Research on Instistutional RACISM
Table of contents:
Tentative source format
William Shockley
East Of Palo Alto’s Eden: Race And The Formation Of Silicon Valley
The thesis of the article and highlight all the major statistical facts: East Of Palo Alto’s Eden: Race And The Formation Of Silicon Valley
Kim-Mai Cutler
Tech Crunch
The article discusses the impact of the tech industry on East Palo Alto, a historically black and Latino community in Silicon Valley. It highlights the tension between the economic growth brought by the industry and the resulting gentrification, displacement of long-time residents, and segregation of communities. The article argues that Silicon Valley suburbs, including Palo Alto, Atherton, Menlo Park, and Los Altos, have failed to address the impact of their land-use choices on surrounding communities, resulting in residential segregation that has been deeply corrosive to American society. The article also points out the lack of diversity in the tech industry, and how this issue is linked to the historical segregation and gentrification of communities in Silicon Valley. The article includes various statistical facts and figures, such as home prices in the area doubling since 2012, and the low percentages of black and Latino employees in major tech companies like Google and Facebook.Median home price in East Palo Alto is $534,000, compared to $2.1 million in Palo Alto, $4.6 million in Atherton, $1.6 million in Menlo Park, and $1.1 million in Mountain View.
2,200 of the 6,600 single-family homes in East Palo Alto went into foreclosure during the mid-2000s housing boom.
Real estate developer David Taran bought up more than 70 parcels in East Palo Alto containing about 1,800 mostly rent-controlled units. Equity Residential later acquired the properties from Taran and has been sending roughly 300 notices a month to tenants to pay rent on the first day of the month in a bold tactic to tally late payments toward evictions.
East Palo Alto needs a minimum of 2,000 permanently affordable units, which would cost around $400 million assuming a $200,000 subsidy per unit.
Facebook made a $1 billion commitment to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, of which $120 million will go to local schools. So far, a little over $1 million has been disbursed for iPads and Chromebooks to East Palo Alto’s Ravenswood District, while another $2.5 million has gone to schools in San Francisco and Redwood City.
Google uses low-wage labor in East Palo Alto for Google Shopping Express.
None of the companies relying on independent contractors in the tech industry have released the racial make-up of both their permanent workforces and their contractor bases.
Home prices in East Palo Alto have more than doubled since 2012.
Palo Alto is one of the few cities that elected an anti-growth council this past fall.
In 1998, Silicon Valley tech companies were 4% black and 7% Latino.
In 2015, Google's workforce was 2% black and 3% Latino while Facebook was 2% black and 4% Latino.
According to one estimate, 25% of Palo Alto homes are sold to overseas buyers as investments.
There were two black members of the Homebrew Computer Club, which led Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak to create Apple.
One of them, Gerald A. Lawson, declined to hire Wozniak for a job at Fairchild Semiconductor.
The article mentions the 1980s Tinsley desegregation program which won a small number of students the right to attend Palo Alto's much vaunted school system.
The article mentions that African Americans have been part of the technology industry for decades.
The article mentions that in 1970, 12.1% of Santa Clara County's population were "persons of Spanish origin or descent."
The crisis in East Palo Alto forced everyone into action, and neighboring communities donated police officers to the city's understaffed department. The three mayors of East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Palo Alto formed a partnership and helped form the anti-drug "RED Team" or Regional Enforcement Detail, making more than 1,000 arrests over the next two years. East Palo Alto residents armed with just two-way radios started monitoring street corners, taking down license plates of drug buyers and reporting drug sales to the police. Silicon Valley's most prominent companies and families started making charitable commitments, enabling some children to make it out to four-year universities. In 1995, Laurene Powell Jobs co-founded College Track after realizing that many of the East Palo Alto children had no idea how to apply or prepare for college. However, charity also introduced complications, with programs only taking the kids that they're pretty sure will be successful, leaving the other 95 percent without help. In the late 1990s, many black families sold their houses at a profit and left for the South or suburbs somewhere farther out, transitioning East Palo Alto into a majority Latino community.
