You either believe this or you believe black and indigenous people are just genetically not as smart/productive/whatever. How else could you explain the economic disparity?
Only 68% of Black Americans agree with this statement? I.. do not believe that.
EDIT: I’m seeing other responses above and have to come to agree it was likely a product of wording, ie asking if white Americans have economic advantages, not if Black Americans have been disadvantaged. Although the use of the word “unfair” would already suggest that to me, but alas.
It’s hard to give a yes or no to this question because the impact varies depending on individual circumstances.
Ethnic groups are not a monolith. For example, my paternal grandparents emigrated from Europe in 1955 and settled in the Intermountain West where the African American population was negligible at the time. Growing up in the 1960s, all my dad knew about the Civil Rights Movement was what he saw on TV.
Also, sometimes the question of where economic challenges originate is separate from what’s perpetuating those inequalities. Of course, slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, etc. adversely impacted African American families, but you also have to take into account higher rates of single motherhood, criminality, financial illiteracy, not completing high school, and spending money on depreciating assets.
Jewish Americans, for example, faced centuries of persecution. However, Jewish culture emphasizes education, hard work, and thrift. Today, Jews are the among the wealthiest ethnic groups in the US.
If instead of the statement in question ending as “…have given white Americans unfair economic advantages” it ended with “…have given the Black and Indigenous people of today economic disadvantages” waaaaaay more people would have agreed.
I can believe this to be true and also believe that slavery was abolished almost 200 years ago and that reparations were paid by the blood of all those who fought in the Civil War to abolish slavery.
Today, we should be focused on equal opportunity and equal opportunity is not measured by equal outcomes.
For anyone who doesn’t think so: Start from 1860 and ask if white Americans had an economic advantage, then scoot forward a decade at a time. Identify the point where that advantage disappeared for descendants of that population. Be sure to include Jim Crow, redlining, the war on drugs, the Klan, and anything else that impacted economic conditions.
Why history and civics were suppose to be taught & not skipped over.
Lol what is actually wrong with gen x. Is it lead poisoning?
Why are First Nations people being included with Black people for this question?
GenX, this leaves a shameful mark. Even with the poorly worded question.
I wonder if those who disagree, disagree to the advantage part, the unfairness part and/or the generations of slavery and discrimination part.
Bullshit. Like every survey it is all in the wording.
This should really have a scale to 100% to truly show that even amazeballs Democrats are only 3/4 in agreement not the bias bar of full length suggesting near-total agreement.
Why has the data representation been so bad it’s almost de-educating people?
At this point 150 of racism after slavery has likely had a bigger effect on modern African American lives than slavery itself
More Democrats than black people. That tells you something’s wrong right there.
So this thing that obviously happened and clearly has persistent material effects polls at 50/50.
Goddammit GenX, why are you working so hard to be worse than Boomers?
Most people will achieve a similar socio economic status as their parents attained. You will make more or less the same as your parents adjusted for cost of living. You will receive similar education. Live in similar neighborhoods. Marry people from similar groups.
In 1865 blacks had none of that. Their parents were slaves. They had no back up plan if things went to shit. So when they were free they went into a world hostile to them with no money. No property. No culture and nowhere to escape to. They weren’t like most Americans. They weren’t like most Africans. They were screwed.
What makes this a beautiful data post?
These are people who say .0000000000000000000000000000001 DNA differences are huge
Its like rural white men stoped evolving after the invention of the cotton gin.
This type of post highlights why Reddit is such a cesspool
Cool stuff. One suggestion which might make this nicer – I wish the bars were scaled to show 100%, and then filled in with their appropriate % sizing
As it is now, the 75% bar is effectively taking up the whole width of the page, (and whole width would typically mean 100%) It is hard to get a natural grasp of these percentages/groups at a glance of the visual
Oh my…. you americans are truly obsessed with race!
It’s objectively untrue, slavery disadvantaged everyone but the plantation elites, slavery made labor by free men near impossible.
“The Impending Crises” by Hinton Helper is a book showing this, he wrote about how slavery affected poor white people and the disparity between the rich landowners and everyone else.
Most white people were uneducated, unable to find decent work as slaves could do all unskilled labor for free and on top of that add that the south being a plantation economy didn’t produce anything other than cash crops like cotton or tobacco so the cost of goods was high since everything needed to be imported in from the north or overseas.
It is also very hindering for development and industrialization, In a slave economy there’s no point in investing in skilled laborers or innovation since everything can be done for very cheap by forced laborers and like 1/3 of the population were enslaved, having no disposable income and having no capacity to be potential consumers of industrial goods.
