence of this letter, where the writer identifies herself

a an African-American, was deleted by the Baltimore Sun.)

After reading Jamie Stiehm’s account of the June 5 community meeting

concerning the mural “The Dreams of Harriet Tubman,” I have to wonder if

the reporter and I attended the same meeting (“Mural of armed Tubman

stirs protest,” June 6).

The meeting provided a forum for the artist, Mike Alewitz, and

representatives from Baltimore Clayworks and the Mid-Atlantic Arts

Foundation to explain the scope of the statewide public art project and

for citizens, community leaders and national experts on Harriet Tubman

to discuss their feelings about the work.

While there was a great deal of discussion about the image of the rifle

In Tubman’s hand, it was neither initiated nor fueled by representatives

of Associated Black Charities Inc. (ABC).

Ms. Stiehm mentioned that the artist is white, but failed to mention

that a white male raised the greatest objections to the gun in the

mural. She neglected to acknowledge that a number of attendees, black

and white, found the rendering to be passive compared with the savage

violence endured by the enslaved.

In short, Ms. Stiehm portrayed the meeting as divided along racial

lines. It certainly was not.

Ms. Stiehm also states that ABC leaders “balked” at having a mural that

“paints a racially loaded portrait of Harriet Tubman and the Underground

Railroad” on their wall and claimed that “an armed depiction of the

Freedom fighter is inappropriate for the building” and that some people

have Urged the artist “to substitute a peaceful staff for the musket.” None

of this Is true.

In fact, ABC leaders pointed out emphatically that they had no desire to

censor the art.

Donna Jones Stanley, ABC’s executive director, stated that people who

Are opposed to the rifle’s presence are angry and more vocal than those

who are not, and that she did not want to place the agency in the position

of defending a mural. She, and members of her staff, attended the meeting

to hear the comments of members of the communities her agency serves.

Also, for the record, Mr. Alewitz was not “chosen in a national

Competition sponsored jointly by the White House Millennium Council and

the National Endowment for the Arts.” And, Clayworks did not win a “$25,000

grant to develop the Harriet Tubman motif through a national Millennial

Treasures program.”

Baltimore Clayworks selected Mr. Alewitz from a pool of artists after it

received an award in recognition of its commitment to community arts

programs.

It is impossible to engage in honest and open discourse about the life

and times of Harriet Tubman without discussing the issues of race,

slavery and racism.

The images in the mural provoked thought, commentary and questions, and

resulted in a rare and authentic dialogue.

The artist’s depiction of Ms. Tubman’s dream touches on issues and

Events that many wish to marginalize or ignore. The discussion served to

open Eyes and minds and hearts, as good art always does.

It’s unfortunate that Ms. Stiehm twisted the spirit of the debate and

misconstrued it as a racially divided meeting.

Jannette J. Witmyer

Baltimore

The writer is a member of the board of Baltimore Clayworks.

Originally published on Jun 14 2000

__________________________________________

4.  What are “The Dreams of Harriet Tubman”

The Dreams of Harriet Tubman

The importance of Harriet Tubman’s life lies not in the past, but in the

future. At a time when African-Americans were kept as chattel, when even the

abolitionist forces were riddled with the racism and bigotry of the

time, Harriet Tubman and thousands of anti-slavery activists organized an

effective liberation struggle which divided and conquered the forces of

reaction.   Their will to triumph, in the face of tremendous adversity,

is an inspiration for those who struggle for social justice today.

The Dreams of Harriet Tubman will give visual expression to this great

movement, one of the seminal points in American and world history.

Dreams will be a necklace of murals painted across Maryland.  They will form

one unified work.

Moses

The murals will be anchored by a dramatic image on a major wall in the

city of Baltimore.  This mural will depict Harriet Tubman a she was known:

Moses. Harriet will be shown parting the seas of reaction, as she did in her

life. Her staff is the musket that she carried.  The children of Israel are

the slave armies who resisted their bondage and joined the union ranks to

defeat the south.

Among this army will march the freedom fighters of the slave era, like

Sojourner Truth and Robert Gould.  But the army will also include those

of more recent times: Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Mumia Abu Jamal and

others.   Drowning in the tide will be Pharoahs tribe: the slavers, the

KKK, Nazis backward politicians and the other forces of reaction.

Harriet’s massive skirts will be a quilt of silhouettes formed by

tracing the outlines of visitors to the site, who will climb the lower rungs

of the scaffold and stand against the wall.  In this way the living activists

of today will become a part of the mural…literally the body of Harriet

Tubman.

Dreams

Throughout her life, Harriet experienced visions or dreams that inspired

her actions.  At the sides of the mural, and in the smaller walls in other

localities will be a series of vignettes based on those visions.

At the Harriet Tubman Park in Cambridge, her birthplace, a monument will

be specifically constructed.  The small mural will depict her birth as a

symbolic beginning of the anti-slavery movement as it changed from

heroic acts of individual resistance to a mass struggle of liberation.

All the murals will contain common visual elements meant to weave the

dreams together.  Included in this will be ceramic tile elements created by

project volunteers.  These tiles will form borders around the painted

images, as well as singular pieces within the painted areas.

The images will depict some of the important chapters of Harriets life:

–  Her dreams about the Amistad and Nat Turner slave rebellions, which

inspired the beginnings of the abolitionist struggle

–  Experience as a slave and a worker, her work with Frederick Douglass

and other abolitionists who had a deep understanding the class relationships

at play in the war against slavery

–  Her success as a builder and conductor of the Underground Railroad

–  Collaboration with John Brown and his organization for the raid on

Harpers Ferry, an event which animated the liberation struggle for

decades

to come

–  Leadership as a spy, scout and guerilla in the military conquest of

the south, despite the prejudices against her as both an African-American

and a woman

–  Early championing of the women’s suffrage movement and participation

in the first wave of American feminism

–  Experience as a nurse and educator under radical reconstruction, and

the attempt to hold in check the awakened aspirations of black America

Taken as a whole, The Dreams of Harriet Tubman will provide a glimpse of

the past and a vision for the future.  It will look at the Civil War as the

ending of an era and the beginning of the emergence of the United States

as a modern nation.  It will register the gains for human rights won with

the suppression of slavery.  It will face with honesty the limitations of

that victory and the need to continue the struggle to which Harriet Tubman

dedicated her life.

Mike Alewitz

Muralist

May 1, 2000

______________________________________

4. Abolitionist’s Rifle Engulfs N.J. Artist in Fray

Abolitionist’s rifle engulfs N.J. artist in fray

06/13/00

By John Yocca

STAFF WRITER

Her every step a perilous one, famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman could

afford no slip-ups as she shuttled slaves to freedom through the

Underground Railroad.

