By Melissa Gessner
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Conditions for poor African Americans have deteriorated since the 1970s while affluent blacks are doing better, a Harvard University professor said Tuesday.
Speaking at Loyola University about race relations in the age of Trump, Professor William Julius Wilson said income inequality between black communities is tied to “income segregation.”
He said gentrification, lead contamination, psychological trauma from witnessing killings, and other factors contribute to the low performance rates of those who live in poor or inner-city communities.
People from these neighborhoods find it difficult to compete with black students who live in middle class areas, Wilson said. The racial achievement gap is due to the residential segregation, which is shaping school segregation, he said.
“Race trumps class when the focus is on the interracial communities, while class trumps race when the focus is on the “intraracial” communities,” Wilson said.
Wilson spoke as part of Loyola’s The Bunting Peace and Justice Speaker Series. The 82-year-old sociologist has focused his research on race relations and social policy. He has written several books, including “More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City” and “There Goes the Neighborhood.”
Wilson said he is optimistic for the future of well-educated blacks, but said he was pessimistic for the future of poorly educated blacks.
“Schools with high poverty rates have less resources,” Wilson said. He said education and community have a lasting impact on a person’s performance in school.
Wilson called for partnerships between schools and local employers to help young people get out of poverty.
Wilson said black men will often get involved in illicit behavior because they can’t find jobs. He said some employers do not hire African American men because they perceive black males to be “dangerous” or less friendly than women or immigrants.
“We’re not going to move forward unless we deal with the institutional entrenchment,” Wilson said.