Worth Reading: Education, the Recession, Precious

From The Sentencing Project

December 2, 2009
Today is National Call-in Day to Eliminate the Cocaine Disparity: Help Pass Legislation This Year
For the first time, crack cocaine sentencing reform legislation received a favorable vote in Congress when the House Judiciary Committee in July approved the Fairness in Cocaine Sentencing Act of 2009, H.R. 3245. To move the bill forward we need a vote on the bill by the entire House of Representatives. Now is the time for advocates to contact their Representative to ask for support and co-sponsorship of H.R. 3245. Call the U.S. Capitol today at (202) 224-3121 and ask to speak to your Representative.
[more information]

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More on Blacks Valuing Education

Congratulations to journalist Vivian Po for writing about "More Latinos and African Americans Value Higher Education." Po's piece is based on yet another survey showing more pro-education attitudes among blacks. While many journalists repeat anti-black stereotypes, it's great that Po sticks to the facts.

Blacks and the Great Recession

V. Dion Haynes highlights the challenges faced by young black men in "Blacks Hit hard by Economy's Punch." Allison Linn discusses the labor market and formerly incarcerated and homeless black workers in "Black Workers' Crisis May Linger After Upturn." Michael Luo discusses the black-white unemployment gap among those with a college degree.

Thumbs Down on Precious

Courtland Milloy says that Precious is "A Film as Lost as the Girl it Glorifies." He is "bewildered by its enthusiastic reception." Juell Stewart sees more redeeming aspects to Precious than Milloy, but she criticizes the film for resuscitating president Ronald Reagan's "welfare queen" stereotype and for being "irresponsible to the African-American community."



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--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.


Copyright © 2005-2009 by Thora Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Short Takes: Hunger in America; Who Gets the Good Jobs?

A New Lecture: “Anti-Black Discrimination in the Age of Obama” by Dr. Algernon Austin

The simplistic idea that impoverished African Americans have only themselves to blame for their poverty, due to their poor cultural values—a notion advanced by many, including black public figures such as Bill Cosby—is believable only if a blind eye is turned to those inconvenient things social scientists like to call “facts.” Algernon Austin soundly refutes the “culture of poverty” argument by paying careful attention to marco-economic data about long-term poverty trends and sociological case studies about persistent discrimination. In other words, unlike the glib punditry, Austin actually looks at the “facts.”
--Dr. Andrew Hartman, professor and audience member, Illinois State University

Contact Dr. Austin to arrange a speaking engagement.
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Hunger in America

The United States is one of the richest countries in the world, and yet we have a high and growing rate of people who cannot obtain enough food to eat. In 2008, the United States Department of Agriculture observed a record high rate of households that did not have "dependable access to adequate food." This rise in food insecurity is most likely due to the recession. This means that we should expect the numbers of the hungry in America rise again in the 2009 data and maybe in the 2010 data too since unemployment will likely increase into 2010.Source: United States Department of Agriculture, 2009

Not surprisingly, the black rate of food insecurity was more than twice the white rate. Although Canada is not as rich a country as the United States, it has a lower rate of food insecurity than the United States.

Who Gets the Good Jobs?

At every education level, white workers are more likely to obtain good jobs than blacks. In the analysis below, a good job is defined as a job that pays 60 percent of the median household income and provides health and retirement benefits. Whites without a college education are much more likely to obtain good jobs than blacks with comparable levels of education. The disparity shrinks as at higher education levels, but it does not go away.Source: Economic Policy Institute, 2009

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--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.


Copyright © 2005-2009 by Thora Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Diversity in Black America

Algernon Austin presents an excellent, concise, and wonderfully read scholarly examination of the complicated landscape of race, class and popular perception. Besides the prison industrial complex, black strides in education, poverty rates, crime and other indices contradict claims that blacks are “moving backward.”
--Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar, Director, Institute for African American Studies, University of Connecticut and author of Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity (The Johns Hopkins University Press), 2004 and Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap (University Press of Kansas), 2007.

Purchase Getting It Wrong: How Black Public Intellectuals
Are Failing Black America by Algernon Austin
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Black America continues to become more diverse--just like the country as a whole. According to my estimates from Census Bureau data, in 2008, about 3.5 million people with black identities (including people with more than one racial identity) in the United States were foreign-born. In 2000, there were only 2.6 million foreign-born blacks. This means that the foreign-born black population increased 33 percent from 2000 to 2008, while the U.S.-born black population increased only 9.5 percent.

Although the foreign-born black population is growing rapidly, it is still a relatively small portion of the black population nationally. It may surprise many to learn that in 2008, only 8.7 percent of blacks were foreign-born.

There are a number of reasons why people may assume that the foreign-born share of the black population is larger than it is. One reason is because the black foreign-born population is not uniformly distributed across the country. Nationally it was 8.7 percent of the black population in 2008, but in New York state, for example, it was 27.7 percent of the black population. In the metropolitan New York city area, it was 32.4 percent. In New York City proper, it was likely an even higher percentage. People from parts of the country where there are large numbers of foreign-born blacks will likely be shocked at the small percentage of foreign-born blacks overall.

A second issue is that people may not distinguish the foreign-born from the foreign-identified. There are blacks who were born in the United States but who have a parent or grandparent who were foreign-born and who identify with the parent's or grandparent's country-of-origin. The percent of blacks with a foreign identity is presumably larger than the share of blacks who are foreign-born.

Another aspect of black diversity is the growth of the black multiracial population. In 2008, 2.6 million blacks identified as having more than one race. In 2000, 1.9 million blacks had more than one racial identity. This population has therefore increased 41 percent.

(It is important to be aware that not everyone who has parents with different racial identities, identifies as multiracial. Barack Obama, for example, identifies as black although he could identify as multiracial.)

Researchers often ignore the multiracial population in data analyses. But the population is becoming too large to ignore.


Share this article with a friend. Use the email icon below.
--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.


Copyright © 2005-2009 by Thora Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Why Blacks Value Education More Than Whites, Part II

A New Lecture: “Anti-Black Discrimination in the Age of Obama” by Dr. Algernon Austin

The simplistic idea that impoverished African Americans have only themselves to blame for their poverty, due to their poor cultural values—a notion advanced by many, including black public figures such as Bill Cosby—is believable only if a blind eye is turned to those inconvenient things social scientists like to call “facts.” Algernon Austin soundly refutes the “culture of poverty” argument by paying careful attention to marco-economic data about long-term poverty trends and sociological case studies about persistent discrimination. In other words, unlike the glib punditry, Austin actually looks at the “facts.”
--Dr. Andrew Hartman, professor and audience member, Illinois State University

Contact Dr. Austin to arrange a speaking engagement.
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As illustrated previously, if a black person wishes to earn the same amount as a white person, the odds are that the black person needs to be better educated than the white person. This relationship also holds for simply finding a job. If a black person wishes to have the same odds of finding work as a white person, the black person needs to be better educated than the white person.

Above is the third quarter (July-September) unemployment rates for this year. At all education levels, the black unemployment rate is higher than the white rate. Blacks with high school diplomas or GEDs have an unemployment rate similar to whites who dropped out of high school. Blacks with a bachelor's degree or higher have an unemployment rate that is similar to whites with high school diplomas or GEDs.

If a black person wishes to have the same odds of finding work and working for similar earnings as a white person, the black person needs to be better educated than the white person. When one considers this, it is simply economically rational for blacks to value education more than whites. Blacks need education more than whites for economic success.

Share this article with a friend. Use the email icon below.
--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.


Copyright © 2005-2009 by Thora Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved.