Ryan Colameco

Ryan Colameco

Sources:

Census 2006-2010 American Community Survey: DP05 – Demographic and Housing Estimates

Census 2006-2010 American Community Survey: S1701 – Poverty Status in the Last 12 Months

I examined Census data from my assigned city, Lowell, Massachusetts, and my hometown, Sandwich, Massachusetts and found some very interesting patterns. I compared the poverty levels and mean household income of certain races in both towns to the state and country averages. I chose to examine Whites, Asians, and Latinos for this assignment. I am from Sandwich, which is very white upper-middle class, and since moving to Boston, I’ve noticed a huge Asian and Latino community. I was interested in how their poverty levels and income compared to the typical white man like me and the differences were surprising. I have never been to Lowell but based on the data I found, it seems very different from Sandwich and significantly more poor than the rest of the state.

In the US, the average household earns about $71,000 each year. Massachusetts is one of the most expensive states in the country and the average household income is higher at about $86,000 a year. In Lowell the average annual income is just $60,000 and 17.2% of the town is considered to be in poverty. This is quite different from Sandwich, where the mean household income is $88,000 and less than 2% are below the poverty line. Lowell citizens seem to be earning much less and have more documented people in poverty than the rest of the state.

I was very surprised to learn that only 9% of the population in Massachusetts is Hispanic or Latino and only 5% is Asian. Living in the city, I see people of different races every day but 77% of the state is White according to the Census. I suppose that most towns in Massachusetts are suburbs like my hometown and probably have enormous White populations. Lowell is more of a city and the Census data reflects what poverty levels look like in an urban setting. Almost 30% of the Latino population in Massachusetts is in poverty. I almost laughed when comparing that to Sandwich, where there are NO documented Asians or Latinos below the poverty line. In Lowell, however, Latinos are the smallest portion of the city but have the highest levels of poverty.

Nationally, there is no significant difference in the poverty levels of Whites and Asians.  However, almost ¼ of all Latinos in the US are living in poverty. Since the number of Latinos living in the suburbs is so small, cities like Boston and Lowell are more accurate representations of their race. Latinos are not far behind Blacks with the achievement gap in school and work. They earn less and are more likely to be in poverty. To help these minorities, we should implement better English education for students who are foreign born. Community out-reach programs that offer health education and employment services are also very effective.

Lowell has shown several efforts to improve its poverty level. Looking at the town website (http://www.lowellma.gov/community) gave me the impression that Lowell has several outlets available to foreign born citizens, single mothers, disabled veterans, and those living in poverty. There are easy-to-navigate links for shelters, food pantries, and adult education centers as well as child care services and city beautification projects. Unless one doesn’t have access to the internet, it is not hard to find the programs. These services are designed to give citizens a sense of belonging and meaning within their community and that is what will improve the poverty level of all races.

Ryan Colameco

February 28, 2012

Race and Ethnic Relations

                                                                                                White Privilege

                 White privilege is something that is among us every day but depending on whom you ask it can be more noticeable for some than others. While interviewing my brother and roommate who are both white males, white privilege did not seem to be as existent as it is for my girlfriend, who is half Irish and half Cuban.  One explanation for why the two white males do not notice the privileges is because having white privilege can be underappreciated and taken for granted when the person is white. My girlfriend can notice white privilege because her Latino background made it more noticeable and present in her life.

                The two males had a lot in common; both are white Irish males and both went to the same high school. The differences between the males were the ages, one being two years older. The female was also from the same town, but attended a catholic school instead. The female and the younger male also worked together at the same restaurant for a few years. These similarities played a part in some of the responses that were given when asked about white privilege.

                When interviewing my brother, the younger male, he had not heard of white privilege. I explained to him that white privilege is any unearned advantages that come along with being white. After giving some examples of white privilege; like not having any trouble finding your groceries or never having to speak for people of your own race, his reaction was a surprised one. Given his race and culture these privileges were just a way of life for him, he never considered the advantages of our race. After realizing what sort of everyday issues people of different ethnicities go through while living in America, my brother then thought that white privilege should be addressed more, saying that; “America is the land of opportunity and no one should have advantages.”

                Like my brother, my roommate lived in the same town where the majority was white, upper-middle class families. It was not until after leaving our hometown that he noticed white privilege. Now living in an urban neighborhood, my roommate has recognized some of the different things that are available for different types of people. For example, all of the salons and barber shops that are available near our apartment are quite different compared to the two barber shops that everyone went to from our hometown. Given our town’s demographics, there was never a historical need to have a diverse set of resources available and the two barbershops are enough. In one block on Dorchester Avenue, there are Asian, Black, and Latino salons available to people of those races.

