Brown at 50: Still Separate and Unequal, Introduction

In the course of my research for a sermon at Trinity (see May 23 on this blog), I came across various sets of statistics upon which I based my preaching-points. I feel that homiletic integrity requires a rational basis for the prophetic voice: that is, claims of injustice and inequality should be based as much as possible on fact, not perception. That is the antidote to excessive liberal knee-jerkism which right-leaning hearers or opponents are so swift to demonize - and of which I myself have at times been guilty (as several of my closest friends and intellectual sparring partners will attest with exasperation).

Though I did not actually cite statistics in the sermon, I did want to share some of the sobering news. Thus each day for the next week I will be sharing some fundamental research that points to the great gaps that still remain before the promise of Brown will be fulfilled. I make no claim that the research methodologies of the work I cite is perfect. I certainly find the research solidly and sufficiently plausible that any methodological objections will serve mainly to obscure the greater truth of the unequal social realities indicated.

As in the sermon, the following nodes of inequality are my focus here:

• UNEQUAL EDUCATION,
  
• POVERTY (plus second part),
  
• HOMELESSNESS,
  
• UNEMPLOYMENT,
  
• INCARCERATION,
  
• EXECUTION, and
  
• RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION.

In each case, both the rates of the problem itself as well as the particularly racist tendencies in each are equally essential considerations - especially for those who would deny that we live in a time or society for which race is not a basis for inequality.

I offer these not in the spirit of pointing out problems without raising solutions, but as a reality-check for some and a reminder for others - and for all a spur towards the anger that produces justice. And as always, I offer this in a spirit of honest, open, yet accountable intellectual conversation.