Part 2: Blacks and Education: The effect on career opportunities

Long gone are the days of the Jim Crow laws. The job market cannot, at least not openly, discriminate against anyone of any race, creed or color.

Back in the days of Reconstruction, the country faced the phenomena of black people, en masse, in the job market for the first time in American history. Now, although these jobs and conditions were similar to slavery, this began the progression towards the equality that blacks supposedly have today.

Yet, numbers suggest that equality laws that have been put in place have not brought forth actual equality.

According to Pew Research Center, the black unemployment rate has consistently been twice that of whites.

Also, a 2014 report by Young Invincibles finds that:

• African-American males without a high school diploma are approximately 15 percentage points less likely than white male high school dropouts to have a job

• African-American females with no high school diploma are about 12 percentage points less likely than similarly educated white females to have a job

• An African-American male needs some college credit to have a similar probability of employment as a white male high school dropout. Similar trends exist for women.

Although these statistics may be alarming, higher education drastically closes the gap between employment probabilities between black and white people.

But, even with college education, a considerable gap is still present. In fact, according to the Center for Economic Policy and Research, the 2013 unemployment rate for college graduates who are black is almost twice that of college graduates who are white. And even the black college graduates that do find a job are likely to be underemployed.

According to the Huffington Post, the underemployment rate for black college graduates is 41.8 percent, as opposed 34.6 for all college graduates. The underemployment rate for recent college graduates who are black is 55.9 percent as opposed to 45 percent for all recent college graduates.

Even with these statistics, many believe that the education of more black people can serve as an equalizer. But, in order to achieve that education, black people must value education.

Rakia Law, an educator and current JSU graduate student said, “I think collectively (black people) used to (value education) … But now, we’ve gotten complacent and unappreciative and ungrateful for our opportunity to even have the education.”

Law, who graduated from Alabama A&M University, believes the reason behind some black people’s apathy for education is “a lack of awareness of what it took for us to even be able to read.”

In a performance on the Late Night with David Letterman Show, rapper J. Cole rapped a verse on a small part of his perception of education and black people. In the song “Be Free,” Cole writes, “And since all the ballers leaving college early, I turn on the TV and don’t see no brothers with degrees lately.”

The North Carolina-born rapper is alluding to poor graduation rate of black male athletes playing revenue-generating sports at schools that generate the most money.

The same can be said for much of the hip-hop music industry. Although most rappers are black, their checks come from people who do not look like them.

With all of these truths being evident, one can’t help but wonder why these stats exist.