October 31, 2011 | 8:00 AM | By

Digging into the Effects of D.C.’s Rising Housing Values

Housing values in the District are continuing to rise. As redevelopment spreads throughout the city, American Observer‘s Paul Abowd ponders who can afford to stay in D.C.


In the District, white households raked in a median income of $99,220, while black households made $37,430 and income amongst Hispanics hovered right above the city’s $60,798 median.

In “changing neighborhoods,” marked by rapid development and rising prices, the task of preserving affordable housing looms large.

“The question is how do you develop in a way that allows low-income communities to stay in place,” said Derek Hyra, the author of a forthcoming book on gentrification in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood. “Redevelopment has sought to move poverty out of the city.”

Read more at: wp11.americanobserver.net

October 28, 2011 | 12:00 PM | By

America’s Mixed-Status Familes

If you haven’t been following our sister blog Multi-American‘s series on mixed-immigration status families, start. Now. Readers submitted their stories to KPCC’s Public Insight Network, chronicling what life is like for families in which some members are American-born, some legalized immigrants and some undocumented immigrants.

The latest story in the series comes from Andrew Baron, who works with children for a Portland, Ore. nonprofit.


Many of my students have a lot of sad issues with their cultural identity, stemming from the kind of hateful things they hear all the time about them and their families. The undocumented population in Portland is pretty big, so there’s not as much fear or secrecy as there are kids growing up having to listen to their neighbors and the media speak about their parents as if they were sub-human. That causes lasting damage to kids, and it sucks.

Read more at: multiamerican.scpr.org

October 28, 2011 | 7:00 AM | By

‘We’re a Culture, Not a Costume’ Raises Halloween Debate (Poll)

Is it racist to dress up as a Mexican for Halloween? Yes, according to a group of Ohio University students who launched the “We’re a culture, not a costume” campaign now gaining national attention.

Sarah Williams, president of the Ohio student group STARS, said on CNN: “During Halloween, we see offensive costumes. We don’t like it, we don’t appreciate it… The best way to get rid of stereotypes and racism is to have a discussion and raise awareness, which is what we want to do with this campaign.”

Why is it problematic to dress up as a Mexican for Halloween? Jelani Cobb, African studies professor at Rutgers University, explains to CNN:

“To treat a character like Batman or Superman as a Halloween costume is one thing, but to treat an entire ethnicity as a costume is something else. It suggests that people conflate the actual broad diversity of a culture with caricatures and characters.

But not everyone agrees; negative comments flooded Melissa Sipin’s blog, which first reported about the campaign on Sunday before national media took note. Critics feel the campaign is a hyper-sensitive reaction to people who simply want to have fun on Halloween, a time to relax and check all the seriousness at the door. Sipin responds to such critics:

This poster campaign isn’t about being overly sensitive to costume choices, it’s about perpetuati­ng prejudices and negative stereotype­s through these choices. All we’re asking people is to stop perpetuating those prejudices and to realize that you’re crossing a line when you strap fake bombs to your chest to portray a Middle Eastern man or if you paint your face black.

What do you think of the question raised by the posters? Take our poll:

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Media, Halloween, Race
October 27, 2011 | 12:38 PM | By

Redskins and Race

Stephen Train / Flickr

Local black sports fans are more likely to support the Redskins than white fans, according to a new Washington Post poll. One explanation: black respondents said they were more interested in the NFL than white respondents. Still, the loyalty contrasts to the Redskins’ tumultuous history with race; the team was the last in the league to integrate.

While the Redskins has overcome its past of racial segregation, some argue the franchise is still racist and far from deserving support. At issue: the team’s name, which has been protested as a slur for decades. A group of Native American activists filed a lawsuit in 1992 to force the renaming of the team. The case almost made its way to the highest court in the land, but in 2009, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Meanwhile, some college teams have voluntarily changed their Native American mascots.

