 Hello there, thank you for joining me. I'm Lucky Black Cat, and in this video we're going to talk about a very controversial and sensitive issue, the low socioeconomic status of black Americans, and whether or not this is the result of black people having a victim mentality and making bad choices. You've probably heard or read people make this claim before, and if you haven't, well, I'm sorry to have been the one to break your innocence. So to investigate this issue, we're going to go through a lot of evidence and statistics and research studies. But first, let's start with a song by Radiohead. You know the one that goes, you do it to yourself, you do, and that's what really hurts, you do it to yourself. It's a very appropriate message for me whenever I find myself in this position. But that's not what this song is about. It's actually, and most people don't know this, about blaming black people for their high rates of poverty and social problems. True story. Fuck you, Radiohead. You racist fucks. Part one, some facts and a theory. So according to the U.S. Census, the average income for black Americans is just 70% the income of white Americans, and the wealth gap is even bigger. White households have 10 times more wealth than black households, and if you exclude the value of vehicles, white households have 41 times more wealth. Then there's the poverty rate, 8.7% of white Americans are poor, which is a lot. But for black Americans, 21.2% are poor. So what's going on? Why the big income gap? Why the humongous wealth gap? Who among us has the answers? Black people are doing this to themselves. Whoa. Who said that? Who is this disembodied voice speaking through a cartoon avatar? Wait, was that Radiohead again? Those racist motherfuckers. But no, it's not Radiohead, it's a man named Carl Benjamin, who on YouTube goes by the name Sargon of Akkad, as represented by this cute little drawing. In Sargon's view, black Americans have a victim mentality that causes them to blame their problems on white people and racism. Because as soon as you start playing the game of identity politics, you are playing the game of victimhood. How am I being held down without any fault of my own? How can I avoid taking responsibility for my own failures? Sargon believes that this is the root cause of why black Americans are on average doing less well than white Americans. Because he says that if you blame others for your problems, you'll expect others to fix your problems and won't try to fix them yourself. Sargon is not alone in this opinion. When people feel like they're owed something, when they feel like they're victims of the society as opposed to forget about whatever I think of my own victimhood, now it's my job to go succeed, then you end up with pathologies of victimhood that are incredibly harmful. Now Thomas Sowell talks about this a lot. When you have these pathologies of victimhood, it creates a feeling that you can never get ahead in the society. Generations of being steeped in the welfare state vision, the vision of grievances, victimology, and resentments, the idea that there are enemies out there dedicated to keeping you down. And this is why I think the worst thing that you can say to a kid is you're born behind the eight ball and no matter what you do, you're not going to succeed. They're telling you that you're a victim, already making you, like discounting you from just trying to be the best you can be. Because now all you're trying to do is ask for handouts. All you're trying to do is be like, whoa is me. It's when you teach people that they are the victims of a society. It makes it very difficult for them to succeed. It's an interesting theory they have here, and I can see why some find it convincing. Because, yeah, if you believe forces outside your control are screwing you over, why bother trying? But is this really the problem here? Is victim mentality really the thing that's keeping black people down? Part two, a survey. There's one bit of research that, right off the bat, should make us at least be skeptical about this victim mentality theory. It comes from an opinion survey conducted by Pew Research Center in 2016. They asked black Americans if they believe their race has made it harder for them to succeed in life. For black people with a college degree, 55% said yes. And for black people with a high school education or less, 29% said yes. So it's the more successful black people, as measured by educational attainment, who were more likely to believe racism is making it harder for them to succeed. The least successful, again as measured by education, are the least likely to believe this. This is the opposite of what we would expect if the victim mentality theory were true. This theory says that if you believe racism is holding you back, then this will lead to irresponsible behavior and failure. But we see the opposite. Those who believe racism is an obstacle actually tend to be more successful. And as a side note, I just want to say that education is just one measure of success and it's not a great one. To me, a successful person is someone with a good heart who cares about others and does things to make people's lives better and make the world a better place, or at least tries. But fuck all that care-bear shit. This is capitalism, bro. Success equals money. Yeah, stick that