Timing was tight, indecision an enemy. When escaped slaves in her care

hesitated on the frightening march to liberation, Tubman, a determined

and gritty former slave herself, coaxed them northward with a loaded

gun.

A century-and-a-half later, New Jersey artist Mike Alewitz chose that

Image of Tubman — a lantern in one hand, a rifle in the other — as the

centerpiece for one of five sprawling ceramic murals he fashioned for

the state of Maryland, Tubman’s birthplace.

For Alewitz, the depiction is appropriate, both historically accurate

And symbolic of the danger Tubman faced as she led more than 300 slaves

out of captivity. But the artist’s creation has been less than well received

by the nonprofit group that was to display the work on an exterior wall in

Baltimore this month.

In a case that pits historical realism against modern sensitivity to the

Gun violence gripping American cities, Associated Black Charities says

it will likely turn down the piece because the weapon in Tubman’s hand

sends the wrong message.

“We feel that in the year 2000, it is inappropriate for a piece of

artwork depicting guns and violence to be displayed on our wall in

Baltimore, which had more than 300 murders last year,” said Donna Jones

Stanley, 44, the group’s executive director. “This is an organization that strengthens

the fabric of the African-American community, and I’m not sure this

depiction helps us as a community to strengthen ourselves.”

Stressing that she is opposed to censorship and that she finds Alewitz’s

work aesthetically moving, Stanley nevertheless said her group must be

careful about what it places on its high-profile building, visible up to

a mile away.

“It is a very prominent building,” Stanley said. “That means we have a

lot of responsibility, and we take that responsibility very seriously.”

Today, the nonprofit’s board of directors will vote on whether to accept

The mural. Stanley said she’s confident the board will back her

recommendation to pass on the work.

That’s fine with Alewitz, 49, an internationally acclaimed, New

Brunswick-based artist who refused a compromise request by Associated

Black Charities to turn the rifle into a less controversial staff.

“They don’t have an objection to Harriet Tubman,” Alewitz said. “They

have an objection to Harriet Tubman with a rifle. It’s like you want to

see wolves in the wild — but without teeth. They can refuse the mural, and

that’s their right. We’ll find another wall.”

The mural, a 25-foot-high, 130-foot-wide tiled mosaic, is one of five

Alewitz created for Baltimore Clayworks, a ceramic arts group that

Funded the venture with a $25,000 grant from the Mid-Atlantic Arts

Foundation. Baltimore Clayworks chose Alewitz from among hundreds of artists across

The country.

All five works feature Tubman, a native of Dorchester County, Md.

Blaise DePaolo, the group’s community programs coordinator, said

Clayworks stands behind Alewitz in the controversy and will find

someplace else to display the mural if it’s turned away.

The mosaic depicts Tubman as Moses parting the sea, an army of liberated

slaves and freedom fighters amassed behind her. On one side of the work,

white figures, representing slave masters, are tossed from a boat in the

roiling water.

Experts call the gun-wielding woman in the mural an accurate representation

of Tubman, the most famous “conductor” on the Underground Railroad,

the network of people committed to help slaves find freedom. Tubman

and others brought escaped slaves from safehouse to safehouse on an

arduous trek north. Many of those stops were in New Jersey, including

Cape May, where Tubman worked in hotels.

The trip was dicey business. If caught, escaped slaves and those who helped

them faced severe punishment, often death.

Taking no chances, Tubman, who escaped slavery at age 29, armed herself

with a pistol. And she wasn’t shy about waving it around to make a point.

“Sometimes she would hold a pistol to the slaves’ heads and say something

like, ‘Dead people don’t tell no tales,’ ” said Kay McElvey, a member of a

research and information team for the Harriet Tubman organization in

Cambridge, Md. “Sometimes she carried rifles as well.”

For Alewitz, the Tubman theme was a natural fit. He’s made a career of

working on behalf of the underdog, the oppressed and the working class.

An ardent opponent of the Vietnam War during the late 1960s and early

1970s, he later focused on labor causes. As the artist in residence for

the New Jersey Industrial Union Council AFL-CIO, he designed signs

and banners

for striking union workers.

Alewitz also serves as artistic director for the Labor, Art and Mural

Project, which is in the process of moving from Rutgers University to

Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Conn.

A 10-year New Jersey resident, Alewitz has traveled around the world to

paint murals, some of them with a decidedly political bent. And while

he’s not one to back down from a confrontation, he’s not ruffled by the

Baltimore flap.

“It’s a work of art. They’re blowing it out of proportion,” he said.

“It’s one person’s expression. You don’t have to agree with it.”

______________________________________

6.  Nothing Will Stop this Historic Endeavor

Tubman mural with musket is rejected

Associated Black Charities decides artwork conveys wrong image for

office

————–

By Jamie Stiehm

Sun Staff

Saying it doesn’t reflect their image, the Associated Black Charities

boardunanimously rejected last night a contentious mural of Harriet

Tubman carrying a musket, which was intended for its downtown building at

Cathedral and Chase streets.

Mural artist Mike Alewitz and staffers from Baltimore Clayworks, which

commissioned the work, searched yesterday for “appropriately visible”

sites and walls in the city for the larger-than-life image, which was

originally planned to stand 25 feet tall on a wall facing Meyerhoff

Symphony Hall.

“It needs to be a good public wall,” Alewitz said.

“It’s fine if it’s not a good fit,” Deborah Bedwell, executive director

of Clayworks, said before last night’s vote. Clayworks, a Mount

Washington nonprofit, chose Alewitz to portray the Underground Railroad leader in

five works to be installed in Maryland as part of a Mid-Atlantic Arts

Council project. She said his work centers on social justice themes.

The musket in the mural design stirred an outcry about historical truth

vs. contemporary reality.

Some suggested that Alewitz’s design, showing Tubman holding a musket as

she symbolically parts a Red Sea and leads slaves to freedom, condones

gun violence.

The issue triggered debate about whether it was appropriate for

Associated Black Charities’ public wall in a city that records at least

300 homicides a year.

“It has started the community discussing slavery, race and history,”

said Donna Jones Stanley, the Associated executive director, who

recommended against Alewitz’s design.

Since 1985, the Associated has been a leading presence in the black

community, giving nearly $6 million in grants to programs benefiting the

greater Baltimore area.

