That’s the striking but not entirely unsurprising conclusion reached by the City Lab after comparing income, educational and health outcomes for black women in American cities (42) in which at least 100,000 black women live. Specifically, Cleveland ranked dead last for educational outcomes for black women and second-to-last for income and health outcomes for black women.
Rounding out the bottom of the pile were mostly Midwestern cities, alongside Pittsburgh, which shares many broad characteristics with the Midwest. An Economic Policy Institute report, cited by City Lab, laid out the overarching causes for the Midwest’s abysmal performance for black women:
We trace the origins of racial inequality in the Midwest to the deep imprint of racial segregation, which concentrated the regions’ African American population in relatively few urban counties—and then erected a forbidding architecture of residential segregation within those urban settings. In turn, the historical arc of economic opportunity saw African Americans flock to new opportunities in the industrializing Midwest in the middle years of the last century, and then be disproportionately hit by the de-industrialization that followed.
That’s a familiar refrain for anyone who’s read up on the topic, specifically in Kenneth Kusmer’s “A Ghetto Takes Shape: Black Cleveland, 1870-1930.” In that essential book, Kusmer details how African-Americans went from a vibrant part of Cleveland’s city life in the 1800s to a segregated, forgotten population. Citing primary accounts and newspaper coverage, the historian documents how Cleveland was once a place of equality and abolitionist spirt in the years before the Civil War. By the industrial revolution, however, Cleveland’s new waves of European immigrants set in motion a scramble of political power, sidelining black Clevelanders in the process. The book’s heartbreaking conclusion argues this fall from equality to segregation is what ultimately doomed the city.
Today, that’s represented by severe air pollution on the east side, staggering poverty levels, hyper-segregation like few cities still see, horrendous black infant and maternal mortality rates, depressed housing values, continuing disparities in lending patterns, digital redlining, racial wage gaps, bias in the criminal justice system, and the list goes on.
In contrast, cities that exceeded median outcomes in the three areas in question generally were located in the south and east, where government job concentration was higher or where private job sectors were thriving.
As City Lab notes:
Of course, no ranking should obscure the fact that there is no city doing complete justice to black women’s lives. According to “The Status of Black Women in the United States” report, produced by The Institute for Women’s Policy Research, black women overall saw their median annual earnings decline by 5 percent between 2004 and 2014 despite the fact that the share of black women with at least a bachelor’s degree increased by 23.9 percent in that same time period. Today, black women earn roughly 61 cents for every dollar made by white men across the nation.So the question of where black women move is often a matter of which city will fleece them the least.
This article appears in Jan 8-14, 2020.
Thanks to black men. Sad, really sad.
C
Not surprising at all. As a transplant from NY, I was met with all of this, 7 years of it, now stealthily planning my exit of cLEAVEland.
Wow!. Another pathetic classification and ranking for Cleveland. The worse city for Black Women. The worse city for Black men. One of the worse airports in the country. One of the worse school districts in the state. A terrible ranking for income. Just a simple question, what in the hell is Cleveland succeeding in besides being terrible?
Well Mayberry, it’s certainly not highly ranked in knowing the difference between worse and worst. Maybe Mayor Jackson can give you some answers…
Cleveland isn’t just Cleveland. It also includes suburbanites who conveniently treat Cleveland like a dump during Browns, Cavs, and Indians games,then complain about the mayor while rebublican governors rob the state blind. People from the suburbs are awful people. Women from Cleveland proper can’t catch a break. Subbies come to the city, hoard jobs and hire underqaulified white people they know from drinking in college to do things they aren’t qaulified for. Black women are then forced to leave the city or job hop for decent wages.
Thanks for writing this article. It’s just to bad nothing will change because no one white in Cleveland thinks they are the source of systematic oppression.
Should have stopped that headline half way through. What a freaking dump.
If there was anything at all good happening, people would be moving here.
Yes , this all true , I am black women who have struggle to maintain decent wages , I have been harassed by white supervisor who’s only agenda is to get you fired , I have seen so many black women fired , and then when you have black educated women in power the gravity to the way of their superior
They should move. I hear Atlanta is a black Mecca. Now where can we send Vince? He’s a disaster for Cleveland as well.
Cleveland ranks dead last for educational outcomes for black women and second-to-last for income and health outcomes for black women. An earlier comment asked “What the hell is Cleveland succeeding in besides being terrible?”
Well, if you pay attention to MOST local news sources, Cleveland ranks quite high in the number of thuggish men who beat, stab, and shoot their women to death. Unless you watch Channel 3 and what they still laughingly call “news”–which now consists of young silly white faces giggling and yammering about restaurants and breweries and lifestyle issues, even as the neighborhoods outside their studios continue to swirl into the toilet.
All that beating, stabbing, and shooting of black females certainly has a lot to do with lowering their health outcomes. But suburban ears and eyeballs don’t want to see or hear that stuff anymore, so let’s ignore all those heartless felons who are killing thrir partners, and let’s babble about the latest East Bank bistro instead.
Because Cleveland racist ASF
That’s an ignorant stereotype about African-American women being sluts. Many of us have Doctoral degrees and are hard working thank you very much. In fact, African-American women are the most educated demographic in the country!
Wakey, wakey, SCENE. Monday’s here. Time to scrub away the racist filth polluting your site. You need to hire more weekend janitors.