shit on your tummy. Those with less education usually make less money and have higher rates of poverty. So it's important to emphasize that only 29% of black people with a relatively low level of education think that racism has made it harder for them to succeed. That's only 3 out of 10. If you're looking to understand why black people are more often at the bottom of society, a victim mentality does not seem to be the reason. Part three, the post-civil rights era. But you know who disagrees with that? The American political commentator Ben Shapiro. AKA Ben Shapiro, motherfucking P-word. That's his full legal name. Yeah, you effin' with some wet-ass P-word. Bring a bucket and a mop for this wet-ass P-word. Give me everything you've got for this wet-ass P-word. Ben points out that American racism has decreased significantly since the civil rights movement of the 1960s. And yet, even though there is now less racism, black Americans still have high rates of poverty. The wealth gap is about the same as it was in the 1960s. And the unemployment gap is about the same. Right, and so if you're going to make the claim that American racism is responsible for the black community's problems currently, then you have to ignore the past 50 years in which racism got markedly better. And yet, these pathologies remained in a lot of the black community. So if racism is the problem and racism has decreased, then why has so little improved? Here's how Ben explains it. The middle class in the United States in the black community was building much, much faster in the 1950s, actually, than it did in the aftermath of the civil rights movement. And that's not because the civil rights movement was bad. The civil rights movement was a wonderful, wonderful thing. It's because it was coincident with a lot of Democrats coming in and saying, and now we owe you something. And American society's evil and terrible, and we owe you lots of stuff. So first of all, things are not quite as bad as Ben says they are. Since the 1960s, black Americans have made great strides in educational and professional achievement, and the black poverty rate has gone down. But it's also true that many black Americans are stuck in intergenerational poverty, and black progress since the civil rights movement has fallen far short of expectations. Ben says this is because liberals came along and started blaming racism, and this made the blacks develop a victim mentality, and a sense of entitlement, and that screwed up everything. Well, Ben, it turns out there are other explanations. Since the 1950s, the United States has been losing its stable, decently paid, working class jobs. What happened to these decently paid jobs? Why have they been vanishing? Part of the reason is deindustrialization and the loss of manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs used to be a way for people without much education to make a decent living. But those jobs have been disappearing. In his 1987 book The Truly Disadvantaged, Harvard University sociologist William Julius Wilson demonstrates that although deindustrialization has hurt all working class Americans, it has been especially harmful for black Americans. Meanwhile, at the same time that decent paying manufacturing jobs have vanished, union membership has been falling. And when workers are not unionized, our wages go down. And to make matters worse, most unions have become weak and passive, like an exhausted beat up old boxer hugging the ropes in the 10th round. As a result of this double whammy of deindustrialization plus deunionization, it has become harder and harder for those who never went further than high school to find an even halfway decent paying job. Well, in that case, why don't more black people just get a college degree? Answering that question requires a long explanation, and this would require a separate video. But just to scratch the surface, one of the reasons is because black kids are more likely to attend bad schools and thus more likely to get a bad education, and thus less likely to qualify for or succeed in college. And also, have you seen the price of tuition? So it's true that the civil rights movement helped make the United States a less racist country. But in the years and decades since, decent paying blue collar jobs have been banishing, and black Americans have been hit extra hard by this. And there's another thing that came along shortly after the civil rights movement, the war on drugs and the rise of mass incarceration. And when I say rise, I mean skyrocket. Just look at that graph. Now, the crime rate is higher than it was in 1960 before the incarceration rate started to go up so much. And in fact, according to statistics from the FBI, the crime rate is 57% higher now. However, the incarceration rate is over 340% higher. So the one cannot explain the other. The rate of people in prison and jail has gone up enormously. And as you can see, this is largely driven by the imprisonment of black men, which has been just devastating for black communities. According to the US Department of Justice, one out of 38 white men has been imprisoned. But for black men, it's one in six. If you have a criminal record, this can keep you trapped in poverty. Because a criminal record makes it so much more difficult to get a job, any job, let alone one that pays halfway