The article discusses the difficulties faced by East Palo Alto in the 1970s and 1980s with regards to desegregation, housing segregation, and the crack epidemic. The following are the major statistics mentioned in the article:
In 1970, the Office for Civil Rights found that the school district covering East Palo Alto was in violation of desegregation laws.
In 1975, Ravenswood, East Palo Alto's high school, was shut down due to declining enrollment.
Redlining maps were used to back mortgage lending to certain neighborhoods that happened to be predominantly white and excluded others that housed minorities.
The median net worth of a white household in the United States was $141,900, compared to $11,000 for blacks and $13,700 for Hispanics in 2022.
The Community Reinvestment Act in 1977 banned redlining, leading to a rise in home prices in East Palo Alto from $18,000 to $46,000 by 1979.
Proposition 13, which slashed property tax revenue by more than 50 percent, made it harder for new families to find housing in East Palo Alto.
The homicide rate for black males aged 14 to 17 doubled between 1984 and 1994 nationally.
The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 penalized crack cocaine 100 times more harshly than regular cocaine, leading to a criminal justice system that unjustly sweeps minorities into the prison system.
In 1992, there were 42 murders in East Palo Alto, leading to the city being branded as the "Murder Capital" of the U.S.A.
Thesis statement: The Civil Rights movement and Black Power movement of the 1960s, despite the lack of resources, led to the formation of new institutions and Afro-centric schools in East Palo Alto. The movement also pushed for fair housing and affirmative action, opening up opportunities for immigrants and minorities in Silicon Valley.
Key statistics:
East Palo Alto had about one-fifth of the sales tax revenue per capita to support its public services and schools compared to Palo Alto and Menlo Park.
In 1960, just two of Stanford's freshmen were black.
In 1960, Santa Clara County was 96.8% white. By 2010, it was 32% Asian-American and 26.9% Latino or Hispanic.
One-quarter of the region's technology companies between 2006 and 2012 had at least one founder born abroad, according to the Kauffman Foundation.
How Generations of Black Americans Lost Their Land to Tax Liens
The article explores how tax lien sales have been used as a tool to strip Black Americans of their land ownership and generational wealth. Tax lien sales occur when homeowners fall behind on their property tax payments, and the local government sells the tax debt to private investors who then collect interest and fees. If the homeowner can't pay back the debt plus fees, the investor can foreclose on the property and take ownership. This has disproportionately affected Black communities due to decades of systemic racism that resulted in lower home ownership rates and less access to resources. The article provides several examples of how this has impacted Black families across the country, leading to the loss of land that had been in their families for generations. It also highlights efforts by activists and lawmakers to reform the tax lien system and prevent further harm to vulnerable communities.
Here are some key statistical facts from the article:
Between 2005 and 2015, local governments in the United States collected over $15 billion from tax liens, which are sold to investors to cover unpaid property taxes.
Black homeowners are more likely to have their properties seized through tax liens than white homeowners. In some counties, Black homeowners are four times more likely to lose their properties than white homeowners.
In Baltimore, nearly 90% of the properties sold through tax liens between 2005 and 2017 were in predominantly Black neighborhoods.
In New Jersey, the state with the highest number of tax liens sold per capita, Black homeowners make up 15% of the population but 44% of all properties sold through tax liens.
In some cases, tax liens are sold to investors for as little as a few hundred dollars, but the investors can later charge high interest rates and fees to the property owners, making it difficult for them to pay off their debts and keep their properties.
The practice of selling tax liens disproportionately affects low-income homeowners, many of whom inherited their properties from family members and are struggling to keep up with rising property taxes.
According to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, nearly 9 million households in the United States are at risk of losing their homes due to unpaid property taxes.
