Read the Book(Uploaded) and write about the questions(each 1150~200 words)

Representatives is almost three times what it was a generation ago (Statistical Abstract 1989: Table 423; 2011:Table 405). As college enrollments increased, the middle class expanded, and today a third of all African American families make more than $50,000 a year. One in five earns more than $75,000, and one in ten over $100,000 (Statistical Abstract 2011:Table 689). Contrary to stereotypes, the average African American family is not poor.

African Americans have become prominent in politics. Jesse Jackson (another sociol- ogy major) competed for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988. In 1989, L. Douglas Wilder was elected governor of Virginia, and in 2006 Deval Patrick be- came governor of Massachusetts. These accomplishments, of course, pale in comparison to the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States in 2008.

Current Losses. Despite these remarkable gains, African Americans continue to lag behind in politics, economics, and education. Only one U.S. Senator is African American, but on the basis of the percentage of African Americans in the U.S. population we would expect about twelve or thirteen. As Tables 9.2 and 9.3 on page 286 show, African Americans average only 58 percent of white income, have much more unemployment and poverty, and are less likely to own their home or to have a college education. That one third of African American fam- ilies have incomes over $50,000 is only part of the story. Table 9.4 shows the other part— that almost one of every five African American families makes less than $15,000 a year.

The upward mobility of millions of African Americans into the middle class has created two worlds of African American experience—one ed- ucated and affluent, the other uneducated and poor. Concentrated among the poor are those with the least hope, the most despair, and the vi- olence that so often dominates the evening news. Although homicide rates have dropped to their lowest point in thirty-five years, African Ameri- cans are six times as likely to be murdered as are whites (Statistical Abstract 2011:Table 308). Compared with whites, African Americans are about nine times more likely to die from AIDS (Statistical Abstract 2011:Table 126).

In 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. He is the first minority to achieve this political office.

288 C h a p t e r 9 R A C E A N D E T H N I C I T Y

Less than $15,000 Over $100,000

Asian Americans 11.8% 32.3% Whites 11.4% 21.9% African Americans 23.0% 10.0% Latinos 16.8% 11.7%

Note: These are family incomes. Only these groups are listed in the source.

TABLE 9.4 Race–Ethnicity and Income Extremes

Source: By the author: Based on Statistical Abstract of the United States 2011:Table 692.