Conversation on Race and Release of the Fourth Annual Survey on Racial Attitudes in Pulaski County by the UALR Institute of Government.
March 21, 2007
Opening Address by Joel E. Anderson, Chancellor
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
(A film clip was shown prior to Dr. Anderson's remarks featuring news footage from the Central High Crisis in 1957.)
Those TV images we just viewed from Little Rock Central High School 50 years ago, courtesy of KATV, are a good place to begin this meeting at which the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will release the findings of its fourth annual survey of racial attitudes in Pulaski County.
This conference today is not about the 1957 desegregation crisis or its 50th anniversary. However, there is no doubt we are still connected to that Number One Arkansas news story in 1957. It was not until February 24th of this year, some 50 years after it all started, that Federal District Court in Little Rock declared "mission accomplished!" That is, the Court found that the vestiges of illegal segregation were all eliminated.
The desegregation crisis of 1957 was a gigantic earth quake that changed forever the social, political, and legal landscape of Arkansas. The aftershocks have not yet ended because the fault line of race in our community is still there. The different reactions to the recent Federal District Court decision are evidence that the fault line is still there.
Race was an issue in our community in 1957. Race is still an issue today.
I am glad that during this year there will be numerous events in the city related to the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of the Little Rock public schools. We should use such a milestone as a time of celebration, reflection, and rededication. I am glad to say that a number of this year's events and activities will originate here at the University, including a September conference of scholars from around the nation and the world thanks to leadership provided by Professor Fred Williams and our Department of History.
Let me share one reflection with you-from a conversation with a black friend.
Not long ago this friend, a woman, and I were talking about a speech I had made regarding our survey findings. In my speech I had said that we still had a long way to go with regard to race, but that there was much good news on that front, that we clearly had made progress.
In support of my statement I could cite that my three sons had all received excellent educations in the integrated Little Rock Public Schools. The school board includes both blacks and whites. Three blacks have served as superintendents of the Little Rock School District in the last 15 years. In addition to the desegregation of public schools and public accommodations, there is a growing black middle class. Thanks to voting rights legislation, not only do blacks vote but they have been elected to numerous public offices. And so on.
My friend would have none of it. She did not think it was appropriate to talk of good news, given the disparities between whites and blacks that exist and are documented. Although she did not deny that in a historical perspective things had improved over time, she said that most of the people living today were not living back when things were worse. So how things used to be should be regarded as irrelevant today.
We were offering competing perspectives. Mine was that the glass, which used to be empty for African Americans, is now half full. Hers was that for African Americans the glass is still half empty. She said that is the issue! Let me confess that I was taken aback by her strong opinion that to talk about what good progress we have made was not good.
Upon reflection I have to say that I think she was right; and I commend that conclusion to you. When we dwell on our progress on issues of race, it is easy to become lazy and complacent, to become self-congratulatory and self-satisfied. What she gave me was a more profound and relevant view. I found it helpful to hear it, even if it was not completely comfortable at the time of the conversation-which, I might add, illustrates the value of conversations between blacks and whites on the subject of race.
In the spirit of "you have to face it to fix it," this year there is a new addition to our agenda-data on the economic impact of race.
Economic impact was on the minds of community leaders back in 1957.
Two days into the crisis, local business leader Everett Tucker expressed concerns that the bad publicity was "going to set our industrial program back considerably."[1] Little Rock had been enjoying a period of success in bringing in new industry to the area, on average five new plants a year. For the first eight months of 1957, eight more had chosen Little Rock, creating one thousand new jobs. In the four years following the crisis, Little Rock failed to attract a single new plant.[2]
According to the "Lesson of Little Rock," by James C. Cobb, business executives from around the country were blunt in citing bad publicity as the reason for not coming to Little Rock.[3] According to Mr. Cobb's monograph, a local mover seemed to be the only economic winner. He said, "We are moving families away from Little Rock faster than ever before."[4] Harry Ashmore, editor of the Arkansas Gazette, wrote in his book Epitaph for Dixie that one motive for resolving the crisis and re opening the schools was the bottom line. "Realistic businessmen are willing to put up with a good deal of nonsense, but they aren't willing to pay for it," he wrote. "They recognize that sustained racial disorder would be fatal to their effort to lure new industries and new capital from the non-south."[5]
It is no less true today that good race relations are important in economic development and are good for the bottom line. Local business and civic leaders still seek to bring new businesses and new jobs to Little Rock. Race problems and school problems in a community are a handicap to such efforts in any community.
Later in this meeting you will hear a different angle on race and economic development. The data will focus on individuals and households-the very personal human level-where family and education and job come together, where one finds the building blocks of the community and the local economy.
I am not going to attempt a preview of the data you are going to see and hear from Sarah Breshears, except to say in advance that I believe it will help us begin to see the community agenda we ought to tackle in the next 50 years. We should see in it a strong reason to address issues related to race.
Let me conclude by circling back around to where I began-the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School.
I predict that a sizable majority of the activities and events this anniversary year will be about the past-how bad it was and how far we have come. And that is fine because anniversaries by definition mark past events. The desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in 1957 constituted a great step forward in ending an evil, race-based system that discriminated against African Americans. It deserves a big celebration.
But, consistent with that conversation I mentioned regarding the glass still half empty, I hope we will focus serious thought on the next 50 years. We need to re-frame the community agenda with regard to race in up-to-date and compelling ways. It is my hope that these annual meetings will contribute to that goal.
We need to look to the future and rededicate ourselves to the vision of a just America and a just Arkansas and a just community right here at home, free of racial discrimination in the schools and everywhere else, and characterized by equal opportunity in every walk of life.
There is much to celebrate. There is also much distance yet to travel before we reach that better community toward which we took a huge step in 1957.
For information about the 2008 Racial Attitudes Conference, please call Angela Parker at (501) 683-7245.