When the tradmed speaks of progress or economic recovery the frame of reference is too often on Wall Street returns or GDP. As valuable as such data might be, they overlook that human well being is multi-faceted and that measurements should include quality and richness of life, equal opportunity, adequate nutrition, access to education and healthcare, and a host of other factors. The focus on Wall Street and GDP also commits the fallacy of division: what is true of the whole may not be true of the whole's component parts- the majority of Americans can experience loss of wages and benefits, as well as a deterioration in the overall quality of life, even while the stock market roars and GDP soars.
Instead of asking about 'recovery' or GDP or Wall Street returns, it would be better to ask: How are people doing?
The 2009 human development index was recently released. Mississippi was at the bottom, and the bottom is quite low.
Mississippians "live today as the average American lived more than fifteen years when it comes to life expectancy, educational opportunities, and income." Mississippi whites are doing less well than whites in other states, and Mississippi blacks are doing less well than Mississippi whites.
For example, the infant death rate for nonwhite Mississippians is 15 per 1,000 live births; the infant death rate in Libya and Thailand is 18. For Mississippi whites the infant death rate is 6.6, and overall the US is at 6.9.
The numbers do not lie. The HDI for Mississippi shows that blacks are constrained by lack of health care, educational opportunities, personal earnings, and a history of unequal treatment. Poor and working class whites are also quite constrained. Of course, the HDI is filled with facts, numbers, and data. A more personal look, and a very moving short documentary film, that shows the reality of living in Mississippi has been created by Ben Guest, director of the Mississippi Teacher Corps.
Ten Dollars an Hour from Ben Guest on Vimeo.
I thank Mr. Guest for giving me permission to link to his film. In a conversation with Mr. Guest, he said that something his film does not make clear is that there are many working poor whites who would cook at the fraternity, and also many middle class blacks who could perform the managerial tasks, but "the racial caste system that is alive and well in Mississippi" prevents any role reversals: the blacks shall serve and the (Ole Miss) whites shall be served. As the cook in the film says, "same old same old."
As part of the Mississippi Teacher Corps, I teach in an all black public school. Nearly 100% of the students are on free or reduced lunch. The chemistry department lacks equipment or chemicals. The history department does not have enough textbooks. The school is understaffed. Come August, hires will be made "off the street" for math, English, SPED, and other positions. And on the other side of town, the private segregationist school will cater to the local whites. The community itself is 65% black and 35% white.
Segregation never ended; rather, it just changed its name and its modus operandi.
Next year, if the EFCA passes, I will try to unionize the teachers at my school, because unions matter:
This assessment of the impact of unions has not changed in the second edition. What was said ten years ago is true today. I have updated the numbers, but they still show that unions matter. Other things being equal (that is taking two groups of workers alike with respect to experience, education, region of country, industry, occupation, and marital status), union workers in 2007 earned $1.50 an hour more than nonunion workers, a wage premium of 14.1 percent. This wage premium was highest for black and Hispanic workers, meaning that unionization reduces racial wage inequality. The union premium was even greater for benefits: 28.2 percent for health insurance, 53.9 percent for pensions, 26.6 percent for vacations, and 14.3 percent for holidays. These union advantages have diminished over the past decade because union density (the share of employed wage workers in unions) has fallen. This decline has also compromised both the union impact on inequality and nonunion wages and benefits.1 There have been many reasons for the decline in union membership and density—and these are discussed at length in the new edition of Why Unions Matter. However, we can say here that falling density means a tremendous loss for the working class: lost wages and benefits for all workers, still less response by the government to the needs of workers, and a smaller counterweight to the forces that have given rise to greater inequality.
The teaching staff at my school is about 60/40 white/black. Economic and racial solidarity must go hand in hand, and people must begin to see that poor and working class whites and blacks have more in common with one another than they might otherwise recognize.
What can we do today that will yield better health, education, and income in ten years?
One simple answer: join a union.