A new study that has traced the lives of millions of children has just revealed its data that shows that young black boys who grow up wealthy, in great neighbourhoods still earn less in their adult lives compared to young white boys they grew up with. The New York Times reports that white boys who grow up rich stay that way, while black boys are more likely to become poor.
Breaking it down into numbers, 63% of affluent black boys will become middle class or lower while only 36% of affluent white boys will move to lower income brackets. The research reveals that this disparity is not present with it comes to females. Wealthy black girls have a higher chance of growing up and staying in their income range.
“It’s not just being black but being male that has been hyper-stereotyped in this negative way, in which we’ve made black men scary, intimidating, with a propensity toward violence,” Noelle Hurd, a psychology professor explained to the publication.
The study also shows that Black boys experience heightened discrimination in the schoolyard and when it comes to disciplinary actions. This data comes at a much needed time as a great number of people believe that discrimination is a "class" thing rather than a "race" thing. “One of the most popular liberal post-racial ideas is the idea that the fundamental problem is class and not race, and clearly this study explodes that idea,” Ibram Kendi said, a professor and director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University. “But for whatever reason, we’re unwilling to stare racism in the face.”