CNN’s Don Lemon reports that African Americans are most optimistic about the economic future.

I have to thank my twitter friend @teferri for this lead like a week ago.  I’m finally carving out some time to put up a post about it.  I’m also wondering what your reaction is to this report as well as my own findings that reveal some inaccuracies and misleading journalism from those CNN folks.

Watch below.

Good ole Don Lemon. Sometimes, I’m with him, and sometimes I shake my head and wonder about his comments on stories relating to African Americans. I don’t know where I stand with this one, but I found Don’s conversation with John Hope Bryant to be on an interesting topic. Don is reporting on a Pew’s Economic Mobility Project poll where African Americans scored highest (65%) above the Latino (51%)  and white (34%) communities regarding their optimism about their children’s future.

So who is John Hope Bryant and Operation HOPE?

Don Lemon seeks the expertise of John Hope Bryant of Operation HOPE (http://www.operationhope.org/smdev/) to interpret findings from a study that came from Pew’s Economic Mobility Project.  John Hope Bryant, who according to his bio on Operation HOPE “is a philanthropic entrepreneur and businessman, in the business of empowerment.” He’s also the CEO and Thought Leader for the organization.  “Operation HOPE’s mission is to eradicate poverty in our lifetime through the ‘Silver Rights Movement’.” The accompanying You Tube clip about Operation HOPE further describes it as “the nation’s first non-profit social investment banking organization.” (About Us page- http://www.operationhope.org/smdev/clst4.php?id=162).

I don’t want to get too far off track, but I would like to add that I would have been intuitively more interested in hearing from the source of the study rather than a Thought Leader who may or may not have read the report.  However, John’s perspective was witty and he made a few points that held some value.

So what is Pew’s Economic Mobility Project?

Here’s an excerpt from their Project Overview page.  For full overview click HERE.

For the first time, data related to economic mobility in the United States will be consolidated and presented in terms the American public and policymakers can understand, debate and discuss. How do my children’s opportunities for economic advancement compare to mine, to those of my parents? Is mobility thriving in other countries while waning here in the U.S.? How much economic mobility is there for people in poverty? To what extent is mobility affected by inherited wealth? How is mobility impacted by gender, race, and level of education?

My commentary…

Unlike the CNN segment leads you to believe, the actual study was about American optimism in general and one of the reported results did a breakdown by ethnicity (black, white, latino/hispanic).  Pay close attention here because my 2:30am eyes may not be as sharp as I think they are.  However, what I’m reading from the actual report the posted slide data on CNN’s report seems to be incorrect.  See for yourself:

PRESS RELEASE, 3/12/09
PEW-COMMISSIONED POLL FINDS AMERICANS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT PROSPECTS FOR ECONOMIC MOBILITY DESPITE THE RECESSION

African Americans are the most optimistic group about their and their children’s opportunities for economic mobility. Eighty-five percent believe their economic circumstances will be better in 10 years than they are now, compared to 71 percent of whites and 77 percent of Hispanics. When asked whether their children would have an easier or harder time moving up the income ladder, whites are the most pessimistic, with 54 percent saying it will be harder to move up the income ladder, compared to 34 percent of African Americans and 41 percent of Hispanics.

Naturally, I’m a little confused on the actual data reported by CNN.  I welcome a comment from Don Lemon or anyone of the right authority at CNN to help clarify my findings with your report. Just a quick google search from my end.   …and if you’re hiring sharp journalists, give me a shout throug my CONTACT page (https://affrodite.net/?page_id=506).

Data details aside…

Are African Americans more resilient in times of economic uncertainty than other races?

Are African Americans more optimistic about the economic future for their children?  If so, why?

What are your thoughts about our economic future?

Nerd alert…

For you data nuts like myself who’s academic background or natural tendencies require understanding the methods used for the study before even allowing yourself to engage in this conversation, then here’s another excerpt about how the study was conducted.  It’s from the same page that I quoted earlier with the results.

Research Specifications:
This research reports on 10 focus groups conducted between January 6 – 15, 2009 in Baltimore, Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix and San Diego among a racially diverse set of panelists. In addition, Pew’s Economic Mobility Project commissioned a national survey of 2,119 adults. This survey included oversamples of African Americans (517 total cases unweighted), Hispanics (520 total cases unweighted) and people under 40 (497 total cases unweighted). Given the growing phenomenon of young people without land-line telephones, all interviews in the under-40 oversample were conducted on cell phones. This survey was conducted between January 27 and February 8, 2009 and lasted approximately 22 minutes. The overall margin of error for this survey is +/- 3.4 at a 95 percent confidence interval.