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.

3 pieces

Guest Commentary

White Privilege and Illicit Drugs

By Dr. Algernon Austin Guest Commentator -

The vast majority of drug users are white. This fact has been true for the entire “war on drugs.” Many whites live in majority white states. Most whites live in segregated communities. How do these millions of whites get their drugs? Dorm Room Dealers: Drugs and the Privileges of Race and Class by A. Rafik…

The vast majority of drug users are white. This fact has been true for the entire “war on drugs.” Many whites live in majority white states.…

Continue reading 8 min

Commentary

Stopping the Decline of the Black Middle Class

By Dr. Algernon Austin Guest Commentator -

For a brief moment in American history, one could argue that the majority of African Americans were middle class. That moment ended last year. One definition of “middle class” used by social scientists is twice the poverty level. Individuals who live in households that have an income of at least two times the household’s federal…

For a brief moment in American history, one could argue that the majority of African Americans were middle class. That moment ended last year. One definition…

Continue reading 4 min

Guest Commentary

Joblessness, Discrimination, and Black Poverty

By Dr. Algernon Austin Guest Commentator -

The African-American poverty rate rose to 25.8 percent in 2009. That the poverty rate would increase from 2008 to 2009 was not a surprise. Black workers lost jobs in 2009. When blacks lose work black poverty increases. Alternatively, when blacks find work poverty declines. The highest employment rate for African Americans on record was in…

The African-American poverty rate rose to 25.8 percent in 2009. That the poverty rate would increase from 2008 to 2009 was not a surprise. Black workers…

Continue reading 4 min