How systemic is racism? Perspectives still vary greatly by race

Have you noticed that people of color are showing up with increasing frequency in television commercials, news stories that don’t feature a mug shot, as experts about salient topics and, my favorite, in Hallmark movies?

There’s also the spate of books, reports and discussion groups aiming to awaken – hence the “woke” descriptor – and enlighten the uninitiated on matters of race.

While this growing attention to the everyday indignities and inequities that are part of being a racial minority in America may be viewed as timely by some, it risks being dismissed as excessive and tiresome by the less sympathetic.

A key question is whether this focus will end up being another passing fancy to be quietly discarded by corporations and other organizations as those committed to reform move on, or as financial, political and other concerns take top priority.

Last week I listened in on the Pinellas County Urban League’s virtual Equal Opportunity Day Town Hall. National president Marc Morial spoke of the need to build a nation with opportunities for all, one of equity, decency, tolerance and collective responsibility. Such an undertaking, said the former New Orleans mayor and author of The Gumbo Coalition, would require broad and committed cooperation.

Perhaps serendipitously, Randall Russell, founding president and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg, chose the occasion to announce the creation of a new collaborative effort, the Pinellas Race Equity Leadership Council. Close to two dozen leaders  – including Pinellas County Urban League president and CEO Watson Haynes – have already been recruited for the council, which won’t be formally announced for several weeks.

Russell spoke passionately about the initiative and of accountability to people of color. “Everybody, from the publisher of the paper, to the county administrator, to anyone who leads a system in this county is responsible for early childhood death, is responsible for lack of preparedness for third grade reading achievement, is responsible for early death and burden of disease …,” he said.

Two recent surveys offer a dismal assessment of Tampa Bay’s communities of color. One, the “Racial Sentiment in Tampa Bay,” was prepared for Tampa Bay Partnership in collaboration with the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay, United Way Suncoast and the University of South Florida Muma College of Business. The survey was the subject of a virtual community forum Thursday.

Its findings put into stark relief the different perceptions of race by the area’s black and white residents. While there is general agreement that Black people are treated less fairly than whites when interacting with police or the criminal justice system, Blacks are more likely to view issues of race and racial discrimination as pervasive, systemic issues that are present in relatively all elements of society, the survey says. White residents are more likely to view these as more isolated.

The survey also found that 80 percent of Black residents reported experiencing racial discrimination, compared to just 20 percent of whites. Black people usually were referring to experiences such as being treated with suspicion, perceived as unintelligent, being treated unfairly in hiring or promotions and being subjected to racial slurs or jokes.

Such racism spares few, regardless of education and success. Brian Butler, who sits on Tampa Bay Partnership’s council of governors and is co-chair of its Racial Equity Task Force, mentioned Thursday that he was followed around a Tampa store recently. One of the program’s panelists, Butler is president and CEO of Vistra Communications and is a retired military officer. He moved to the Tampa Bay area in 2006 after a successful career in the U.S. Army, but said he was unable to find a job. Today he heads a company of about 100 employees, 48 of whom are people of color.

“I place a premium on ensuring that I play a leadership role in ensuring our company is diverse, both in terms of race and ethnicity,” he said. “As leaders in the community, we have an obligation to ensure that we play some role in that throughout the community.”

An earlier report released by Tampa Bay Partnership showed that Blacks are more likely to be part of the working poor, live in poverty or be unemployed. Black children are three times more likely to be living in poverty, the 2020 Regional Equity Report said. Its findings also revealed that Black and Hispanic households are less likely to have a computer and broadband internet.

Thursday Butler encouraged fellow business leaders to seek opportunities to hire Black and Hispanic residents. Joseph St. Germain of Downs & St. Germain Research, who presented the results of the Racial Sentiment survey, urged conversations to promote understanding among people of different perspectives.

Butler was more to the point. “This is going to hurt some of you,” he said. “In your circle of 10 people that you look at to make a decision, if everybody in your circle looks like you, there’s something wrong with your circle. Until you change your circle, you’re not going to change your behavior.”

And Rick Homans, president and CEO of Tampa Bay Partnership, pointed to this moment in history, “where significant change can happen, if we keep our attention on it and focus on it.”

But as memories of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black people whose violent deaths sparked the diverse movement for justice and equality fade, will such commitment remain?