Chetty has pretty much given up on finding magic municipalities where they do things right that can be studied to close America’s gaps. As I’ve always argued, and Chetty now agrees, instead the race gap is geographically pervasive and consistent:
“Among children with parents at the 25th percentile, black boys have lower incomes in adulthood than white boys in 99% of Census tracts.”
The few exceptions tend to be neighborhoods in Queens or in the D.C. suburbs that have many high-achieving black immigrants.
It’s almost as if whites and blacks, on average, tend to have somewhat different cultures, ancestors, and genes. (…)
As comedian Dave Chappelle notes, there is a lot of pressure on black men to be Keeping It Real. (…)
Seriously, contemporary African-American hip-hop culture, while it’s idolized by losers around the world, is poisonous for black males.
More generally, blacks tend to be quick decision-makers. About 80 percent of NFL defensive players are black, because blacks tend to have a knack for reacting with rapid violence. But off the football field, impulsiveness can be destructive to careers.
What can be done?
Well, my personal suggestion is that black males should try to commit fewer crimes.
But that’s not a very respectable thing to say.
