The Great American Equalizer: Even with education African-Americans still find earning gap exists
By Jazzy
Education and hard work are the consistent mantra that permeates the essence of the American Dream. Education, as we know, is not created equally nor is it extolled equally. Schools in lower socioeconomic areas are rife with underperforming curricula, in desperate need of updated teaching materials, and innovated ideas to excite beaten down students to achieve a goal they believe unattainable in the first place.
For many students in lower socioeconomic areas the belief that they have a chance to enter college is surreal. Many struggle with the basics because they are never driven to learn or even taught but rather pushed on to the next level. For those not lost in the public school systems they head off to college earn their degree and look forward to their future. A future, according to the America dream, should grant them privileges and entrance into a new world far from what many of them knew.
Even though -according to data-there is a closing in income among Black household incomes in comparison to their white counterparts, a glaring disparity exists between white men and black men to the tune of approximately $10,000 with the same degree and experience.
Soledad Obrien mentioned in the CNN special Black in America that White men who are ex-cons are more likely to receive a job offer in comparison to black men with an education, because the perception is that black men are lazy and don’t know how to dress properly.
There are no more visible chains and shackles than these biases, but what remains is far more pervasive, unjustified perceptions and insidious stereotypes that are used as excuses to permit and mask underlining racial prejudices; be they conscious or subconscious.
So what then happens when you do everything according to the playbook and you still come up short? How do we keep young Black adults encouraged when they realize that even with the Great American Equalizer they still come up short?
