Lessons From the Past, by Dr. Thomas Sowell | Creators Syndicate

Lessons From the Past, by Dr. Thomas Sowell | Creators Syndicate
"Seventy-one years ago this month — in January 1948 — a black, 17-year-old high school dropout left home. 
The last grade he had completed was the 9th grade.
He had no skills, little experience, and not a lot of maturity.
Yet he was able to find jobs to support himself, to a far greater extent than someone similar can find jobs today.
I know because I was that black 17-year-old.
And, decades later, I did research on economic conditions back then.
Back in 1948, the unemployment rate for 17-year-old black males was just under 10 percent, and no higher than the unemployment rate among white male 17-year-olds.
How could that be, when we have for decades gotten used to seeing unemployment rates for teenage males that have been some multiple of what it was then — and with black teenage unemployment often twice as high, or higher, than white teenage unemployment?
Many people automatically assume that racism explains the large difference in unemployment rates between black and white teenagers today. 
Was there no racism in 1948? 
No sane person who was alive in 1948 could believe that. Racism was worse — and of course there was no Civil Rights Act of 1964 then.
How then could there be this low unemployment rate, with virtually no racial difference?
Racism is despicable.
But that tells us nothing about what weight it has — compared to other factors — as a cause of particular social problems such as unemployment..."
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