Post-Racial America Update

Old habits tend to die hard here in Post-Racial America.

A white politician in Virginia reportedly addressed a black reporter as "boy" at a meeting on Monday, but then tried to backpedal quickly.

Augusta County Supervisor Tracy Pyles, an independent who has run for office as a Democrat in the past, was apparently critcizing reporter Calvin Trice, 43, of the Virginia News Leader newspaper when the offending remark took place. 

"You got it wrong, boy — uh, son," Pyles told the reporter, according to the Virginia News Leader. 

"That has bothered me," Pyles later told the paper. "It certainly came out, and then I went to 'son.'" 

The News Leader reported that Trice, as well as others present at the briefing, were offended by the way Pyles addressed him. 

"The context was obviously angry and that's a term that when its been used against me was a racial slur, a put down," Trice told his newspaper. 

Pyles said it's just the way he talks, even to those who are dearest to him.

Black reporter reporting facts you don't like?  Hey, it's just the way the guy talks when you call him "boy" right?

And speaking of black professionals in Post-Racial America, it's interesting to note that black professionals with advanced degrees on average earn about the same as  white workers with bachelor's degrees.

You’ve heard of the racial wealth gap, the racial employment gap, and surely also about racial job callback disparities. Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics offers an updated look at another dynamic of our racialized economy: the racial income gap. 

As in: In 2014, while white workers 25 years or older with at least an undergrad degree took home median earnings of $1,219 per week, similarly aged and educated Latino workers made $1,007, and Asian workers made $1,328 per week. Black workers with at least a college degree, meanwhile, posted median earnings of $970 per week. 

The racial income gap is so pronounced that black workers with an advanced degree made $1,149—roughly the same as white workers who had only a bachelor’s degree ($1,132).

But if you work hard and educate yourself, you'll make it in America as a black person, right?

Oh, and starting with some college education, your average black employee earns less than your average woman.  And black and Hispanic women?  That is a national tragedy right there.

Even when we play by the rules we lose.