It is agreed Tubman carried a gun for protection, but Stanley declared,

“It is not historically correct. She carried a pistol, not a rifle. It’s his vision, but it’s our wall.”

A few urged Alewitz to substitute a staff for the musket. He refused

last week, saying, “I will not disarm Harriet Tubman. … there was

nothing safe about her.” Phillip Sterling and Rayford Logan wrote in “Four

Took Freedom” that Tubman made 11 trips from Maryland to Canada from 1852 to

1857, leadingabout 300 to freedom. “Her most famous trip concerned a

passenger who panicked and wanted to turn back. Tubman was afraid if he left he would

tortured and would tell all he knew. The unwilling passenger changed his

mind when Tubman pointed a gun at his head and said ‘dead folks tell no

tales.'”

Said Alewitz: “Nothing will stop this historic endeavor. Harriet Tubman

will live on the walls of Maryland.”

______________________________________

7. Statement by Baltimore Clayworks

To: Baltimore Clayworks’ friends, members of the Board of Directors,

Millennium Honorary Committee Members, interested members of the broader

community

From: Baltimore Clayworks – June 14, 2000

Re: The Dreams of Harriet Tubman mural project, and specifically Moses,

the mural sketch originally proposed for the side wall of Associated Black

Charities

…………………….

Baltimore Clayworks was chosen to receive an Artist and Communities

grant from the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation because the foundation’s selection

panel felt that Clayworks’ history of involvement in bringing arts

activities into underserved communities, and of connecting artists with

community residents who have had little or no access to artmaking,

embodied the goals of  the national Artists and Communities initiative.

Baltimore Clayworks’ artistic leadership chose artist Mike Alewitz from

a preselected pool of more than 100 visual artists for three reasons:

·       Alewitz’ painting as represented in 10 slides of previous work,

was of an extraordinary artistic quality

·       Alewitz has had a highly respected history, internationally, of

interactive mural making with ethnically diverse community residents

including youth, working people and elders who have had little or no

access

to the arts

·       Alewitz’ themes of equality and social justice echoed

Clayworks’values as it approaches communities for arts partnerships.

It is important to understand that the discussion that the community is

having about the image of an armed Harriet Tubman is simply a discussion

about a proposed piece of public art, and whether an historically

accurate image of Tubman as a leader of her people out of the land of bondage

(Moses) should be displayed in light of contemporary public sensitivities about

gun violence. There are no divisions along racial lines; there are opinions

on both sides. The artist has prepared a statement concerning the mural and

its content. Please request it for in-depth reference.

Furthermore, it is important to understand that there are four more

murals planned for sites in Maryland, and hundreds of at-risk young people

working in paint and clay to create elements to be included in the murals.

The leadership position of Baltimore Clayworks is this: Baltimore

Clayworks stands true to its mission of artist- centeredness and support; we will

not tell any artist what to create or what to change. We respect, however,

the decision of any community organization or institution to decline

partnership in any project or program we propose. We expect a level of passion and

commitment to positive artist/community involvement from our partners.

John K. Smith, Chairman, Board of Trustees

Deborah Bedwell, Executive Director

_______________________________________________

8.  Statement by Mike Alewitz

For Immediate Release:

The following statement was issued on June 14, 2000, by Mike Alewitz,

muralist and creator of “The Dreams of Harriet Tubman.”

“Harriet Tubman was a fierce opponent of slavery in all it’s forms.  She

was opposed by the southern slave-master and northern industrialist alike.

She was an organizer, educator, leader of the abolitionist movement,

feminist, conductor on the underground railroad and armed insurrectionist

against slavery.

Then, as now, Harriet was feared not because she carried a gun, but

because she organized a mass, militant and uncompromising struggle for

social justice.

There are those who would like to transform Harriet Tubman into a safe

and acceptable icon for corporate America.  They wish to disarm her both

physically and politically.  I will not help them.  I will not disarm Harriet Tubman.

Harriet Tubman does not belong to any individual or group.  She is a

figure of international stature.  She belongs to working people throughout

the world. Harriet Tubman’s life, the war to end slavery, and the

continuation of that struggle today, deserves to be portrayed in murals,

poems and songs by many artists.

The spirit of Harriet Tubman lives on today, with the students

protesting the World Trade Organizations economic policies, in the prison

cell of Mumia Abu Jamal and other victims of racist injustice, in the strikes and

struggles of working people.

We intend to go forward and put Harriet Tubman on the walls of Maryland.

We intend to continue to educate and inform about her life, not as a matter

of historical record, but because she is an inspiring example for working

people today.

We appeal to the people of Maryland to provide us with the

walls to do this.”

Mike Alewitz is the Artistic Director of the Labor Art & Mural Project

(LAMP).  He is Asst. Professor of Art at Central Connecticut State

University, and the author, with Paul Buhle, of the forthcoming book:

“Insurgent Images: the Agitprop Murals of Mike Alewitz,” Monthly Review

Press, NY.

Please Post and Distribute:

LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT

AGITPROP NEWS: 7.27.00

Special Harriet Tubman – Homeless in Baltimore Issue

In this issue:

1.  Harriet Tubman Mural Defaced

2.  Vandals Were Created by a Racist Society

3.  Harriet Visits the Visionary Museum

4.  Baltimore: Give a Wall

5.  Art Should Be the Freedom to Create

6. Joint Letter from Associated Black Charities, Clayworks and Mike Alewitz

7. Reader Feedback on Tubman Mural Controversy

____________________________________

1.  Harriet Tubman Mural Defaced

Tubman mural defaced at Harford County middle school

Racial epithets and swastikas found on mural depicting Underground Railroad

leader

—————————————————–

By Daniel Cusick

Associated Press

BALTIMORE–A mural of Harriet Tubman, who led slaves to freedom before the

Civil War, has been defaced with racial epithets and swastikas at a suburban

middle school in Harford County, officials said Thursday.

The painting on the facade of Magnolia Middle School, one of five works of

Tubman commissioned for public buildings around the state, was covered with

spray-painted epithets.

Don Morrison, director of public affairs for the Harford County School

System, said a custodian discovered the defaced mural about 5:30 a.m.

Thursday. The painting covers an 18-foot by 50-foot wall on the front of the

school building.

The Harford County Sheriff’s Department was investigating the incident as a

possible hate crime. “Sometimes, it’s hard to tell whether someone is acting

out of maliciousness or out of hate. But given the nature of the defacing,

we clearly feel that the remarks were inflammatory, and therefore, are

investigating it as a hate crime,” said spokesman Lt. Ed Hopkins. He said

authorities have no suspects. Officers were immediately dispatched to canvas

the area.

