The 1348th meeting of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences was held on Wednesday, January 14, 2004 at 5.30p.m. in Connecticut Hall of Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven. Some 50 members and their guests gathered for cocktails before the evening presentation and 30 members remained for dinner. The President, Ernest Kohorn, welcomed the group and thanked Professor Harvey Feinberg for hosting the meeting. The Secretary, Margot Kohorn, announced the names of the newly elected members: William Bailey, Kingman Brewster Professor Emeritus of Painting, Yale University, Donald Bradley, M.D. surgeon, Hartford Hospital, Cyrus Hamlin, Professor of Germanic Language and Literature, Yale University, Lewis Levy M.D. Clinical Professor of Neurology, Yale School of Medicine and Claire Menzel, Family Therapist (ret.), Hamden.

Professor Feinberg introduced the speaker for the evening, Christopher Doob, Professor of Sociology, Southern Connecticut State University. The title of Professor Doob's talk was "American Race and Ethnicity: An Incomplete Story". Professor Doob posed the question whether the overall picture of racial ethnic relations has improved. Although many may think this an absurd question he would argue that while some positive developments have occurred, there remain major, worsening tends and problems most clearly revealed in the issue of housing. He drew from two general sources of information--35 years of personal study and a variety of inner-city community experiences. Ninety percent of Americans consider themselves non-racist and many believe that the number of white supremacists is in the multiple millions. In fact there are 50,000 or fewer-they are just very vocal! In the post World War II era, the various white groups were largely free to live wherever they could afford. Seeking desirable housing blacks faced another reality. Between 1917 and 1921 riots broke out directed against blacks who attempted to live outside areas designated for them. In order to prevent property damage property owners instituted a racially restrictive covenant to prevent minorities from occupying property in certain locales. The National Association of Real Estate Boards colluded and by 1940 the boundaries of modern black ghettoes were firmly established. The Federal Housing Authority considered that homogeneous neighborhoods were more stable. Even though in 1948 the Supreme Court declared racially restrictive covenants unenforceable, the Federal Housing Authority continued to make low interest loans to developers committed to keeping housing segregated. Northern and Midwestern cities were in decline and with it came the policy of "urban renewal". Federal funds were given to clear "blighted" areas and then redevelop them for businesses and high priced dwellings. Local governments were obliged to supply replacement housing for uprooted residents. The objective was never to rehouse the poor. William Ryan, a psychologist wrote "urban renewal is to the slum housing problem approximately as a crash diet is to the problem of malnutrition". Large, ugly high rises for the displaced were built in which none of its inhabitants could take pride. The devastating effect this was having on the poor was not recognized until riots broke out in 1968. The situation still remains bleak --rent subsidies for low income tenants is badly under-funded and the waiting lists are long. On any given day between 365,000 and 567,000 African Americans are homeless, a much higher proportion than in any other group. The number of African Americans living in ghetto areas has increased over the past 40 years. But does isolation mean inequality? Professor Doob argued that public school funding, which is tied to property values and lack of employment opportunities and medical care, are examples of inequality resulting from isolation. However, Americans are unsympathetic to the plight of the ghettoized people. They think individualistically and wonder why "they " cannot improve themselves the way "we" did. This attitude ignores social context and assumes cultural deficiency. Education is essential in changing this attitude but the legal scholar Owen Fiss has another suggestion. Because black ghettoes have become self perpetuating sites of poverty, crime, family fragmentation, violence and hopelessness the federal government should allot $50 billion a year to relocate their inhabitants to more affluent, primarily white communities, where preliminary projects have produced such benefits as better health, more advancement in education and improved job prospects. Because of widespread opposition as well as the prohibitive cost, ghetto dismantling does not appear to be in the imminent American future. What does seem both possible and productive, the speaker suggested, are the more modest ventures such as HUD providing subsidies which allowed scattered numbers of black public housing residents to move to predominantly white suburbs. Other ventures are all the individual projects that support needy but receptive students. Professor Doob concluded that we need to get more involved and roll up our sleeves because, "Surely we can do better".