Wisconsin Is Number One in Racial Inequality Between Black and White Children

Historic white antagonism towards ethinc minorities continue
with Wisconsin leading the way in targeting minorities with
punitive policy and taunts. The Annie E. Casey Foundation's
Race for Results study offers stunning data showing minority
children remaining victims in white-dominated America, (p. 5).

Madison, Wisconsin—Black children facing systemic socioeconomic obstacles have made Wisconsin the worst state in the country as judged by the disparity in well-being between white and black children, a national social scientific study, the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Race for Results, finds, (Gothner , WISC-TV).

Notes WISC-TV news:

Wisconsin ranked 10th in well-being for white children, but ranked 41st when it comes to black youth, making for largest well-being gap of its kind in the country.

'I wish that I could say I was surprised with the findings,' Ken Taylor, executive director of Kids Forward, formerly the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, said.

Michael Johnson, CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, which works with youth of color in the Madison area, agreed with Taylor.

'(It's) the same report we've seen for the last 40 years,' he said. 'The question is: When are we going to get serious about investing in young people and coming up with programs that are going to help to change these disparities in our state?'

The Race for Results report comes amid increased open hostility towards minorities by racists in municipal and state government in Wisconsin emboldened by the election of Donald Trump and Gov. Scott Walker, (R), both of whom have long histories of campaign taunts and the use of public policy to target black and brown families.

In the segregated city in southern Dane County, Fitchburg, non-profits serving large minority populations have been targeted for defunding because of resentments in Fitchburg city government by whites towards minorities. Fitchburg also continues to place racially antagonistic white poll workers in a voting district with a large minority population.

A white municipal columnist in the Wisconsin State Journal, Chris Rickert, commenting on the Fitchburg defunding-of-non-profits scandal, emits the racist trope of reckless black parents who neglect their children:

[I]t’s not surprising that [Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, Michael Johnson’s] allies have on occasion framed the [Fitchburg] funding dispute as one between those who favor helping low-income kids of color, and those who don’t — even though it has way more to do with differing opinions about the government’s obligation to such kids, as opposed to the obligation owed to them by, well, their parents.

The study's findings confirm the everyday experience of minorities in Wisconsin, which remains a virulently racist state.

The report described the disproportionate barriers facing children of color, and it recommended strategies that policy, community and civic leaders can use to guide their decisions so that all our children have a fair chance to thrive.

Race for Results was our first report to measure how children from different racial backgrounds — African American, American Indian, Asian and Pacific Islander, Latino and white — were faring on the path to opportunity. The report introduced an evidence-based set of 12 key indicators that serve as steppingstones to opportunity, which were combined to generate a composite index score for children of every race in every state. Thanks to researchers, writers and activists, conversations about race and implicit bias have begun to include a more sophisticated vocabulary to discuss how and why race and racist behaviors, systems and structures shape life trajectories. ..

... African-American children had a composite index score that placed them further from opportunity than kids of other races and ethnicities. The index scores were not much better for American Indian and Latino children. The index scores for white children were significantly better, and Asian and Pacific Islander kids had the highest index scores, although disaggregated data showed wide variation depending on their parents’ nation of origin. While the scores do not tell the story of individuals, as each has his or her own experiences and talents, the data offer  an important snapshot of disparity in opportunity and the barriers that exist for different groups of children. 

The index quantifies how much work we still have to do if our nation is to live up to its values of opportunity and justice for all, regardless of race, ethnicity or country of origin. [pp 2,3, introduction]

For racist Republicans in Wisconsin, inflictions against minorities are a strategic Party initiative, so the findings of Race for Results represent success.