A fundamental question loomed over the proceedings of last week's National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) annual conference: In this era of
efforts to eliminate affirmative action, is racial integration still the most important goal of the civil rights organization? Indeed, what is the meaning of integration in the context of a declining black
population and steadily rising numbers of Latinos and Asians? Myrlie Evers-Williams, the chair of the NAACP, reportedly ad-libbed over prepared comments in her opening statement that contended that the NAACP
should recommit itself to school integration. Her actions reflect a growing sentiment in black communities that racial integration may not be a worthy or desirable goal.The meaning of racial integration is
certainly being challenged by changing demographics. Currently, the U.S. population is 73.6% white, 12% black, 10.2 Latino, and 3.3% Asian. However, according to Census Bureau projections the U.S. will be
52.8% white, 24.5% Latino, 13.6% black and 8.2% Asian. African Americans will be displaced by Latinos as the largest minority group if Latino and black birth rates remain unchanged.
Yet, despite these numbers,
too many political leaders are in denial, still addressing issues of "race" from a strictly black-white perspective. President Clinton's seven-person advisory panel on race seems equally locked into such a limited
analysis of the nation's racial difficulties, though panel member Angela Oh stressed last week that multiculturalism is where the country is headed, "whether we like it or not." Demographic shifts in major
American cities bear out her point: Los Angeles' Latino and Asian populations are projected to grow from a current 43.5% and 11.4%, respectively, to 69.1% and 10.9%, while both white and black populations are
expected to decrease from 35.1% and 9.9%, respectively, to 13.8% and 6%. Cities like Washington, Houston and Miami are experiencing similar population changes as more Latinos and other immigrant groups put down
groups, while in Chicago the increase in Latino population matches the decrease in whites.
In these cities, African Americans will reluctantly - and grudgingly - give up their current political leverage and positions
as their numbers dwindle relative to other racial groups. Black political power and influence in U.S. cities must be re-conceptualized in the concept of an America that is far more diverse than simply white and
black people. What then does racial integration mean in the context of an American population in flux?
Integration was once considered a truly radical idea. Civil rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr., Robert Moses, Ella Baker and Philip Randolph all believed it possible to create a truly interracial democracy, a truly integrated society. Not a homogenized society, as critics of integration like to say, but
a society that lays down the burden of race and treats all people as human beings, without regard to the color of their skin. Today, however, that vision is tattered and torn, viewed by many black Americans as
weak and undesirable. For example, August Wilson, one of America's most celebrated playwrights and a black man, told a Princeton University audience last year that black playwrights need to create works
exclusively for black audiences and denounced the casting of black actors in "white" plays. Another example came from a suburban Chicago neighborhood: after middle-class black families "tipped" the racial
balance, white homeowners were fleeing "integration" as fast as they could make a down payment on a new house. The reasons they gave for leaving were embarrassingly similar to those heard in the 1960's - fear of
crime, downward spiraling schools and decreasing property value. The local sheriff, the high school principal and local real estate businesses all said that such reasons were unfounded.
The shifts in the racial
mix of U.S. cities, with the percentage of African Americans falling, and growing black skepticism toward the value of integration undercut traditional notions of "integration" and "assimilation." In the 60's,
"integration" meant inclusion in an United States largely defined by European Americans. Today, integration must mean inclusion, involvement and participation in a nation that has evolved far beyond the
black-white paradigm.
While it is not the sole responsibility of black people to heal America's racial dilemmas, they will have to make adjustments to accommodate the new urban demographics. Black Americans will
have to participate in reviving political coalitions - and, when necessary, help form new ones - to ensure that their issues and interests remain on the nation's political agenda. Black political leaders will need
to represent not just a black political agenda, but a fresh, progressive brand of politics that is all-encompassing and places "identity interests" within the context of the overall civic good. For any of this to
happen, more African Americans must stand up and reject those voices of bias and bigotry who describe Spanish-speaking or Asian immigrants as interlopers in "their" communities.
This will not come easily. Many
African-Americans fearful of falling off the political radar screen are leaning forward, if not embracing, separatism as a way to protect and build upon African American gains. Dr. King and other civil rights
leaders early recognized the folly of this approach, because "all humanity is tied together in a single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality." Equally important, after more than 300
years of the American experience, black people can stand and claim, without reservation, their "Americanness." Separatism agues the unthinkable - that black people should turn their backs to the contributions they
have made to the American nation.
The attraction of separatism, heard in the background of the current school-integration debate within the NAACP, will only diminish when people are able to see that their common
interests flow form sharing power, space and resources. Further balkanization is not a solution, no matter how ineffective our current policies are. Leadership must assert that the ghettoization of any
people - white, black, or brown - does not contribute to the social health of the nation.
As the most racially and ethnically diverse city in the nation, Los Angeles can show the way. It is the place
where new models of racial rapprochement
will most likely be crafted. This may be Los Angeles' responsibility to the rest of the country, since the future of other cities is present-day L.A. Schools will have a special role to play in the construction of these models. To be sure, the push for greater economic opportunity and tougher enforcement of anti-discrimination laws in housing must continue. But it is the schools that must bear the greatest burden in preparing for the realities of an incredibly complex and racially diverse society. What's needed is a multiracial vision, forged at the grassroots level, wedded to a political agenda of social change that makes all people feel as if they are a stakeholder in their communities.
Politicians have a role in all this. L.A.'s changing face has already sparked racialized turf battles. As Latinos and Asians grow in political strength and influence, sometimes at the expense of blacks,
prospects for uglier and more divisive fights are ever greater. To avoid such a destructive outcome, politicians must recognize that the people they represent are of many different ethnicities who want a better
education for their children, safer streets and good jobs. Realizing these goals means building alliances that subordinate racial or ethnic agendas for the common good.
Integration as a strategy to end white
supremacy in the economic, political and social life of the nation is no longer critical to efforts aimed at making sense of the largely urbanized and increasingly multiracial realities of the United States. The
NAACP's internal debate over integration has raised tough questions and forced us to begin looking with clear eyes at what works and what doesn't.
But what comes next? While civil rights forces may be at a
crossroads, maybe America stands there, too. The old paradigms need to be challenged. Our old ideas about "race" need remaking. Now is a chance for exciting breakthroughs - if we are bold enough to
reach for the ring.
