Whose plight is it anyway?

In Jonathan Zhao’s “The plight of black America”, he states that the lack of advancement of black Americans cannot be attributed to “racism or past injustices but rather the black community itself”. Zhao simultaneously exudes a sense of misogyny and utilizes stereotypical representations of black people (rap music, welfare, family structure, education, and relations with law enforcement) as the basis of his argument. Furthermore, the use of race-specific statistics within the United States, as opposed to relative percentages, when discussing black plight offers a misguided account of the issue at hand. Given my background as a black woman and scholar, I would like to provide clarity on the matter.

Since its introduction, the institution of welfare has, indeed, played a large role in the destruction of the black family. It forced families to decide whether to have a man of the house or to have access to the government aid that was necessary for their survival. President Johnson’s “war” on poverty utilized a series of “penalties and bonuses” that essentially required families in need of government assistance to remain below the level of income that could be attained if there were two providers in the home. Even though Zhao recommends that “Black Americans should come to the realization that welfare is an anchor weighing them down” and implies that whites are not victims of this “anchor”, there is only a one percent difference between blacks and whites on welfare as of 2015.

Zhao’s conclusion that the lack of black marriage unions serves as a cause for their plight is not only reflective of the usual attack on black mothers. In addition, the demonization of single-motherhood is based on the patriarchal assumption that a father-figure is needed in order for children to become functional adults. The way he frames his column implies that single mothers are a black phenomenon. Although there is a lower percentage of white single-parent homes in comparison to other white families, upon cross-racial comparison, more single-parent homes—as an absolute number—are white. There is a lower percentage of blacks compared to whites living in the United States, so the percentage of single mothers amongst blacks, alone, would be higher than whites in spite of the numbers. The same logic applies to crime rates such as murder. In 2013, 265 more whites were responsible for the murders of other whites than the number of blacks who were responsible for that of other blacks. The only difference is that one is called “black-on-black crime” and the other goes unnamed.

Given this information, Zhao’s censure on the black family, especially the capability of black mothers, and common assumption of welfare being considered a “black thing” is quelled. Moreover, Zhao’s column completely ignores the manner in which disproportionate amounts of interaction with law enforcement (encompassing killings, arrests and incarcerations) had by black men as factors that inherently limit the amount of black unions. There is a reason that conservative politicians choose to use black people as the face of an issue they oppose. The fundamentally white supremacist structure of this society makes it more politically expedient to discuss the black single mother on welfare, though the vast majority of single mothers utilizing the welfare system are white. It makes more sense politically to lambast affirmative action as giving unfair advantages to black students than to acknowledge that white female students have benefitted most from those policies.

Additionally, using black people as negative symbols is profitable—especially regarding many of the “black cultural leaders like hip hop and rap artists” that black people should disown (according to Zhao). Many elites execute a balance of public disdain and private control over the types of media that are perpetuated as acceptable forms of “black culture”. “Crime-, drug- and prison-glorifying hip-hop only outsells other hip-hop because it receives so much more exposure and financial backing, and that when given equal exposure, talent is a much more reliable indicator of success than content.” For example, music released from Cash Money Records (label for numerous black rap artists) is distributed by Republic Records which is a branch of Universal Music Group which is controlled by Vivendi Universal. Vanguard is a major holder in Vivendi Universal, and the Corrections Corp of America—“the nation’s largest owner of partnership correction and detention facilities”. Essentially, some of the people who profit from the prisons are the same people who control the media to which people are exposed. In order to succeed in the music industry, artists must be willing to perpetuate the message that these elites want to send to their audiences.

According to well-known theorist Louis Althusser, in order to continue life, as we know it, the same types of people must be recreated to fulfill the roles of the dying generation. Systems like welfare to disrupt the family structure, institutionalized racism to limit advancement, and unequal opportunity to prevent advancement have been put into place in order to ensure that various glass ceilings are maintained.

Zhao’s persistent association between blackness and poverty exhibit a lack of understanding as to how this association came into fruition. Although he acknowledges the “calamitous government policies that make black success more difficult” he fails to connect them to the “glass ceiling” previously mentioned. As he manages to include, the wealth gap between blacks and whites has widened over the past decade, he does not explain why. This gap is attributed to the ability of most whites to acquire investments earlier than most blacks due to “calamitous government policies” such as the post-WWII G.I. Bill. This allowed for the monetary gap between that of blacks and whites to widen. However, when blacks began to acquire enough capital to overcome the disadvantages of the housing market, the phenomenon known as white flight emerged.

As someone who has witnessed white flight first-hand, here is the summary: black people start moving into all-white neighborhoods, white people start moving out. Businesses begin to leave, property values drop and lower income families are able to afford housing in the area. Blacks that were able to afford the housing before the property values dropped also move out. Tax dollars that came from property owners and businesses are no longer funding the maintenance of the city, its parks, and most relevant to this column, the schools. (When the property becomes low enough, whites begin to purchase the city back and build up businesses on the land they once abandoned for that very reason—also known as gentrification.) Hence, the idea that blacks bring about bad neighborhoods is false. In reality, it is the fear of black neighbors that brings about bad neighborhoods. Students at schools in these communities lack the resources that they need to compete with the ones that reside in neighborhoods that can afford to provide sufficient learning environments. In other words, the school-to-prison pipeline, as well as school-to-minimum wage pipeline, is maintained due to the discouragement of low income students at early ages by school districts who lack the resources to keep them engaged.