Bonus data! The January 2019 rural broadband study from Old Dominion and USD comes with beaucoup appendices, which include this table showing racial income disparities in South Dakota and its neighboring states:
[Note: the researchers appear to have messed up and duplicated the state data for “Asian” under the “Two or More Races” column; I am omitting those apparent duplicate figures from my calculations below.]
The good news is that South Dakota’s median household income in 2017 beat the national median by 6% and put us ahead of Montana and Wyoming and within a percentage point and a half of Iowa. Yay, us!
The bad news is that we have the largest White/Black and White/American Indian disparities in median income in the region:
| Median income for racial group as percentage of statewide median income | ||||
| State | White | Black | American Indian | Asian |
| Iowa | 102.48% | 52.66% | 65.66% | 113.62% |
| Minnesota | 104.62% | 55.78% | 53.97% | 109.33% |
| Montana | 102.46% | 78.75% | 62.56% | 120.32% |
| Nebraska | 102.96% | 59.49% | 70.72% | 100.81% |
| North Dakota | 103.83% | 61.79% | 47.79% | 79.50% |
| South Dakota | 105.89% | 47.87% | 43.14% | 92.95% |
| Wyoming | 100.78% | –% | 73.29% | 73.20% |
| United States | 105.58% | 66.68% | 69.41% | 138.32% |
White folks everywhere enjoy a better median household income than their state averages for all races, but South Dakota offers the highest white bonus in the septa-state region, 5.89%. Conversely, African Americans and American Indians see lower median incomes than there state averages, but their disadvantages are greatest in South Dakota, where both groups see median incomes that are less than half of the statewide race-wide median. Our Karen, Hmong, Filipino, and other Asian friends don’t see quite as big of an income gap, but in four adjoining states, their median incomes outpace their state averages.
South Dakota certainly generates wealth, but we’re doing a poor job of sharing opportunities for that wealth with our non-white fellow South Dakotans.
Related Ratings: Those racial income gaps probably contribute to South Dakota’s having the highest poverty rate in the region for the general population and particularly for women:
So by your own admission the data is corrupted but you take the rest of it as gospel, mistake number one. Mistake number two these are just numbers they don’t mean one place is discriminatory and other place isn’t. They could mean other things, such as South Dakota is a less favorable place to resettle so newcomers are bound to have lower salaries in first generations. What is most telling is that you always want to jump to a conclusion about South Dakota that you wish to draw.
As Hoogaard said, we don’t want no other cultures here. Or uppity women. It’s a white man’s state.
smh 😑😣😥😫😔😕😖😟😞
My cousin from Tennessee visited me a few years ago.
After a few days of being out and about, she said, “I’ve seen nothing but white people here. Do you have anybody other than white people that live out here?” And that lead to a conversation about the racism that still exists in her home state and my now home state.
From an “outsider” that lives in the south and that was an observation she made. Discouraging.
happy, Native American “newcomers” settling in SD? I think your counter interpretation falls apart for native groups. SD now has experience with multiple generations of families of color — people of color are not a new group to SD — a real discussion about (even unintended) institutional racist structures should be sparked by this data.
I say we force all whites in SD to pay reparations to the other races.
Steve, or SD could take positive steps to level the playing field so as not to perpetuate this inequity.
But I’ll take your solution – institute a fair tax system that promotes opportunity for those of need and reduces the income disparity created by the institutions of class warfare that have become the implements of race warfare.
Steve’s just trying to provoke us.
A one-time pay-off in reparations won’t provide a sustainable solution of institutional racism eats them back up through ongoing white bonuses. Reparations of any sort would have to take some form like the taxation O has in mind, but we would also have to root out racism, fight for salary transparency in every sector, and strictly enforce wage discrimination laws.
Hap, the error is clear: a column was miscopied. The bottom figures, the nationwide numbers, support that interpretation. I see no apparent flaws in the other data, but I welcome counterdata to prove me wrong.
White people are the only ones dumb enough to stay. That’s my joke but race is so touchy these days it’s hard to have any fun with it. My take is this is not a desirable place to live by most people’s standards so it skews the data. But numbers do not tell a story, people do, and the “minorities” I know appreciate South Dakota for their own reasons that again most people generally don’t quite understand. If you hate it here move and quit complaining but stop expecting it to change to suit you that’s just wishful thinking.
Mr. camper has a valid point here, but it would leave Mr. H’s blog quite bereft of bloggers if all who moved quit whining.
I’ll take Steve Pearson at his word. He can send my Indian money to Cory at DFP and Cory can forward it to me.
Thanks, Steve.
