Can African-American Young Men Make Money?

Can African-American teenage boys, or young men, earn as much money as peers of another race and live a comfortable middle-class or upper-middle class lifestyle? It's an important question for this Martin Luther King Day and for the upcoming Black History month.

My answer is a resounding yes - young African-American men can develop a net worth that will rival any peer of another race, but only if they are careful with their resources. I'm going to draw on observations from a young, black man living in my home for the past 4 ½ years. He is a high school senior who is talented, but he is on the verge of digging himself into a deep hole in relation to his career and finances.

Sammy, a long-time family friend, came to our home at age 14 having failed both 6th and 7th grade. He was living with his father who was struggling with depression and a resultant unemployment ever since his wife died several years earlier.

We enrolled Sammy in a charter school and trying to get him to focus on the basics of reading, math and other assignments was an excruciating task. There were times when we tried to get him to read and he would cry out, "you're torturing me!" Or, "you only want me to read because I'm black!"

Now, a little context, he was the second black child in our home. We have an adopted daughter who is also a black, an adopted son who is Hispanic and who was attending a private, Christian high school at the time and another adopted son and daughter who are both Caucasian.

I began seeing Sammy's talents around the house: installing ceiling fans, fixing drawers and fixing windows. I thought to myself, "this kid could develop his own handyman business." Around Pasadena, there's a constant demand for qualified handyman services with men charging $25 to $35 per hour. I encouraged him and he even worked for a brief period of time for a friend who had a construction business.

He continued struggling academically, and rarely did any homework, so during his junior year I suggested he get his GED. He was also working part-time at Home Depot making $10 an hour generating sales leads for windows and roofs. He got bonuses when a product sold.

He is also artistic and talks about a career as a graphic artist. There are free resources in Pasadena for high schoolers to take classes at places like the Armory Center for the Arts and the Art Center, a leading design school. But he's never done it.

I saw how he could set aside small amounts of money in a mutual fund to begin investing for his future.
It showed me how even an African American young man, who was getting poor grades in school and showed little interest academically, could still work and make enough money to begin the habit of investing and earning more. On top of the money he was earning at Home Depot, he was also getting social security and then he started selling knives and kitchen utensils through Cutco. In just a few sales, he made several hundred dollars.

But I saw it - my own hindsight - he didn't see it even though I would sit down with him, draft a budget and show him how much he was earning. He was, and is, also lazy.

And then there are the shoes. Without us knowing it, Sammy had collected about 20 pairs of expensive name brand basketball shoes. He said he got a few pairs through connections.

Then more money came his way. Social security earnings from his mother's death several years earlier and he was awarded $4,500 after being a passenger in a car where a friend crashed and Sammy got a bruised rib. We had prepared him for the money with another budget, more lectures, etc and he agreed he would put money in savings. We had a mutual fund set up for him with money we had already put in.

But he was 18 - as he let us know. And it was his money. And he expressed concerned about putting it into a mutual fund. He felt more safe in the bank, so he said. Now, he's got a new Apple computer (I don't know the model), a suit, jewelry he's paying off and more shoes.

So I started charging him $300 a month "rent." He pays us and we send in the "rent" to his mutual fund.

As he nears graduation this coming June, he's carrying a D average and he's spent thousands upon thousands of dollars. I shake my head at the money that has slipped through his fingers. I see how he could have become an investor instead of just a spender. Unfortunately, I know it's not just him but as he said, "there are lots of kids at Pasadena High School who get social security payments every month and they spend it all, too."

It makes me sick. And it makes me equally sick to hear whatever politician or member of the clergy say that racism still prevents young Black men from succeeding. I strongly disagree. Race isn't going to prevent the young black men of Pasadena from accessing the many resources available to them in this community. But, like Sammy, they can let opportunities slip right past them.

Race isn't going to prevent them from setting aside a small amount of money every month so they can begin investing for the future. But, like Sammy, they can let the money they get now be spent on items that plummet in value and save little to nothing.

I came across this report from the Joint Economic Committee headed by Senator Charles Schumer.

"In 1999, 65% of black male high school dropouts in their 20's were jobless - in other
words not looking or unable to find work - and by 2004, the share had grown to 72%
jobless. 72% jobless! This compares to 29% of white and 19% of Hispanic dropouts.
In the inner cities, more than half of all black men do not finish high school. Even when
you consider high school graduates, half of black men in their 20's were jobless in 2004."

The report acknowledges there are many causes for this particular problem such as a breakdown in the family unit. But notice the report focuses on black male high school "dropouts." Yes, those who drop out face a bleak future. But it's an unnecessary bleakness.

My hope for Sammy is this: I'm going to stand firm on his moving out after graduation, in hopes that he'll then put into practice what we have tried to instill in him these past four years. I can only hope - and pray.

But don't blame racism.