well. These two things, the loss of decently paid blue collar jobs, and the rise of being locked behind bars, both intensified after the civil rights movement, and both have been huge obstacles to black people's advancement. So if you're looking for reasons why black people socioeconomic advancement, since the civil rights movement has been so disappointing, I think it's clear that the victim mentality theory is not nearly as convincing as these explanations. And what about racism? It's not as bad as in the 1950s and 60s. But does that mean it's become irrelevant? A relic of the past? You know, kind of like Radiohead? More like Racistiohead? Oh, God, that pun was so bad. She were radio dead. Oh, that one was even worse. Radio shreds? What is fucking wrong with me? Why do I do this to my part four? Is racial oppression real? So I actually did a whole video on this topic. It's called, Where's the proof of racism? And if this is a question you have, I suggest you check it out. It has a whole slew of evidence based on academic research that shows Yes, racism is still a problem in the good old us of a, you won't go over most of that evidence here, but I'll give you just a little taste, just a little taste of the evidence of racism. Taste like shit. Here's a finding from a study published in American Economic Review. When employers look at job resumes and see two resumes equal in skill, education and work experience. But one resume has an African American sounding name like Tyrone. And the other has a white sounding name like Brad. The employer is 50% less likely to request an interview from the person whose name suggests the Tyrone resumes only got as many job interviews as the Brad resumes. If Tyrone had more job experience than Brad, how much more? Eight years more. So there you go. Just a teeny tiny taste of the evidence for racism tastes like shit. You watch my other video, it covers evidence of racism in employment, health care, housing, banking, wealth distribution, policing, court, school, add it all up. And it's pretty undeniable that racial oppression is still a serious problem. Part five, doing the right things. So let's talk about the income back income gap between black folks and white folks in the United States. Alrighty, Ben, let's talk about it. It is true familial wealth two generations ago, there's a big gap between black folks and white folks. And that gap exists today. Yeah, that sounds right. Is that entirely do or even largely do or even mostly due to historic injustices, the lack of income mobility, enlarge slots of the black community? No, it isn't. Whoa, I didn't realize that. But you're a smart guy. And your wife is a doctor. So I trust you income mobility still exists. According to the Brookings Institute, left leaning Institute, 2% of Americans who follow these three simple rules are in permanent poverty, only 2%. The other 90% of 98% of Americans who follow these three simple rules will not live in permanent poverty in the United States. Wow. What are these three simple rules? Wait, let me guess. Who is before bros? Bitches get riches. Smoke weed every day. Get married before you have babies, finish high school, get a job. Wait, what? That's it. Those are the three simple rules. Oh, well, I was close. I like my rules better. The rules Ben is talking about come from a study by the Brookings Institution, which found that in 2007 of people who followed these rules, three out of four were in the middle class or higher, finish high school, get a full time job, wait to get married to have kids. That's it. In one of my previous videos, we analyzed the study showing its flaws and the false exaggerated claims that are made about its conclusions. I won't go over those arguments here, but I want to point out that following these three rules is less helpful than their headlines claim. And it tends to be even less helpful if you're black. And how do I know that following these rules is less helpful if you're black? The research once again comes from the Brookings Institution, this time using statistics from 2013. As you can see, 73% of white people following these three rules were at least middle class. But the same was true for only 59% of black people. Ben Shapiro and others like him want to blame racial inequality on bad choices or failing to do the right things. But clearly, there's something more going on. Hmm. What could that be? Could it be historic injustices, the lack of income mobility in large swaths of the black community? Yes, nailed it. No, it isn't. Oh, well, let's investigate further, taking a closer look at the economic benefits of making the so called good choices that were told are necessary to pull yourself out of poverty, education, employment and marriage. Let's start with education. The three rules say to finish high school. But what about if you go beyond that and finish college? For households with a college degree, black income is still only 77% of white income. Also, black workers with a college degree have a higher unemployment rate than white workers with a college degree. And also, going by median net worth, black people with a college degree have only 17% as much household wealth as white people with a college degree. And more surprisingly, black people with a college degree still have less wealth than white people who never went past high