This is an example of institutional racism because the local governments and tax collectors have created and enforced policies that disproportionately affect Black Americans, leading to the loss of their land and property. The policies, such as tax lien sales and predatory lending practices, were implemented in a way that unfairly targeted Black neighborhoods and communities. This systemic bias perpetuated racial inequality and prevented Black Americans from building generational wealth and assets, which has had a long-lasting impact on their economic well-being and social mobility. Additionally, the lack of government support and intervention to address this issue has further perpetuated institutional racism.
Yes, this issue of tax liens and their impact on black Americans continues to have a significant impact today. As mentioned in the article, many black Americans are still struggling with the aftermath of these policies and are at risk of losing their homes due to outstanding tax debts. In addition, the effects of redlining and other discriminatory housing policies can still be seen in the racial wealth gap and disparities in homeownership rates between white and black Americans. These disparities can have long-lasting effects on the economic mobility and opportunities available to black Americans and their families.
School:
The Tinsley Program was designed to desegregate schools in the Bay Area, including the Sequoia Union High School District. As part of the program, African American and Hispanic students were bused to schools in wealthier, predominantly white areas, with the goal of providing them with better educational opportunities.
The program was controversial and faced legal challenges, but it was ultimately upheld by the California Supreme Court in 1986. The program continued for several decades, but it gradually became less effective as housing patterns shifted and demographic changes occurred.
The Tinsley Program had a significant impact on the Sequoia Union High School District, as it led to a more diverse student body and helped to reduce the concentration of poverty in some schools. However, the program also faced criticism from some parents who felt that it disrupted their communities and unfairly burdened their children with long commutes to school.
According to a report by EdSource, in 2009, the dropout rate for students in the Ravenswood City School District was 31.3%.
TECH INDUSTRY
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US Census Bureau's American Community Survey, in 2019, the median household income for Black households in San Mateo County (which includes East Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, and Redwood City) was $92,753, while the median household income for White households was $146,098.
It's important to note that income disparities between racial groups are influenced by many factors, including education levels, job opportunities, and systemic barriers. These factors can be influenced by a history of discriminatory policies and practices, such as redlining and racial segregation, which have long-lasting effects on communities.
Yes, there is still a wage gap between black and white workers in the Silicon Valley. According to a report by the Urban Institute, as of 2015, the average earnings of black workers in the Silicon Valley were 75% of the average earnings of white workers. The report also found that the wage gap was widest for black workers with a college degree, who earned only 78% of what their white counterparts earned. These findings suggest that education alone does not completely eliminate the wage gap, and that other factors, such as discrimination and bias, may play a role.
by the National Bureau of Economic Research published in 2020, the tech industry has one of the highest racial pay gaps, with Black and Hispanic workers earning approximately 25% less than White and Asian workers with similar qualifications and experience. This gap is larger than in other industries such as healthcare and finance.
I would be happy to provide you with some articles that discuss the racial wage gap in different industries.
"The racial wage gap: a look at industries" (2021) by Cision PR Newswire - This article provides an overview of the racial wage gap in various industries, including technology, healthcare, and finance.
According to the article, the industry that struggles the most with the racial wage gap is the technology industry.
"The Stubborn, Stubborn Racial Wage Gap"
(2019) by The New York Times
This article explores why the racial wage gap persists in the United States, despite laws and policies designed to promote equality.
The article "The Stubborn, Stubborn Racial Wage Gap" provides several numerical facts, including:
In 2017, the median hourly wage for black workers was 75.6% of the median hourly wage for white workers.
According to a 2016 report from the National Bureau of Economic Research, black men are paid about 22% less than white men, even after controlling for factors such as education, experience, and location.
A 2018 study found that the median household income for black Americans was just 59% of the median household income for white Americans.
The racial wealth gap is even more pronounced, with the median net worth of black households being only 10% that of white households.
One reason for the persistence of the racial wage gap is discrimination, which can take the form of conscious bias or unconscious bias.
Another reason is the concentration of black workers in low-paying industries and occupations, which may be due to a lack of opportunities for education and training, discrimination in hiring and promotion, and the historical legacy of segregation and discrimination.
