poor kenny this economic news will diturb you greatly.
Bad News for Democrats: Blacks Are
Prospering
Increasing numbers of black Americans are improving
their educations and earnings, and the trend of
single-mother households is in historic decline, the
Census Bureau reports.
According to the new stats:
In 1980, 51 percent of blacks had a high school
diploma. By 2002, that figure was 78.5 percent.
In 1980, 8 percent of blacks had a bachelor's degree.
By 2002, that figure was 17.4 percent. "The percentage
of black Americans who have completed at least some
college work or earned at least an associate degree is
at an all-time high of 79 percent," the Washington Times
noted.
As education levels rise, so do incomes. "Married
couples making more than $50,000 a year constitute 52
percent of the black population, with slightly more than
half of those families earning more than $75,000 in
annual income," the Times reported.
Thirty-six percent of blacks live in the suburbs, up
from 29 percent a decade ago.
The percentage of black families led by husbandless
women, which was about 50 percent in the mid-1990s, has
fallen to 43 percent, the lowest percentage since at
least 1980.
Thank the GOP-led welfare reforms of 1996 for that.
"Didn't that decline start when welfare reform was
enacted?" David Almasi, director of Project 21, a
conservative black think tank, asked the Times. "We
reformed the welfare system, which so many people blamed
for causing the chronic social problems of the black
community. [Welfare] rewarded the splitting up of
families."
So what does all this mean? In addition to being good
news for the families involved, it's also good news for
Republicans and Libertarians as prospering blacks are
increasingly likely to doubt the victim rhetoric of
Jesse Jackson, Nancy Pelosi, Tom Daschle and the rest of
the Democrat plantation.
George Will Notes Political Gains
Meanwhile, George Will notes that last year three blacks
running statewide for offices in the same state were all
elected, something that had never happened before.
The state wasn't oh-so-liberal Massachusetts or
California. And the candidates' party wasn't Democrat.
"The state is Texas, and all three winners are
Republicans. Their successes suggest how Republicans
might make modest progress with African American voters.
Modest progress - say, 15 percent rather than 8 percent
of the African American vote - could have large
effects," Will writes in his column.
newsmax.com |