The mural, by artist Mike Alewitz, depicted the founder of the Underground

Railroad inside a computer terminal screen, her hands outstretched across

the pages of a book. The central image is surrounded by a swirling red sea,

depicting Tubman’s similarity to the biblical figure Moses, who lead the

Israelites out of slavery in Egypt by parting the Red Sea.

“It wasn’t finished, but they may have thought it was,” said Alewitz, who

has been working on the mural since early July.

Enrollment at Magnolia Middle School–which teaches grades 6, 7 and 8–is

864. Twenty-five percent of its students are black. The surrounding

neighborhood is closer to 50 percent black, Morrison said. The town is about

20 miles northeast of Baltimore.

Officials said the mural would be repaired, probably by painting over the

defaced portions.

Alewitz said this was not the first setback he has faced since he began work

on a series of five murals–called “The Dreams of Harriet Tubman”–to be

installed in Maryland as part of a Mid-Atlantic Arts Council project.

Another mural by Alewitz sparked controversy last month because of its

depiction of Tubman carrying a musket. The ceramic mural was to have been

displayed outside the Baltimore headquarters of the Associated Black

Charities. The group rejected the mural, however, as historically inaccurate

and condoning gun violence.

Alewitz, who teaches at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain,

Conn., and Baltimore Clayworks, which commissioned the work, said they

intended to search for “appropriately visible” sites in the city to hang the

work.

07/20/2000

____________________________________

2. Vandals Were Created by a Racist Society

Mural at Magnolia Middle School, Magnolia Maryland, Defaced by Racist

Graffiti

Press Statement by Mike Alewitz, Muralist, 7.18.00

Harriet Tubman was an educator of the first order.  She educated thousands

about racism and the evils of slavery.  She educated about the rights of

women.  She taught about the rights of working people and the elderly.

Education was an important component of her amazing life.

And yet she was illiterate.  The slave system from which she escaped was

based on keeping African-Americans ignorant of their own great culture and

history.

Here at the Magnolia Middle School, the workers, administration and faculty

are dedicated to continuing the educational traditions of Harriet Tubman.  I

am here to give visual expression to that effort.  This mural, part of a

series of murals called “The Dreams of Harriet Tubman,” is entitled

“Education for All.”  It is an effort of many individuals and groups,

including the Mid-Atlantic Art Foundation and Baltimore Clayworks.

Slavers and northern industrialists alike feared Harriet.  She waged an

uncompromising struggle against slavery, racism and social injustice.  The

slave catchers and northern racists could not stop her, and she will

certainly not be stopped by misspelled graffiti from a handful of cowards.

The destruction that you see here cannot be blamed solely on a few racists.

They are products of growing up in a society that too often tolerates racism

– that celebrates the execution of poor black people – that condones

inequality in education and employment.

When these criminals are found, it is my fervent hope they will be sentenced

to join me on the scaffold to help paint this mural.  There, we will discuss

and learn about Harriet Tubman, John Brown and Frederick Douglass.

We will examine the great civilizations of Africa that gave so much of

modern civilization to the world, and the history of African-Americans here.

We will look at how the wealth of this country was based on slave labor.  And

we will discuss the inequality that exists in society today, what that

means for working people, and how we can organize to change it.

We are going to repair the damage.  We are going to complete “The Dreams of

Harriet Tubman.”  We will continue to paint murals that illuminate the

historic events of the past and the problems that facing working people

today.  We will continue to create a public art and public dialogue that

will inspire the young people of today to follow the example of Harriet

Tubman.

____________________________________

3. Harriet Visits the Visionary Museum

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“DREAMS OF HARRIET TUBMAN” MURALS TO TOUR U.S. AND INTERNATIONALLY

PORTABLE MURAL TO BE PAINTED AT THE AMERICAN VISIONARY ART   MUSEUM

Baltimore Clayworks today announced that an important component of the

“Dreams of Harriet Tubman” is to be painted on-site at the American

Visionary Art Museum.  Artist Mike Alewitz, author of the work, will paint

the portable work in the sculpture barn of the inner harbor museum.

“Dreams” is a series of public art works being created throughout Maryland,

including at the Harriet Tubman Park in Cambridge, MD, her birthplace; the

Frederick Douglass Library at the University of MD Eastern Shore; the

Magnolia Middle School in Harford County; and other locations.  The project

has broad sponsorship from community and arts organizations throughout the

state.  It is being hosted by Baltimore Clayworks, a ceramic arts

organization with an extensive record of community involvement.

Alewitz’s image of Tubman has been the subject of some controversy.  He

chose to portray Tubman as a militant, armed Moses (she was known as the

Moses of her people) – parting the seas of reaction and leading an army of

freed slaves into the future.  The mural also shows representations of a

slave ship, and what Alewitz refers to as “the slave ship of today – the

sweatshop.”

“It will be a great pleasure to work here, surrounded by the fabulous art of

working-class artists.  Harriet belongs here – she also had visions, and

like these artists, was not afraid to act on them,” said Alewitz.  “The work

we create here will remain true to Harriet and to those who are continuing

her struggle against racism and injustice.  Harriet Tubman was an

uncompromising fighter for freedom and social justice – that is how I will

paint her.”

Deborah Bedwell, Executive Director of Baltimore Clayworks, announced that

the group is still seeking a large public wall for a permanent mural.

“Baltimore Clayworks remains committed to support of artists and making art

accessible to the greatest audiences possible.  We welcome a lively

discussion of art and it’s place in society.”

____________________________________

4. Baltimore: Give a Wall

———————————-

By Mike Alewitz

Op-Ed Baltimore Sun

THE RACIST defacement of my mural in Harford County has once again put a

spotlight on “The Dreams of Harriet Tubman.” This series of murals, a gift

to the people of Maryland, has generated significant public scrutiny and

debate. As the artist involved, I would like to provide some insight into

this work.

I was invited by Baltimore Clayworks, an artist’s organization with a deep

commitment to community involvement, to create a series of works in

Maryland. I was one of 54 artists selected nationally by the Mid-Atlantic

Arts Foundation as part of its program “Artists and Communities: America

Creates for the Millennium.”

Clayworks and activists from the Underground Railroad movement had been

discussing the possibilities of work about the Underground Railroad and

Harriet Tubman. Their initiative corresponded with my own thinking — that

this subject was an important one and one that was timely.

Harriet Tubman was a revolutionary who not only envisioned the future, but

acted to create that vision.