Donald Trump, empowered by the GOP and the Right, put a Muslim travel ban into law; they also rolled back most all civil rights enforcement from government agencies, they also perpetuate an economic system of greed that robs from the poor and gives to the rich, by choice, they perpetuate a system of institutional racism and sexism that relegate any non-white-male into subordinate status.
Jason, take your historical fiction back to one of your echo chambers; leftism is the philosophy of equality. What horrifies you righties is that your power grab is being eroded through education and providing voice to those whom you stole voice/power from.
Go away, Jason, you are just nuts. I know you are fascinated with us but mean people are not allowed here. The War Toilet would love to have you.
You will never meet a white supremacist that cares about climate change or even this little ditty “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness….”.
“It’s no accident that climate denial is integral to rightwing thinking, that Republicans in the US have been freaking out about the Green New Deal, that maximizing fossil fuel development and profit seems to be a cornerstone of their libertarian-capitalist ideology. To acknowledge that everything is connected is to acknowledge that our actions have consequences and therefore responsibilities they are unwilling to shoulder. Also that the solutions to climate change require cooperative work at all levels from local energy transition to national policies that stop subsidizing fossil fuels to international agreements to set emissions goals.” https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/19/why-youll-never-meet-a-white-supremacist-who-cares-about-climate-change
Connect the dots and you can clearly see how this all works in South Dakota white Republican politics as well. GNoem wants to stifle any talk of protecting water as do the senators Rounds and Thune, in their hatred for the EPA.
Jason’s comment brings to mind the Charlotteville Trumpist MAGA marchers – or as Trump called them, “some very fine people” – chanting, “Jews will not replace us.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8yPQBigTSg
Cory, I spoke too quickly again – since Jason’s comment has been revoved, my response should also be removed. Next time I’ll wait a bit longer to determine whether such factually deficit comments remain up before responding.
Jerry, agreed. Self (white) privilege is the GOP mantra. As long as something is good for me – in the most selfish terms, in that most limited scope – it is “good” PERIOD. Any denial of that short-sighted self-focused agenda is “wrong.” Lies help the individual in that moment – if they turn to later to be not true or hurtful to others, that’s fine.
Trump is president to help Trump.
Paul Wellstone said, “We all do better when we all do better.”
History has shown that to be a fact. High marginal tax rates in the 1950s-60s helped all the white people to do better. Democratic Socialist programs in Scandinavia help all do better.
There is no reason to suppose that extending programs, or creating new ones to specifically lift BOC (Boats of Color), wouldn’t have the same effect. It would not only turn those BOC from leaky submarines into schooners, freighters and fishing vessels, it would do the same for rusty old white boats that have been taking on water faster than they can bail.
Debbo, this has NEVER been about the ability to lift all boats. That ability has always been there; this has been about the want to lift anyone else’s boat. I agree with you and Wellstone, but a higher marginal tax rate means less money for the Billionaires, so that makes it a bad (as far as the billionaires are concerned). We have ruined this nation because we voters have put in charge those who are concerned only their own selfish interests. That the top 1% — or 0.1% would do less well (measured only in statistical abstraction – not as any real measure of well-being) means that NO other boats will be lifted.
If these reported racial disparities were reversed, our legislature would break bones stampeding over each other to rectify that situation.
Asians as a sub group are known to have higher IQs and hard work ethics……and thus, the higher wages….
It seems rather clear that there is indeed a phenomenon that can legitimately be considered a form of “white privilege,” that is, a social advantage based only on skin tone rather than merit.
The puzzle for me is how such a “white privilege” has anything at all to do with the selfishness of people. Selfishness seems premised on the myopic focus on the needs or desires of the self, which might or might not include family members or friends. Indeed, genuine selfishness dismisses the needs and value of anyone outside outside of a narrow corridor of interest, without regard to skin color.
Selfishness, then, seems an inadequate explanation for understanding racism or defense of white privilege. Generous and caring people can be racists or benefit from white privilege just as easily as selfish people. These folks, however, may withhold their generosity from people of different races or national origins, while treating other total strangers with generosity, empathy and compassion, when the stranger happens to belong to whatever nationalities or races with which they identify.
It seems more logical to look to irrational fear or insecurity as a likely foundation for racism. This fear isn’t a result of selfishness, but a result of irrational negative assumptions and stereotypes about other people based upon irrelevant characteristics, such as place of birth or skin tone.
These days the GOP seems to made up of both selfish people, for example – those that find altruism toward anyone, regardless of race, objectionable (Ayn Rand thinkers), and racist people who act on emotional reactions to negative stereotypical concepts about identifiable groups. But the two GOP factions seem almost unrelated, let alone one and the same.
Thoughts?
