T H E I N D E P E N D E N T D A I LY AT D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y
The Chronicle
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2011
Wealth of top 1 percent varies by race
ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH YEAR, ISSUE 66
WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM
Mahato evidence to be presented in Lovette trial
Piano man
by Toney Thompson
From Staff Reports
THE CHRONICLE
THE CHRONICLE
The racial makeup of the top earners in American society is significantly lopsided, according to federal income data. Blacks comprise just 1.4 percent of the top 1 percent of American households by income. Hispanics and other minority groups make up .9 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively, according to the Grio, a news website focusing on news in the black community. Within the 1 percent, blacks make about 22 percent less than their white counterparts and in terms of the median net worth of the top 1 percent, whites hold almost seven times more wealth than blacks. The Grio calculated this from data based on the Federal Reserve’s 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances. One of the biggest factors related to this wealth gap, according to the Grio, is the higher level of household debt—roughly $1.4 million on average—that blacks in the top 1 percent accumulate. Despite this disparity, some contend that debt is not the main cause that inhibits wealth accumulation by blacks. “The major sources of wealth for most of the super-rich are inheritances and in life transfers,” William Darity, arts and sciences professor of public policy and professor of African-American studies and economics at Duke, wrote in an email Monday. “The big reason is racial differences in access to resources to transfer to the next generation.” Darity, who was also quoted in the Grio article, added that the practices of slavery, violence, Jim Crow laws, discrimination and dispossession of property have kept generations of blacks from accruing the type of wealth that whites in the top 1 percent have today. But the government needs to help in creating a wealth cycle for blacks and any low-wealth Americans is imperative, Darity added. He proposes that the government provide bonds ranging in value from $20,000 to $30,000—the “Baby Bonds” proposal—to infants born into low-wealth families. When they reach adulthood, those individuals can then tap into these bonds, thus creating an inheritance for these children. The Baby Bonds proposal would only cost about $60 billion annually—a drop in the bucket compared to the total national debt, Darity said. “That’s a great idea,” said Robert Korstad, professor of public policy. “When we think of the wealth in the top 1 percent a lot of that money is generations old, and [blacks] have been excluded from it due to the legacy of discrimination and segregation.” Despite their under-representation among the 1 percent, blacks have not joined the Occupy movement, according to data compiled Fast Company. They make up 1.6 percent of the approximate 5,000 protestors surveyed at the
Evidence surrounding the alleged murder of Duke graduate student Abhijit Mahato will be admissible in the trial of Laurence Lovette, who is being charged with first-degree murder in the death of former UNC student body president Eve Carson. Lovette is also accused of murdering Mahato, an engineering graduate student who was shot and killed in his home at the Anderson Apartments near West Campus Jan. 18, 2008, though the case has not yet been resolved. Lovette pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder charge and four other charges in the Carson case Nov. 17. Orange County Criminal Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour ruled Monday that evidence in the Mahato case can be introduced in the Carson trial, the Herald-Sun reported earlier this week. The ruling came after Lovette’s attorneys Kevin Bradley and Karen Bethea-Shields requested that the evidence be excluded from the trial, arguing that the murders of Carson and Mahato were not related enough to warrant allowing evidence from the latter case. The defense also said that aspects of the Mahato case could confuse and prejudice the Orange County jury against Lovette, she said. “We’re not trying the Durham case,” BetheaShields told the Herald-Sun. “We’re trying the case here in Orange County.”
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Fred Hersch, HIV-positive activist and three-time Grammy nominee, performs at the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture Wednesday night to celebrate World AIDS Day.
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Yale may draw from Tailgate’s fate by Patton Callaway THE CHRONICLE
Two weeks after an incident at a Yale University tailgate killed a person, administrative officials have begun a review of the school’s tailgating policies. At a tailgate before the annual Harvard-Yale football game Nov. 19, Brendon Ross, a Yale junior, lost control of a U-Haul transporting beer kegs. The vehicle accelerated into the crowd, hitting three women. One of the women was Nancy Barry, a 30-year-old Massachusetts resident, who was pronounced dead less than an hour after being struck. The incident at Yale comes just one year after the accident at Duke’s tailgate where a minor, who was the guest of a student, was found unconscious in
a Porta Potty. Although the accident at Duke prompted the cancelation of tailgate in its entirety, how Yale’s tailgate polices will shift in light of recent events has yet to be determined, said George Hunter, a junior at Yale who was present at the incident. “Every tailgate from now on will definitely be different, whether that has to do with new rules or with a sense of not being able to enjoy it as much,” Hunter said. The Yale College Dean’s Office and Yale Athletics along with Yale’s Council of Masters, Yale Secuirty and Yale Police Department have begun an official review of Yale’s current tailgate policy, the Yale Daily News reported Monday. The review will take into account tailgate policies at other universities, Yale
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CHRISTINA PENA/CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO
ONTHERECORD
Welch garners nomination, Page 3
Press Secretary Tom Conroy wrote in an email Tuesday. Conroy said there is no timetable in place for Yale’s revision of its tailgate policy, and it is still unclear what the review process will ultimately conclude. He declined to comment further on the review process. Yale administrators did not contact Duke in the aftermath of the incident, Vice President of Student Affairs Larry Moneta wrote in an email Wednesday. Moneta noted that he did not expect any correlation between Yale’s “tragic circumstances” and Duke’s Football Gameday policies. Janet Lindner, associate vice president
“We are the start of the process that ends up selecting one of the most important positions on campus.” —Junior Stratten Waldt on the YTNC selection process. See story page 3
Cross country season in review, Page 5