The article explores a variety of factors that contribute to the persistence of the racial wage gap, including:
Occupational segregation: Black workers are often concentrated in low-paying occupations and industries, while white workers are overrepresented in higher-paying ones.
Discrimination: Despite anti-discrimination laws, many employers continue to discriminate against black workers in hiring, promotions, and pay.
Education and training: Black workers are less likely than white workers to have access to quality education and job training programs, which can limit their career opportunities and earning potential.
The legacy of slavery and segregation: Black workers and their families have been historically disadvantaged by centuries of slavery, segregation, and discrimination, which has limited their access to wealth, education, and other resources.
The lack of political will: Despite efforts to address the racial wage gap through policy and advocacy, progress has been slow and inconsistent, in part due to a lack of political will and public support.
The article argues that these factors are all interconnected and contribute to the persistence of the racial wage gap in the United States.
"Why the Racial Wealth Gap Persists, and What to Do About It" (2020) by Harvard Business Review - While not specifically about the wage gap, this article discusses the broader issue of wealth inequality between different racial groups in the United States.
Why the Racial Wealth Gap Persists, and What to Do About it
Harvard Business Review
This article highlights several key points:
The racial wealth gap is the result of historical and ongoing discrimination: The article argues that the wealth gap between Black and white Americans is the result of centuries of institutionalized racism, including slavery, segregation, and discriminatory policies in areas such as housing and employment. Even though some of these policies have been eliminated, their effects continue to linger, creating disparities in wealth and opportunity.
The wealth gap has far-reaching consequences: The article argues that the wealth gap has significant consequences for individuals and society as a whole. Black Americans are less likely to own homes, have less money saved for emergencies or retirement, and are more likely to experience poverty. These disparities not only harm individual Black Americans but also limit economic growth and perpetuate social inequality.
There are several policy solutions that could address the wealth gap: The article suggests several policy solutions that could help close the wealth gap, including reparations for slavery, targeted investment in Black communities, and changes to tax policy and social programs. The article also suggests that businesses have a role to play in addressing the wealth gap, by increasing diversity and inclusion and by investing in Black-owned businesses and communities.
Individuals can also take action to address the wealth gap: The article suggests that individuals can take action to address the wealth gap, such as supporting Black-owned businesses, advocating for policy changes, and educating themselves and others about the root causes of the wealth gap.
Overall, the article argues that the racial wealth gap is a complex and deeply ingrained problem, but there are policy and individual solutions that can help to address it.
The article suggests several policy solutions that could help address the issue of the racial wealth gap, including:
Universal savings accounts: This would provide every child with a savings account at birth that would be managed by the government and accrue interest over time. This would help level the playing field by giving everyone a fair start.
Increased access to affordable housing: One of the major drivers of the racial wealth gap is the lack of access to affordable housing. Policies that address this issue, such as expanding affordable housing programs and strengthening tenant protections, could help narrow the gap.
Student debt forgiveness: Black students are more likely to take out student loans and to have higher levels of debt than their white counterparts. Policies that address this issue, such as forgiving student debt or expanding access to free college, could help reduce the financial burden on black students.
Baby bonds: This would provide every child with a government-funded savings account at birth, with the amount of money deposited based on family income. The money would be invested in safe assets and would grow over time, helping to reduce the wealth gap.
Reparations: Direct cash payments to the descendants of enslaved people and those who have suffered from other forms of racial discrimination could help address the wealth gap by providing a way to redress past injustices.
These policy solutions, along with others, could help address the persistent issue of the racial wealth gap in the United States.
"The Racial Wage Gap: How Women of Color Are Left Behind" (2021) by Forbes - This article specifically focuses on the intersection of race and gender in the wage gap, and how women of color are particularly affected.
"The Racial Wage Gap in the Service Industry" (2018) by Pacific Standard - This article discusses the racial wage gap in the service industry, which includes jobs such as food service and hospitality.
