Update — 9/18/2007 — I see that the City of Whitewater has updated its demographics information, with a link entitled, “VIEW WHITEWATER’S DEMOGRAPHICS” to a U.S. Census document on Whitewater in 2000. It’s a predictable response: post to a U.S. government document, with the implication that nothing in a federal document could be unsuitable.
It’s all context, isn’t it? Sometimes one doesn’t trumpet, or display, all possible facts about a place. One would imagine that would be obvious to an administration that emphasizes ‘enlightenment,’ or the ‘success force,’ or similar vapid quotations about politeness and supposed insight. Yet all these banal, pop-psychology phrases come in place of a serious reliance on the canonical political documents of this republic.
It’s predicable — but none too clever — that an administration that’s been silent (especially when it matters) on absurd candidacies and over-reaching authority would link to a third-party document. If I had bet on the matter, I would have staked on this likely response.
There is one great advantage, to me, of the city’s choice of demographics document — its data will be the starting point for a series on economics and poverty that I’ll begin later this week. Thanks, city officials, for making the beginning of that series that much easier.
Update — 9/11/07 — the City of Whitewater has now removed the link entitled Demographics from its website.
I love this small city, and I am convinced that it’s a place worth reforming.
Faithful readers well know that, near the time this website first started, I published a post in May about a now-defunct Community Development Authority webpage that listed our city’s demographics as “White, Non-minority 95%.” Here is the image of that page. Here’s what I wrote about that odd reference to race on that webpage:
1. Why would the Community Development Authority describe our workforce as “white, non-minority” when the law itself forbids hiring based on racial preference?
2. Who are “non-minorities?” Would Jews, or Mormons, for example, be considered minorities?
3. If the goal were diversity in hiring, why not directly mention by group those who are “non-white, minority” rather than emphasize whites, and leave others out by express exclusion?
4. Who actually wrote this description of our workforce?
5. From the point of view of the free market, why would race matter? Education, or experience in previous jobs, of course. But race?
I can find no similar statistics (’white, non-minority’) listed for neighboring Fort Atkinson’s website, and that’s unsurprising: the Whitewater Community Development description of our workforce speaks for itself, and its authors, and none too well.
In reply, CDA director Mary Nimm wrote to me that she had “no explanation for the content on the site today as it was
created / written by those before me. Since coming to the CDA in November of last year, I have been working with our IT department to gain control of the site for updates and redesign. You can expect numerous changes to be made over the next few months.”
Fair enough; patience is justified.
Now, months later, there’s a section entitled “About Whitewater — Demographics” on the City of Whitewater’s website. Here’s part of what it says, as of this posting:
RACE AND ETHNICITY
White 12,395
Black or African American 315
American Indian and Alaska native 36
Asian 197
Native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander 2
Some other race 333
Two or more races 159
Hispanic or Latino 873
There’s more:
PER CAPITA INCOME BY RACE OR ETHNICITY
Per capita income 13,965
White 14,214
Black or African American 11,046
Native American 11,514
Asian 13,244
Native Hawaiian and Pacific islander 620
Some other race 10,429
Two or more races 9,455
Hispanic or Latino 8,699
I have links listed below to seven other Wisconsin municipal websites, and not one of them – not one of them – has demographics like these, with an enumeration of race and ethnicity listed. Feel free to visit these other municipal websites of our neighbors and see if you find anything like what we have described here. You won’t.
City of Fort Atkinson
City of Jefferson
City of Elkhorn
City of Janesville
City of Milwaukeee
City of Madison
City of La Crosse
This peculiar catalog of race and ethnicity on our City of Whitewater website is contrary to the fundamental political traditions of the United States and the State of Wisconsin. As for America, Lincoln was right when he said that, ultimately, it was the Declaration of Independence’s recognition that all were created equal that underlay our constitutional tradition.
The State of Wisconsin, in our own state constitution, proudly and correctly declares that
ARTICLE I, SECTION 1. All people are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights; among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; to secure these rights, governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
Those are beautiful, noble, and virtuous words, and our legal foundation.
The City of Whitewater website should be more than a shabby genealogist’s newsletter, or a scattering of census information; it should represent the fundamental traditions of equality under the law without regard to race and ethnicity. Why, then, the odd interest in enumerating ethnic groups on the Demographics page? Is there no one who’s not aware of what this reasonably suggests about us? Is there no one who didn’t have a second thought about whether this information mattered? (Our neighboring cities knew better. Why can’t we do better?)
We declare to the world that we have so many Norwegians, so many Germans, etc. If a Norwegian or two moves away, and Italians arrive, what difference could it make? None that should matter to this city.
Imagine yourself at a party. It’s a refined affair, of the sort that the fancy love to attend. The hostess turns to you, to introduce you to her other guests. She looks out across the spacious room, dressed elegantly as she is, and extends her hand in the direction of the assembled gathering. She announces for you, and all to hear, “Well, I have three Germans over there, a Czech near the fireplace, and some Italians on the veranda. My white guests earn the most, but I do have a few racial minorities in the kitchen. They make less than the others, though, but what is one to do?”
That’s worse than an impolite, insulting introduction; it’s a fundamental misunderstanding of how one should think about one’s guests. Why would we treat our fellow residents with that same sort of disgraceful introduction?
This is no matter of mere website design; this is a matter of core content, and what that content means. It’s a matter of leadership, accountability, and proper oversight.
I have no idea which person – as a leader in this town — is responsible for the passage entitled Demographics. I have no idea if a political leader — and this is a political leader’s job – bothered to review and approve this content for the City of Whitewater’s website. I do know that where I live in Whitewater – and in every other part of this lovely city – we deserve a better introduction for visitors than one that trumpets an un-American, exclusionary enumeration by ‘Race and Ethnicity.’