The Redskins team remains one of the most profitable in the league, so the name retains a lot of brand value. And the franchise has to appeal to the black community in order to do well financially; more than 1.4 million African Americans live in the D.C.-area, making up 26 percent of the region’s population. Offending Native Americans, who only make up 0.4 percent of the metro area’s population, will never be as big of a concern for the franchise; they can’t hurt the team’s pocket book enough.

FILED UNDER: Native Americans, Race, Redskins
October 27, 2011 | 10:38 AM | By

Should Welfare Applicants Have to Take Drug Tests?

Ward 8 blogger Congress Heights on the Rise asks whether drug testing should be a requirement for D.C. residents applying for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Florida tried to do this, but a federal judge has temporarily bared the state from continuing the practice.


Ultimately the requirement was overturned by a lawsuit by the ACLU as a “violation of privacy” but I wanted to poll readers. Is this a good idea? Is this something DC should consider? Is this discriminatory? Does this start us down a slippery slope we should avoid? Do we have bigger fish to fry? Because I think this is more complicated than a “yes” or “no” answer I am not including a poll. Please include your comments on this post.

Read more at: www.congressheightsontherise.com

October 27, 2011 | 8:55 AM | By

Are African Americans Part of Pat Buchanan’s America?

Earlier this week, we asked conservative commentator Pat Buchanan how he proposes eliminating D.C.’s economic racial disparities. Buchanan, who firmly believes diversity hurts America, suggested stopping immigration to combat high national black unemployment, and general national unemployment. “We’ve got to start putting our own people first,” he said.

The Root’s Nsenga Burton takes issue with Buchanan’s rhetoric:

“Our own people?” Since when did blacks become “our own people” to folks like Buchanan? Invoking the Willie Lynch strategy of dividing and conquering those who would benefit from coming together (African-Americans and immigrants) as opposed to functioning separately is foul. Buchanan and his cronies who try to pretend that they give a damn about black folks, need to stop the shenanigans. This is not a plantation lullaby — this is real-life. Pretending that immigrants are having a greater impact on black unemployment as opposed to the perpetuation of racist ideology that works in tandem with dominant power structures invested in the continued oppression of marginalized groups, is disingenuous… Pat Buchanan needs to go back to the drawing board because pretending that he thinks of black people as part of his version of America is downright insulting.

Buchanan, known for controversial remarks, has once again come under heat; black political advocacy group Color Of Change is petitioning MSNBC to fire Buchanan as an analyst for what they deem as his “white supremacist ideology.” He has said that blacks and whites in his hometown D.C. were more united under segregation than they are now. “America has been the best country on earth for black folks,” Buchanan wrote in 2008. “It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.”

FILED UNDER: Media, MSNBC, Pat Buchanan, Race, The Root
October 26, 2011 | 11:42 AM | By

Immigrants and D.C. Unemployment

Courtesy of Patrick Madden / WAMU 88.5

Esayas Ayele, right, getting hired by 7-Eleven representative Mark Crist at a city-sponsored One City, One Hire employment event.

D.C.’s unemployment is 11.1 percent, but it’s uneven. In some wards, it’s at 3 percent, while in others, it’s as high as 20 percent.

In response to D.C.’s unemployment divide, the District launched a campaign to boost hiring of the city’s residents. WAMU 88.5′s Patrick Madden reports from a city-sponsored hiring event for 7-Eleven on Monday, where the first hire was Esayas Ayele, a recent Ethiopian immigrant. Ayele told Mayor Vincent Gray, “I was a senior banker in my hometown with a degree in accounting. I am lucky, a very lucky guy.” As Madden reports, not everyone was happy as only 26 out of the 100 people there were hired:

Ayele feels lucky, but maybe not loved; nearby, Stephanie Taylor watches his hiring disapprovingly. She was turned down for one of the openings.

“I think this was a waste of time,” says Taylor. “If you just want to hire foreigners, you know, why would you have a jobs fair?”

Taylor’s frustration that immigrants get jobs over native born D.C. residents is nothing new; a similar sentiment is being echoed by those critical of Gray’s recent signing of an executive order that prevents police officers from questioning the immigration status of arrested individuals. Some are even going so far as to say that immigration should be curtailed or stopped until unemployment is down.

