Rich Diddy Isn't the Problem; Inequality Is

In his Chicago Tribune column, Clarence Page argues that outrage over Justin Combs’ college scholarship is misplaced.  Suggested Reading Are Americans Really Living in a Police State? Watch: A White Priest Was Detained by ICE. What He Claims Agents Told Him Should Terrify Black Folks Everything That Led to Troubled Morris Brown College Firing President Video…

In his Chicago Tribune column, Clarence Page argues that outrage over Justin Combs’ college scholarship is misplaced. 

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Critics are outraged that UCLA, strapped for cash in California’s budget crisis, awarded a $54,000 merit-based athletic scholarship to Justin Combs, son of hip-hop impresario Sean “Diddy” Combs, who hardly needs the cash.

You don’t have to live in the Golden State to understand the outrage. Soaring college costs, battered state budgets and shrinking opportunities for rising income are a national crisis…

Yet, the real source of our national frustration is less glamorous and more widespread. Upward mobility in America is not what it used to be. It’s easier to climb the socioeconomic ladder in many parts of Europe than it is in the U.S., according to recent reports from Brookings Institution, Pew Research Center and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

Read Clarence Page’s entire piece at the Chicago Tribune.

The Root aims to foster and advance conversations about issues relevant to the black Diaspora by presenting a variety of opinions from all perspectives, whether or not those opinions are shared by our editorial staff.

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