It's the Culture, Stupid

I have had the pleasure to meet Professor Thomas Sowell in person. Besides being a very original columnist, I believe Sowell is one of the brightest and most important scholars in the United States of any race.

Sowell has a column in the Wall Street Journal this week based on his newest book, and - as usual - it contains his characteristically merciless devastation of political correctness superstitions, together with documentation of simple truths that might upset our lib'ruh brethren.

In his column Sowell asks what is the ultimate cause of continuing disparities in socioeconomic achievment in America among racial groups. He rules out both racial genetic traits and racism:

"A study published last year indicated that most of the black alumni of Harvard were from either the West Indies or Africa, or were the children of West Indian or African immigrants. These people are the same race as American blacks, who greatly outnumber either or both. If this disparity is not due to race, it is equally hard to explain by racism. To a racist, one black is pretty much the same as another. But, even if a racist somehow let his racism stop at the water's edge, how could he tell which student was the son or daughter of someone born in the West Indies or in Africa, especially since their American-born offspring probably do not even have a foreign accent?"

After ruling out these factors, and after noting how long regional disparities have existed inside the United States, Sowell points his analytic finger squarely at the "C" word, culture. He believes there are significant cultural disparities across regions and income groups in the United States and in particular thinks "Redneck Culture", which in his view is something that originates completely outside the United States, plays a role in harming socioeconomic advancement for members of all races under its influence.

Sowell concludes:

"The redneck culture proved to be a major handicap for both whites and blacks who absorbed it. Today, the last remnants of that culture can still be found in the worst of the black ghettos, whether in the North or the South, for the ghettos of the North were settled by blacks from the South. The counterproductive and self-destructive culture of black rednecks in today's ghettos is regarded by many as the only "authentic" black culture -- and, for that reason, something not to be tampered with. Their talk, their attitudes, and their behavior are regarded as sacrosanct. The people who take this view may think of themselves as friends of blacks. But they are the kinds of friends who can do more harm than enemies."