FILED UNDER: Immigration, Unemployment
October 26, 2011 | 9:57 AM | By

D.C. Home Prices Continue to Rise

Mr. T in DC / Flickr

For sale signs in Columbia Heights.

The D.C. area is only one of two metro regions in the country that saw housing prices increase during the past year. That’s according to new ratings by the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which shows D.C.’s prices increased by 0.3 percent from August 2010 to August 2011. Detroit is the only other city that had rising housing prices.

What’s so special about D.C. and Detroit? Government money, apparently; the auto bailout helped bolster Detroit’s economy, where housing prices rose by 2.7 percent after a steep drop in 2009. And government jobs keep the D.C. area’s job market more robust than elsewhere in the nation.

Moderate income D.C. homeowners who have stuck it out for years in the District benefit from rising prices, as long as they want to sell their homes. They can make a pretty penny by selling their now-expensive properties to wealthier newcomers. But as this continues, some neighborhoods, such as Logan Circle, could see almost all of their income diversity disappear. And even though African Americans make up the largest racial group in the District, whites own more homes.

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Gentrification, Housing
October 26, 2011 | 8:00 AM | By

Occupy DC Protestors and McPherson Square’s Homeless

Occupy DC protestors have set up camp in McPherson Square, which is also where some of the city’s homeless spend their days and nights. The Washington Post‘s Tim Craig speaks with a number of homeless individuals, many of whom welcome the protestors because they are “raising awareness while boosting their quality of life by bringing a sense of security and community to an otherwise cruel existence.”

Not all of the homeless downtown are embracing the protesters with the same vigor. Some view the demonstrators — who sleep in designer tents and use a solar generator to power their computers and smart phones — as naive. Others are certain that the movement will fizzle in a few weeks when cold weather sets in.

“Their hearts are in the right place, but they are going up against big dogs and they are the chihuahua,” said Frosty Bibbee, 57, who has been homeless since July 1 when he quit his job with a carnival.

Robert Brown, 51, who said he’s been homeless for six months, questioned why the park service has decided not to enforce the ban on camping in downtown parks.

“If we had set up tents, the police would be here in a second, and they just come and get to do what they want,” Brown said.

Read more at: www.washingtonpost.com

October 25, 2011 | 1:25 PM | By

Pat Buchanan on How to Lower Black Unemployment

Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images

Political commentator and former presidential adviser Pat Buchanan.

Conservative political commentator Pat Buchanan discussed his views on how diversity harms America this morning on WAMU 88.5′s “The Diane Rehm Show.” After the show we caught up with Buchanan, who is a native Washingtonian, and asked how he proposes addressing D.C.’s wealth disparities that break down along racial lines.

Buchanan said that D.C. is one of the wealthiest places in America, in part because of federal government jobs. “D.C. has problems, but I don’t think D.C., with its unemployment rate and things like that, is hurting as bad as some of the other cities and states around the country,” he said.

D.C.’s unemployment rate is 11.1 percent, which is higher than the national rate of 9.1 percent, but still lower than some of the hardest-hit states, such as Nevada. The District is also home to extreme poverty. Some nearly all-black wards of the city face Depression-era unemployment levels. Buchanan suggested a solution to the disproportionately high national unemployment rate among African Americans, now at 16 percent:

“One thing I would do is stop immigration into the country until all unemployment is down to 6 percent,” he said. “We’ve got to start putting our own people first.”

The notion that immigrants take jobs from out-of-work African Americans is the subject of recent debates in D.C. where 13 percent of the population is foreign born. Critics have raised the issue in response to Mayor Vincent Gray’s signing last week of an executive order that prevents police officers from inquiring about the immigration status of those arrested. Leo Alexander, 2010 mayoral candidate, told the Washington Examiner that Gray was “blowing the opportunity to make sure undereducated populations have jobs.”

Overall, Buchanan said “a lot of these things demand national solutions rather than local ones.”

FILED UNDER: Media, Black Unemployment, Diane Rehm, Immigration, Pat Buchanan, Race and Class