In S.F., minorities' wages lag even farther behind whites'

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 4/5/6 | Vanessa Hua

[TheDon]

San Francisco's nonwhite residents make even less compared to whites than they do across the country, and middle-income jobs are vanishing here faster than the national average, a new study released by the city on Wednesday shows.

Education? Marriage? That's for white people.

[Tzimisce]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

[freedumb2003]

A teacher friend of mine tells me that sometimes when black kids try to do homework, other black kids often belittle them as acting "too white". This must be an important factor in lower minority advancement in school. (Along with the "soft bigotry of low expectations" and too few two-parent households.)

Somewhere, Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid and the rest of the Democrats are smiling, secure in the knowledge their "keep 'em from getting uppity" strategy continues to work.

[John Will]

Are Asians considerd Minorinites in this case?

[nwrep]

tle= racism of lowered expectations?

Not really, it is the choices they make. For example, Maria Cesar does not speak English, and changes sheets at the local Motel 6, making $8/hr. Shaquille Jamal works at a gas station making $7.75/hr. Tanisha, Shaquille's sister is a gang-member and prostitute, her pimp pays her around $1000/month. Meanwhile Chiang Yu works in the Intel R&D department in Santa Clara making $145,000/year.

So who do you blame?

[Verginius Rufus]

I believe SF also has a lot of legal immigrants who came to America at an age when it was hard for them to learn English (or they were surrounded by people speaking their language so could get by with it)...that would tend to exclude them from well-paid jobs. Look at how much lower the percentage of Asians getting 4-year degrees is than of whites--38% vs 63%. When young Asian-Americans are famous for studying harder than any other group, that discrepancy must be disproportionately among older people.

[Uncle Miltie]

Obviously, San Fransiscans are racists.

[Clemenza]

Yes they are. Read the article and you will see that Asians are included. Lots of low-income Chinese there.

[mtbopfuyn]

Somewhere, Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid and the rest of the Democrats are smiling, secure in the knowledge their "keep 'em from getting uppity" strategy continues to work.

Now I understand Shrillary's remark about the plantation.

[starbase]

Read the article and you will see that Asians are included. Lots of low-income Chinese there.

Yes, the image we have of Asians, particularly Chinese, is largely skewed. I'm in that area now, and while the well-studied, superior-student is a very real type of Asian, there is also a vast population of people with no education at all, anywhere in their family tree.

We'll be redefining our impressions in the near future as we learn more about the reality of Asian societies. The well educated people we're so familiar with are an infinitesimally small percentage of the vast numbers of peasants that inhabit such countries as India and China.

[Myrddin]

We'll be redefining our impressions in the near future as we learn more about the reality of Asian societies. The well educated people we're so familiar with are an infinitesimally small percentage of the vast numbers of peasants that inhabit such countries as India and China.

Our view is very skewed because we are only exposed to the cream of the crop from Asia. The people who did well in school and came to the United States for graduate school. The first generation asian immigrants arrived with a great work ethic and a sincere desire to see their children succeed. We'll see whether that attitude is passed down the generations.

The black community has a cultural problem with academic success. The "too white" description is a telling attitude among the student's peer group. Poor academic performance leads to poor economic performance as an adult. That can become a generational legacy.

Simply having a degree isn't the whole story. Lots of people graduate from college. Having that on your resume avoids having it dropped in the trash on the first pass of weeding out potential candidates from hundreds of applicants.

[rogue yam]

This story is nonsense. San Francisco is a very wealthy city. People come from all over the country and all over the world to take high-paying jobs in medicine, law, finance, computers, biotech, multimedia, management, advertising, etc. You can't afford a house, and you can't really afford to have children here unless you're making pretty big bucks. The professionals are predominantly white, just like everywhere else. San Francisco also has some housing projects and relatively poor neighborhoods. The people in these places are predominantly black and latino, with some asian and pacific islander folks as well. So on one side you have these high-paying professionals, and on the other side you have janitors, warehousemen, diswashers, etc., and unemployed. There are relatively few white people who move to S.F. these days without a college degree and a profession. The folks showing up from Mexico, Central America, and Asia, and those growing up in the projects don't have the education and the skills to get the good gigs. Race and racism have absolutely nothing to do with it.

[RipSawyer]

San Francisco workers who have a four-year college degree earned an average of $72,850 in 2004,

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Based on housing prices found on the internet, this income is insufficient for anything above bare subsistence. I can't imagine how people earning $20,000. are surviving in San Fran.