Black Economics

Black Economics In Black Economics William Raspberry offers a personal insight into the economics of the black American, but as he states Raspberry is “neither a businessman, an economist, nor a social scientist.” He presents his views without analysis and his solutions without a business outlook; instead Raspberry looks to the people for the cause and the answer. William Raspberry makes a bold effort by calling on his race, the African Americans, for both the cause and solution to their economic problems. Raspberry chooses to open up with two myths about race, helping to set the tone of the paper. The first myth he deals with is that “race is of overriding importance, that it is a determinant not just of opportunity but also of potential, a reliable basis for explaining political and economic realities . . . ” He explains that it is easy to see how race has assumed such importance in the mythology since slavery is the very reason blacks are present in America. Raspberry continues to elaborate on the topic of slavery to produce the central theme of the myth: the myth of white superiority. There are two things that flow from the “racism-is-all” myth that are used to account for the difficulties of blacks. The first, Raspberry states, is that it puts the solution to their difficulties outside their control, and second it causes blacks to think of their problems in terms of a failure of racial justice. With the second result Raspberry elaborates by calling on civil rights. Income gaps, education gaps, test-score gaps, infant-mortality gaps, employment gaps, business-participation gaps, as stated by Raspberry are all now talked about as “civil rights” issues. He points out that the gaps are real, but that describing them as “civil rights” issues steers us away from possible solutions, and that while doing this the problems grow worse. He offers a comparison to a group of poor whites that are in a similar economic standing as blacks and are granted their full civil rights. So how can the lack of civil rights be responsible for their economic conditions when other groups are just as bad off without the racism factor? So if the racism myth is not the cause of the blacks difficulties, then what does Raspberry offer as the reason? To him the operating myth of blacks accounts for their condition, leading them to focus on the misdistribution of opportunities. He believes that “blacks have become a race of consumers, when victories accrue to the producers:” and so comes his answer to the blacks economic struggles. He believes that blacks need to become more inclined to solve their own economic problems by starting their own business and creating jobs they need, instead of focusing on getting jobs in businesses created and run by others. He suggest that blacks should encourage their children to go into business and that blacks find a way to get their unemployed into jobs that already exist. Raspberry also believes that blacks should find a way to create government-backed programs that, instead of making their problems more bearable, go in the direction of solving their problems. This brings about Raspberry’s message, “ that we stop using the plight of the black under-class as a scourge for beating up on white racists and examine both the black community and the American system for clues to how we can transform ourselves from consumers to producers.” He is providing the idea that the solutions to blacks problems lie within their control and not astray. Raspberry wants blacks to break away from the racism myth that has held them back, and break free so that they can begin to move forward economically and socially on their own. When presenting his view, Raspberry avoids economic data and other statistics allowing for a more relaxed paper. He presents his argument in a simple manner that appeals to the average reader and allows the reader to swallow the information without much thought. Raspberry’s central point, that blacks control the key to their own success, was evident throughout the article. Though the article was direct with it’s message and easy to follow I believe it lacked some depth. Though Raspberry expressed his view clearly I feel that some aspects of his article were weak. For example he cites some stereotypes of Chinese and Jews without any factual basis or support. He also seems to generalize the views of certain ethnic groups, the white race in general. When referring to the myth of white supremacy Raspberry insinuates that all whites still hold the “myth” to be true. Also at times I felt that he was indirectly blaming the whites for the problems blacks now face. Informally at a few points in the article he called on the white race as the cause for some problems. Raspberry did have strong points to his article that helped draw the reader into his ideas. He effectively compared poor whites to poor blacks in an effort to explain his myth of race, and included