Disparity Doesn’t Necessarily Imply Racism. Today it’s more often the result of skills gaps than discrimination. That’s something every black student needs to know.

Wall Street Journal ^ | November 25, 2022 | Roland Fryer

[karpov]

...

[I]n graduate school, I read a 1995 paper titled “The Role of Premarket Factors in Black-White Wage Differences.” Using a nationally representative sample of more than 12,000 14- to 17-year-olds from 1979, Derek A. Neal and William R. Johnson estimated that blacks earned between 35% to 45% less than whites on average.

They examined how much of the wage gap could be attributed to present-day discrimination in the workplace versus differences in skill as measured by the Armed Forces Qualification Test, a cousin of the ACT and SAT. Importantly, they weren’t trying to measure the effect of America’s racist history running back to the early 17th century, when the first African slaves were brought to work the tobacco farms of Virginia, only the extent to which blacks earn lower incomes because employers today make racially discriminatory decisions. Nor did they focus on prejudice more broadly: They ignored that my grandmother was spat on in the parking lot at work and concentrated on whether she was treated fairly once she entered the building.

“We find,” they wrote in the abstract of their paper, “that this one test score explains all of the black-white wage gap for young women and much of the gap for young men.” With their approach, antiblack bias played no role in the divergent wages among women; a black woman with the same qualifications as a white woman made slightly more money. And it accounted for at most 29% of the racial difference among men, with 71% traceable to disparate performance on the AFQT. The AFQT itself was evaluated by the Pentagon, which found that black and white military recruits with similar AFQT scores performed similarly on the job—indicating no racial bias.

[karpov]

full article

[Gay State Conservative]

I'm fully prepared to accept that the NBA is a pure meritocracy and that the fact that 95% of its players are black is not the result of any kind of racism.

I wonder if there are any "progressives" willing to accept that the graduating classes at major American colleges being mostly white and Asian also has nothing to do with racism.

[Tell It Right]

As long as blacks have a much higher portion than whites of single parent homes, and parents having babies at younger and younger ages every year compared to whites, then blacks will do poorer than whites in almost every metric.

It's not racism that's holding back blacks. It's hedonism.

[EEGator]

Similar truth for chicks and STEM.

[goodnesswins]

Can’t believe WSJ allowed this article!!!

[chuckee]

I agree that a skills gap causes the disparity but dig deeper. What causes the skills gap? Could it be culture in the community one is raised where perhaps education may or may not be primary value. Contrast Asian American culture where education and discipline are strongly valued to other communities that don’t assign as high a valuation. One can look across the broad spectrum of diverse cultural communities in the US and see the pecking order of success is closely aligned with the valuation a culture places on education and discipline. If community members want to chip away at the disparity, its individual members must put aside the excuses and individually look within, and not collectively look to the government, to instill those values.

[frank ballenger]

RE: disparity doesn’t necessarily imply racism....

Sorry, everything implies racism in this nation founded in order to implement enslavement of black people. Kids are learning that in school.

[NorthMountain]

Multi-generational bad decision making has consequences.

[VanShuyten]

“Can’t believe WSJ allowed this article!!!”

Neither can I. Is there a pool on the first fire-bombing date yet?

[End Times Sentinel]

Anyone who can’t see that Asians, who, oftentimes, didn’t even learn English until they were 8 or 9 years old, withstood HORRIBLE conditions in their birth nations, and suffered terrible familial losses, not to mention the incredible racism from blacks and latinos upon arriving here, is willfully blind.
Yet, some how, not cutting classes, working hard, aspiring to succeed academically, build nuclear families, and shun criminality, was a recipe for success, that can be overlooked.

[aquila48]

Here's the real cause for the disparity...the elephant in the room, nobody dares talk about. It explains pretty much everything you see regarding differences in race performances.

IQ curves...

[TakebackGOP]

What if Trump used that line that every black student needs to know? The WSJ would be criticizing him.

[100%FEDUP]

A flat out rejection of basic western constructs (math, reading, writing, history, laws) is not disparity, its an irrational choice.

[Right Brother]

Shoplifting is not a skill?

[P.O.E.]

It’s not color. It’s upbringing.

[InterceptPoint]

What causes the skills gap? Could it be culture in the community one is raised where perhaps education may or may not be primary value.
+++++
Bingo. That is all it is. That is all it has ever been. Success in life correlates very strongly with the culture in the community and the home you are raised in.

To bad this obvious truth is not more widely recognized.

[sauropod]

Bkmk

[Chgogal]

Funny how “equity” doesn’t apply to football, basketball, baseball, etc.

[Tired of Taxes]

The skills you learn are important. With that said, everyone has biases, and employers are no exception. We’re all being sized up by height, weight, age, manner of dress, regional accent, race/ethnicity, personality, etc. Just do your best and keep moving forward. That’s all anyone can do.

[The Duke]

By worshiping at the alter of “multiculturalism”, progressives intrinsically acknowledge that different cultures exist. Why should we be surprised if one culture would be more successful than another in any particular endeavor?