Apartheid. USA 1988

June 20, 1987:

In another article for the Op-Ed page of the Times, David N Dinkins, Manhattan Borough president, also refers to the Kerner Commission report, published two decades ago, that had offered hard recommendations for ending discrimination. ‘We failed to act adequately then, but we must not fail now,’ wrote Mr Dinkins. ‘The tensions gripping the

[p. 94]

city will not disappear without a real agenda to end racism and discrimination.’ Mr Dinkins also offered statistics. In New York City, 60 percent of all homeless people and 60 percent of all children placed in foster-care are black. Black teenage unemployment exceeds 50 percent. The infant mortality rate in Central Harlem is 2.5 times that of the Upper East Side. Up to 70 percent of all black youths drop out of High School before graduation. The underlying cause of these inequalities is a lack of opportunity resulting from discrimination. According to the Borough president several steps could be taken immediately to help defuse some of the tensions and to open new opportunities to our city's youths. ‘I suggest that the city keep schools open in the evening for extra-curricular activities, that it provide the funds to start youth employment and anti-drug programs and that it establish a city-wide task force to help communities resolve racial conflicts before they get out of control.’^124.

124. The New York Times, Op-Ed page essay by David N Dinkins