All posts by jonathansands

On Wealth Management, Roboplanning, and the Black Community

Wealth Week 12

Reflecting on Tuesday’s discussion on race-based wealth inequalities, I’m thinking about how automated financial guidance may help to reduce the black-white wealth gap. We learned that centuries of government policy have undermined blacks’ ability to accumulate assets. Most shocking to me was Ira Katznelson’s point that, “Between 1945 and 1955, the federal government transferred more than $100 billion to support retirement programs and fashion opportunities for job skills, education, homeownership and small-business formation” that primarily benefitted whites (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/27/AR2005092700484.html). Still, I wonder whether automated guidance has the potential to help blacks better manage the wealth they do accumulate.

I first learned about roboplanners while working at a consulting firm this summer studying the future of automation across six industrial applications ranging from emergency rooms to retail stores. An innovation of the last five years, these algorithm-based services often come at a fraction of the cost of human planners. Though existing technologies do not offer retirement or estate planning assistance, they still help consumers make decisions on how and where to invest their money.

Also, while roboplanning may make guidance more accessible to the black community, a 2013 Wall Street Journal article by Daisy Maxey documents how some African-Americans feel that they don’t need financial advice at all (http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324634304578539110358585512). I question the writer’s assumption that this is a pervasive attitude amongst middle-income blacks, and would like to more about structural barriers preventing blacks from accessing this guidance. Moreover, regardless of the distinction between structural and cultural arguments, 19% of black Americans have financial advisors, compared to 30% of the overall population. Perhaps culturally-targeted marketing of new automated tools could yield new black consumers and begin to close this gap, underscoring that even those earning “a good income” and “build[ing] wealth” should still seek advisory services to further their financial gains.

On Being Black in Private School

Schooling and Education Week 11

After this week’s session on education and the black community, I continue to reflect on radicalized achievement gaps in private schools. As I mentioned, I attended a prep school where the majority of black and Latino students were enrolled in non-honors/non-AP math and science courses.

Thinking about this experience indirectly made me remember the PBS documentary American Promise, which follows two African-American boys, Idris and Seun, through their years at Dalton, a private K-12 school on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. A school official interviewed in the film argued there is a cultural disconnect between independent schools and black boys which prevents them from serving this segment well. Indeed, for both boys, Dalton becomes increasingly difficult as they get older, as they must meet heightened academic demands while also grappling with racial and class-based differences as they recognize themselves as “others.”

Given these points, I question whether hiring more black teachers can change independent schools’ culture and make them a better “fit” for black pupils, helping us feel less isolated in majority white environments. As one of the Dalton teachers said at the beginning of the movie’s trailer, “What we teach then at Dalton is to teach them that they have a voice.” Perhaps changing the composition of independent school faculty will help black boys find a similar sense of empowerment instead of feeling alienated.

Still, I worry that focusing on fit and faculty diversification will distract from ensuring that black students who may move from public to private school are truly prepared to do the rigorous work required of them. Programs to help these students up a steep learning curve are a possible means of starting to address this issue. Also, to read more about American Promise or watch the film’s trailer, check out http://www.pbs.org/pov/americanpromise/.

Fictive Ties and Queering the Black Family: Challenging Existing Norms

The Black Family Week 10

Reflecting on this week’s discussion, I was struck by Khytie’s point at the beginning of lecture about “fictive kinship ties,” interpersonal connections that aren’t rooted in marriage or blood. These ties are a fixture of black community relations, as in their 1994 article, Chatters, Taylor, and Jaykody write that they are central to “the maintenance and functioning of the extended family network of African Americans.” Given this popularity, however, it seems improbable that these relationships could be deemed fictive, or quite literally “imagined.”

