One theory about the cause of black poverty states that, when factories that provided good, stable jobs for workers without college degrees left American cities, African Americans were thrown into a cycle of poverty, dependence, and dysfunction. Call it the “deindustrialization narrative.” John isn’t buying it. In fact, he’s been a deindustrialization skeptic for decades. In this clip, we watch ourselves debate this question during our first ever conversation in 2007, and we reopen the issue.
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So many young people spending hours on their phones and playing video games either don't have the interest or don't seem to realize they already have the skills for some good paying jobs in today's market. A study last year by Raj Chetty at Harvard pointed to your social circles as the most critical factor for economic mobility, as summed up in this Kite & Key video:
https://www.kiteandkeymedia.com/videos/key-to-economic-progress-escaping-poverty-according-to-social-science/
Mr. McWhorter: if William Julius Wilson decided on a whim to criticize a significant narrative about linguistics based on reading a few studies — a field which, to my knowledge, he has no true expertise — I would take his critique with a grain of salt. So when you make a claim like you did in 2007 and in 2023 that attempts to critique the voluminous body of Mr. Wilson’s social science work, I have to do the same with you.
Thankfully, Mr. Loury defended the “1/3 of the problem” explanation in 2007. It needed to be said.
In 1976 - 1978, as I left high school, I worked in a factory in Houston, TX. Many undereducated and low skilled African American men & women in their 30’s - 60’s worked in the lowest tiers of the jobs in that factory next to me. I had the rest of my life to chart a better course for myself AND my middle class Latino parents (1st generation Mexican Americans) had set an example for me to follow.
I remember always feeling bad for my fellow workers — many of whom were 2x or 3x my age — who saw that job as their sole means of supporting their families. I knew it was just a short stop along the path to my future life.
When that factory closed a decade later, I have no idea what all of those undereducated and low skilled workers did. But I am sure the closing had a catastrophic impact on their lives.
Mr. McWhorter: have you ever toiled away at a factory filled with such people? Or were you lucky enough to have been sheltered from seeing it first hand? If you HAD seen it, I don’t think you would so casually dismiss the economic impact of such factory closings upon those who weren’t; destined for the Ivy League.
Mr. Wilson’s work helped me better understand the arc of the experience of African Americans stuck in the inner city only to see it change as factory jobs went away. Of course, other factors played into the demise of such areas. But it pains me to see Mr. McWhorter cast it away as if it was an insignificant part of the history of the underclass.