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This objective look at the situation of Black Americans comes from a American -Jamaican. Educated in the West Indies and in Britain, Patterson is able to bring another perspective to look what has happened and what is the way forward. Here he is interviewed by the Harvard Gazette. Patterson is a professor of sociology at Harvard. A separate Saturday Essay by Orlando Patterson appears in the Wall Street Journal on June 6, 2020. Patterson points out that the big problem is de-ghettoization is not happening. Progress is not about integration first, it is about successful de-ghettoization taking place first, says Patterson.  And here he faults white liberals for not putting their money where their mouth is. For this to happen black families have to be able to move into suburbs. Strict zoning laws and limits to building moderately priced housing in some of the most liberal parts of the country keep out families wanting to move to the suburbs.  It is the social contact even side by side in suburbs with a leap in quality of housing and neighborhoods, schools, that can change people's own perceptions of themselves and their interactions with the communities around them. A lot of whites Patterson says have liberal views but when it comes down to making the concessions needed to make black lives better they are not willing to do that.   Patterson offers his own experience in Britain walking down a street in Cambridge. He lived on Trowbridge Street. He enjoyed walking through the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. And while walking he observed the easy interaction of black kids and white kids, and realized how different this was from the 1960's and 1970's. Having this sort of interaction comes from a more integrated setting, so that people grow up not having that awkwardness or lacking social contact.      ...

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Professor Patterson of Harvard University has some serious observations on what has happened and what could be the way forward in America as it faces the lack of opportunities for a better life for minority communities trapped in cities with a deteriorating quality of life.  Between 1985 and 2000 a higher percentage of black children, about two thirds of black children, grew up in high poverty segregated areas than in the period between 1955 and 1970, according to a Pew Trust study of 2009. This affects everything from social mobility, life chances, potential for downward mobility. Particularly so because by 2016 the gap between black and white incomes has worsened, says professor Patterson. With this segregation has become worse in America at the level of neighborhoods where people actually meet, he says, citing a 2015 paper by Daniel Lichter of Cornell University.  In some ways segregation says Dr. Patterson is worse than in the 1960's. This could be because of downward social and economic mobility. Events such as the mortgage financial crisis of 2009 with bad decisions by the banking industry disproportionately hurt the black and minority communities. The trade imbalance and shift of manufacturing overseas hurt manufacturing jobs for white and black communities. Weakness in education and health services also hurt poorer communities of all races and color. In some ways the work of presidents Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson in the 50's and 60's may have created more hope and a sense that "a rising tide lifts all boats" in economic opportunities that may have been lost in the work of presidents after Clinton with loss of jobs in manufacturing for ordinary black and white Americans alike. The bad decisions by the banking industry and selling of bad mortgages, worsening health care options with overpricing in the medical field, all compounding the effect on  ordinary Americans. In a separate interview in the Harvard Gazette professor Patterson says de-ghettoization, moving to the suburbs is one way to better opportuntiies in the suburbs. For this to happen more moderate income housing is needed in the suburbs. A cultural change in attitudes comes with a shift to neighborhoods where communities can interact and meet. For this to happen strict zoning laws that prevent moderate income housing in suburbs such as in California and many other states needs to change. As professor Orlando Patterson says here in the Harvard Gazette and in the WSJ more Americans with liberal views need to put their money where their voices are. A stronger economy, education for changes in cultural attitudes in classrooms, cultural literacy, more manufacturing in America to create better middle class wages and jobs for Americans of all communities giving industry a role, and more of the affluent putting their money where their voices are for better integrated living in the suburbs not just for a few, are ways to bring better life for Americans.   ...

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Orlando Patterson, a Professor of Sociology at Harvard, says Mr Obama is seen by inner city blacks as too remote from them and their lives to be a role model. And that he is more likely to influence the racial attitudes of middleclass blacks and younger white Americans. He sees constructive effort in policies for education, improved parenting in black families, and efforts to help disadvantaged white and minority families. But he does not see Obama in any way ending America's long ordeal with race.