Steps are being taken for cultural equality in Fort Worth, but like many things it takes time.
During its work session May 1, the Fort Worth City Council received an interim report from the Task Force on Race and Culture from co-chairmen Rosa Navejar, Lillie Biggins, Rabbi Andrew Bloom, and Bob Ray Sanders.
The task force was created in August 2017 by the City Council and was originally scheduled to have a finished report by August 2018. However, the council voted May 1 to extend the deadline to Dec. 31.
The task force has 23 members, including the four co-chairs.
“We worked to make sure there was representation from all districts,” Navejar said.
So far the group has reached out to residents in a variety of ways, including 30 community conversations.
“We did not put a Band-Aid on our conversations,” Navejar said.
The top 10 issues at the community meetings were education, racism, economic development, criminal justice, segregation, prejudice, political representation, public accommodations, employment and housing.
Navejar said the greatest concerns voiced by residents included a belief that the city is doing little or nothing, that there is systematic, structural and institutional racism, and that city leaders failed to acknowledge the problem. The residents cited a need to continue, expand and deepen the community conversations.
“The hurt and the pain has come through in the reports that we’ve gotten and as we listen to the community. Some of it’s brought tears to my eyes,” Biggins said.
Biggins addressed disparities in criminal justice, using information from the Fort Worth Police Department. They include:
• 41 percent of those arrested in Fort Worth are African-American, while they make up 19 percent of the population.
• Only 13 percent of police recruits are African-American. There are no African-Americans in specialized police units.
• Only 16 of the 241 officers promoted to corporal/detective are African-American.
Bloom addressed education and health. He noted that while recent studies from Read Fort Worth show that 33 percent of third-graders in the Fort Worth Independent School District read at that level, only 20 percent of African-Americans do so. The state level is 44 percent.
Looking at secondary education, 88 percent of whites in Fort Worth are high school graduates, along with 85 percent of Hispanics and 84 percent of African-Americans, according to the Texas Education Agency. TEA reports that 84 percent of whites are college-career ready, compared with 74 of Hispanics and 67 percent of African-Americans.
Bloom cited a Fort Worth ISD report showing that of students suspended, 55 percent are African-Americans, compared with 37 percent for Hispanics and 5 percent for whites.
Concerning public health, Bloom noted that 40 percent of African-Americans in Fort Worth have high blood pressure, 38 percent are obese, 23 percent have cognitive decline, 16 percent have diabetes, and the infant mortality rate is 9.6 per 1,000 live births, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
“This is probably the most distressing figure that we have,” Bloom said, referring to the infant mortality rate.
Sanders spoke on housing and transportation disparities, using statistics from the city of Fort Worth, the U. S. Census Bureau and the city’s Transportation and Public Works.Â
He also cited that 77 percent of the streets in poor condition are in minority neighborhoods, as are 81 percent of sidewalks in poor condition and 66 percent of the streetlamps in poor condition.
“Where you go from here, it’s up to you,” Sanders told the council.
The task force has scheduled leadership training sessions for May 29 and June 14. They have also scheduled engagement meetings for community leaders on May 29 and June 29, and engagement meetings for interested residents on May 19, June 19 and June 28. Navejar said 38 people have registered for the community leader sessions and 99 for the resident sessions.
“I know Fort Worth, and I know we can do better than that,” she said, referring to the statistics. “And we will do better than that by working together.”
Navejar said the task force will continue to explore the extent and cause of disparities, prepare draft recommendations for the council and hold public meetings before making the final recommendations to the council in December.
“We don’t want to have this conversation in the next 10 years,” she said.
Neither do members of the council.
“This has not been a very easy conversation, and it’s definitely not been an easy conversation for the city of Fort Worth,” District 8 Councilwman Kelly Allen Gray said. “This is the kind of conversation many people shy away from.”
She thanked the task force, Mayor Betsy Price and her fellow council members for “having the guts to have this conversation.”
“It’s been eye-opening and heart-wrenching,” she said.
District 5 Councilwoman Gyna Bivens added, “Change is going to come, one way or another. People are angry. People are lost and they come to us, and I just hope we are brave enough to make the changes that are needed.”
District 6 Councilman Jungus Jordan said, “None of us can control the color of our skin when we’re born, but we can control what’s in our heart.”