These social and institutional structures make the vision of white privilege even more blurry for white people. When the issue cannot be seen, it cannot be addressed. That’s what my girlfriend suggested in my third interview. As mentioned before, her Latina background allowed her to notice different types of treatment people would give her race. For example, this summer when she was working as a waitress, a customer asked if she spoke English without speaking a word to her before. I asked her whether she thought this situation would have occurred if her skin was lighter, and she answered most likely not. Knowing that my brother and girlfriend worked at the same restaurant, I asked them both if the positions were at all structured by race. They both mentioned that minorities were mostly in the kitchen instead of being servers, but both adding that they did not think the restaurant was at all prejudice. Some of her suggestions for getting rid of white privilege were to integrate different ethnicities early on in schools so the barriers between races can never be formed.  Starting at a young age is the best way to erase white privilege because having diversity in the adolescent stage of life can bring on a whole new outlook on life itself. Slowly getting rid of communities with one dominant race is a long process and maybe impossible because history has shown that ethnicities stay together.

The social and institutional structures are broken down into five categories; political, economic, historical, social, and legal. These categories influence people’s views on white privilege from all different races. With my brother being in a Republican-based, upper-middle class, white community in Massachusetts, there was barely any diversity given to him to experience different ways of life. Growing up with the same institutional structures as my brother, my roommate didn’t experience any other way of living until he left. Reflecting on the three interviews, I’ve concluded that diversity needs to be involved more in the lives of adolescents of all races because having knowledge of the different types of cultures and ethnicities can slowly break down barriers and eliminate white privilege for good.

Ryan Colameco

Race and Ethnic Relations

February 15, 2012

                                                What Happened to the White-American NBA Basketball Player?

                The famous “white men can’t jump” stereotype is most often played off as a joke, but could that stereotype have a factor on why the National Basketball Association (NBA) has the lowest percentage of white players ever recorded in its history? According to ESPN’s “Outside the Lines”, African American players make up almost three quarters of the league, causing some to argue that maybe white players are just not as good as black players. In the same “Outside the Lines” report, former Notre Dame point guard Kyle Mcalarney thinks the reason why his dream of making it to the NBA has not happened yet is because he is white. Mcalarney says in the report: “I think if you call someone up who had never seen me play and they looked at my stat sheet and it said I was point guard and everything, I think they’d sign me, if they didn’t know my color.”Some accuse the NBA of being racist, while others say that the stereotype belongs to a group of other ways in which white American basketball players have been dominated and oppressed the past decade.

                However, the argument that the NBA is racist does have some validity. For example, the last white player to make an NBA all-star team was center Brad Miller in 2004, and the last to start one was John Stockton in 1997 (Outside the Lines). College level basketball has also seen its percentage of white players shrink, but not nearly as noticeably as the NBA. The NCAA displayed five white players at the start of the National Championship game in 2010, the most since 1998 when six white players started. It is rare to see five white players on the court at one time in the NBA, never mind starting a game. Again according to “Outside the Lines”, between the 2005 and 2009 draft, there were 195 African American players selected; 80 international players and 25 white players. Former NBA all-star Mark Price suggests that the change in the shot clock (the amount of time a team gets to shoot on offense) going from  35 to 24 seconds, and thus making the game much faster, demands more athletic, quicker and explosive players. He says that the white American basketball player has to overcome that obstacle by meeting the sport’s demands. Price’s last statement answers it all, white American players just need to overcome the stigmas that they receive from society.

                Another stereotype that is attached to the white American basketball player is that white players can’t defend. This stereotype supports and maintains the form of oppression that white players endure. From 1997-2009, a dozen All-Defensive teams have been picked in the NBA, a total of 123 players with only one of them being a white American. Also according Wayne Embry, an NBA executive, when the league implemented the zone defense in 2001, one reason in doing it, was to address the perception that many white American players are poor defenders. In response to Embry’s suggestion, NBA Executive Vice President, Stu Jackson said “…never once heard race mentioned in discussions about the zone defense…the objective is to find players with game regardless of what country they come from or what race.”Whether or not this was true does not make the stereotype go away, white American players still must just deal with them.

                Adversity comes in many ways; one of those ways that any type of player must overcome, is verbal adversity, in most cases there will always be someone telling you that “you can’t”. In an article done by Jason King of Yahoo Sports, Duke’s Jon Scheyer reflects on a game where the opposing coach was yelling to his players “get the white kid!” The most interesting part of this whole topic is that basketball is one of the few places where a white person has the most chance to be ridiculed for their skin compared to the numerous amounts of places where being white helps you.

                In a book titled “Social Issues in Sport” by Ronald Woods, Woods suggests that African Americans simply dominate sports that require more agility and explosiveness. He explains that basketball and football are the two sports that especially require those attributes, and in effect demand from the black player. They usually end up playing the most grueling positions, like forward in basketball, and running back and wide receiver in the NFL. While the white American dominates sports like tennis, golf, hockey, and soccer perhaps the real reason why the white American is fading from the NBA is because of the league expanding more and attracting more European players.

References

“Outside the Lines” ESPN. June 2010.

Outside the Lines

Jason King. “Duke, Butler defy racial stereotypes”, Yahoo! Sports. April 5, 2010.

Ronald B. Woods. “Social Issues in Sport” second edition. Human Kinetics; Champaign, IL. 2010.

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