"Stop Acting White!" Has Race Comparison Contributed to Black Academic Failure?

Have you ever heard the expression "stop acting white"? It is typically a remarks most often heard in black communities, and you can bet it isn't being said as a compliment. It's also come up in several corporate diversity projects such as Coke's infamous online training blunder which was hosted on LinkedIn back  in 2021 (link below).

Although education is typically held up as the gateway to success, there seems to be those who do well in school that are seen as somehow "betraying" their race (as if failing is something to aspire to). However, some claim that is purely a cultural myth, but let's look further.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Black Americans, who are the second largest minority at 13.6% of the population, have the second highest poverty rate of any group at 25.8%. The largest are Native Americans and Native Alaskans at 27% while comprising only 2.9% of the total population.

The National Center for Educational Statistics reports that the dropout rate among black students between the ages of 16 and 24 is currently 5.9% (down from 10.3% in 2021). For Hispanic students in the same age bracket its 7.8%, a drop from 16.7%. Among Native Americans and Native Alaskans, it's deceased from 15.4% to 10.2%, which is still extremely high given their small population numbers.

White kids have a dropout rate of 4.1%, down from 5.3%. Asians have the lowest dropout rate of any group at 2.1% from a "high" of 2.8%. Lastly, among children of two or more races, the report indicated they had a dropout rate in 2021 of 6.1% to a current rate of 4.9%. Lastly, let's look at incarceration rates.

America has the dubious "honor" of having the highest incarceration rate of any nation in the world. More than Russia. More than Iran.  More than China or even North Korea.  The largest minority population in prison are black males who, at 38.5% of the prison population, make up 1 of every 15 inmates.  Native Americans  are 2.6% of all inmates, which again is a unusually large amount given the relative size of the Native American population.

While making up 19% of the U.S. population, Hispanics represent 1 in 36 of every inmate or about 29.9% of those behind bars.  Yet, while white males are the largest population behind bars, comprising 57.4%  of inmates, blacks are incarcerated at a rate of 5x their white counterparts (as an aside, Hispanics are jailed at just 1.3x that of whites). 1 out of every 81 black adult has served time somewhere.   In 12 states (Alabama, Georgia, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Mississippi, Virginia, Louisiana, South Carolina, and North Carolina) blacks make up half of the total prison population.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 41% of all inmates are high school dropouts (the national average is just 18%) while 22% have a high school diploma or GED.  Females were more likely to have graduated from high school or have earned a GED while 68% of all males did not.

When broken down by race, we find that 44% of black inmates lack a high school degree or GED. 53% of Hispanics lack a high school diploma or GED as well. Meanwhile, only 27% of white inmates failed to graduate high school or obtain a GED.  

Interestingly, 27% of female inmates have taken some college level courses while 35% have actually graduated from college. At the state level, 46.5% of inmates lack a high school degree while 3.5% of white prisoners hold a college degree compared to 1.9% Hispanic and 1.6% black  inmates. It's worth noting too that 84% of all businesses indicate that they require a high school degree or GED to get hired. 

So, given the bleak prospects that await most individuals who "act white" face by doing poorly in school, why would they not try to do well?  I found a good answer to that question in the video below. The video, which lasts just 14 minutes, is hosted by popular content producer and social media "influencer", Amala Ekpunobi.

Born in 2000, the "unapologetic" Ms. Ekpunobi (born Susan Amala Ekpunobiis) is a former left wing student activist who has since become quite the conservative (with some strong libertarian tendencies I should add) social media star. She is also affiliated with  PragerU, a private conservative foundation and advocacy group, as a "PragerU Ambassador".  She is also a outspoken Trump supporter.  

Ironically, back in her leftist days, she considered herself as strongly "anti-white" while claiming that whites were inheritably "racist", which makes her video all that more interesting. Appearing with her in this video is another black female social media influencer and "YouTuber" who goes by the moniker of "Gothix" (real name "Vanessa"). She also appears on Instagram and Twitter (aka "X").

Born in 1988, the married podcaster is known for her conservative and Christian content, which has put "Gothix" at odds with many of her racial and social contemporaries, which adds to the impact this video has produced. Below is the video. I hope you'll enjoy it and find it as enlightening as I did in light of the data provided above.     

 

Video: A Response to "You Act White" w/Gothix

Amala Ekpunobi: Unapologetic

 

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Video: The Betrayal by the Black Elite

The Real News Network: Hosted by Chris Hedges w/ Dr. Cornel West

The Two Faces of Racism

The State of America's Education System: How Low Can You Go?

Crime, Race and Ethnicity in the United States: Where Are WeHeaded?

Racism, Youth, and Distortions  by the "Woke" Left

NCES: Status Dropout Rates

Zoukis Consulting Group: Inmate Educational Levels