The State of Black Madison 2008: Before the Tipping Point
A painful reminder
A painful reminder
In Madison, we are football fields apart,” said Scott Gray, president/ceo of the Urban League. “Consider these facts. Madison was voted as one of the safest
places to live. But African Americans are being incarcerated 13 times more than the community. Madison has secured a place as having one of the highest
incarceration rates in the country. Madison was voted one of the smartest cities to live, yet our drop-out rate for African Americans is 40 percent. Our African
American eighth graders are testing at only 60 percent proficiency in reading and 45 percent in math compared to 85 percent and 75 percent, respectively,
for White students. Finally, not even 30 percent of our graduates have aspirations to go to college. Madison was voted one of the greatest cities in which to
live. The American Dream of home ownership has happened for White families in Madison. Six out of 10 own their own homes. Yet African Americans
haven’t seen the Dream come true with only two out of 10 African American families owning their own homes. This is one of the lowest homeownership rates
in the country.”
“Madison has some of the best health care facilities in the country, yet 26 percent of Blacks are shut out because they have no health insurance compared
to 9 percent of the entire community not having health insurance,” Gray continued. “Madison was voted for having a great quality of life. However, 37
percent of Blacks live in poverty compared to 11 percent of the community as a whole. Madison has nursed and grown numerous businesses that include
Promega, American Family, Epic Systems and even Rocky Rococcos, yet African American own less than one percent of all businesses here in Dane
County. We have some serious issues that we have to address before Madison tips into the wrong direction.”
Dr. John Odom, president of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute emphasized that there is a structure in place to deal with these issues in many public
institutions, but they have grown ineffective. “Every public organization has its own programs for equality of education, for housing, for homeownership, for
civil rights, for criminal justice,” Odom said. “So some part of their own policies is not being implemented. Part of our deal is to collaborate with them to
make sure the people do what they are supposed to do. Santa Anna said that a people who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it. Part of our
problem related to your second question is that we have a short memory in Madison. 30-40 years ago, people were coming here from all over the world to
look at our civil rights programming, to look at our programs in equity, fairness and justice. Somehow, we have lost our own sense of history and we stopped
moving forward on some of those issues.”
What makes this effort different, in the eyes of Ken Black, president of 100 Black Men of Madison, is that a strong coalition has been forged that is
determined to get things done. “We have so many separate groups within this town that you never get any kind of a synergetic effect where we can bring all
of our energy together to solve the problems we’ve identified,” Black said. “That’s what we are doing here. We will do what all people do when they are trying
to collaboratively do things, bring people together so that they can solve problems. We will reach out. We aren’t going to just sit back and wait for key
leadership to come to our organization and figure out how we’re going to solve this problem. We’re going to reach out into the community and try to
encourage everyone to get involved to solve the problem.”
Dr. Richard Harris, head of the Genesis Development Corporation, has lived in Madison for over 60 years and has seen efforts come and go, yet he has faith
in this new effort. “I don’t think I have ever seen a group like this put together,” Harris exclaimed. “The Urban League and other groups have individually done
things and things have kind of fallen through. Rarely have you seen a coalition of people that generally reflect the concerns of the Black community as it
relates to injustice.”
Time and the continuity of action of the Coalition will tell whether it’s just another Groundhog Day or the beginning of a new day in Madison.
places to live. But African Americans are being incarcerated 13 times more than the community. Madison has secured a place as having one of the highest
incarceration rates in the country. Madison was voted one of the smartest cities to live, yet our drop-out rate for African Americans is 40 percent. Our African
American eighth graders are testing at only 60 percent proficiency in reading and 45 percent in math compared to 85 percent and 75 percent, respectively,
for White students. Finally, not even 30 percent of our graduates have aspirations to go to college. Madison was voted one of the greatest cities in which to
live. The American Dream of home ownership has happened for White families in Madison. Six out of 10 own their own homes. Yet African Americans
haven’t seen the Dream come true with only two out of 10 African American families owning their own homes. This is one of the lowest homeownership rates
in the country.”
