LA becomes biggest city yet to agree to $15 minimum wage...

It looks like the "Fight for 15" continues to gather momentum...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/us/los-angeles-expected-to-raise-minimum-wage-to-15-an-hour.html?_r=0

Income inequality in the United States...

In class we have been discussing income inequality in the United States.  We have been discussing how extreme income inequality has become and why.  And we have started to discuss what might be done to improve the situation.  The following articles all address some issue related to income inequality.  You are to read each and then respond on your own blog what you learned from the article.  Make sure to answer the questions listed under each article.  But don't stop there.  Go further.  Reflect on what the article means.  Connect it with what we have learned in class.  Provide your own reflection and analysis.

The first two articles address an issue we have already discussed.  The close connection between the decline of unions and the growth of income inequality...

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/02/27/3627959/unions-income-inequality-2/

http://www.epi.org/press/unions-decline-inequality-rises/

Questions:

1. Why does fewer workers in unions lead to greater income inequality?

2. What was the percentage of workers in unions in 1967 (estimate using the graph)?  What is the percentage of workers in unions today?

3. What happened in 1935 that helped unions grow?

4. What has happened since that has lead to unions decline?

The next article discusses how raising the minimum wage can help reduce income inequality...

http://www.epi.org/publication/its-time-to-raise-the-minimum-wage/

1. Which groups of workers would benefit most from a raise in the minimum wage?

2. What do they mean by "indexing" the minimum wage?  How does this help fix the inflation problem?

The last article connects income inequality with the recent riots in Baltimore...

http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/29/news/economy/roubini-baltimore-riots-inequality/

1. What does the author argue is the connection between the riots in Baltimore and economic inequality?

2. What does the author think we should do about it?  Do you agree?

Bonus question:  What is the cartoon on this post telling?  What do you think about it?

Income inequality and labor unions?...

The following video shows the close relationship between rates of unionization of workers and levels of income inequality in society...



This article goes into further detail on the subject...

http://www.epi.org/blog/union-decline-rising-inequality-charts/

What does this mean?  What is the connection between the current rates of union membership and inequality in U.S. society today?  Respond on your blog.

Great video about the black / white wealth gap...

Check out the video in this article...

http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/12/news/economy/wealth-by-race-pew/

6 Of The Fastest-Growing Jobs In America Pay Low Wages...

Please read these two short articles and respond to them on your blog...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/16/low-wage-occupations-grow_n_7065174.html?utm_hp_ref=money&ir=Money

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/04/15/we-are-spending-153-billion-a-year-to-subsidize-mcdonalds-and-walmarts-low-wage-workers/

What is class?

Answer the following 3 question on your own blog...

1. Yesterday you completed a KWL chart asking the following questions...

What do you Know - What is “class”?  How many “classes” are there?  The majority of people are what “class”?  What “class” are you?  How are the “classes” different?  What is “class consciousness”?

What do you Want to learn?:  What would you like to know about class and class consciousness?

I would like you to reflect on these questions on your blog as well.

2. Take a look at these definitions...

http://udel.edu/~cmarks/What%20is%20social%20class.htm

http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2012/09/13/where-do-you-fall-in-the-american-economic-class-system

What do the above links tell you about class? Reflect on your blog.

3. Class structure can be a confusing thing.  People have different ideas of what "class" is and what the class structure of our society is like.  Take a look at these images and graphs.  Each is trying to tell us something about class structure in the United States.  Each has a unique point of view or approach to looking at the issue.  On your own blogs, tell me what you think each image is trying to tell us?  What do you think?  Which is the most interesting or tells you the most?  Which tells you the least...

Residential segregation and Chicago...

I would like to hear your thoughts on this article...

http://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-politics/7/71/165325/how-segregated-is-chicago-and-does-it-matter

Reflection on lesson from last Thursday...

If you have not already done so, please take time to reflect on the lesson from last Thursday when we explored in depth the difference between individual prejudice and institutional racism.  
* What did you think of the lesson? 
* What did you learn?  
* What did you think of the examples that I used and and that your fellow students came up with?