school. Next item on the menu, having a full time job. In 2018, according to info from the most exciting of government departments, the Bureau of Labor Statistics 62.8% of white people have jobs compared to 62.3% of black people. That's hardly a difference. Now, if you're wondering why the unemployment rate for black people is a lot higher, despite having similar rates of labor force participation, that's because unemployment rate is only tracking those who are looking for a job but can't find one. Whereas labor force participation rate is just anyone who's in the labor force, anyone who has a job. So the black and white labor force participation rate is almost the same. And there's also not much difference in average work hours. Again, for 2018, the average for white workers was 38.9 hours a week. And for black workers, 38.7 hours. So if you're wondering why average black income is lower than average white income, work hours is almost totally irrelevant. Much more relevant is how much they're paid. According to data from those party animals in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, white people who work full time earn $933 a week, but black people who work full time earn $724 per week. That's only 78 cents for every dollar. And as you can see in this chart from black demographics.com, a wage gap continues to exist, even when comparing blacks and whites with the same level of education. For wealth, the gap is even more dramatic. Black people who work full time have less wealth than white people who work full time, which unfortunately is no surprise. But also black people who work full time have less wealth than white people who work part time. And shockingly, black people who work full time have less wealth than white people who are unemployed. And look at the graph. We're not talking little gaps. These are some big ass gaps. And last on the list of rules is no kids outside of marriage. PenChip here has some interesting views on this one. 71% of poor families in the United States overall have children without being married. The poverty rate among non-married white families is about 22% as of 2008. The poverty rate among black married couples that same year, 7%. What happened to the white privilege? What happened to the white privilege? Why is it that white unmarried mothers aren't richer than black married families? Because the problem isn't the color, the problem is the lack of marriage, obviously. Pen, you compare married black families to non-married white families? That's a dishonest, non-equivalent comparison. You need to compare like with like. Let's try that and see what happens. According to the 2018 US Census, in single mother families, the poverty rate is about 21% for white single mother families and 32% for black single mother families. That's one and a half times more poverty for black families. In married two parent families, the poverty rate is about three and a half percent for white two parent families and 8% for black two parent families. So black families get more than double the poverty. What happened to the white privilege? What happened to the white privilege? I don't know, Ben. Could it be hiding behind your dishonest and non-equivalent comparison? Just a quick side note on white privilege. Of course, white people face all sorts of hardships and many white people do not live lives of privilege. Anyone who's ever seen a white homeless person should know that, not to mention the millions of exploited white working class people. But being white does come with a big privilege, the privilege of not being subject to a pattern of institutional racism. And that's all that white privilege is. Just in case anyone had the wrong idea and was getting a bit defensive. Not to name names or anything. We began this video by hearing from people who think that the biggest thing keeping black people down in life is that they have a victim mentality. And that the way for black people to uplift themselves is to embrace personal responsibility. But by now, we've seen that this theory is wrong. Because even when black people do the so-called right things, get an education, a full-time job, not have kids outside marriage, they still tend to fall behind. The statistics show this clearly and consistently. This proves that taking personal responsibility is not enough to overcome the socioeconomic inequalities that black people face. Because this inequality is not under anyone's individual control. It's the results of institutional racism. It's the result of inequalities from the past being handed down generation to generation. These problems cannot be solved by individual action, but will require a radical transformation of society. Hey, it's Lucky Black Cat here. So this video is actually the fourth video in my Radical Responsibility series. The third video came out in April, and then I got distracted making other videos, so this one is long overdue. If you'd like to watch the other videos in this series, I will link to the playlist at the end of this video, or you can click the card up there. Before I go, I want to give a big shout out to you if you've ever liked or commented on any of my videos, or if you've subscribed or hit the bell to turn on all notifications, or if you've ever shared my videos. Thank you for being awesome. I'm sorry Radiohead, I love you.