Who has the privilege of designating these ties fictive? With fictive kin often expected to “participate in the duties of the extended family” as Chatters et al. find, what makes these relationships less real or legitimate than those undergirded by marriage or blood? Of course the state and Christianity, both of which regard marriage as the consummation of a romantic relationship, govern our understanding of what a family is. However, I’ve also realized that confining family to blood and marital relatives fails to encompass more and more black families’ lived realities because of a growing racial gap in marriage rates. As Pew Research Center found in 2012, 36 percent of black adults aged 25 and older had never been married, compared to 16 percent of their white counterparts (http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/09/24/record-share-of-americans-have-never-married/). In-laws who would typically be considered family thus fall into the fictive sphere. Perhaps this growth in the unmarried black population and/or declining marriage rates across races will ultimately allow for these ties to be regarded with more legitimacy, prompting a change in our lexicon.

Also, in googling “Gay Black Family” today, I stumbled upon upon this Nikon ad featuring two black fathers whose selfie with their daughters went viral, drew homophobic backlash, and brought them to fame. You can check out the video and original photo here: http://time.com/3668594/gay-black-fathers-kordale-and-kaleb-nikon/. After taking a closer look at the picture, I am interested in how it perpetuates myths about gay men being more effeminate than heterosexuals, as well as how it pushes our understanding of black gender roles, and some may consider helping girls with morning routines to be a feminine responsibility. It seems to at once be a site for challenging gender norms and broadening social conceptions about gay and black families’ composition, while reinforcing the myth that gays are more concerned with preening themselves than other segments of the population.

Prove It: A Reflection on Discrimination and Quantitative Methods

Structural Racial Inequality Week 9

Reflecting on this week’s discussion, I was particularly interested in Professor Bobo’s points about the benefits and drawbacks of different techniques for measuring discrimination. Specifically, he noted that a key issue with quantitative disparity analysis is the need to somehow prove discriminatory intent. Initially, as a black man, it is unthinkable how anyone could question how many black-white inequalities may not at least partially stem from unfair or prejudicial treatment. However, using the black-white mortality disparity from coronary heart disease, I realized that the difficulty of proving discrimination does not imply a racist disregard for other systemic inequities. Discrimination does indeed play a role in this unequal outcome, as Schulman et al. 1999 found that physicians were less likely to recommend blacks for cardiac catheterization compared to whites. However, this disparity also stems from blacks having less medicare-supplemental insurance, as highlighted in Chen et al 2001.

Nonetheless, I fear that this quantitative approach could give latitude to skeptics who may try to explain away or minimize discrimination’s role in race-based inequalities. This problem drew my mind to a saying outside the movie theatre on Church Street in Harvard Square which reads, “Indication of harm not proof of harm is our call to action.” If quantitative approaches lead scholars to demand proof of discrimination, my concern is that broader anti-discrimination efforts by government, NGOs, and other entities will be undermined, as their backers may also require more explicit evidence before offering their intellectual or monetary support. Such reluctance could thus undermine prompt responses to these issues.

Reflecting and Extending on Williams’ Discussion of Health Disparities

Health and Community Week 8

Reflecting on this week’s seminar, I’ve spent some time thinking about Williams’ discussion on key social determinants of African-Americans’ health. In his article, he notes that “a small body of research suggests that the prevalence of negative stereotypes and cultural images of stigmatized groups can adversely affect health status” (185). This point makes me wonder whether minorities’ re-appropriation these images might blunt their negative health effects. For example, a student group recently repurposed an image of Nicki Minaj that some felt that objectified and exotified black women’s bodies for a party invitation. I question whether such an action can counter the psychosocial stress that some black women may feel as a result of other discriminatory media depictions. Indeed, this may provide a feeling of empowerment for those who believe that black women should be able to expose their bodies in the same way that white models and other icons do, often without reproach.