“Madison has some of the best health care facilities in the country, yet 26 percent of Blacks are shut out because they have no health insurance compared
to 9 percent of the entire community not having health insurance,” Gray continued. “Madison was voted for having a great quality of life. However, 37
percent of Blacks live in poverty compared to 11 percent of the community as a whole. Madison has nursed and grown numerous businesses that include
Promega, American Family, Epic Systems and even Rocky Rococcos, yet African American own less than one percent of all businesses here in Dane
County. We have some serious issues that we have to address before Madison tips into the wrong direction.”
Dr. John Odom, president of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute emphasized that there is a structure in place to deal with these issues in many public
institutions, but they have grown ineffective. “Every public organization has its own programs for equality of education, for housing, for homeownership, for
civil rights, for criminal justice,” Odom said. “So some part of their own policies is not being implemented. Part of our deal is to collaborate with them to
make sure the people do what they are supposed to do. Santa Anna said that a people who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it. Part of our
problem related to your second question is that we have a short memory in Madison. 30-40 years ago, people were coming here from all over the world to
look at our civil rights programming, to look at our programs in equity, fairness and justice. Somehow, we have lost our own sense of history and we stopped
moving forward on some of those issues.”
What makes this effort different, in the eyes of Ken Black, president of 100 Black Men of Madison, is that a strong coalition has been forged that is
determined to get things done. “We have so many separate groups within this town that you never get any kind of a synergetic effect where we can bring all
of our energy together to solve the problems we’ve identified,” Black said. “That’s what we are doing here. We will do what all people do when they are trying
to collaboratively do things, bring people together so that they can solve problems. We will reach out. We aren’t going to just sit back and wait for key
leadership to come to our organization and figure out how we’re going to solve this problem. We’re going to reach out into the community and try to
encourage everyone to get involved to solve the problem.”
Dr. Richard Harris, head of the Genesis Development Corporation, has lived in Madison for over 60 years and has seen efforts come and go, yet he has faith
in this new effort. “I don’t think I have ever seen a group like this put together,” Harris exclaimed. “The Urban League and other groups have individually done
things and things have kind of fallen through. Rarely have you seen a coalition of people that generally reflect the concerns of the Black community as it
relates to injustice.”
Time and the continuity of action of the Coalition will tell whether it’s just another Groundhog Day or the beginning of a new day in Madison.
| Ken Black (l-r), Dr. Richard Harris, Scott Gray, Ray Allen and Dr. John Odom addressed the issues facing Black Madison at a press conference at the Genesis Development Center |
By Jonathan Gramling
It seems like the feature film “Groundhog Day,” when actor Bill Murray kept waking up to the same
old day until he got it right. Many reports have been issued about the economic, health,
educational and social ills that afflict Madison’s African American community. Then bursts of
concern are echoed throughout the city and a flurry of activity ensues to meet the needs of the
African American community head on. And then it seems everyone goes to sleep and we wake
up to the same nightmare over and over again.
In 2007, the heads of six African American institutions came together — headed up by the Urban
League of Greater Madison — determined to break out of that mode by laying out the ills that
plague the African American community and then laying out a strategy to do something about it.
On April 30, the State of Black Madison Coalition released “Before the Tipping Point,” a
reiteration of the problems coupled with stories of individuals facing those problems and an
outline of the strategies that needed to be put in place to combat them. What the report outlined
was a tale of two Madisons, one White and one Black.
It seems like the feature film “Groundhog Day,” when actor Bill Murray kept waking up to the same
old day until he got it right. Many reports have been issued about the economic, health,
educational and social ills that afflict Madison’s African American community. Then bursts of
concern are echoed throughout the city and a flurry of activity ensues to meet the needs of the
African American community head on. And then it seems everyone goes to sleep and we wake
up to the same nightmare over and over again.
In 2007, the heads of six African American institutions came together — headed up by the Urban
League of Greater Madison — determined to break out of that mode by laying out the ills that
plague the African American community and then laying out a strategy to do something about it.
On April 30, the State of Black Madison Coalition released “Before the Tipping Point,” a
reiteration of the problems coupled with stories of individuals facing those problems and an
outline of the strategies that needed to be put in place to combat them. What the report outlined
was a tale of two Madisons, one White and one Black.