Here’s a true statement: America’s historical mistreatment of blacks was uniquely evil and continues to depress the fortunes of African-Americans. Here’s another true statement: Class has become a stronger predictor of wellbeing than race.
“America has hurt blacks grievously; their progress remains dismally slow. But working-class whites are in free fall.”
Since so many official numbers and so much public discourse groups all whites into a single category, it’s easy to miss the second truth. Nevertheless, when researchers go into the demographic weeds they uncover some surprising facts. Taken together, they make race-based policies seem like providing painkillers on the cancer ward while denying them to the cardiac unit.
Consider the following:
Social class “is the single factor with the most influence on how ready" a child is to learn when they start kindergarten, according to the liberal Economic Policy Institute. Low-income white kids score considerably lower in reading and math skills than middle-class white kids. Add race to the mix, and class still remains the Great Divide when it comes to school readiness.
The educational achievement gap is now almost two times higher between lower and higher income students than it is between black and white students. That’s a big change from the past: In 1970, the race gap in achievement was more than one and a half times higher than the class gap. Since then, saysStanford University’s Sean Reardon, the class gap has grown by 30 to 40 percent, and become the most potent predictor of school success.
While single parent families are far more common among African-Americans than whites, less educated whites — who also tend to be lower income — are seeing an unprecedented dissolution of their families. Seventy percent of whites without a high school degree were part of an intact nuclear family in 1972; that number plummeted to 36 percent by 2008. (The comparable numbers for blacks were 54 percent and 21 percent.) This bodes ill for both populations, as father absence and family breakdown are strongly associated with poor outcomes for children, especially for boys.
“Single parent families are far more common among African-Americans than whites, less educated whites — who also tend to be lower income — are seeing an unprecedented dissolution of their families.”
Additionally, starting in the late 1990s death rates have been increasing among lower-income whites largely because of drug and alcohol use and suicide. This increase has not appeared in black or Hispanic populations, nor among working-class whites in other advanced economies.
So here we are: America has hurt blacks grievously; their progress remains dismally slow. But despite the history of white supremacy, working-class whites are in free fall. These realities make race-based policies a political – and moral – nonstarter.
This piece originally appeared in The New York Times' Room for Debate
This piece originally appeared in New York Times Room for Debate