Response to Norman J. Wilsman's December 27th, 2023 letter to the Peninsula Pulse
Dear Norman,
I saw your letter at https://doorcountypulse.com/letter-to-the-editor-racism-in-wisconsin/.
The ranking at https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/most-racist-states includes a table showing how the score was devised. The same factors for this table were used to generate another table, for the least racist states, at https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/least-racist-states.
The overall ranking is weighted by multiple factors, including the degree with which neighborhoods are integrated, measuring the gradient from segregation to integration in a modified way relating to education and health care. This is an innovation from the standard method of measuring segregation. The original geographic method for measuring racism was criticized by a retired Democratic politician, John Norquist: https://wtop.com/podcast/colors-a-dialogue-on-race-in-america/colors-ep-10-is-milwaukee-really-americas-most-racist-city/.
Norquist described how a segregation measure known as the dissimilarity index ends up penalizing cities where large numbers of black people live, unfairly considering them more racist than cities like Brookfield, where the sparse black population is evenly distributed.
Likewise, Wisconsin ranks poorly on health integration according to this table, but https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-black-progress-index/ shows that, for the counties with data, black life expectancy is better than in a number of other states.
In the World Population Review link, there is discussion about more recent Twitter data, but for actually producing the rankings, they rely instead on the older Twitter data from 2012. Your finding that there is consistency in Wisconsin's racism ranking from 2022 to 2023 could reflect that they used some of the same figures to produce both rankings. World Population Review is run by a for-profit business which manages at least two websites with the help of nine employees. They might not have capacity to update things as much as they would like to.
Interestingly, Texas ranks third-highest on the least racist states, and it doesn't have any DEI staff at its state universities. Second-ranked Arizona has prohibited the use of DEI statements from the hiring process for university staff, but unlike Texas, they employ DEI staff.
Of course, the same factors which might lead one to discount the ranking of Wisconsin as being second most racist, would also lead one to discount the ranking of Texas as third least racist. As you noticed, there are also other websites with ranking systems, with varying results.
Why is the racial geographic distribution in Wisconsin such that it is thought to indicate racism? In the 20th century, there was an emigration of blacks out of the South, to northern urban areas such as Milwaukee, followed by economic troubles and the opening of abortion clinics in the vicinity of the relocation. Had the black birthrate not been cratered by the abortion clinics, the racial geography would likely have been more random, and therefore more integrated.
The racial geographic distribution in Wisconsin is not merely a historical fluke. Instead, it is in part the result of decades of slaughter. This continues today; https://www.protectingblacklife.org/pp_targets/index.html gives a racial breakdown of the areas current targeted by Planned Parenthood.
In Texas, unborn babies of all races are protected by law, while in Wisconsin, some are painfully killed, such as with a vacuum aspirator which pulverizes them, or by another method involving ripping their limbs off.
So this is an area where Wisconsin is more racist than Texas.
You mentioned a bank. As for the impact of local banks, the income figures reported for households relocating out of Door County at https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-migration-data are incredibly concerning.
The cost of living is presumably a factor in why people are leaving, and housing costs are a component of the cost of living. Housing costs have been increased by property speculation, which is fueled by the discretionary lending practices of financial institutions.
The average annual gross adjusted income on tax returns for people leaving Door County between tax filings for 2020 and 2021 was $78,286. For Door County residents who didn't move, the figure was $79,991. Those coming in had tax returns reflecting an average income of $107,581.
The median income for all races in Wisconsin, averaging responses from 2018 to 2022, using 2022 dollars, was $72,458.
Wisconsin's estimated black median income for 2022, using only one year of survey responses, is reported on another website, https://www.neilsberg.com/insights/wisconsin-median-household-income-by-race/, as $38,730.
Should the situation be improved to the extent that every race earns the median income for all races in Wisconsin, the cost of living in Door County would still be a factor even then. Property speculation increasing the cost of living is both a racial issue and a broader issue simultaneously.
There is a table at https://hdpulse.nimhd.nih.gov/data-portal/physical/table?race=00&race_options=raceall_1&sex=0&sex_options=sexboth_1&age=001&age_options=ageall_1&statefips_options=area_states&demo=01005&demo_options=res_seg_2&physicaltopic=100&physicaltopic_options=physical_2&statefips=55 showing that Kewaunee County is the third-least segregated county in Wisconsin, for counties which have data reported.
Door County is not included in this table, but it is included at https://injepijournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40621-023-00425-w/figures/1. The map on the left shows the dissimilarity index, indicating that Door County is more segregated than Kewaunee County.
For context, the map at https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/charts/22?state=WI shows Kewaunee County as having a higher percentage of black people than Door County.
It is probable that the ranking system used by World Population Review, if applied to the county level, would rank Door County as more racist than Kewaunee County.
You asked about what could be done. https://www.co.door.wi.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_07252023-1496#page=77 has technical frameworks. How would one know for sure one way or the other, if the frameworks would help?
How many more years should the DEI processes be carried out, before it should be re-evaluated to see what is accomplished? Would it ever help the tax return figures even out?
What I think would help would be for Door County to treat Kewaunee County as a role model on things which could impact racism. It is unlikely to be just one thing, but surely there are areas which could be emulated. The grass is not always greener on the other side, but in this case the dissimilarity index says it is.
The diaper bank could be symbolic of something larger. What is it that Kewaunee County, its elected officials and civil servants, and other community leaders know or do?
Things in Door County could always be worse. It is comforting to know that the man who in 2020 vandalized the Door County Republican headquarters was from 500 miles away. This was probably his first visit to the area, and maybe he just came in with some group and didn't know about Door County.
It is impossible to prove such things, but I wonder if by now there is a protective effect generated by A.J. Dillon's generous support.
There may yet be more high-profile people out there, who would be willing to lend their appreciation to cities and counties throughout Wisconsin. Dillon, with his support for Door County, could be a model for others to emulate. If social conditions start to deteriorate someday the way they did in 2020, their public goodwill could encourage people not to give up on their local areas.
Other posts related to protecting unborn babies:
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/protecting-unborn-babies