Furthermore, I am interested in the finding that black-white morality ratio for “flu and pneumonia” was 1.44 in 1995. Such a disparity is shocking because death from a communicable disease like the flu is often regarded as a problem associated with the developing world. Recent data from Arizona in 2015 shows that this gradient has endured, which was particularly surprising given the proliferation of flu vaccines. I wonder how state and federal agencies will go about expanding flu vaccine access for minorities, as CDC data from the 2013-2014 flu season showed that 45.4% of white adults 18 years old and above got vaccinated, while only 35.6% of non-hispanic blacks and 33.1% of Hispanics did. Moreover, the fact that the coverage rate amongst children 6-17 years old was higher for Hispanic children (66%) than non-hispanic whites (55.2%) was all the more surprising, underscoring the need to tailor the way we address racial health disparities to specific age groups.

A Reflection On Mental Illness, Medicalization, and the Carceral State

Policing the Carceral State Week 7

Reflecting on Tuesday’s discussion, I started thinking about the  intersection between substance abuse, mental health, and imprisonment. Looking for further writing on the topic, I found the transcript of an interview that Michelle Alexander gave to PBS’ Frontline for a two-part series  called “Locked Up In America.” In my view, one of the most potent parts of the dialogue comes when she says that mentally ill people in ghetto communities

“have little choice but to self-medicate, and when they do, when they decide to turn to marijuana or turn to cocaine or turn to some type of substance we’ve designed, we’ve decided is prohibited, is off-limits, then rather than responding to these people with drug treatment and say[ing], “How can we help you cope with your crisis and help you through this period of time and help you deal with your drug addiction?,” instead we say: “Oh, the answer for you is a cage.”

Her suggestion that substances are “designed” to be “prohibited” hints at deliberately crafted policies and their harsh impact on poor, mentally ill blacks who enjoy less access to the prescription medications and therapy that their white counterparts enjoy. Alexander thus suggests that public officials can modify drug policy to ensure that law enforcement does not punish mental illness, while also expanding treatment options that understands addiction as a medical problem instead of a criminal behavior. I left reading the transcript of her interview questioning how state- and federal-level interventions can intersect to take mentally-ill drug offenders out of the prison pipeline and into rehabilitative programs.

For more information on the PBS series, check out the articles and films here.

 

 

 

Defining Sophistication and Ruminating on Methodology

Ghetto Poverty Challenges for the Middle Class Week 5

I continue to reflect on the word “sophistiratchet” that Gabi brought up in Tuesday’s seminar. As I remember, we discussed it in the context of Pattillo’s argument that culture in black middle class neighborhoods represents a mix of “street” and “decent” practices. First, it is compelling that the word is applicable to both men and women, while “ratchet” in its noun form is often used to refer to women. Moreover, finding the word superimposed over two pictures of President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, the first of the couple slow dancing and the second of them clapping and snapping to music, made me consider how concepts of sophistication may be so racialized that black people with “worldly knowledge or experience” have their sophistication qualified with modifying words. However, if simultaneously being “up on the latest developments in politics and foreign affairs” and being able to dance to rap and R&B bars us from being regarded as sophisticated, I’d like to think that we can gradually redefine notions of sophistication instead of adhering to mainstream mores.

More broadly, I was struck by Professor Bobo’s point that ethnography can sample on the dependent variable, analyzing a phenomenon of interest without accounting for cases in which the phenomenon isn’t observable. As I look ahead to my senior thesis, I am thinking seriously about the methods I will use and the potential benefits and drawbacks of each one. While I think ethnography can accurately capture the lived realities of interviewees, its findings are not easily generalizable, so I am thinking about historical and statistical approaches might provide for a more persuasive argument.

 

 

Reflections on Tuesday’s Seminar: Ambiguity, Class Identity, and a Surprising Parallel

Black Middle Class Week 4

Reflecting on this week’s seminar, I was struck by Khytie’s rhetorical question about whether the talented tenth is synonymous with the black middle class. As Professor Bobo pointed out, the black middle class largely encompasses people employed in sales and clerical positions, and encompasses more than the community’s top decile of earners. Prior to reading statistics about the black middle class’ composition and occupations, however, I equated achieving middle class status with being a professional (doctor, lawyer, etc). This automatic association underscores how nebulous the term is, and how people representing a broad range of educational experiences, incomes, and other privileges may either identify themselves as part of the middle class or be labeled as a part of this group.