How does institutional racism relate to the following concepts...

"White Flight"
Redlining
Blockbusting
Gentrification
The black / white wealth gap

Black, White & Latino Wealth Gap in the United States...

We have talked a lot about the Black, White and Latino wealth gap in the United States.  Remember, this is about net worth NOT just income.  It is a family's total accumulated wealth including things like inherited wealth, the value of their home, etc.  As we have discussed, this single statistics tells us more about the continuing racial divide in our society than any other fact.  In the video series Race the Power of an Illusion, produced in the early 2000s, the Black / White wealth gap was 8 times (the average white family had 8 times the wealth of the average Black family.  I mentioned that the statistic was out of date and that after the great recession which began in 2008, things had gotten worse.  The two articles below illustrate just how much worse the situation has become.

Please read both articles carefully and respond on your own blog.  Try to answer these questions in your posts...

1. Why decades after the success of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's, do we still such a racial divide in America.

2. What do we need to do to try to change this situation?  What type of transformation is needed?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/04/30/179907029/what-do-we-do-about-americas-racial-wealth-gap

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/07/26/wealth-gaps-rise-to-record-highs-between-whites-blacks-hispanics/

Race web activity...

We will be using the following website which is a companion to the video series we are watching.  Go to this link...

http://www.pbs.org/race/001_WhatIsRace/001_00-home.htm

And use the website to answer the questions on this document...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9_FvLqe8tUyVDhIVG1WSWxIalU/view?usp=sharing

Answer on your own blogs.

Research (pathways) project...

Many of you have been asking about the Research Project that is the main product of this class.  This research project is also what will become your pathways project.  Here is a description of it here...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9_FvLqe8tUyZUJlNFU4dktIQ0k/view?usp=sharing

Note the due dates are from last semester and need to be updated.

Tomorrow we are going to be visited by organizers from the Fight for 15...

Tomorrow organizers from the fight for 15 will be visiting our class to talk about issues facing low wage workers in our economy.  In this class, once we finish the unit on race, we will move on to a unit discuss class.  But as you will see issues of race and class are close related in our society in which class has been highly racialized.

I want you to check out the following links and respond in on your blog.  First, watch the video at this site...

http://fightfor15.org/

Then read some of the articles here...

http://fightfor15.org/latest-news/

The Fight for 15 has already had some sucesses.  Read about that here...

http://www.peaceandjustice.org/an-87-percent-vote-for-a-15-an-hour-wage/

Respond to all this on your blog.  And think of questions you might have for our guest speakers tomorrow.

Who Gets Food Stamps? White People, Mostly...

I thought this was an interesting article.  Does this challenge the common perceptions you think most people have about who receives government assistance?  Why do you think the public perception is often so different?...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/28/food-stamp-demographics_n_6771938.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

How to define race and ethnicity: Even the U.S. Census isn't sure...

Check out this article on how the U.S. Census Bureau is once again considering changing the way it collects race and ethnic data...

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/03/14/u-s-census-looking-at-big-changes-in-how-it-asks-about-race-and-ethnicity/

Welcome to the world of blogging...

Hi Class,

Your blog is like an online journal.  You will be able to respond to topics discussed in the course and dialog with your fellow students and instructor via your blog.

For your first post tell me something about yourself.  Draw on what you are including in your "Who I Am" essay.  You could include stuff like your family background, neighborhood, culture, interests, etc.

For your second post I want you to answer the following questions...

1. What is “race”?  

2. What is “ethnicity”? 

3.  What is “nationality”?  

How are they similar?  How are they different?

Work with a fellow student. Use the handout I provided to find answers to these questions. 

Check out these following links to try and find an answer:

Webster's Dictionary
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
How does the dictionary define these terms. Copy and paste the most approriate usage you find at the above link. BUT CREDIT THE SOURCE! Provide a link and explain to your reader that you took it from the Webster's Dictionary website.

PBS.org Race Website
http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-experts-03-02.htm
We will be using this website a lot in this course.  What does it say about these terms?

Happy Blogging