Women out there, when in a job interview, when it comes to the salary part, be assertive! Don’t be afraid to negotiate for a wage you believe you’re worth! Men are so much better at this.
Yes BCB, I do have thoughts. 😊
I lean mostly toward the fear motivation. It’s the most powerful emotion in the human arsenal. It’s also terribly uncomfortable because it’s a sure sign of vulnerability, and that’s a tough one for anybody.
Anger, on the other hand, is a very powerful emotion. It’s the go to emotion when one can not tolerate fear and its companion, vulnerability. Anger feels safer and in the white male culture, anger is entirely acceptable, even encouraged, while fear is considered “unmanly,” even though it’s such a valuable emotion.
Fear is the one that teaches us not to put our hand in a fire, jump off a cliff or fight a grizzly bear without weapons. It’s at least as critical as any other emotion and trying to ignore it has been very detrimental to white male culture.
Many of the white male terrorists have used terroristic acts to show that they are not afraid, though attacking unarmed people with powerful weapons fits no definition of fearlessness that I’m aware of.
I believe that fear of seeming an impotent male is the driving force behind the terrorist attacks of “incels” and the murderous rampages/terrorist attacks of men against women who were once romantically involved with him, or that he thought should be.
Such mistaken feelings of inadequacy are only exacerbated by physical violence against mostly helpless others, be they unarmed Muslims at worship or much smaller women and children.
A few probably are amoral Randites, such as Paul Ryan. He was thrilled to reduce or end entirely aid to various people in need. It’s a position I think libertarians teeter perilously near. I think the hardcore Randites could also be called sociopaths, but that’s my unprofessional opinion, as all of this comment is.
Thanks for asking BCB. I do think about these things often.
bear, I cannot agree with your premise. “Generous and caring people can be racists or benefit from white privilege just as easily as selfish people. ” I cannot see that caring people can be racist, even the conditional caring they show SELECT others is undermined by the hatred of others based only on race – that undermines any labeling of person as “caring.” In that context, I think it is selfishness – the promotion of others only in that they represent or reflect that person (in race).
I will concede that some may not be aware of all the elements of institutional racism, but maybe that is selfishness as well. How can anyone NOT know in this day and age that the playing field is not level? It has to be some level of self-deception or denial to be unaware of these issues. To me it boils down to the old adage that all evil needs to succeed is for good people to remain silent. If we are silent and benefit from white privilege, how can that be anything but selfish?
I like where Debbo is going with the fear and anger, but again, I say that is the 1% (0.1%) using that fear and manipulation to promote there own selfish agenda of grabbing all the money – they use brown people “stealing jobs” to distract from where all the cash is really flowing in this economy — into the top’s pockets, not into immigrants’.
On a new line, I also think these earning numbers demonstrate that SD is not a poor state, there are some VERY good earners in this state who manage to fly under the radar, manage never to draw attention to themselves when discussions about taxation and tax bases come up. SD does not have to put the burden to taxes on the backs of the poor; there are deeper pockets to look at.
O said, “I say that is the 1% (0.1%) using that fear and manipulation to promote there own selfish agenda of grabbing all the money – they use brown people “stealing jobs” to distract from where all the cash is really flowing in this economy — into the top’s pockets, not into immigrants’.”
I think you’re right about that O. The idea is to keep the 99% busy fighting with each other and ignoring the real culprits who are lining their pockets on the suffering of everyone else. Keep them afraid and use $ power to misdirect that fear.
Regarding racists as nice people– I have a cousin who calls herself a “trump fan.” Her ethnicity is mostly English but her 3 children are half Mexican. She is all for a wall, but claims she cannot be racist due to her children. She also has a gay brother. She is a very harsh judge of others and deeply resentful of well educated people. She has an associate degree. Her thinking is black and white.
She can be very nice to her friends and some relatives. She likes me. On the other hand, she has a sister whom I like that she wants nothing to do with.
She has a lot of anger, fears that better educated people are superior to her, has decided they feel superior to her, so she hates them first and more. That includes her relatives with advanced degrees, except me. I’m an exceptional because she’s known me throughout her life and knows my failures and foibles.
I’d say she is racist and not really a nice person. Yup, I do still love her, but she lives in Missouri so I only see her a couple times a year. 😄
Thanks Debbo and o, I appreciate your perspectives. I lean toward the idea of fear as a motivator toward racism, and agree wholeheartedly that a percentage of people seeks to instill and exploit irrational fear in hapless victims.
As for selfishness, o may be correct that caring people cannot be racist. That observation, however, doesn’t seem to imply that selfishness, in contrast to fear, is one of the motivators (or causes) for racist attitudes. Instead, selfishness seems more likely an equal opportunity misanthropic trait.