Guest Commentator

Dr. Algernon Austin, PhD

BlackCommentator.com Guest Commentator, Dr. Algernon Austin, PhD, is the Director of the Race, Ethnicity and the Economy Program at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Additionally, he is the author of Getting It Wrong: How Black Public Intellectuals Are Failing Black America and Achieving Blackness: Race, Black Nationalism, and Afrocentrism in the Twentieth Century, as well as scholarly articles in Ethnic and Racial Studies, Qualitative Sociology, the Journal of African American Studies, and Race, Gender and Class. He blogs at thorainstitute.blogspot.com and The Huffington Post. Click here to contact Dr. Austin.

4 pieces

Commentary

Racial Mixing Greatly Exaggerated – RACE-Y Topics

By Dr. Algernon Austin, PhD Guest Commentator

While it is true that growing numbers of Americans identify as being of more than one race, we are still an overwhelming mono-racial population. And we will be majority mono-racial for quite a while. In 2009, only 2.5 percent of the population identified as being “two or more races.” Recently, the New York Times reported…

While it is true that growing numbers of Americans identify as being of more than one race, we are still an overwhelming mono-racial population. And we…

Continue reading 3 min

Commentary

RACE-Y Topics – Why Do Blacks Earn Less?

By Dr. Algernon Austin, PhD Guest Commentator

Note: BC welcomes Algernon Austin as a columnist. “RACE-Y Topics” will appear on a regular basis. In 2008, the nation elected its first black president, Barack Obama. While some were celebrating the supposed arrival of a post-racial America, black men more generally earned only 71% of what white men earned. The median hourly wage for…

Note: BC welcomes Algernon Austin as a columnist. "RACE-Y Topics" will appear on a regular basis. In 2008, the nation elected its first black president, Barack…

Continue reading 3 min

Guest Commentary

Black America’s Unrequited Love

By Dr. Algernon Austin, PhD Guest Commentator

The conventional wisdom is that because of a rise in interracial relationships, all Americans will be brown in the future. Henry Louis Gates Jr., for example, stated, “I’m looking forward to the time when we all look like Polynesians.” Current data, however, suggests that the most we might see in the future is the beige-ing–not…

The conventional wisdom is that because of a rise in interracial relationships, all Americans will be brown in the future. Henry Louis Gates Jr., for example,…

Continue reading 4 min

Guest Commentary

Increasing American Economic Growth and Competitiveness

By Dr. Algernon Austin, PhD Guest Commentator

Note: The following are remarks prepared for the Congressional Black Caucus Commission on the Budget Deficit, Economic Crisis, and Wealth Creation. Currently, there are over 14 million Americans who would like to work but cannot find work. This is the most important immediate problem facing the country. Although African-American workers only make up 12% of…

Note: The following are remarks prepared for the Congressional Black Caucus Commission on the Budget Deficit, Economic Crisis, and Wealth Creation. Currently, there are over 14…

Continue reading 4 min