Smith: Dealing with racial inequality

Dr. Ken Chilton’s “Unfinished Agenda” report was the topic of this paper’s Sept. 13 front page (“A City Apart” by Joan Garrett McClane). It was a well-written, informative yet disturbing article. With solidly supporting statistics, the report clearly explains the ever-growing economic disparity of Chattanoogans along racial lines. Even the money brought into the inner city by supplanting downtrodden neighborhoods with upscale shops and residences is a problem because many black communities have “been forcibly removed or displaced by gentrification.” The report concludes that while there has been much economic and social progress in downtown Chattanooga and the surrounding area, “blacks were mostly left out.”

Chilton states that his goal in producing the comprehensive report is “to carve out a community consensus that would drive proactive strategies instead of reactive responses to tragedies.” Tragedies – like the exploding frustrations within black communities in Ferguson, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore.

I hope Chilton’s goal is successful, but to succeed, our community leaders should not follow the patterns of liberal politicians and sociologists since the civil rights accomplishments of the early 1960s. Thanks to the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, black Americans gained liberty; however, as Dr. Chilton’s report clearly shows, they have not gained equality. A major reason for the lack of progress are failed programs championed by civic leaders in the black community who are beholden to political leaders who, in turn, superficially address minority needs to ensure they get what they really want – minority votes.

Consider the “Black Lives Matter” movement that gained widespread attention this summer. Jason Riley, a nationally respected black journalist, writing last week in the Wall Street Journal, said, “The great lie of the summer has been the Black Lives Matter movement. It was founded on one falsehood – that a Ferguson, Mo., police officer shot a black suspect who was trying to surrender The Black Lives Matter crowd has become an appendage of the civil rights industry, which uses the black underclass to push an agenda that invariably leaves the supposed beneficiaries worse off.”

In his recent book “Please Don’t Help Us: How Liberals Make it Harder for Blacks to Succeed,” Riley applies the same truth to other programs pertinent to poor communities, both black and white. For instance, minimum wage laws certainly increase the incomes of those who have jobs, but many more people are forced off the payrolls as businesses cut staffs, use automation to replace workers and change full-time positions with benefits to part-time without benefits.

Ironically, the front-page article in our Sunday paper concluded with the thoughts of local NAACP President Elenora Woods.

Ms. Woods portends to speak with authority for the black community in Chattanooga, but given the failed policies of her organization, I suspect many would disagree. Perhaps black spiritual leaders, educators, social workers and business leaders can articulate the problems better without advancing a political agenda. It would be enlightening to know what the community really thinks, and that is what our civic leaders must determine before developing real solutions to the serious problems raised in Dr. Chilton’s “Unfinished Agenda.”

Roger Smith, a local author, is a frequent contributor to the Times Free Press.