The following data are derived from the Census Bureau’s ACS:
| Group | Median household income |
| Nigerian-American | $80,711 |
| Jamaican-American | $81,400 |
| Indian-American | $151,200 |
| Chinese-American | $101,728 |
| Japanese-American | $94,319 |
| Black | $56,669 |
| White | $74,932 |
We continue to have race problems in the United States but they are not what many seem to assume as the table above rather clearly illustrates. Yes, some people are discriminated against because of the color of their skin or race. Since “black” is inclusive of both native-born black Americans, the descendants of Southern slaves (whom the sociologist Charles Moskas called “Afro-Americans”) and recent black immigrants, the median household income of Afro-Americans must be even lower than the figure reported above.
My take is that two issues dominate. The first is that immigration does not serve Afro-Americans well. Preferences, set-asides, quotas, and other strategies have preferentially aided immigrants rather than Afro-Americans. The second is that culture, i.e. behavior, is more important than race or color.
Let’s put in some numbers. There are about 1.2 million Jamaicans, 450,000 Nigerians, 5 million Indians, 5 million Chinese and 1.6 million Japanese. There are about 48 million total black people or 46.5 million if you eliminate your two immigrant groups. It’s not totally surprising that people who voluntarily left their homeland looking for a better opportunity might be brighter, more motivated group than the general population, especially if a lot of them are already professionals. (Per Carnegie 42% of Indians arrive with a degree.) Also, these are small groups and fairly easily identified.
So I dont see the number of Jamaican/Nigerians enough to really be much of a factor in outcomes of other black people. I am not sure there is much of a point in comparing the highly educated, selective groups of Asians with Americans.
Which leaves whites vs blacks vs hispanics. I dont know at this point how much of this is race vs culture, but I do think that is a false dichotomy. I there are the issues of loss of capital, including human capital. For years minorities were largely not allowed to develop wealth or human capital. I dont know how long it takes to reaccumulate that kind of capital but looking at historical examples it can be a long time. Remember that Appalachia, to use and example, wasn’t always poor, but having become poor they have lost lots of human capital and its taking a long time to reverse.
Still, if I had to choose I would say right now culture may be the larger issue. There are lots of black people now with good jobs and fruitful lives and at least among the ones Ihave known it seems like most of them had two parents who worked and were involved in their lives.
Steve