“Once you grasp the staggering differences between black and white neighborhoods, it becomes much easier to explain a whole realm of phenomena. Take the achievement gap between middle-class black students and their white peers. It’s easy to look at this and jump to cultural explanations—that this is a function of black culture and not income or wealth. But, when we say middle-class black kids are more likely to live in poor neighborhoods, what we’re also saying is that they’re less likely to have social networks with professionals, and more likely to be exposed to violence and crime. This can have serious consequences. Youthful experimentation for a white teenager in a suburb might be smoking a joint in a friend’s attic. Youthful experimentation for a black teenager might be hanging out with gang members.”

— Jamelle Bouie

Down and Out, 2014

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Jamelle Bouie 3

American columnist and political correspondent 1987

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Marshall Urges Bush to Pick 'the Best'
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http://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/29/us/marshall-urges-bush-to-pick-the-best.html
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