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#### **CommunityForum on Race Relations in Racine County, Wisconsin**

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#### **Chapter  4**

#### **Committee  Observations**

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TheU.S. Commission on Civil Rights is an independent, bipartisan agency of thefederal government charged with studying discrimination or denials of equalprotection on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, ornational origin. In each of the 50 states, an Advisory Committee to the U.S.Commission on Civil Rights has been established made up of responsible personswho serve without compensation to advise the Commission of relevant informationconcerning its respective state on matters within the jurisdiction of theCommission.

Toensure its independence and bipartisanship, the Wisconsin Advisory Committee isconstituted to include individuals representing both major political parties, abroad spectrum of political philosophies, and different geographic regions ofthe state. Furthermore, the Committee is independent of any national, state, orlocal administration, political organization, philosophy, or advocacy group.

Inthe past eight years the Wisconsin Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission onCivil Rights has undertaken a number of studies on race-related issues. Thesehave included studies on affirmative action, police protection, civil rights ofthe Hmong, American Indian treaty rights, and equal educational opportunity.

TheWisconsin Advisory Committee comes to Racine, a diverse and relatively largemetropolitan area, to examine race relations issues. In the experience of theAdvisory Committee, race relations in Racine are unlikely to be much better orworse than most other cities of its size and diversity in the state. Theparticular degree and manifestation of racial and ethnic inequity in Racinemight vary from that of other Wisconsin communities, but the essential issuesconcerning race in the city of Racine and the surrounding community are probablytypical of other such communities in many respects.

Thirtyyears ago by accounts received at the public hearing, manifestations of racismand racial and ethnic discrimination in Racine and the surrounding communitywere overt and flagrant. Discriminatory practices and policies in employment andhousing against African Americans and other minority groups generally receivedwidespread toleration and acceptance from the white community. Hostility andoppressive acts along racial and ethnic lines were commonplace, and thedeliberate alienation of minority communities was acceptable social policy.

Sincethat time there has been an improvement in race relations within and around theRacine community. Egregious racist language and behavior are no longer toleratedby the vast majority of people, white or people of color, living and working inthe metropolitan Racine area. 

Inaddition, efforts and programs have been implemented to effect positive changeand provide equal opportunity. Legislation prohibiting discrimination has becomepublic policy. Affirmative action programs in education and employment have beeninitiated. A climate of racial and ethnic tolerance has been fostered, and civicand community leaders unanimously disclaim bigotry and racial and ethnicintolerance. 

These are positive developments and theAdvisory Committee lauds these efforts. But such initiatives should not beinterpreted to mean that racial and ethnic bigotry has dissipated or that actsof discrimination in employment, housing, and education are things of the past.After 30 years of efforts to ensure equal opportunity, significant disparitiesin employment, housing, income, and education along racial and ethnic linespersist in the Racine metropolitan area. 

Minoritiesremain concentrated in the lowest paying and least desirable clerical andservice sector jobs, while whites dominate the managerial and professional jobs(see table 3). African Americans remain significantly underrepresented in thecity�s work force (see table 4). Minorities are disproportionately expelledfrom schools in the Racine Unified School District (see table 5).

Inlistening to the community testify on race relations and racial tensions, theWisconsin Advisory Committee heard frustration and desperation among many peopleof color in the Racine community, particularly among those in the working class.Their message was clear: though most flagrant displays of egregious racistlanguage and behavior and attitudes are no longer tolerated by the vast majorityof people in the community, underlying barriers to real equal opportunity inemployment, housing, and education appear to persist. 

Theevidence of such barriers comes from the observation of existing socialconditions. If such barriers were not in place, clearly a more proportionatedistribution of income, quality housing, and educational achievements would beobserved across racial and ethnic lines. That such is not observed and thatovert discrimination is no longer legal or an accepted social norm implies thatbarriers to equal opportunity must remain lodged in some place other than in theexternal policies and operations of government, businesses, employers, andschools.

TheWisconsin Advisory Committee offers that barriers to equal opportunity continueto exist in the Racine community, but are often invisible to direct observationand difficult to discern because these remaining underlying barriers to equalopportunity are for the most part internal. Specifically, sentiment seems topersist among many in the white community that people of racial and ethnicminorities, i.e., people of color, are inherently less valuable and lessdesirable as neighbors, workers, customers, and students. So even thoughexternal changes regarding race relations have occurred, they have not beenaccompanied by similar changes in deep-seated attitudes.

Moreover,the removal of the visible external and legal forms of discrimination inemployment, housing, education, and public accommodation may even serve toperpetuate and reinforce these attitudinal barriers. For both the removal ofexternal barriers to equal opportunity and the development of societalintolerance for overt expressions of bigotry served as evidence to many in thewhite community that racial and ethnic discrimination had ended and that equalopportunity was now a reality for everyone. Essentially, with the overt barriersto equal opportunity dismantled the white community could now believe itselfexonerated from further responsibility in resolving racial and ethnicinequalities.

Now30 years after the struggle to dismantle legalized forms of discriminationreceived public support, dialogue on race and ethnic relations has all butended. The little discussion that is held occurs with minimal participation orattention from members of the white community. Without an honest and forthrightdiscussion on race relations and civil rights issues, which includes all groups,lingering attitudes subconsciously affecting decisions on many levels persist.The result becomes noticeable in Racine, as well as in many other communities inWisconsin. Minority and white communities exist as virtually separatecommunities, and people of color are relegated to the less desirable jobs,housing, and social status.

Thoughconscious of the disparities between the different racial and ethnic groups,many in the white community blithely continue in this separate existencereluctant to engage in an open, honest, and meaningful dialogue on the subjectof race relations that would challenge the status quo. That is the real obstacleto ultimately resolving the race problem in Racine.

Healingracial divisions and confronting and addressing deep-seated racial and ethnicprejudice are difficult and discomforting. As long as there is littleintrospection on these issues at a personal level, individuals are free to denyany culpability for the racial and ethnic disparities that exist. Political,corporate, educational, and religious institutions then follow suit, relegatingthese issues to the bottom of the social agenda. 

InRacine, barriers to equal opportunity remain. Though hidden from view,unacknowledged prejudicial attitudes operate as very real barriers negativelyaffecting people of color. Citizens in the Racine metropolitan area, like therest of Wisconsin and the rest of the United States, are not �color� blindand do not live in a �color� blind society. The people in the Racinemetropolitan area, as those in the rest of Wisconsin and in the country, seecolor, and the color of a person�s skin colors their perception of that personas a neighbor, a worker, a customer, a student.

Aslong as individuals are unwilling to acknowledge their role in racial and ethnicinjustice and institutions are unwilling to make racial and ethnic justice apriority, there is little chance that the racial and ethnic problems will beresolved. Only when the white community and those in power start to acknowledgewhat they see, will equal opportunity have a chance to become a reality forpeople of color.