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Theodore Dalrymple’s account of England’s white underclass will sound familiar to Americans.
The idea that today’s racial disparities stem primarily from America’s history of slavery and segregation deserves far more scrutiny than it typically receives in discussions about black upward mobility. It’s a narrative advanced by politicians and activists to secure votes and financial support, but facts and logic point in a different direction.
Racism has been the constant in black American history, yet black progress has fluctuated, and better race relations haven’t necessarily coincided with faster social and economic advancement. One hundred years after the end of slavery, black nuclear families were the norm, and most black children were raised in a home with a mother and father present. Today, neither is true.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the Wall Street Journal (paywall)
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Jason L. Riley is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a columnist at The Wall Street Journal, and a Fox News commentator. Follow him on Twitter here.