麻豆传媒

Thirty-one years ago, the U.B. Center for Urban Studies conducted a comprehensive study of the State of Black Buffalo, entitled African Americans and the Rise of Buffalo's Post-Industrial City, 1940 to the Present, hereafter referred to as the State of Black Buffalo study.1 An unprecedented partnership among the Urban League, the Buffalo Common Council and its president, George K. Arthur, and the 麻豆传媒o sponsored the study. Professor Henry-Louis Taylor, Jr., director of the U.B. Center for Urban Studies, led the investigation. Taylor assembled a team of more than ten scholars and consultants to work on the project.

William Julius Wilson's provocative books, The Declining Significance of Race (1978) and The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy (1987), guided the development of the project’s theoretical framework. Wilson argued that the rise of a neoliberal knowledge economy was producing a new Black inequality. The rapid growth of an underclass was accompanying the improving conditions of a Black middle-class. He declared that an advancing Black middle-class did not signal the dawning of a golden age for the masses. In contrast, the rising economy was propelling a small middle upward while dragging the Black masses downward. Wilson indicated that growing jobless, low incomes and poverty were spawning Black social challenges, including the rise of single-parent families headed by women, which would worsen without successful intervention.2

The Black Buffalo study intended to see if similar dynamics were occurring in the city. It aimed to determine how Buffalo's emerging knowledge economy and the city-building process were impacting African Americans. The study stressed change over time and conceptualized the eighties as a liminal space betwixt what was and what's next. The aim was to determine if the Black socioeconomic trajectory was trending upward or downward. Then, based on this analysis, researchers would develop a policy agenda to guide the development of an intervention strategy.

This report, The Harder We Run, uses the Black Buffalo project as a reference point to determine if African Americans made "progress" over the past thirty-one years. It aims to determine if the Black socioeconomic trajectory is trending upward or downward. Progress is a shadowy term that requires careful definition.3 This report defines it as a Black movement toward a status where most African Americans receive a good education and have jobs that pay a livable wage. Such wages will enable most Blacks to live in high-quality, affordable houses in safe and vibrant East Side neighborhoods, attend and graduate on time from excellent neighborhood-based schools, and experience social well-being, joyfulness, love, and support. Social well-being refers to wellness, good physical and mental health, and meaningful social relationships, including a sense of connectedness and belonging. At a practical level, social well-being indicates earning a livable wage that enables you to make ends meet and residing in a good, affordable home situated in a neighborhood of choice, where the physical and social environments are healthy

This report consists of five sections, including the introduction. The introductory section explains the methodology, while the second part outlines the historical context that frames Black Buffalo’s development. Part three provides a synopsis of the Black Buffalo project. Section four analyzes the status of Black Buffalo today by focusing on the socio-economic status of African Americans, neighborhood conditions on Buffalo's East Side, and the community's health status. The final section contains the conclusion, reflections on the City’s strategy for addressing Black Buffalo's challenges, and recommendations.