| With all the histrionics surrounding the Supreme Court decision banning racial preferences (we refuse to use the left’s euphemistic term “affirmative action”) in college admissions policies, one fact that has been ignored is that the income gap between black and white Americans has not widened, it has shrunk in the last 40 years.
Since 1980 black males have seen income gains that are double the income gains of white males and black females have doubled their real incomes. This isn’t because of racial preferences in college admissions. Most blacks don’t attend four-year colleges, and the gap between blacks and whites has been narrowing for non-college occupations. Alas, the racial earnings gap is still substantial. But two factors that the left refuses to talk about explain most of the black-white income divide today. First, a high percentage of black children (more than half in major cities) are growing up in fatherless homes (dads matter a lot). And second, a large majority of black children aren’t reading or doing math at anywhere near grade-level proficiency because of horrible inner-city public schools. School choice is by far the best income escalator for black Americans. |