Cleveland couldn’t get much worst but I bet Jackson will do his best to do nothing to help. The Cleveland Clinic and University Hospital will never be anything unless they can help their own. Northeast Ohio whites might be some of the most racist people in the country and they wear they Tribe hats with pride. It’s not the city that’s polluted, it’s the toxic minds of the ignorant suburbanite that keeps the city down and then blame the ones they hate for what they create. You know you can help but your lazy minds only hate. I feel bad for all the racist as your the stupidest of them all.
I Believe that a lot of ignorance lies within Cleveland it’s surrounding suburbs. If any of you actually paid attention and read the entire article which dates back to the 1800s and you will understand where the oppression of originally started. But it’s exactly the comments like these that perpetuate the ignorance of non-blacks in Cleveland and the surrounding area. They give you a fake smile and then get on their computer and I have so much to say, and have never walked in your shoes. I was an honor roll student who never got in trouble and literally had a principle of one of these predominately white schools use the word Nigger in my face when I was 12 years old. My mother moved me there thinking it would give me a better opportunity. As a black woman who grew up in the suburbs around Cleveland it is disheartening to see the crime rate and level of violence. There are things that can be done but not when I have to change my first name on my application to get a job that I’m more qualified for that many of my white counterparts, and I have witnessed this firsthand. But I’m here to let you know that none of this Makes a difference to my success and it shouldn’t do any of you beautiful black queens out there either. Use this to manifest a much greater destiny whether you’re in Cleveland or you move on to bigger and better cities. Stay up Queens and ban together to disrupt the industry like we are doing now and continue to do so with GOD by our sides.
I made a few typos so let me correct before the “proper spelling” trolls come for me. Principal, not principle. Other typos but you get the picture…😉
This report makes clear what we all know as Clevelanders. I am a white male on the west side and we can all do better. Unfortunately policies from the past and from the federal gov today are only make this problem worse 🙁 .
Well, here’s yet another reason to move out of this outrageously high-taxed, crime infested city and county!!!
Queenie, I know at least two folks who were banned from this site for their use of the N-word in much the same manner as you did, and it didn’t matter…they still got the boot anyway.
You posted again and talked about typos but that was your biggest mistake of all, and you’ll probably pay for it dearly. Damn shame, because you had something to say that was actually worth reading and thinking about.
Next time, don’t spell it out…it just isn’t allowed to stand here, no matter what. And you’ll have to re-register and pick a new name for yourself.
A lot of the problem lies in government.we have a flock of sham council people.the mayor couldn’t care less about ANYTHING! And the police!? Killing faster than the drugs! No leadership is killing CLEVELAND!
To Its a no-no. I’m used to the treatment that racists put out on these type of posts, so I guess you could say my mind has been conditioned for defense like a lot of other people like me who have been subjected to this ignorance, so I had a moment.
You had a point about using the n-word and I get that, I didn’t think about that. But i’m not the type of person who is going to be on here engaging in this type of stuff anyway so if it happens it happens. I just had a moment in which I had something to say and I said it, and also as a woman of color I also have the right to feel the way that I feel, and also say what I want to say like everyone else. And I’m not the type of person who will be on here commenting on every article, so….
I didn’t make a mistake at all. I said what I said. Pay for what? Somebody’s snappy comeback? I’m over it. I’m back on to positivity so I probably won’t even see it. Like I said, I had a moment. By the way, where is your comment shaming the racist on here who said we should all leave and take our “fathers of our children” with us?
In case you missed it, my comment–about cleaning up racist filth–is directly below that comment. Don’t worry, I didn’t miss seeing it. But I felt it was not worthy of a direct reply and should be ignored. That’s a good way of getting rid of racist trolls…by reporting them and then ignoring them.
What I am saying to you is that SCENE does not allow use of the N-word on its comment threads. They usually delete the comment and the account of the person who used that word. But maybe in your case they have deided to make an exception. Time will tell.
This is shameful beyond belief and steps should be made towards change immediately. Will Cleveland’s white power structure do so? Doubtful. It’s a big reason why this area is doing so badly economically these days. It’s all the 1950s racist mentality. Racism has done as much, if more, to destroy Cleveland than the decline in manufacturing. Look at the East Side, West Side divide. The West Side is increasing in development and population right now while the East Side continues to decline. Why? There are black people on the East Side! That’s how primitive, backwards and racist the thinking is here in NEOH. The presence of black people completely rules all real estate decisions by corporations and individuals. It’s destroying us.
now you people know what you did to the east side now you are doing it to the west side why dont you go some where else to nest
There are multiple variables and far too many assumptions. Black does not equal poor, but often skews that way, especially in Rust Belt cities. Becoming a single mother at a young age, no matter one’s race, is a huge predictor of financial struggles, for the rest of the mother’s life. Urban public schools have traditionally struggled to educate poor students, of all races.
Yes, racism is a huge obstacle. Yes, access to capital is a huge obstacle. But, multiple times, some black women are succeeding, some spectacularly. That’s true with every race – not everyone is going to be above average. What these graphs show, more than anything, are the advantages of education and mobility. If you’re poor and stuck in a poor, decaying neighborhood, life is going to pretty much suck, with little hope for improvement.
The other element, that is more eveident in its omission, is comparing the success of black women to that of black men. They start with the same hurdles, so their stats should be nearly identical – are they? Plus there is no comparison of black women to white women (or Asian or Hispanic women). Sure, if you want to play the racism card, pull out the white men. But, is that the most relevent metric, if your goal is to compare relative progress, instead of airing historic grievances?