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APPLIED RESEARCH CENTER
advancing
 
racial
 
 justice
 
through
 
research
,
advocacy
 
and
 
 journalismpublisher
 
of
 
Applied ReseARch centeR 900 A sr, s 400, Oaka, cA 94607ph:510-653-3415FAX:510-986-1062 www.ar.or
&
news
 J 2009
notes
in his Recent pResscOnFeRence pResidentObAmA
 
was asked how thestimulus would aect Blackhomeowners who had sueredso much rom the mortgagecrisis. His response—thesecommunities had been dis-proportionately hit and wouldreceive a disproportionateamount o relie—was betterthan it could have been, yetnot what it should have been.On the plus side, the President acknowledged that therewas a special case here. But he also gave the impressionthat sending temporary relie to Black amilies would bringabout their recovery. He didn’t mention the need to preventthe targeting o communities o color in the rst place. Norwhat made Black amilies so vulnerable to exploitation. Northe real length o time it will take to rebuild their lost wealth.In a deeply racialized housing industry, this “rising tide”approach is too general to drive a ully inclusive recovery, apoint we make in our new report on
Race and Recession
.Every day, I conront the societal inertia that prevents usrom getting to the targeted changes we need to guaranteeeconomic recovery or 100 percent o U.S. residents. Inbusiness, government or media, we’ve ound endless waysto replace a straightorward race analysis with proxies andeuphemisms (disadvantaged communities, low-income ami-lies, vulnerable populations). As a result, we’ve replaced thevision o racial justice with some vague nautical image, andwe never have to deal directly with race and how it shapesour economy. Addressing diversity is the best the countryhas been able to do.I’m not opposed to equal representation. It’s pretty hardto get to justice without it. But right now, we have thecollective brains, money and charismatic political leader-ship to go ar beyond representation to actual
change 
.
Economic REcovERy, 100 PERcEntGuaRantEEd
:
a Leer fr e Prese Exee drer, Rk Se
Th ntinl nsmin nrc n litics
awaRdS and accoLadES
ARc pROgRAms And stAFF
continue to be rec-ognized or infuential and impactul racial justicework. Applied Research Center President RinkuSen has recently been selected as a “Prime Mover”by the Hunt Alternatives Fund. This multi-yearellowship supports the proessional developmento social justice leaders across the nation.
The Accidental American 
 
(by Rinku Sen withFekkak Mamdouh) has recently been eaturedby the New York City-based Progressive Book Club,which ocuses on raising awareness o breakthroughprogressive causes.The book reshapesthe current discourseon U.S. immigrationissues, and has wonnumerous recognitionsincluding
ForeWord 
 Magazine’s Book othe Year (nalist), theIndependent BookPublishers Award(bronze medalist) andthe Nautilus BookAward (silver medalist).
If y a’t arady,y a cy at Aaz.c.
In PercIval everett’s novel
Erasure
, Theloni-ous Ellison is a college professor who writes novelsthat are more praised than read. His work’s engage-ment with French post-structuralists and ancientGreek literature impresses and baffles reviewers,who wonder what those subjects have to do withthe African-American experience. Frustrated by hislatest novel’s seventh rejection and angered by thesuccess of the street-lit hit
We’s Lives in Da Ghetto
,Ellison dashes off a novella parodying the “true, grittyreal stories of [B]lack life” that he has been advisedto write. This satiric tale, which is included in
Erasure
in its entirety, is peopled with stock characters likethe perennially scowling thug and the vapid babymama. It is sent to Random House as a protest, butto Ellison’s amazement and chagrin he is offered a$600,000 advance for his “magnificently raw andhonest” account. Compromised, disgusted and rich,Ellison creates a reclusive, ex-con writer persona thatthe literary world celebrates as a “real! live! scary!Black male!” writer in their midst.
the rIse
of
street
Thlitaygabout“gagstalif”spawayougBlackaship,butisthislitacybyaymascssay?
By Almah LaVon Rice
Gia-BaoTran
lIterature
Colorlines 
43
May–June 2008
Trend
ARC is happyto report that a
ColorLines 
storyby Almah LaVonRice won aNational EthnicMedia Award.“The Rise oStreet Literature”won best story inthe Arts, Sports& Entertainmentcategory.
[Continued on page 2] 
 
