better? and you re absolutely right. if you look at how we pay for our schools, it s based on property values. but look at what just happened with the economic downturn. we saw that african-americans lost half of their homes. we were at 44%. now we re down to 22%. that means not only did we lose half of our homes, we lost half of our wealth. how are we going to address those real problems and make sure we can get these communities back on a pathway to prosperity? that s the challenge. i don t think we can address income inequality in one or two years, it s going to be a generational effort. joy, if we start shortchanging kids at a young age, that s a road to disaster, in my opinion. and you talk about being a product of forced busing. if you look in the mid-1950s after the brown v. board of education decision in 1954, there was a huge backlash against the ability of kids to integrate. why did they want to integrate? because the schools in their community were being underresourced.
programs so they re here for young people here when they re ready for retirement, but we don t have an urgent deficit crisis. the only crisis we have is one that s manufactured in washington, and it s ideological. and the basic notion is, is that we shouldn t be helping people get health care and we shouldn t be helping kids who can t help themselves and whose parents are underresourced, we shouldn t be helping them get a leg up. and so some of the proposals we ve seen now are talking about even deeper cuts in programs like headstart, even deeper cuts in education support, even deeper cuts in basic science and research. and that s like eating your corn seed. you know, it s like being penny wise and pound foolish, because
can t solve the problem. you have 179 square miles. you can graze cattles in vast portions. dogs roam in there. 3% of fourth graders read at national math standard. 47% of detroit residents are illiterate. they don t have a fiscal problem. they have a cultural collapse. mr. will, i will debate you any time, any place on what has happened to detroit and what is happening in our inner cities. and deindustrialization of this country. any time, you name it. or just have coffee with you. you are void of the fact. you have come to conclusions about black people. have you come to conclusions about cities that are underresourced. you have come to the con clougs that it is not important to
yeah. this was a trick question, chris, that i wasn t expecting. but, i mean, i have mixed views on it, too. it was a tough love message. and really, you know, i think that he missed an opportunity to talk some about the structural barriers that young people, young black men, especially, really do see as they move forward in this country. and so i think it was a missed opportunity what are those, by the way? those young men what are those structural barriers? well b, i mean, from mass incarceration to schools that are underresourced. he could have talked about jobs. and the need for more jobs. and the black unemployment rate. and really kind of hit home on some of the challenges. and whatnot only he, but the democratic party, are doing in order to make sure that the black community is strengthened and that we come back and bounce back in this bad economy. that s why i m glad you re
to help recreate the rungs of that ladder we re supposed to climb. this is something i m curious about. i watch this stuff from my perspective. i have a mixed view of it, too. i think depends who you re talking to. i do, too. one of the best schools in the country, morehouse. he had no problem. they were as energized and academically driven as anybody in the country. don t go to them talking about how they don t believe in books. your thoughts. it s tricky stuff. yeah. this was a trick question, chris, that i wasn t expecting. but, i mean, i have mixed views on it, too. it was a tough love message. and really, you know, i think that he missed an opportunity to talk some about the structural barriers that young people, young black men, especially, really do see as they move forward in this country. and so i think it was a missed opportunity what are those, by the way? those young men what are those structural barriers? well b, i mean, from mass incarceration to schoo