William Shockley
Nobel Prize winner, inventor of the transistor, arguably father of Silicon Valley, and a racist af eugenicist
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/william-shockley
Housing
City of East Palo Alto Historic Resources Inventory Report
February 1994
San Mateo County Historical Association
Link
This I’ve pulled from this report so far (haven’t read it all)- multiple waves of Highway 101 disrupting business and displacing people through the years
Roadside restaurants, gas station etc after initial construction → got displaced when the lanes were widened, wipe out some level of investment
Palo Alto was a dry city even after Prohibition ended, so ‘Whiskey Gulch’ area of bars liquor stores etc over in EPA (see quote). It was mostly wiped out in the 50s when 101 was widened. Changing 101 to a freeway, in addition to displacing those businesses, messed up their business model because it was no longer as easy for drivers to stop off and get gas or food (101 used to be more like El Camino Real before the 50s)
During WWII Black migration to work at the shipyards, Oakland and SF especially. After the war Black people were kicked out of their neighborhoods in SF and pushed elsewhere
Lot of growth in Black population in Belle Haven through the 50s, 350 in 1950 → 3000 residents in 1957
As Belle Haven got more crowded, people started moving into EPA, which was predominately white at the time (some Chinese and Japanese residents, including floriculturists). There was a backlash against someone buying a house in 1954 (see quote). No cross burning or anything, but they did offer to buy him out and talked openly about a restrictive covenant. Once he said he wasn’t moving, 20% of the white homeowners on his block put their houses up for sale, and then real estate agents followed it up with block busting tactics
Quotes:
“This was dangerous for school children and inconvenient as well , as hazardous for their parent. The highway even hampered public transportation; the Palo Alto transit company was unwilling to provide bus service to East Palo Alto because the area lacked a traffic light to facilitate crossing.” describing initial impact of 101 in the 1930s page 60
“In the 1930s, East Palo Alto's business district along University Avenue and Bayshore began to attract bars and liquor stores, so many that the area became known as 'Whiskey Gulch." Stanford University was indirectly responsible for this. When Leland Stanford subdivided the land in what came to be Palo Alto, he included in the 1889 deed a restriction prohibiting the sale of liquor within a mile and a half of Stanford University. In 1909, the restriction became part of Palo Alto's city charter.” … “Before long, bars, nightclubs, and liquor stores opened their doors, drawing people from the dry city of Palo Alto as well as travelers passing by on 101.” p 64
“Following the path of the old highway, the new six-lane freeway, with its cloverleaf and overpass, was completed through East Palo Alto in 1958. The cloverleaf decimated much of East Palo Alto's commercial district.” on widening 101. p 66
“In the 1970s, during planning for the bridge'S expansion, Palo Alto managed to quash the proposal of Embarcadero Road as a major artery to the bridge. As a result, Willow Road, bounding East Palo Alto to the north, and University Avenue which cuts right through the city, bore the brunt of the traffic.120 Once again, East Palo Alto served as a traffic corridor, only to have its own business district disrupted as a result. “ (the bridge is Dumbarton) p 67
“Outside of Oakland and San Francisco, few cities in the Bay Area possessed sizable populations of African Americans before the Second World War. Many African Americans came to the region during the war to work in military industries, particularly the Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard near San Francisco.” p 70, links to Great Migration
“In the fall of 1954, William A. Bailey and his family became the first African Americans to move into East Palo Alto's new Palo Alto Gardens subdivision. They may, in fact, have been the first black family to move into East Palo Alto after World War II. The Baileys' arrival on the 150 block of Wisteria Drive touched off bitter protests from the white property owners nearby.” p 70
“Agents gave African Americans free bus rides through East Palo Alto's neighborhoods to encourage black families to buy, while attempting to scare white homeowners into selling. These agents would then assist the white families to find housing in the new subdivisions in Mountain View or Sunnyvale while offering their assistance to incoming African American families. This way, they received commissions on both ends. Over the next decade or so, African Americans bought or rented houses in all parts of the city.“ (the city is EPA) p 71