2 A Rar cr
ARc’s cOmpAct FOR RAciAl Justice,
released ten days ater the historicalelection o Barack Obama as President o the United States, is a series o policyessays that oer concrete strategies or moving a proactive racial justice agenda.In the months that ollowed, a furry o state and ederal policy proposals wereintroduced that will have major implications or communities o color. As aresponse, rom February through April, ARC moved a national discussion aboutrace and the economy, jobs, health care, immigration and civil rights throughthe Compact Forum Series. In the rst 100 days o the Obama Administration,ARC also assessed the policy highs and lows, rom the inclusion o immigrantchildren in the passage o SCHIP to the U.S. second boycott o Durban II.Over 1300 participants joined the Compact Forum conerence calls, whicheatured twenty speakers rom across the nation. Compact Forum calls wereeatured in blogs like Racialicious.com, Gristmill.org and the Hungton Post.Over 2,200 individuals downloaded the Compact, the accompanying Toolkitand the 100 Day Assessment o the Obama Administration. Those who read theCompact, participated in the calls, and viewed the videos sent us their thoughts:
comPact FoRum SERiES:100 dayS oF RaciaL JuSticE
• “Love your questions on the call. You go! Thanks for driving the dialogue and not skirting around the issues.” • “Nice job on the call yesterday. I also LOVED your video on the naysayers and cheerleaders and put it on my facebook page where it got a lot of love.” • “What a cool video—I loved it so much I forwarded it on to some of my colleagues and friends.” 
I you have not done so already, please download, readand endorse the preamble yoursel. ARC will continueto produce materials to help you assess policy debates,and we plan to host additional calls and post new toolsas needed. Watch our
arc.rg/cact
page or updatesand new inormation.To do that, we have to be willing to be consistent withour language, rigorous with our analysis and bold in ourvision. We have to educate everyone around us about whatreally constitutes racial progress and why diversity isn’tenough. Years o experience have taught us that unless weset explicit guidelines or achieving equity, the allocationo resources is inevitably unbalanced. It will take all ourresolve to ensure that we spend our money, energy andpolitical power in ways that deliberately combat andprevent institutionalized discrimination.Two ARC allies have made the decision to move in thatdirection, and we can all learn rom their process. TheConsumer Health Foundation (Washington DC) and theBarr Foundation (Boston) participated in the RacialJustice Philanthropic Assessment that we conductedwith the Philanthropic Initiative or Racial Equity. As theAssessment moved ahead, both oundations were struckby the many options that an explicit analysis opened upor them, options they’re now pursuing with real vigor.We’re grateul or their courage and transparency, andwe think many people rom all sectors o society will ndinsights in their experience, which is revealed in a newreport called
Catalytic Change 
.Six months in, it’s still amazing to me that a man o color isgiving Presidential news conerences. This scene, however,is no replacement or my true desire, to see an end to racialdisparities that keep us divided, no matter how capable weare o getting along. In the coming period, both ederalprograms and private grants need to work together todismantle the structures o institutional inequity—that willbe money well spent.Rinku SenPresident and Executive Director, Applied Research CenterPublisher,
ColorLines 
Magazine
[Economic Recovery, continued from page 1] 
donatE
 
A ARc’ r
Race and Recession 
ror ow,  oo ra a o of oor rooroay, a   ow orr a vr a w a qy. h ARc o o o r-ar, ror a or  ov y or a  ayo a. go o ar.or/oa oay, or rr  o voo ow yor o o raa j.
 
A Rar cr 3
Cck t r g at RacWir.rg
aRc uPdatES
The ReseARCh DepARTmenT
recently re-leased its childcare report,
Underprotected,Undersupported: Low-income Children at Risk 
.
The childcare report home page
arc.rg/cidcar
has a summary video,including inormation on how double stan-dards in childcare endanger the healthand saety o low-income children at acil-ities exempted rom licensing. Executivesummary, ull report and more inormationcan be ound at
arc.rg/cidcar.
Also released was our six-month study onthe racial dynamics o the current nationaleconomic crisis,
Race and Recession: How Inequity Rigged the Economy and How to Change the Rules 
. The
Race and Recession
home page
arc.rg/rci
has key graph-ics rom the report and a powerul video othe report’s message. The video decries thelong-term inequities that ed economic crisisand outlines structural solutions. Executivesummary, ull report and more inormationcan be ound at
arc.rg/rci
.
ARC’s WebsITe oveRhAul Is Done!
The new arc.org site eatures anattractive homepage, clear ocus on current stories and activities you canget involved in, neatly organized content areas so you can nd resourcesmore easily and many other upgrades. This is just the start o a series oplanned improvements. Send your suggestions to
wtaff@arc.rg
.
 
ARc ReleAses cOming sOOn:
 
ARC is currently developing a
Racia eqityTkit fr t Gr ecy
to inject ARC’score values into the quest or green jobs,good jobs that will truly provide long-termbenets and substantive change to com-munities o color. The toolkit will be releasedin phases starting in July with an equityramework, ollowed by honest case studieso green jobs creation and training programs,and an online model policy bank. This proj-ect is possible thanks to the support o theSurdna and Mitchell Kapor Foundations.ARC also has a signicant role in the
Caifria edwt’
project to changepolicies aecting boys and men o color.ARC will analyze existing media raming othe challenges these populations ace in ahost o key issue areas including education,health, crime/violence and unemployment.Ater determining which current rames cre-ate opportunities or new policies and whichare detrimental, ARC will develop and testways to re-rame coverage o these debates.
T “Racig Acr brdr” ri
willinclude an international eld investigationilluminating the devastating intersectiono criminal justice, immigration and wel-are policies that tear apart thousands oamilies every year. The compound eectso these laws have institutionalized the pun-ishment o amilies and the abandonmento children. In partnership with grassrootsorganizations—including Families orFreedom—ARC will explore the ways thatthese three institutions collide and willthen produce a policy platorm highlightingopportunities to make change at local, stateand ederal levels. Look or our in-depthcoverage o this issue in
ColorLines 
maga-zine,
RacWir.rg g
rom the eld andin
Crli.c
eatures and videos.This report is possible because o a generouscontribution rom the University o SouthernCaliornia Annenberg’s Institute or Justiceand Journalism, as well as donations rom
ColorLines 
readers and supporters.
The Applied ReseARch cenTeR childcARe RepoRT
Underprotected,UndersUpported:
April 2009
dmiiqu All,ph.d.VicalshaahKula
Lw-Im chil a rik
1
•
AppliedResearch Center
•
RaceandRecession2009
 
Race
and
Recession
Hw iquty Rggd th emy dHw t chg th Rul.
Applied ReseARch centeRar.orgMAy 2009
T may/J
ColorLines 
 is out
(Crli.c)
 eaturing a cover storyon homeless amiliesghting to stay together.
T “my Grat Rci” gri
at
RacWir.rg/rc-i
calls on all young people ocolor who are writers, artists andbloggers to blog on their stories:Where you at? How are you cop-ing with the recession?
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