Given the fluidity inherent to social stratification, I am curious about how individuals’ identification with a social stratum is impacted by the class others may ascribe to them. Consider a child who grows up in a household earning $70,000 annually and occasionally wears designer clothes. Perhaps her friends could label the child as “boujie” or “rich,” leading the child to see herself as “upper class” despite her parents not be amongst the richest ten percent of black Americans.

In addition, I recently logged onto Amazon.com and searched for Black No More by George S. Schuyler, a book that Matt Clair and Professor Bobo referred to briefly. A work of fiction, it follows Max Disher as he bleaches his skin in 1930’s New York and gains access to white society. The book’s summary says that, in Max’s eyes, there are three options for black people in society, “Get out, get white, or get along.” I found it coincidental that Schuyler’s words could be used to reframe Frazier’s argument. Indeed, in Frazier’s eyes, the black middle class did not want to “get along,” alienating itself from the rest of black America, and could not “get white” since its constituents barred from entering white society. Frazier believes that the black middle class then “[got] out” of society itself, existing as a cultureless people that was neither black nor white. This parallel between Schuyler’s humor and Frazier’s polemic leaves me wanting to pick up the former work from the library.

Week 3 Reflection – The Burden of Representing One’s Race

Philadelphia Negro Week 3

I was struck by the comments that Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter made to black Philadelphia youths after a flashmob they staged wrought havoc along South Street on March 20, 2010. Admonishing them for their conduct, Nutter announced, “You’ve damaged yourself, you’ve damaged your peers and, quite honestly, you’ve damaged your own race. You’ve damaged your own race” (Hunter 214). His suggestion that they hurt, or brought shame upon, both themselves and their peers is sensible, as their disruptive behavior could lead blacks and non-blacks alike to label African-American teenagers as uncivilized, incapable of expressing political discontent in a more constructive way. However, his point that their destructive actions hurt the reputation of all black people has more profound implications, suggesting that society will generalize the actions of a handful of blacks to be representative of the entire race’s behavior.

This imperative of representing one’s race well reminds me of a conversation I had yesterday afternoon with an African American Harvard administrator. Chatting with me before a meeting, he told me that some white students may use my actions and those of other blacks at Harvard to make generalizations about black people everywhere. He added that such gross generalizations impose an unfair burden upon black students, as we must consistently monitor our own behavior. His statement upset me at first, as I thought he was suggesting that I had no latitude to make mistakes inside or outside the classroom, subject to perpetual evaluation by some of my white peers. However, reflecting on his words further over the past day, I’ve realized that he was merely acknowledging one manifestation of racism in this scholarly community that we may regard as too “liberal” or “progressive” to be susceptible to racial bias.

Jonathan Sands – Introduction

Black Community, Introductions

Hello everyone!

My name is Jonathan Sands and I’m a junior from Brookline, Massachusetts currently living in Winthrop House. I’m concentrating in Social Studies with a focus on health, inequality, and organizing in Latin America.  I spent last January term conducting field research for a microfinancier outside Mexico City and hope to return to study how bottom-up organizing interfaces with top-down policy changes designed to address health inequities.

I’m thrilled to be enrolled in this course because, as a black man, I want to more deeply understand how the academy examines African-American experiences and how these approaches have changed over time. I also hope to gain insight into the black community’s social, economic, and political prospects in light of enduring structural inequality.

Also, I’ve thought at length about how my own racial identity intersects with constructions of class, gender, and sexual orientation, and am excited to study the relationship between blackness and other facets of identity this semester.

Outside the classroom, I serve as a Peer Advising Fellow (PAF) and act in productions through the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club. I am also an intern at the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, which seeks to foster both dialogue on and awareness of racial and cultural issues.

I look forward to seeing you all in class on Tuesday!