“The Dreams of Harriet Tubman” was designed to give visual expression to her

visions and to the great revolution that overthrew slavery, one of the

seminal occurrences in American and world history.

“Dreams” will be a necklace of murals painted across Maryland. They will

form one unified work.

The murals are to be anchored by a dramatic image on a major wall in

Baltimore City. It will depict Harriet Tubman as she was known: Moses.

Harriet is shown parting the seas of reaction, as she did in her life. Her

staff is the rifle that she carried. The children of Israel are the slave

armies who resisted their bondage and joined the Union ranks to defeat the

South. Drowning in the tide is Pharaoh’s tribe: the slavers and other forces

of reaction.

Harriet’s massive skirts will be a quilt of silhouettes formed by tracing

the outlines of visitors to the site, who would climb the lower rungs of the

scaffold and stand against the wall. In this way the living activists of

today will become a part of the mural, literally the body of Harriet Tubman.

At the sides of the mural, and in the smaller walls in other localities,

will be a series of vignettes based on Harriet’s visions: Her dreams about

the Amistad and Nat Turner slave rebellions; her work with Frederick

Douglass, John Brown and other abolitionists; her success as a conductor of

the Underground Railroad; leadership as a spy, scout and guerilla in the

military conquest of the South, championing of the women’s suffrage

movement; and experience as a nurse and educator.

When the mural in Harford County was attacked, the leaders of that community

— educators, civil rights, religious and political leaders — immediately

united to repudiate the racists and announce their determination to complete

the mural and continue to teach about Tubman and her movement.

Will the people of Baltimore show the same determination as we continue to

search for an appropriate wall for this work?

The working people of this city have made it clear that they support this

project. But while this backing is good, we still find ourselves seeking a

wall in a prominent location with institutional support.

I believe it is important to complete this artistic and educational project.

The reason is simple:

There will be no justice and there will be no peace in this country until

the United States faces up to this truth: The great wealth of this country

was built on the backs of slave labor. The descendants of those slaves

remain the victims of a vicious racism, unable to enjoy the fruits of what

their ancestors created.

“The Dreams of Harriet Tubman” will be painted — if not in Baltimore, then

elsewhere in Maryland; if not in Maryland, then another state. And if I

cannot find a wall in the United States, then I will go to another country.

But, one way or another, it will be painted.

We are appealing to the people of Baltimore to provide us with a wall. This

is where Harriet belongs — in glorious color — as a symbol of the ongoing

struggle for social justice.

———–

Mike Alewitz is a muralist and is on the art faculty at Central Connecticut

State University in New Britain, Conn. This article was written in

Baltimore.

Originally published on Jul 25 2000

____________________________________

5. Art Should Be the Freedom to Create

He sees the big picture

Murals: The artist tapped for the city’s Harriet Tubman project has made big

depictions of the struggles of the little guy his life’s work.

————————————————————-

By Suzanne Loudermilk

Sun Staff

Often splashed across 50-foot walls in brilliant, hard-to-miss hues, the

paintings of Mike Alewitz are hard to ignore.

But Alewitz, an internationally known artist who has painted murals in

Chernobyl, Baghdad and Central America, wasn’t quite expecting the attention

his Harriet Tubman projects have garnered in Maryland.

The first mural, proposed for the headquarters of the Associated Black

Charities in downtown Baltimore, was rejected by the group last month

because Tubman was depicted with a musket. The second, at a Harford County

middle school, was nearly complete when vandals painted over it last week

with swastikas and racial slurs.

He has three more Tubman works to complete as part of a statewide art

project commissioned by Baltimore Clayworks, a Mount Washington arts center.

The undertaking is part of “Artists and Communities: America Creates for the

Millennium,” an initiative of the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation and the

National Endowment for the Arts.

“This attack [in Harford] and the inability to get a wall in Baltimore has

set the project back,” Alewitz acknowledged last week while trying to repair

the damaged mural at Magnolia Middle School in Joppa. “But I feel I have a

responsibility.”

His sense of social justice started early. “I am a product of my times,”

says Alewitz, 49, who grew up in a working-class environment in Wilmington,

Del., in the 1950s. He was one of three children, and his parents both

worked – his mother as a factory worker and secretary and his father was a

plumber, although he returned to school and received a doctorate in history

when he was in his 60s. Both were involved in labor organizations before he

was born.

Alewitz came of age during the Vietnam War protests and became a student

leader on the campus of Kent State University in the anti-war movement.

“You had to question the war. It was easy. You didn’t want to be killed,” he

says. “Then you had to ask why the U.S. was involved.”

In May 1970, he witnessed the shootings there that left four people dead and

nine injured during a demonstration to protest the U.S. invasion of

Cambodia. “It was horrible, of course,” he said. “A close friend of mine was killed.”

Tom Grace, a union leader who lives in Amherst, N.Y., recalls university

classmate Alewitz from his student activist days.  “I remember him as a very

bright, intellectual individual,” says Grace, who observed Alewitz

distributing leaflets around campus and speaking at student rallies. “He was

extremely well-read and a good mobilizer of a large number of students.”

Alewitz didn’t finish college at the time. Later, working as a machinist, he

became increasingly involved in the labor movement. He eventually decided to

express his activism through art, he says.  He returned to school in his

mid-30s at the Massachusetts College of Art. Because he had worked as a sign

and billboard painter, he gravitated toward painting murals and never looked

back

Now, Alewitz is teaching a mural painting class at Central Connecticut State

University in New Britain.

He often champions the little guy in his murals. His imagery includes

shackles, bright sunshine, dreamy nights, war-torn countries, immigrant

workers, twinkly stars, downtrodden laborers.

His mural in Chernobyl, painted on the 10th anniversary of the accident at

the Ukrainian nuclear power plant, commemorated the workers who died there.

“I was very struck by the imagery,” says Deborah Bedwell, executive director

of Baltimore Clayworks. “The thing I loved about his works was the way he

illustrates his values, his choice of subject matter and the way he portrays

his subjects.”

Alewitz was chosen from a pool of 200 artists for the Tubman project, she

says. “I’ve learned more than I thought possible about mural painting and

history,” Bedwell says. “Mike has deep political convictions.”

Labor and strife are recurring themes in the murals. A book of his works

titled “Insurgent Images: The Agitprop of Mike Alewitz” is to be published

in the fall. Alewitz calls himself an agitprop artist. He views “agitprop,” a combination

of the words agitation and propaganda, as art used in a utilitarian way.

