Separate and Unequal: America's Children, Race, and Poverty

Abstract

Fifty years ago, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that: Segregation of white and Negro children in the public schools of a State solely on the basis of race, pursuant to state laws permitting or requiring such segregation, denies to Negro children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment--even though the physical facilities and other 'tangible' factors of white and Negro schools may be equal. (1) Even with a half-century to digest this notion and implement and enforce policies to make equality a reality, the United States today is still a country of separate and unequal. In fact, there is a growing gap between rich and poor children, and between black, white, and Latino children. The United States is top of the list of industrialized nations when it comes to the number of poor children. (2) There are more children living in poverty today than there were 40 years ago when the war on poverty was officially declared. As noted in the article by Nightingale and Fix in this journal issue, black children are still twice as likely as white children to be poor, and a record number of black children are living in extreme poverty. In 2001, nearly one million black children lived in families with an annual income of less than half the federal poverty level (disposable income below $7,064 for a family of three)--the highest number in 23 years. (3) The portrait of inequality is astounding. (See Box 1.) Poverty accentuates racial disparities in children's health, and poor health and poverty spiral together in a vicious cycle that injures all children. The situation in the classroom reflects a similar gaping demographic schism. Fifty years after the Brown decision, black children are still almost twice as likely as their white peers to become dropouts. (See the article by Fuligni and Hardway in this journal issue.) Box 1 A Portrait of Inequality Health: * Young black children are twice as likely as white, Native American, Asian American, or Latino babies to be born with low birth weight. * Babies born to Latinas and Native Americans are twice as likely as those born to whites to have mothers who receive late or no prenatal care. * Young black children are twice as likely as their white peers to die from influenza or pneumonia. * Black young adults are three times as likely as white young adults to die from complications of diabetes. * Black children and teens are five times as likely as their white peers to die of chronic lower respiratory disease, and almost twice as likely to die of heart disease. Education: * Latino fourth graders are two to three times as likely as their white classmates to be performing below the basic level in mathematics. * White fourth graders are three to four times as likely as their black and Latino classmates to be reading at the proficient level. Juvenile Justice: * Black juveniles are about four times as likely to be arrested as their white counterparts. * Black males ages 15 to 19 are four times as likely as their white peers and twice as likely as their Latino peers to die from firearms injury. * Black juveniles are five times as likely as white youths to be incarcerated. Source: Children's Defense Fund. The state of America's children: Yearbook 2004. Washington, DC: CDF, 2004. The result of this disparity is a direct pipeline from school to prison. Many high schools have become prep schools for jail. Pushouts, dropouts and expulsions all create an underclass of children who are ready-made for prison cells rather than dorm rooms. Society can no longer feign surprise when confronted with glaring overrepresentation of children of color in our juvenile justice system. A black boy today has one chance in 55 of earning a master's degree, but one chance in 5 of going to prison before age 30. (4) It is reprehensible that a country such as the United States is home to more than 12 million children who live below the poverty line, (5) and more than 9 million children who lack health insurance. …