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If black men (or anybody) just follows these 7 rules then they have a good shot of becoming well-to-do:
1) Don't have children until you are financially stable.
2) Don't get a criminal record and avoid interacting w/criminal elements
3) Get a degree that's actually in demand and marketable; from a school that's actually somewhat respectable
4) Don't fall into the trap of buying fancy clothes, an expensive car and other depreciating assets once you get a bit of money
5) Spend wisely to avoid debt and to keep your credit score good
6) During interviews, speak flawless standard american english and look as soft/innocent as possible since black men are subconsciously perceived as threatening to many)
7) Keep high standards for yourself and don't think you have to settle for less just b/c of your race or gender.
Whether you have connections or not, go to indeed, monster, careerbuilder, simplyhired, etc etc, and apply to AS MANY POSITIONS that your qualified for as you can!!! Don't give up and be relentless!! Even though there are some HR ppl out there who don't want to see blacks succeed, there are still much more PC liberal open-minded types that do. But most don't care either way, just be qualified, be able to do the job and show that you can bring wealth to a company; that's all companies want.
Nothing wrong with your advice but understand that many black man already do so, and still find life more of a challenge than it is for others, even including black women.
I have often repeated the fact that median income of black men who go to college (the best places are very hard to get into these days, and also extremely expensive) is equivalent to median earnings of white men HIGH SCHOOL ONLY, as are the unemployment rates.
So yes following your advise does reduce the odds of failure but let us not pretend that there aren't other issues.
Carly Fiorina, who was the CEO of Hewlett Packard, for her undergraduate degree had a degree in Medieval European History.
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Poor and lower middle class people do not have the productive social networks that more affluent people have. This is why they view education from a more vocational perspective.
Face it that degree isn't going to help some poor black man land a job, whereas an engineering degree might. Once he gets his toe in the door then he will simply have to try his best. Indeed MBAs with STEM background get higher starting salaries than those who don't.
Going back to post #1 of this thread, yes, those stats are being driven by black people living in the projects.
BTW, I do just fine.
Black people were always in the projects. More aren't moving there so that cannot explain higher levels of black unemployment compared with what existed in 2000.
The reason for the increase in unemployment is because some blacks who previously had jobs no longer do. And they experience greater difficulties in getting new jobs with comparable pay.
A major reason for higher levels of black unemployment I due to shrinking opportunities in the public sector, combined with difficulties in landing employment in the better paying growth sectors of the economy.
Those who want to go to the public sector route have to take civil service exams (again, one needs at least a high school education and often a bachelors degree these days). Assuming the candidate passes, there is a waiting period before they call you back (if you get called back).
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And they will wait and wait and wait and wait, because the public sector is shrinking. Try to read Crain's. You might learn something.
Poor and lower middle class people do not have the productive social networks that more affluent people have. This is why they view education from a more vocational perspective.
Face it that degree isn't going to help some poor black man land a job, whereas an engineering degree might. Once he gets his toe in the door then he will simply have to try his best. Indeed MBAs with STEM background get higher starting salaries than those who don't.
I've gotten my share of jobs with a history degree. Again, why do you insist on speaking for everyone?
Oprah Winfrey is not a stem person, and now she's a billionaire. John Legend, a musician was a former history teacher. Ditto Jackee Harry, an actress. I'd say they make more than most engineers.
There is no one solution for everyone, as we all have different talents and circumstances. You can't seem to understand that Blacks are not one size fit all robots.
NY in NYC public sector jobs are SHRINKING. Obviously that its just another way of saying that a whole lot of black folks are losing their jobs.
So what is there to celebrate. SERIOUSLY when the places were the jobs are now being created is in the PRIVATE sector.
And a major reason why the public sector is shrinking is because it CANNOT support the massive retiree benefits which unionized public sector workers will get, yet increase expenditures in other areas. The public will NOT pay more taxes to support people who most believe are a greedy and last set of bureaucratic whiners. So where is the money going to come from? SHRINKING the employee base!
The public sector is not going away. Shrinking is not elimination, and I'm not even convinced it has shrank all that much. Where's the actual stats on that?
Cops, firemen, public school teachers, MTA workers, HRA workers, city inspectors, etc will always be around and will always get their retirement benefits. Clearly you hate them because you don't get such benefits. So much for doing well off.
Black people were always in the projects. More aren't moving there so that cannot explain higher levels of black unemployment compared with what existed in 2000.
The reason for the increase in unemployment is because some blacks who previously had jobs no longer do. And they experience greater difficulties in getting new jobs with comparable pay.
A major reason for higher levels of black unemployment I due to shrinking opportunities in the public sector, combined with difficulties in landing employment in the better paying growth sectors of the economy.
Yes, you can explain high levels of unemployment and lower levels of private sector participation by poor Blacks living in the projects or among other poor Blacks. While there are projects all over the city, the large numbers of projects in far away places like bad parts of Brooklyn, the Bronx are very far away from employment centers. People in those areas are less likely to know people who have good jobs.
Since no one is hired by people poor than them, if you don't have more working and more affluent people in your social circles you won't know what sorts of jobs are out there, how to apply for them, etc.
In short, Blacks do better when they have substantial contacts with people of all races, instead of letting themselves be marginalized in dumps in certain parts of Brooklyn and in the Bronx.
I have my current opportunities and current apartment through people I KNOW and through social circles I participate in. And no, they aren't Black majority.
You will not find out about the better jobs in the city hanging out in East New York or Wakefield. You just won't.
Nothing wrong with your advice but understand that many black man already do so, and still find life more of a challenge than it is for others, even including black women.
I have often repeated the fact that median income of black men who go to college (the best places are very hard to get into these days, and also extremely expensive) is equivalent to median earnings of white men HIGH SCHOOL ONLY, as are the unemployment rates.
So yes following your advise does reduce the odds of failure but let us not pretend that there aren't other issues.
If they live as your buddies (just around AAs and West Indians) that in and itself is a major flaw and would definitely substantially reduce employment and other opportunities.
And this cannot be attributed solely to racism. It's a lack of curiousity about the greater world, and a fear of interacting with things that they aren't comfortable with.
A college education cannot alone eliminate social handicaps. Want to improve the calibur of work available to you? Then don't socialize in distant, poor AA/West Indian neighborhoods like Wakefield and ENY. Both are far from NYC job centers or the center of action, both are in no danger of gentrification, and neither neighborhood has anything going on in it.
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