![[OC] Views on the impact of slavery on American society today](https://www.europesays.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/xswaovylvjze1-1240x1024.png)
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Source: [PRRI](https://www.prri.org/research/democracy-at-a-crossroads-how-americans-view-trumps-first-100-days-in-office/)
Tools: [Datawrapper](https://www.datawrapper.de/)
You either believe this or you believe black and indigenous people are just genetically not as smart/productive/whatever. How else could you explain the economic disparity?
Only 68% of Black Americans agree with this statement? I.. do not believe that.
EDIT: I’m seeing other responses above and have to come to agree it was likely a product of wording, ie asking if white Americans have economic advantages, not if Black Americans have been disadvantaged. Although the use of the word “unfair” would already suggest that to me, but alas.
It’s hard to give a yes or no to this question because the impact varies depending on individual circumstances.
Ethnic groups are not a monolith. For example, my paternal grandparents emigrated from Europe in 1955 and settled in the Intermountain West where the African American population was negligible at the time. Growing up in the 1960s, all my dad knew about the Civil Rights Movement was what he saw on TV.
Also, sometimes the question of where economic challenges originate is separate from what’s perpetuating those inequalities. Of course, slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, etc. adversely impacted African American families, but you also have to take into account higher rates of single motherhood, criminality, financial illiteracy, not completing high school, and spending money on depreciating assets.
Jewish Americans, for example, faced centuries of persecution. However, Jewish culture emphasizes education, hard work, and thrift. Today, Jews are the among the wealthiest ethnic groups in the US.
If instead of the statement in question ending as “…have given white Americans unfair economic advantages” it ended with “…have given the Black and Indigenous people of today economic disadvantages” waaaaaay more people would have agreed.
I can believe this to be true and also believe that slavery was abolished almost 200 years ago and that reparations were paid by the blood of all those who fought in the Civil War to abolish slavery.
Today, we should be focused on equal opportunity and equal opportunity is not measured by equal outcomes.
For anyone who doesn’t think so: Start from 1860 and ask if white Americans had an economic advantage, then scoot forward a decade at a time. Identify the point where that advantage disappeared for descendants of that population. Be sure to include Jim Crow, redlining, the war on drugs, the Klan, and anything else that impacted economic conditions.
Why history and civics were suppose to be taught & not skipped over.
Lol what is actually wrong with gen x. Is it lead poisoning?
Why are First Nations people being included with Black people for this question?
GenX, this leaves a shameful mark. Even with the poorly worded question.
I wonder if those who disagree, disagree to the advantage part, the unfairness part and/or the generations of slavery and discrimination part.
Bullshit. Like every survey it is all in the wording.
This should really have a scale to 100% to truly show that even amazeballs Democrats are only 3/4 in agreement not the bias bar of full length suggesting near-total agreement.
Why has the data representation been so bad it’s almost de-educating people?
At this point 150 of racism after slavery has likely had a bigger effect on modern African American lives than slavery itself
More Democrats than black people. That tells you something’s wrong right there.
So this thing that obviously happened and clearly has persistent material effects polls at 50/50.
Goddammit GenX, why are you working so hard to be worse than Boomers?
Most people will achieve a similar socio economic status as their parents attained. You will make more or less the same as your parents adjusted for cost of living. You will receive similar education. Live in similar neighborhoods. Marry people from similar groups.
In 1865 blacks had none of that. Their parents were slaves. They had no back up plan if things went to shit. So when they were free they went into a world hostile to them with no money. No property. No culture and nowhere to escape to. They weren’t like most Americans. They weren’t like most Africans. They were screwed.
What makes this a beautiful data post?
These are people who say .0000000000000000000000000000001 DNA differences are huge
Its like rural white men stoped evolving after the invention of the cotton gin.
This type of post highlights why Reddit is such a cesspool
Cool stuff. One suggestion which might make this nicer – I wish the bars were scaled to show 100%, and then filled in with their appropriate % sizing
As it is now, the 75% bar is effectively taking up the whole width of the page, (and whole width would typically mean 100%) It is hard to get a natural grasp of these percentages/groups at a glance of the visual
Oh my…. you americans are truly obsessed with race!
It’s objectively untrue, slavery disadvantaged everyone but the plantation elites, slavery made labor by free men near impossible.
“The Impending Crises” by Hinton Helper is a book showing this, he wrote about how slavery affected poor white people and the disparity between the rich landowners and everyone else.
Most white people were uneducated, unable to find decent work as slaves could do all unskilled labor for free and on top of that add that the south being a plantation economy didn’t produce anything other than cash crops like cotton or tobacco so the cost of goods was high since everything needed to be imported in from the north or overseas.
It is also very hindering for development and industrialization, In a slave economy there’s no point in investing in skilled laborers or innovation since everything can be done for very cheap by forced laborers and like 1/3 of the population were enslaved, having no disposable income and having no capacity to be potential consumers of industrial goods.
This should be a WTF moment for many.
Comments are closed.