Does racism
against blacks still exist in the United States? Yes. Is it still
an institutionalized evil that holds back African-
Americans?
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Does racism against blacks still exist
in the United States? Yes. Is it still an institutionalized evil
that holds back African- Americans? Depends on where you look and
what you see. There is a sizable black middle class, more blacks go
to college than ever before and yes, you know what’s coming a black
man is president of the United States, as is his leading campaign
opponent, at the moment.
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On the other hand, by almost every
statistical index of well-being, blacks fare worse than
whites.
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The percentage of African- Americans
mired in poverty is nearly three times the percentage of whites in
poverty. Blacks make less money generally and have higher
unemployment levels. A study published this month by the National
Education Policy Center says that, nationwide, African-American
students in grades K-12 are suspended
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three times as often as white students
for nonviolent infractions of school rules.
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What all these statistics mean about how
and why African- Americans continue to lag behind is a complicated
topic. And perhaps that’s what Republican presidential candidate
Herman Cain should have said Sunday in a CNN
interview when asked about race. Instead, he said: “I
don’t believe there is racism in this country today that
holds
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anybody back in a big way.” Cain, who is
black, is the former chief executive of the Godfather’s Pizza
chain.
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Academics and politicians have been
arguing over the root causes of those continuing disparities for
decades. As Cain noted in the interview, one reason for the
continuing gap in employment statistics is education.
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But advocates for underserved minority
students contend that one reason for the gap in academic
achievement between blacks and whites is that blacks,
overall, have less access to higher-quality elementary and high
schools.
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And there are other disturbing
statistics that suggest a less than level playing fi eld. According
to a 2010 report part of the Economic Mobility Project sponsored by
the Pew Charitable Trusts among children of black middle-class
parents who remain married, the percentage who grow up to earn
incomes exceeding those of their parents is significantly less than
among white children from similar families (62 percent versus 86
percent).
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Many economists and sociologists do not
believe that opportunities are equal for all. Even Cain qualified
his remarks by saying that a level playing field existed for “many”
African-Americans, not all.
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It’s probably wiser for all of us,
particularly those who want to be president, to characterize the
availability of opportunity in the United States, as Austin
Nichols, an Urban Institute economist, does: “The playing field is
still slanted.”
- MCT Campus