“I was determined to bring out a book of his works,” says Paul Buhle, a

professor of American civilization at Brown University and labor historian

who is writing the introduction and a historic overview for “Insurgent

Images.” “The issue of public art and its role in American life is very

important.” He points to an Alewitz mural on a Teamsters union building in

Chicago, which shows Albert and Lucy Parsons, early labor organizers. “As a

mural, it’s a way of reminding people of the way amazing things get done.”

Despite the serious topics depicted in many of Alewitz’s works, Buhle

describes the artist as a gregarious man who is usually prepared for a

struggle. “He’s always involved in a controversy,” Buhle says. “Part of his

stance is not only to defy official images by example, but to encourage

other artists also to do this and re-envision history.”

Alewitz’s current works championing the life of Tubman, a former slave who

led other slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad, reflect his

passion. He says he doesn’t feel compelled to change the proposed mural

showing Tubman with a musket. “Art should be the freedom to create,” he

maintains. “It can’t be decided by committee, only in the heart and mind of

the artist.”

He has painted a smaller, portable version called the “Baltimore Image,”

which is being exhibited at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.

Next month, he will take the 7-foot-by-20-foot piece to a national

conference at the AME Zion Church in Greensboro, N.C., where Tubman

worshiped in Greensboro, N.C.

“Harriet Tubman was a great revolutionary leader and a leader for all

working people in this country,” Alewitz says. “She was created by a

movement. Ordinary people can do extraordinary things when part of a

movement.”

Originally published on Jul 25 2000

____________________________________

6. Joint Letter from Associated Black Charities, Clayworks and Mike Alewitz

Letter to the Baltimore Sun

Recent articles in the Baltimore Sun and other media have fueled a lively

discussion about a series of murals about Harriet Tubman.  Much of this

discourse has been positive, and has led to a broad public education about

Harriet Tubman and the struggle against slavery and racism.  Those who favor

genuine democracy always welcome such discussions about art and politics,

however spirited.

A number of misconceptions have arisen about this project, however, which we

would like to clarify.

“The Dreams of Harriet Tubman” is a series of murals to being painted in

different sites throughout Maryland.  The conception for this art flows out

of a broad-based discussion among artists and community activists,

particularly in the Underground Railroad movement.  The theme was embraced

by Baltimore Clayworks, who is hosting Mike Alewitz, one of 54 artists

selected by “Artists and Communities, America Creates for the Millennium” –

a project of the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation.

A number of walls were considered for a major Baltimore mural.  Of those,

Alewitz specifically requested the wall of the Associated Black Charities

(ABC) Building.  He did this because he felt it to be a logical home for a

Tubman mural.  Harriet Tubman was, among her many other amazing

accomplishments, an extraordinarily charitable woman.

While Associated Black Charities was initially open to considering a mural

through this program, its Board of Directors ultimately decided that the

wanted to use their wall for a piece of art, selected with their

constituents, that more directly relates to their mission and interests.

Clayworks and Alewitz are looking for another permanent space for the mural.

A portable version is currently on exhibit at the American Visionary Art

Museum.

While people may and should debate the imagery or intent of this mural, we

feel it is important to remember that it is a work of art.  There is no

“correct” mural – artists all have different approaches, styles, techniques,

etc., based on their experiences, their ethnic backgrounds and a myriad of

other factors.

We want to reaffirm that we support the efforts of Associated Black

Charities, Baltimore Clayworks and individual artists who attempt to use their efforts

to build a better society.

We recognize that Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad represent a

movement of international stature which artists of all ethnic backgrounds

should feel free to interpret.  At the same time we understand that the

attempts to destroy the culture of African-Americans, which began with the

slave trade, has not ended.  We feel it is critical to break down the many

obstacles placed in the way of Black, Latino and other minority artists.

We look forward to a successful completion of “The Dreams of Harriet

Tubman,” a future mural project at the Associated Black Charities building and any

similar efforts by other groups.

Harriet Tubman was a fearless rebel, a conductor on the Underground RR, an

armed insurrectionist against slavery, a feminist, an abolitionist, a health

care worker, a domestic worker, an advocate for the elderly and an educator.

We join in celebrating her life and accomplishments.  By creating works of

art about her, and the movement that molded her, we hope to inspire the

Harriet Tubmans of today to take up her struggle for peace and social

justice.

S/

Donna Jones Stanley

Executive Director,

Associated Black Charities

Mike Alewitz

Muralist

Deborah Bedwell

Executive Director,

Baltimore Clayworks

Everyone deserves a great public education, but better schools alone can’t fight inequality.

This article is from Class Action: An Activist Teacher’s Handbook, a joint project of Jacobin and the Chicago Teachers Union’s CORE. The booklet can be downloaded for free and print copies are still available.

It’s common in policy circles to claim that improving the quality of education in inner cities and impoverished rural areas is the answer to halting the growing gap between rich and poor. This view reflects not only illusions about the potential for substantially improving education for children from low- and moderate-income families without deeper economic and political shifts, but also a serious misunderstanding about the growth of inequality over the last three decades.

There should be no surprise, then, that the education reform movement has failed in its effort to boost educational outcomes for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

At this point, education “reform” is hardly new; it is the establishment consensus, having led the national agenda on education for the last quarter century. The extent to which it has produced gains can be debated, but it has, without a doubt, not turned around struggling schools. The children in these schools still perform consistently worse on standardized tests and have much poorer career prospects than children attending wealthy suburban public schools or private ones.

But even if reform had improved education, it is unlikely to have done much about inequality. People with more education have, on average, done better than those with less education, but the growth in inequality over the last three decades has not been mainly a story of the more educated pulling away from the less educated. Rather, it has been a story in which a relatively small group of people (roughly the top one percent) have been able to garner the bulk of economic gains for reasons that have little direct connection to education.

The classic story of the education and inequality story is usually captured by the college/non-college premium: the ratio of the pay of those with college degrees to those without college degrees. This premium showed a substantial rise in the 1980s for both men and women. According to data from the Economic Policy Institute, the college premium for men rose from 20.2% at the 1979 business cycle peak to 34% at the business cycle peak in 1989. For women, the premium rose from 25% in 1979 to 40%  in 1989.

Interestingly, the sharpest rise, especially for men, was during the high unemployment years at the start of the decade. The rise in the college/non-college pay gap is often attributed to technology and the growing use of computers in the workplace, in particular. But the largest rise in the college premium occurred at a point in time when computers were just being introduced to the workplace.

