News
William Julius Wilson, a professor at Harvard University, warned yesterday that American cities "will remain divided racially and culturally for the foreseeable future." This division will lead to greater, and possibly violent, ethnic conflict, unless groups begin to develop a sense of interdependence.
Wilson, who for the last three decades has written prominent books on race and the urban poor, told an overflowing crowd in the Rockefeller Center that the potential for ethnic unrest occurs when groups are "more likely to focus on their differences than their commonalties."
Because tension increases when people believe they must compete with members of another race for jobs and services, races -- particularly those living in the same neighborhood or city -- must realize they are dependent on one another and focus on their common goals, he said.
As an example, Wilson said that in one neighborhood, white and Hispanic parents joined together to fight an autocratic school council.
"They shared a common concern: the education of their children," he said.
There will have to be more examples like this to prevent continued racial tension, which threatens American cities, according to Wilson.
This is the first time in the nation's history, he said, that whites are the minority in the 100 largest cities.