More Embarrassing Stats From Census Bureau

The Census Bureau released statistics yesterday on numbers of people living in prisons and college dorms in 2006. To be blunt, these new stats are an embarrassment for the United States.

It seems that there are three times as many Afro-Americans living in a prison cell as there are living in a college dorm. The numbers for Hispanics are almost as bad. There are 2.7 Hispanics living in prison for every one living in a college dorm. It's different for whites. More than twice as many whites live in dorms as prisons.

It has not always been that way. In 1980, the number of Afro-Americans living in dorms was equal to the number living in prisons, and more Hispanics lived in dorms than prisons. What happened?

Urban League president Marc Morial said, "It's one of the great social and economic tragedies of our time. It points to the signature failure in our education system and how we've been raising our children."

He's right. We have been doing a poor job of educating Afro-American and Hispanic children in this country. But we have done a poor job of educating these children for a long time. Other forces have added to this problem since 1980 -- stagnant wages for the working class, rising costs of a college education, the new prohibition (war on drugs), and continuing racism.

While the rich have gotten much richer since the Republicans came to power in the 1980's, they are the only people who are better off. Wages have stagnated for the middle and working classes so badly that they now have less buying power than they did in the 1970's. The "trickle down" theory embraced by the Republicans simply did not work for anyone outside the upper class.

Couple this with the fact that college costs have risen enormously, and it's easy to see why many in the middle and working classes can no longer afford to send their children to live in a college dorm. In fact, many can't even afford to offer their children a commuter college education.

The "war on drugs" has also been ramped up since 1980, and due to the continuing racism in our society, has been aimed primarily at the minority community (even though there is no proof that they use drugs any more than whites). Add this to the reality that when arrested for drug possession minorities are more likely to be sent to prison than whites, and you can begin to see how we got into this mess.

We can fix the problem, but it won't be easy. We must:

A. Restructure our tax system so the rich pay their fair share and the burden no longer falls mainly on the middle class.

B. Pay workers a decent and livable wage, and make sure that wage rises at least as much as the rate of inflation.

C. End prohibition, and tax drug sales to provide treatment instead of incarceration for users.

D. Rein in college costs and provide more government help for low and middle income students.

E. Do a better job of educating minority and low-income students.

F. Renew the fight against racism on all levels, including the racism that still exists in our societal institutions.

We must change what we are doing and restore the American Dream to all our citizens. Our future depends on it.