If the timing of the rise in the pay gap in the 1980s doesn’t fit the technology story very well, the wage trend in the last two decades is even harder to square with this picture. There was a much smaller increase in the college premium in the 1990s than in the 1980s — even though this was the period of the tech boom, when information technology led to a marked acceleration in the rate of productivity growth. After having risen by almost fourteen percent in the 1980s business cycle, the college premium for men rose by just 8% from 1989 to the business cycle peak in 2000. For women, the premium increased by 7.9% points in the 1990s cycle after increasing 15% in the 1980s.

The 2000s don’t fit any better with the technology and inequality story, as even college grads could no longer count on sharing in the gains from growth. For men, the premium rose by 2.8% between 2000 and 2011. This corresponded to a 2.4% gain in wages for male college grads between 2000 and 2012. The college premium for women increased by just 0.8% points over this period, with the wages of female college grads rising by 0.7% between 2000 and 2012. This situation holds true even if we look at just the segments of the labor market where we might expect especially strong demand. The average hourly wage for college graduates working in computer and mathematical occupations increased by just 5.3% from 2000 to 2011 —less than one-third of the rate of productivity growth over this period.

The patterns in the data show that inequality is not a question of the more-educated gaining at the expense of the less-educated due to inevitable technological trends. Rather, it has been a story in which a small group of especially well-situated workers — for example, those in finance, doctors, and top-level corporate executives — have been able to gain at the expense of almost everyone else. This pattern of inequality will be little affected by improving the educational outcomes for the bottom quarter or even bottom half of income distribution.

Of course, this does not argue against efforts to improve education. It is almost always the case that workers with more education do better than workers with less education, both in terms of hourly wages and employment outcomes. Unemployment and non-employment rates are considerably higher for those with less education.

Education does provide a clear avenue for mobility. Certainly it is a positive development if children from low-income families have the opportunity to move into the middle class, even if this might imply that someone from a middle-class background will move in the opposite direction.

And education is tremendously valuable for reasons unrelated to work and income. Literacy, basic numeracy skills, and critical thinking are an essential part of a fulfilling life. Insofar as we have children going through school without developing these skills, it is an enormous failing of society. Any just society would place a top priority on ensuring that all children learn such basic skills before leaving school.

However, it clearly is not the case that plausible increases in education quality and attainment will have a substantial impact on inequality. This will require much deeper structural changes in the economy. As a practical matter, given the dismal track record of the education reformers, substantial improvement in outcomes for children from low- and moderate-income families is likely to require deep structural change in society as well.

Posted by Portside on April 14, 2014

George E. Curry
Los Angeles Wave
April 6, 2014

WASHINGTON – (NNPA) – The wealth gap between African-Americans and whites has expanded in recent years and is not likely to narrow without significant reductions in Black unemployment and changes in a system that favors the wealthy over poor and middle class Americans.

That’s according to the National Urban League’s 38th annual State of Black America report titled, “One Nation Underemployed: Jobs Rebuild America,” scheduled that was released Thursday at a news conference at the National Press Club.

In a statement accompanying the report, Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, said: “The 2014 State of Black America and corresponding Equality Index indicate that while each state and city has its own economic recovery story to tell, the consistent refrain is that there is an urgent and growing disparity between the few who are reaping the rewards of economic recovery and the majority who are still reeling from aftershocks of the Great Recession.”

Morial added, “While ‘too big to fail’ corporations went into the bail-out emergency room and recovered to break earnings and stock market records, most Americans have been left in ICU with multiple diagnoses of unemployment, underemployment, home losses and foreclosures, low or no savings and retirement accounts, credit denials, and cuts in education and school funding.

“We must work to restore the very essence of 20th century America — the possibility of upward mobility for all — with a focus on meaningful solutions to these pressing challenges, including job creation and training, and ensuring that Americans are paid livable wages for the work they do.”

The 2014 Equality Index is a yardstick used to measure how well African-Americans are doing relative to whites. In computing the Equality Index, 30 percent of the final score is based on economics while health and education each gets 25 percent and social justice and civic engagement each receives 10 percent on a 100 percent scale.

Explaining the Equality Index, the authors say: “That means rather than having a whole pie (100 percent), which would mean full equality with whites in 2014, African-Americans [with an index of 71.2 percent] are missing about 29 percent of the pie.”

In other words, the larger the Equality Index, the closer Blacks are to reaching parity with whites.

The Equality Index has declined from 73 percent in 2006, to 72.1 percent in 2010 to 71.2 percent in 2014. However, scholars caution that the overall figure might reflect progress in some areas and retrenchment in others.

Relative to last year’s Black Equality Index, civic engagement index improved from 99.9 percent to 104.7 percent, economics dipped slightly, from 56.3 percent to 55.5 percent, social justice declined barely from 56.9 percent to 56.8 percent. Health (76.8 percent) and education (76.8 percent) remained unchanged.

The report also found:

• Black median household income ($33,764) is about 60 percent of whites ($56,565), down from 62 percent before the recession.

• The poverty index for Blacks compared to whites is 29 percent — 28.1 percent of Blacks live in poverty vs. 11 percent of whites.

• Black-White unemployment equality is 50 percent or 2:1.

• When it comes to wealth, Blacks ($6,314) have only a 6 percent Equality Index when compared with whites ($110,500).

Unlike African-Americans, Hispanics saw their Equality Index with whites increase slightly, from 74.6 percent in 2013 to 75.8 percent in 2014, which was 4.6 percent higher than African-Americans.

In a chapter titled, “Policies of Exclusion Perpetuate the Racial Wealth Gap,” Thomas M. Shapiro wrote: “The dramatic and widening gap in household wealth along racial lines in the United States reflects policies and institutional practices that create different opportunities for whites and African-Americans. Personal ambition and behavioral choices are but a small part of the equation.”

Shapiro wrote, “In gross terms, the difference in median wealth between America’s white and African-American households has grown stunningly large.

The wealth gap almost tripled from 1984 to 2009, increasing from $85,000 to $236,500. The median net worth of white households in the study grew to $265,000 over the 25-year period compared with just $28,500 for the Black households.”

He said five factors account for two-thirds of the proportional increase in the racial wealth gap: number of years of home ownership, average family income, employment stability, college education and financial support and inheritance.

According to Shapiro, home ownership accounts for 27 percent of the growth in the racial wealth gap. He said reasons home equity rises dramatically faster for whites include:

• White families buy homes and start acquiring equity eight years earlier than Black families because they are more likely to receive family assistance or an inheritance for down payments.

• A larger up-front payment by white homeowners lower interest rates.

