COLUMN: Plight of the urbanite

From Jason Brenner's, "My 20 Inches," Fall '96 From Jason Brenner's, "My 20 Inches," Fall '96Honest discussion is the only way to solveFrom Jason Brenner's, "My 20 Inches," Fall '96Honest discussion is the only way to solvethe problems of America's inner cities. Perhaps the perception of African American woes in the cities is worse than the problems themselves. We all know the media gravitates towards sensational crime stories; local news airs compelling video images to publicly convict the accused and, of course, never neglects to mention or picture the race of the alleged perpetrator. Maybe society sees the plight of urban blacks through a greatly distorted prism. Distorted or not, however, these problems do exist and cannot be ignored. Urban Studies Professor Theodore Hershberg proposes an interesting theory for the plight of urban African Americans in a piece he co-authored with Alan Burstein, Eugene Ericksen, Stephanie Greenberg and William Yancey. A Tale of Three Cities: Blacks, Immigrants, and Opportunity in Philadelphia, 1850-1880, 1930, 1970 examines three major ethnic groups that settled in Philadelphia in three different time periods: Irish, German and British immigrants of the 1840s and 1850s; Italians, Poles and Russian Jews during the time between 1885 and 1914; and African Americans who entered the city after World War II. Many of us descend from immigrants who came to cities like Philadelphia (or in about 90 percent of your cases, New York) and worked their way upward, finally attaining some degree of economic success. It's easy, therefore, to say that our grandparents -- many of them members of one of the first two aforementioned immigrant groups -- took advantage of the same opportunities that African Americans are squandering. As much as we'd like to believe this theory, however, that's truly not the case. Simply stated by Professor Hershberg and company: "Philadelphia's physical and economic conditions are far worse today than they were when the immigrants from Western and Eastern Europe settled here." Professor Hershberg's article explains that a variety of factors combined to place African Americans in a much worse predicament than that of our ancestors. When African Americans entered the city, they moved into the dilapidated housing abandoned by the two previous groups of immigrants. As whites scrambled to the suburbs, African Americans filled their spots in the city. Previous waves of immigrants entering the cities supported their families by working in manufacturing. But in post-World War II America, manufacturers fled from the cities and settled in outlying areas with lower taxes and nonunion labor. Indeed, between 1930 and 1970, manufacturing jobs in Philadelphia dropped by 75,000; at the same time, the city's number of African Americans skyrocketed from 221,000 to 654,000. As African Americans moved to the cities in large numbers after World War II, they settled in high concentrations in certain neighborhoods, to a greater extent than any other immigrant group. For example, the average Irish immigrant in 1880 lived in a neighborhood comprised of 15 percent Irish immigrants. A 1930 Italian immigrant shared his backyard with 14 percent Italian immigrants. The typical African American in 1970, however, lived in an area that was 74 percent African American. In a society where who you know is often more important that what you know, this homogeneity did not work to the advantage of African Americans searching for employment. Because about three-quarters of his neighbors were in the same predicament, a typical African American job-seeker had a virtually impossible task of networking to attain a job. Because of the flight of the middle-class from the city, Philadelphia's tax base has shrunk so much that the city is finding it increasingly difficult to improve its deteriorating school system and other public services. Couple all of these problems with a history of severe discrimination, and it's not hard to see why African Americans are having so much trouble surviving in urban America. Professor Hershberg certainly provides an interesting view into the reasons for the plight of African Americans in America's cities. Middle-class whites may be angry at African Americans for "ruining" urban America with poverty, crime and drugs. Take an educated look into the situation, however, and it becomes clear that blacks aren't the cause of the problems, but a victim of them. Maybe after realizing this important distinction, we can start addressing the root of these problems, instead of pretending to treat the symptoms. Before we even get that far, though, we have to discuss this predicament. We must first feel free to speak about these sensitive issues in an open and honest manner. Only then will we be able to resolve them.