With the socalled “Mancession” continuing apace, I thought I would dedicate a post to the Black side of the issue, since Black Men have always been unemployed or under-employed at a higher rate than White Men overall, other than Chattel Slavery, of course.
Depending on who you read and believe, Black Males have an unemployment rate easily twice that of White Males-and that was *before* the current Mancession. One can speculate what said rates for Black Men must be now.
In the Obama Era though, the shopworn causes, themes and issues simply won’t do anymore, like discrimination, racism, lack of education/skills, lack of work ethic, “chips on shoulders” and so on-afterall, Obama made it, so that means that any Black Man who works hard, adopts White demeanor, and studies hard, will make it too!
Right?
Uh, well, to be brutally blunt…no.
In his book Two Nations, Queens College Prof. Andrew Hacker examines these and other claims. He focuses in on the premise that “education” really does pay off for Black Men. You can look it up for yourself (Deery) if you haven’t read the book already, but just to give you a taste, Hacker’s findings after perusing the data-admittedly roughly a decade old-is that the ONLY people “educated” Black Men do better than, is “uneducated” Black Men-they DON’T do any better than White Men, White Women, or for that matter, even Black Women. Oh, and by the way, Black Women tend to fare a bit better than White Women along these lines. One can speculate as to why that is.
So, Hacker’s findings pretty much support something I wrote a little while back about Black Males and Education, that many of them are actually smart enough to know that it will have little direct impact for the better in their lives. Indeed, Hacker’s findings show that “educated” Black Males still have an unemployment rate *twice* that of White Males.
We all know what the HBDers among us will say, right? Either totally unqualified Black guys are getting the cushy jobs, or, failing that since Hacker’s findings shoot that bird right outta the sky, that Black guys were basically socially promoted all the way through undergrad and grad school. OK, but so what, if the findings show that they still wind up unemployed anyway? Well, the HBDers will say, that’s because when they hit the realworld, they couldn’t hack it due to their being pushed through the system, etc, et al.
Affirmative Action strikes again. You gotta give the HBDers one thing-at least they’re consistent.
I love examining the deeply held assumptions a lot of people so tenaciously cling to, because very often, said assumptions aren’t grounded in fact but instead serve a very important, deep and emotional need for those who hold on to them. Which is fine, but the problem is that these same people want so desperately to be seen and respected as thinking, considered folks, who are only relaying the “facts”. LOL. See my last post for more on that point.
Anyway, the deal is, that Black Men continue to be the last hired and first fired, and “acting right” (read, White), not having a “chip on your shoulder”, being “educated” and the like, doesn’t have a damned thing to do with it. Like I said, other than Chattel Slavery itself, when there was a 100% “employment” rate among Black Men, there has NEVER been a time when Black Male employment rates were at or even near parity with White Males.
The reasons for why that is, especially when you factor in what Prof. Hacker says in Two Nations, really should be obvious by now.
Anyway, I just wanted to skewer this notion that “education” is the path to success-it may be, but when it comes to Black Men, it is at best, a shaky premise that doesn’t hold a heck of a lot of water when submitted to the acid test.
I’m just sayin.
Now adjourn your asses…
The Obsidian