• Residential segregation places an artificial ceiling on home equity in non-white neighborhoods.

• The home ownership rate for white families is 28 percent higher than rates for Blacks.

“Hard evidence shows in stark terms that it is not just the last recession and implosion of the housing market that contributed to the widening racial wealth disparities,” Shapiro wrote. “Past policies of exclusion, such as discriminatory mortgage lending, which continues today, ensure that certain groups reap a greater share of what America has to offer while others are left out.”

No one expects the wealth gap to narrow without some reduction in unemployment.

“More than one-third of unemployed workers have been out of work for six months or longer and one in four has been jobless for a year or longer,” Valerie Rawlston Wilson, an economist in the National Urban League’s Washington bureau, noted in her introduction to the report.

“Though the unemployment rate declined by 1.2 percentage points from January to December 2013 — the largest decline over a single year since the recovery began — labor force participation also reached a 35-year low in December. This downward trend in labor force participation raises concerns about underutilization of America’s labor capacity, or underemployment.”

She explained, “If we factored in the number of people who want and are available for work (but are not actively looking for a job) along with the number of unemployed workers actively looking for a job, and those who are working part-time out of necessity (but would prefer full-time work), the actual rate of underemployment was 13.1 percent at the end of 2013, nearly double the official unemployment rate.”

And things are even worse for African-Americans, Wilson said.

“For African-Americans, these challenges are even greater,” she wrote. “Though the Black unemployment rate briefly and narrowly dipped below 12 percent for the first time since 2008 at the end of last year, 42 percent of Black unemployed workers are long-term unemployed and 28 percent have been jobless for at least a year.

The rate of underemployment for African-Americans was 20.5 percent, compared to 11.8 percent for white workers and 18.4 percent for Hispanic workers.”

For the first time, the State of Black America provides an Equality Index for 77 major metropolitan areas. The report provided charts for Black-white income equality and unemployment equality.

Summarizing the discussion on income inequality, Morial said, “An Oxfam report released in January confirmed what the Urban League Movement has posited for the last few years: in the U.S., where the gap between rich and poor has grown at a faster rate than any other developed country, the richest one percent of Americans have received 95 percent of the wealth created since 2009 — after the economic crisis — while the bottom 90 percent of Americans have become poorer.”

Morial explained, “When we overlay that with the disproportionate impact of unemployment on African-Americans and other people of color, as well as the impact of the twin terrors of racial income and wealth gaps, we see an even direr situation.”

Posted by Portside on April 6, 2014

Childhood Lessons 
In the Terrible Power of the Government: 
You Will Always Live in Fear. 
You Will Never Challenge the Miniscule Elite 
Who Rule Over Us All.

Torturing Children at School
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD. NYTimes, APRIL 11, 2014

Federal investigators have opened an inquiry into the tragic case of a high school student in Bastrop County, Tex., who suffered severe brain damage and nearly died last fall after a deputy sheriff shocked him with a Taser, a high voltage electronic weapon.

In North Carolina, civil rights lawyers have filed a complaint with the Justice Department, charging the Wake County school system with violating the constitutional rights of minority children by subjecting them to discriminatory arrest practices and brutality by police officers assigned to schools. In one nightmarish case described in the complaint, a disabled 15-year-old was shocked with a Taser three times during an interrogation at school, resulting in punctured lungs. And in New York, civil rights lawyers have sued the city of Syracuse on behalf of two students. One was shocked three times, not for threatening behavior but for lying on the floor and crying, they say, and another was shocked while trying to break up a fight.

Complaints about dangerous disciplinary practices involving shock weapons are cropping up all over the country. The problem has its roots in the 1990s, when school districts began ceding even routine disciplinary duties to police and security officers, who were utterly unprepared to deal with children. Many districts need to overhaul practices that criminalize far too many young people and that are applied in ways that discriminate against minority children. In the meantime, elected officials need to ban shock weapons in schools.

The Taser, the most popular of these weapons, uses a powerful electrical charge to create intense spasms that drive the suspect to the ground. Police organizations view such weapons as a means of defusing violent confrontations without resorting to deadly force. But a growing body of research shows how lethal these weapons can be.

A 2011 Justice Department study noted that some normal, healthy adults have died after being shocked but that people who are intoxicated or who suffer from heart disease or other significant illnesses may be at greater risk of death. An even more troubling study by Amnesty International, which monitors this issue, estimates that since 2001 more than 550 people have died after being shocked by Tasers during arrest or while in jail. Police agencies in the United States, the report found, routinely use the shock weapons on suspects who present no danger but fail to comply immediately with a police officer’s commands.

In the Texas case, Noe Niño de Rivera, a 17-year-old at Cedar Creek High School, collapsed after being shocked and struck his head on the floor. Doctors performed emergency surgery to repair a severe brain hemorrhage and subsequently placed him in a medically induced coma, in which he remained for 52 days. He now needs rehabilitation and is unlikely to fully recover.

The sheriff’s department said that a Taser was used against the teenager because he interfered while the deputies were breaking up a fight. A security video leading up the incident shows that the fight was already over when the officers arrived, and it seems to show the student backing away when one of the officers shocked him.

Civil rights groups point out that Texas has already prohibited Taser use in its juvenile justice facilities. The state should extend the restriction to its public schools. That would be a sensible start. Beyond that, school administrators need to reclaim responsibility for disciplinary matters from security or police officers, who too often treat students like criminals.

NEW YORK — The nation’s most segregated schools aren’t in the deep south — they’re in New York, according to a report released Tuesday by the University of California, Los Angeles’ Civil Rights Project.

That means that in 2009, black and Latino students in New York “had the highest concentration in intensely-segregated public schools,” in which white students made up less than 10 percent of enrollment and “the lowest exposure to white students,” wrote John Kucsera, a UCLA researcher, and Gary Orfield, a UCLA professor and the project’s director. “For several decades, the state has been more segregated for blacks than any Southern state, though the South has a much higher percent of African American students,” the authors wrote. The report, “New York State’s Extreme School Segregation,” looked at 60 years of data up to 2010, from various demographics and other research.

There’s also a high level of “double segregation,” Orfield said in an interview, as students are increasingly isolated not only by race, but also by income: the typical black or Latino student in New York state attends a school with twice as many low-income students as their white peers. That concentration of poverty brings schools disadvantages that mixed-income schools often lack: health issues, mobile populations, entrenched violence and teachers who come from the least selective training programs. “They don’t train kids to work in a society that’s diverse by race and class,” he said. “There’s a systematically unequal set of demands on those schools.”